Help Newbie: Animal Kingdom Resort

[Jedi5]

Hi everyone.
New to this board and this will be my first time traveling to WDW.

So I've tried as best as I can to find out all the info on saving/planning/traveling advice for our trip. I have to be honest, my poor brain is fried from information overload.

I'm planning a trip for January of 08, 17th-22nd. It will be 5 nights at the Animal Kingdom in a Savanna View room. The trip includes myself, wife, and 2 yr old son.

When booking this trip, how far in advance should I book or not book?
I found "deals" for about $2300-2500 (air/hotel) but I'm wondering if I wait, will the "deals" get better or the will the prices go up. From what I've read, it is pretty slow around January. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks to all.

 

[yxe dad]

I've always found that I can find better "deals" when I price everything seperately. I was able to get AP rate at the AKL for my Oct trip for $185/night plus taxes. That's a savings of $80/night. I used airmiles for this trip but I have an idea of what I'm willing to pay for airfare before I book and will wait until the price comes down, or try booking through a different airport close enough to drive to. Tickets, I have been buying AP's(annual passes) for a couple of years and they tend to be a great way to save $$$ if you plan on going back in the same year. With an AP you also get dining, merchandise and other discounts at certain shops, and restaurants. Now there aren't always AP rates at the resorts, but if your watching the dis boards and call when the rates come out you'll have a great chance at a AP rate. What I do is always book the room and resort I want, and then when the AP rates come out I ask them if they can apply it to my exsisting ressie. It's worked for my last 4 trips and my upcoming trip! Also as an AP holder you can get the DDE card(for about $60) which gives you 20% off food and drinks at over 100 WDW restaurants. If you plan on eating at alot of TS restaurants this card will pay for itself pretty quickly!! I know there are lots of other discounts out there but these tend to be the ones that have worked well for me.
Happy Planning

 

[SharonLowe]

Your dates coincide with MLK holiday weekend so it won't be as slow as you think. Those dates don't come up as one of WDW's Wonderful Weeks, where you can get pretty good deals on rooms, etc.

You might want to check AAA to see if they have any discounted rates then. As the previous poster suggested, packages are not always the best deal but could work out depending on your location. I don't see that WDW has put out any discounts other than the Wonderful Weeks one for 2008.

This place can give you an idea on air travel costs and whether to wait for lower prices:

http://www.farecast.com/

But don't rely on them completely because they can be wrong. I tend to check on Orbitz or Expedia to see what air rates they are quoting and then go to the web site of the airline that best suits me to see if I can get a better rate. Sometimes, it pays to book one ticket separately and then the others since the airlines have limited lower price seats and will quote you the higher price on all seats if you put in the total number in your party.

We don't do the dining plan (we too have APs and use DDE, which I think is a better deal) and they have made it less attractive for 2008 so unless they offer free dining then, which I doubt, you are likely better off without the plan. If you plan to eat at a lot of TS restaurants while there (And you will need reservations if you want to eat out anywhere other than counter service!!) and drink alcoholic beverages, the DDE is a great deal and could be worth buying one AP for an adult in your group. I doubt you'll do the water parks in January so the AP would be $448 plus tax.

As you can tell by my signature, AKL is our favorite resort. With your 2 year old, I think it is a good fit because he'll not really care which parks you go to, will nap in his stroller, and the AKL has a very pool for young ones. Remember to have a good, easily collapsible stroller though as you will likely be using WDW buses unless you plan to drive everywhere. Others may convince you to stay in a Monorail resort but I don't think that is necessary.

 

[leahjade]

We will be staying at AKL for the first time in July and would also like to know all you can tell us about the resort. We are renting one of the 2 bedroom villas which I was told are on the 2nd and 3rd floor of the lodge. Is that a good location near the bus stop and restaurants? Are their any "must see" places around the resort? Is the dinner buffet at Boma worth trying? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[SharonLowe]

We will be staying at AKL for the first time in July and would also like to know all you can tell us about the resort. We are renting one of the 2 bedroom villas which I was told are on the 2nd and 3rd floor of the lodge. Is that a good location near the bus stop and restaurants? Are their any "must see" places around the resort? Is the dinner buffet at Boma worth trying? Any help is greatly appreciated!

The 2BR villas are on the 5th and 6th floors; the lobby is on the 3rd floor.

The resort is large; here is the map:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/aklmap.htm

The DVC boards might be more helpful for locating the 2BR villas.

This thread might be helpful:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=752192

It has many pages but you don't have to read all of it.

Boma - many love it; we think it is the best buffet around. Others don't like it because the food choices tend to the exotic. Look on the restaurants board for more help on that one. It can be very loud too but then all the buffet restaurants are.