How is the Animal Kingdom resort?

aprilhi

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jan 22, 2008
We are planning our first trip as a family and would like some pointers on where to stay. Animal Kingdom looks nice. What is the overall take on it?
 
I too am planning our very first trip to WDW and we are staying there. There are a couple other post I have started in the Resorts section that alot of very helpful people have answered and told me how nice the place is.
 
We stayed at AKL in 2006 and we loved it. I loved being able to get up in the morning and see the animals right outside my window.
 
We just stayed at AKL for 8 days. Theming is gorgeous! The lobby and all of the detail is amazing! Pool is nice. Zero entry and seemed big enough for the amount of guests. Mara (CS rest) had enough variety that you could eat there a few times without getting bored with the choices. They offer a lot of activities especially for kids which DD enjoyed (she's 4). The only negatives (and they were not bad at all) were transportation. We shared a Magical Express bus and made two other stops before we got to AKL and transportation to the parks - there were plenty of buses and they seemed to run pretty frequently but AKL sits pretty far away from everything except AK. If you have very little ones and need afternoon naps/breaks, you may want to stay some place closer to the MK since you will probably spend a lot of your time there.

Overall, it was gorgeous and we loved it! We would stay there again. Only negative, in my opinion, is the distance to the MK.
 


We're staying at AK in July. I know there is construction going on there. Can you see the work being done from the main lobby or the "wings" of the resort? Is the work pretty far away from the lobby? Can you hear the equipment and/or the workers?

It's Disney, so I'm sure they'll be very discrete but I'm just curious as to what to expect.
 
We've stayed at many of the WDW resorts and they are all so great in different ways, but we absolutely loved the AKL. The AKL thread on the resort board is very helpful to refer to. We had concierge level and loved the ammenities it provided. The food was wonderful.
We go to WDW a lot so we were looking for a different experience, and we definately got it here because there is so much to do there in itself. It was different being away from all the business of the Magic Kingdom resort area, but it was quiet, and really made you feel like you were away from it all once you got there. The distance is far from MK, but AKL has it's own bus, it does not share with any other resort and we found it really efficient and easy to use.
We went pre-construction, so I can't give you any feedback about that, but everything else was amazing!
 
We've stayed at many of the WDW resorts and they are all so great in different ways, but we absolutely loved the AKL. The AKL thread on the resort board is very helpful to refer to. We had concierge level and loved the ammenities it provided. The food was wonderful.
We go to WDW a lot so we were looking for a different experience, and we definately got it here because there is so much to do there in itself. It was different being away from all the business of the Magic Kingdom resort area, but it was quiet, and really made you feel like you were away from it all once you got there. The distance is far from MK, but AKL has it's own bus, it does not share with any other resort and we found it really efficient and easy to use.
We went pre-construction, so I can't give you any feedback about that, but everything else was amazing!

Thanks! We've stayed at OKW the last couple of years and love the resort. There are so many extra things and kids' activities to do there. We decided to go with AKL this year cuz we wanted a change and we're sooo excited about having a savannah view! We are expecting it to be very different. What other kind of activities are available?
 


Thanks! We've stayed at OKW the last couple of years and love the resort. There are so many extra things and kids' activities to do there. We decided to go with AKL this year cuz we wanted a change and we're sooo excited about having a savannah view! We are expecting it to be very different. What other kind of activities are available?

It's funny that you say that, because we'd like to try OKW next time!
Our kids are getting a little older and we need more room than to stay in 1 room with 5 people for a week.
Just staying in a savannah room in itself is great. We had a hard time getting our kids up and out into the parks in the morning because they just wanted to stay and watch the animals!
Bring a pair of binoculars...makes it even better!
The resort itself is great...the pool is really nice and lots to explore in the outside animal areas. They have a Cast Member at each animal area talking about all the animals, feeding, care, etc.
Most if not all the Cast Members are from somewhere in Africa. My kids got a whole geography/sociology education talking to many of the Cast Members. It is really fascinating! They have night viewing of the animals with night vision goggles and African storytelling around the firepit at night.
There are many other activites for kids throughout the day. I don't know what else, but they are listed on the events of the day fact sheet at the resort. I know there is some type of kid's camp.
The restaurants at AKL are great and a cultural experience in itself.
We ate at Boma for dinner and breakfast, and we are probably in the minority saying we liked dinner better. Our kids really enjoyed tasting new and different foods.
There is a Sunrise Safari if you stay in the Concierge Level where you can take a behind the scenes tour of Animal Kingdom. It was great.
You are also 5 mins. from the water parks.
It is really great. Let me know if you have any specific questions....
 
I did not notice the construction at all last week. When you went on to the observation areas, you could see it but I never heard a thing or saw any workers.

OP mentioned some of the extras offered. They have five different kids activities offered every day that are bead activities. When your child completes each activity they get a bead. When they finish all five they get a special bead called a totem bead. The activities are all animal/nature/conservation related and ran by CM's from Africa. DD really enjoyed earning the beads. They also have a parade the kids can be in every night that when we were there was lead by the storyteller. The storytelling by the firepit was a lot of fun. I also think the lifeguard so activities by the pool and they also do cookie decorating at Boma which we did not have time for.
 
Even if you are not staying at Animal Kingdom...GO! See the resort, enjoy the animals, eat at BOMA! It is beautiful and one of the vest free things to do at WDW is to just walk around AKR!!!

:thumbsup2
 

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