First Disney Trip. Just Upgraded to AKL. Looking for advice

[DISfirstTimer]

I've been planning our 1st and likely only Disney Vacation for close to a year now. My DH, DS6, DD4 and I will be traveling late Jan/Early Feb for 6 nights. I was originally booked at POP and have become very knowledgeable with the resort. I came across the opportunity to upgrade to AKL for $700 and have decided to splurge and do it!

Now I feel a little behind and feel the need to rethink my itinerary and ADRS.

We were originally planning of 5 park Days and 1 resort day. Should I add another resort in order to take advantage of all the deluxe amenities? If so would you give up a 2nd Day at MK or HS or AK (seeing we are already getting a feel for that)

What FREE activities are there at the resort?

We have been on the fence about having a rental? Do you recommend one for AKL seeing its distance from other properties and parks?

I currently have reservations for Hoop Dee Due? Would you forgo that for dinner for 2 at Jinko (assuming we could a table) and putting kids in kids club?

thanks in advance!

 

[Babsy]

I've been planning our 1st and likely only Disney Vacation for close to a year now. My DH, DS6, DD4 and I will be traveling late Jan/Early Feb for 6 nights. I was originally booked at POP and have become very knowledgeable with the resort. I came across the opportunity to upgrade to AKL for $700 and have decided to splurge and do it!

Now I feel a little behind and feel the need to rethink my itinerary and ADRS.

We were originally planning of 5 park Days and 1 resort day. Should I add another resort in order to take advantage of all the deluxe amenities? If so would you give up a 2nd Day at MK or HS or AK (seeing we are already getting a feel for that)

What FREE activities are there at the resort?

We have been on the fence about having a rental? Do you recommend one for AKL seeing its distance from other properties and parks?

I currently have reservations for Hoop Dee Due? Would you forgo that for dinner for 2 at Jinko (assuming we could a table) and putting kids in kids club?

thanks in advance!

First of all, Congratulations on your upgrade!! POP is nice, but the AKL is fantastic!

AKL vs POP wouldn't change my personal itinerary, except perhaps slightly to allow for a meal at Boma or Jiko.

I wouldn't remove a park day, but might plan to return to the resort mid day on occasion for a rest/nap/swim with the little ones. This would work well on an Epcot or DHS or AK day, which are all close to AKL. Shorter days in the theme parks with 'rest' time at the resort is nice with young children, IMO.

We never bother with a rental and have been fine using the Disney transportation. Some people much prefer to have their own car, however. I don't see it as a necessity, personally. The difference in transportation from AKL is greatly exaggerated, IMO. Primarily there is about an extra 5 - 10 minutes on the bus to the MK. Otherwise, bus times are about the same as any other resort - except to AKL which you will get to in about 5 minutes!

Jiko is a great dining experience that is completely different from the Hoop Dee Doo Revue. We love both. HDD is an experience with music and corny humour throughout the show that you watch while eating mediocre food (at best). Some people enjoy the show enough to let the poor quality food not detract too much from the overall experience. I guess that it depends upon how much the food itself matters to you and the type of experience that you are looking for.
Jiko is a fine dining experience at your resort. DH and I highly recommend it. It is DH favourite restaurant in WDW. FYI: You can get a free tour at the resort with some samples to taste. We haven't done this, but I have read about it online. It might be something that you could look into.

My opinion, FWIW, is I would try Jiko if staying at AKL. Our kids and Grand kids love the kids clubs, BTW.

Enjoy the AKL! It is a truly wonderful experience staying there!

 

[melissapealo]

Glad to see you decided to do the upgrade. I think your family will be happy with AKL. I don't think I'd give up another afull park day to explore the lodge. DAK and AKL are very separate places so you really aren't getting a feel for the park just by staying at AKL. You will get an activities calendar with the happenings going on while you are there. You will have access to the main Uzima pool at AKL and can also use the Samawati pool that is at Kidani. There is also a splash pad there. Of course that is weather depending and temperatures can vary. Disney does heat all pool water though just so you're aware. There are evening campfires where you can make smores. Different observation areas to view the animals(not sure if you have savanna view or not). There is also night viewing with binoculars. We have seen face painting, learn to play the African drums, pin trading, African folktales, animal tracking. Different activities at the pools for the kids. I believe they also do movies under the stars but have not been to it. I'm sure there are things that I am missing but that gives you an idea.

