I may have ruined myself for moderates forever.

[markandjen]

I am not going to lie. I have always been a fan of my moderates. Caribbean Beach with it's central location and theaming that reminds me of my honeymoon has been my favorite. I have also always appreciated the water taxi to Disney Springs from Port Orleans. The beauty and relaxing nature that the southern theme provides is a wonderful escape at both Riverside and French Quarter. The thing I like most about the moderates is the parking. As someone who has always had a car at Disney I have found the parking at a moderate can't be beat. It seems like you are out of your room and to your car in no time. Whenever we would dine at a deluxe I would always comment that it seemed like there would be a lot of walking involved because of the size of the lots and then the way the resorts are laid out.

This weekend due to an awesome AP rate I found the opportunity to stay at AKL. The thought of waking up next to a giraffe intrigued me. I also wanted to see how the other half lived. So the parking thing was true. Although I found a certain aisle was more conducive to getting a good spot. The room was a decent trek from the lobby but we did request a room farther out so we could view the savanna even though we booked a standard view. I did go to sleep one night after watching a giraffe meander about. The real winner of the room at AKL was the balcony. Where has this been all my life. It shouldn't come as a shock that I would enjoy the balcony, I've always had balcony staterooms on my cruises and have loved them. The balcony was a game changer. The ability to go outside in the morning and enjoy my coffee was awesome. The mid day breaks were way more relaxing being able to sit on the balcony and enjoy the fresh air or just have the door opened so I could enjoy the sounds.

The balcony truly made the experience at AKL amazing. So next month due to some unbelievable luck I will get to spend two nights at Wilderness Lodge and I will see if I enjoy that balcony as much.

 

[Oswald's Fury]

We will not be disappointed. Went on a trip to Wilderness Lodge several years ago and spent a great deal of time on the balcony listening to the sounds of nature. We overlooked a well vegetated area of the resort and absolutely loved it! Additionally, there is no experience as special or as beautiful as sitting by the fireplace in the Wilderness Lodge's lobby. Just breathtaking and truly magical! Have fun!

 

[mickeynut1]

I am not going to lie. I have always been a fan of my moderates. Caribbean Beach with it's central location and theming that reminds me of my honeymoon has been my favorite. I have also always appreciated the water taxi to Disney Springs from Port Orleans. The beauty and relaxing nature that the southern theme provides is a wonderful escape at both Riverside and French Quarter. The thing I like most about the moderates is the parking. As someone who has always had a car at Disney I have found the parking at a moderate can't be beat. It seems like you are out of your room and to your car in no time. Whenever we would dine at a deluxe I would always comment that it seemed like their would be a lot of walking involved because of the size of the lots and then the way the resorts are laid out.

This weekend due to an awesome AP rate I found the opportunity to stay at AKL. The thought of waking up next to a giraffe intrigued me. I also wanted to see how the other half lived. So the parking thing was true. Although I found a certain aisle was more conducive to getting a good spot. The room was a decent trek from the lobby but we did request a room farther out so we could view the savanah even though we booked a standard view. I did go to sleep one night after watching a giraffe meander about. The real winner of the room at AKL was the balcony. Where has this been all my life. It shouldn't come as a shock that I would enjoy the balcony, I've always had balcony staterooms on my cruises and have lover them. The balcony was a game changer. The ability to go outside in the morning and enjoy my coffee was awesome. The mid day breaks were way more relaxing being able to sit on the balcony and enjoy the fresh air or just have the door opened so I could enjoy the sounds.

The balcony truly made the experience at AKL amazing. So next month due to some unbelievable luck I will get to spend two nights at Wilderness Lodge and I will see if I enjoy that balcony as much.

Glad you had a great experience at AKL. We also love CBR, but WL/AKL ranks at the top of our list for deluxes. I think you'll enjoy WL just as you did AKL. Have a great trip .