We have never rented a car while staying there and have had good busing. The distance isn't that much farther than other resorts would be. Maybe an extra 10 minutes or so. I think if you need to get to another resort for an adr you could always uber/taxi to save time.

Have never dined at Jiko so can't help with that. It does get great reviews on here. We've eaten at Sanaa and Boma and liked both.

Have fun planning, AKL is wonderful and it's a truly unique experience staying there.

 

[Hopefully]

I agree with everyone else. I would not give up a park day on such a short first trip to explore a resort.
We LOVED. HDDR, including the food. We felt it was good "Down Home" Cooking.
It depends on what you are looking for whether you keep that or go the Jiko. One is a fun family experience that everyone will enjoy together and the other is an upscale date night for the adults without your children.
Either way enjoy.

 

[DISfirstTimer]

We will have a car as we will be hitting up Legoland for a night prior to coming to Disney so I just have to decide if its worth having for the week.

 

[melissapealo]

We will have a car as we will be hitting up Legoland for a night prior to coming to Disney so I just have to decide if its worth having for the week.

Legoland seems like it will be a lot of fun. You'll have to see what the price difference will be to keep the car. While a car is not necessary at any onsite resort, it can be useful especially if you have any ADR's at other resorts that you need to get to.

 

[Haley R]

I'm in the minority here, but we just stayed in AKL this year and didn't think it was worth the extra $. There is only one pool unless you go over to the villas. We also didn't like the dining choices. We tried Boma and it wasn't bad, but it was expensive for what we felt like we got. The QS option doesn't change options much so if you are like us and are eating at the resort, but don't want to always splurge you might be stuck with the same options. We much preferred POR and POFQ over AKL. We are staying at POP Feb/March and I'm excited to potentially get a refurbished room plus save a little money.

 

[NicoleLarson]

We've stayed at AKL more times than I can count! It's so wonderful to come back to such a peaceful place after the chaos of the parks. There's a ton of resort activities. My kids are the same age as yours and they LOVE the cookie decorating at Boma and the cake decorating at Sanaa. There's always something going on, so he sure to check out the resort activity sheet upon arrival. Jiko is awesome! We done almost every signature (most twice) and it just might be the best one. Just a tip, you get a free hour of kid club/kid with your Jiko recipt. AND they feed your kids! Our children love, love, love Simbas Cubhouse, so I highly recommend it.

 

[sndral]

Since you've not been, HDD would be my choice. I like Jiko very much, but you can have a nice date night dinner as a couple many places, whereas HDD's campy show is fairly unique & as mentioned is family friendly.
I've not stayed at Pop, but one advantage for a family with young children is that you can sit out on your balcony and enjoy some adult time after the kids are asleep @ AKL. None of the values or moderates have a balcony.
AKL does have a lot of kid activities, rubbings, bead collecting & I've read that they now have a kid's parade through the lobby at night, they used to have cookie decorating, not sure if they still do and the ambience at AKL is so nice so you might plan on a bit more time at the resort, which given the age of your children is probably a good idea anyway.
If it's warm enough do go down to Kidani's pool splash area, there's a shuttle between the two buildings (Jambo & Kidani) or it's a 10 minute walk.
DHS is undergoing construction at present, so that's the park I'd reduce, with young children MK will be a big draw, so I wouldn't reduce my time there. I really like Epcot, but it would be second on my reduced time list w/ young children as there's less there for them compared to MK.
We fly in and use Disney transportation to get around. There's really no advantage to driving to MK as you have to park across the lake and then monorail or ferry over to the MK anyway, whereas the resort bus will drop you off near the front of MK. I would do HDD on a MK day as you can boat from MK to Fort Wilderness where HDD is, they'll bus you back to AKL after the late dinner/show - I'm not sure about the early show.

 

[Shanti]

I've been planning our 1st and likely only Disney Vacation for close to a year now. My DH, DS6, DD4 and I will be traveling late Jan/Early Feb for 6 nights. I was originally booked at POP and have become very knowledgeable with the resort. I came across the opportunity to upgrade to AKL for $700 and have decided to splurge and do it!

Now I feel a little behind and feel the need to rethink my itinerary and ADRS.

We were originally planning of 5 park Days and 1 resort day. Should I add another resort in order to take advantage of all the deluxe amenities? If so would you give up a 2nd Day at MK or HS or AK (seeing we are already getting a feel for that)

What FREE activities are there at the resort?

We have been on the fence about having a rental? Do you recommend one for AKL seeing its distance from other properties and parks?

I currently have reservations for Hoop Dee Due? Would you forgo that for dinner for 2 at Jinko (assuming we could a table) and putting kids in kids club?

thanks in advance!

Hoop Dee Doo is a special experience that I wouldn't trade for dinner at Jiko, especially if it might be my only Disney trip.

Animal Kingdom Lodge is a 10-20 minute bus ride from the non-Animal Kingdom parks. We had good bus service when we stayed there. I wouldn't consider a rental, particularly if money is any kind of issue. It won't take any longer than buses would from Pop Century.

AKL is a beautiful resort. As with most Disney resorts, AKL's best free activities are its pool activities: all guests are welcome to swim at either Jambo House or Kidani Village. The former has the bigger pool & best hot tub. The latter has the better water slide and young kids' water play area.

 

[Disneyhenry]

I've been planning our 1st and likely only Disney Vacation for close to a year now. My DH, DS6, DD4 and I will be traveling late Jan/Early Feb for 6 nights. I was originally booked at POP and have become very knowledgeable with the resort. I came across the opportunity to upgrade to AKL for $700 and have decided to splurge and do it!

Now I feel a little behind and feel the need to rethink my itinerary and ADRS.

We were originally planning of 5 park Days and 1 resort day. Should I add another resort in order to take advantage of all the deluxe amenities? If so would you give up a 2nd Day at MK or HS or AK (seeing we are already getting a feel for that)

What FREE activities are there at the resort?

We have been on the fence about having a rental? Do you recommend one for AKL seeing its distance from other properties and parks?

I currently have reservations for Hoop Dee Due? Would you forgo that for dinner for 2 at Jinko (assuming we could a table) and putting kids in kids club?

thanks in advance!

Congrats! Awesome upgrade!
I think you'll love AKL, I suggest spending 1 day at the resort and enjoy it, after all you are paying for it, it's an amazing resort!
Pool games, there use to be a music parade.
As far as renting a car, it's something I always do, when I am ready to go I am ready to go and hate waiting for busses, I also enjoy going to the Disney Outlet, saves money on souvenirs.
Maybe skip Hoop de do and send the kids to the club so they can get some play time, you and hubby some us time
Have fun! Love that place

 

[mickeynut1]

AKL vs POP wouldn't change my personal itinerary, except perhaps slightly to allow for a meal at Boma or Jiko.

I wouldn't remove a park day, but might plan to return to the resort mid day on occasion for a rest/nap/swim with the little ones. This would work well on an Epcot or DHS or AK day, which are all close to AKL. Shorter days in the theme parks with 'rest' time at the resort is nice with young children, IMO.

We never bother with a rental and have been fine using the Disney transportation. Some people much prefer to have their own car, however. I don't see it as a necessity, personally. The difference in transportation from AKL is greatly exaggerated, IMO. Primarily there is about an extra 5 - 10 minutes on the bus to the MK. Otherwise, bus times are about the same as any other resort - except to AKL which you will get to in about 5 minutes!

Enjoy the AKL! It is a truly wonderful experience staying there!