We will not be disappointed. Went on a trip to Wilderness Lodge several years ago and spent a great deal of time on the balcony listening to the sounds of nature. We overlooked a well vegetated area of the resort and absolutely loved it! Additionally, there is no experience as special or as beautiful as sitting by the fireplace in the Wilderness Lodge's lobby. Just breathtaking and truly magical! Have fun!

I agree! WL is a great place to relax and take in the beautiful surroundings .

 

[loves to dive]

Yep, love those balconys too. I do split stays with a couple of nights at the beginning of the trip at a moderate and the rest of the trip at a deluxe. I always ask for a higher floor, I've found it doesn't matter to me what the view is, if I'm able to get up in the morning with my coffee and sit out on the balcony and just listen to nothing, I'm good. AKL is special if you get a view of the animals, we were lucky enough to get a 1 bedroom at a decent price a few years ago and getting up every morning to giraffes outside the balcony was great.

 

[MDIME]

Another fan of balconies here! Coffe in the am and later on, wine or cocktails!

 

[AllieBoo]

Yes, love having a balcony! We did a split stay last trip - 3 nights at CBR and 4 at Yacht Club. We had a nice balcony at YC with a woods view. It was so nice to sit out there in the morning with coffee or at night after a long day at the parks. Staying at YC has pretty much ruined us on moderates too, lol.

 

[Quellman]

I'll add that Animal Kingdom does have some crazy walking, but that is the price you pay for the animal savannas. The DVC villas at Kidani have parking under the rooms, so that helps.

I love balconies too.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We did a split at the Poly and BC. I don't ever want to stay anywhere but deluxe. We usually go during value season (end of August) so we can get some good deals on deluxes. I know if we want to do a trip at any other time of year we will have to go moderate. But I don't want to. lol

 

[ShayBells]

I did the same thing. I splurged last time and went to Grand Floridian. It was suppose to be a one time thing but after that balcony the thought of going back to a moderate is almost claustrophobic haha. But beggars can't be choosers so it's back to the moderates for me this year. I'm just so happy to be going back after a too long break so I'm focusing on that. I hope you enjoy Wilderness Lodge!

 

[Lisann]

Balconies are where it's at. We love them! Especially in the beauty of the morning. You know how Disney just has that wonderful smell in the morning (and no, I don't mean animal smell, if you catch my "drift", haha...).

Yep, I adore POR, but deluxes are incredible. We all understand the love.

 

[cheryllarsen]

We love the balconies!

 

[Beer Me]

I'm a big fan of balconies but at CBR I would wake up before my family and take my coffee down to the beach and sit in a hammock. Same thing in the evening sometimes with my beer and kindle. Usually I had the whole beach to myself. Not quite as convenient as a balcony but still a nice perk.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Like everyone else here, we love the balconies. And the deluxe resort in general.

Our last trip we did a split stay, deluxe to a mod.

On the way home, my husband to me, "No more mods."

 

[Babsy]

Yes, balconies are the big draw to the deluxe category. There is nothing like a coffee on your balcony in the morning at WDW - especially if you have a view of that castle! LOL!

 

[DeanDoug]

Once you do deluxe, it's hard to go back (but not impossible).

 

[tinkerbella16]

Yup! We did that to ourselves as well. We always stay at moderates, particularly POR. This past trip in September we stayed at the Beach Club for the first time and our first deluxe resort stay. We completely fell in love with the resort and it is going to be hard to go back to the moderates lol. We got a great deal and for $200 a night at BC, but if we had to pay rack rate, then it wouldn't have happened. This year we booked BC again for September and we got a great deal again. We were on the ground floor, but the location of our rooms were right next to the lobby, so sitting outside on the patio in the morning, facing that main courtyard area was so nice. We are so used to walking out of the room and being outside, so having that patio was a nice change for once. We loved the proximity to Epcot and DHS. The pool is incredible and that alone, would keep us coming back. We loved having a character breakfast right there at our resort. Walking to the BW was nice. I completely forgot about my love for the moderates during this trip and the BC stole my heart almost immediately lol.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

We have only stayed at the moderates so far, our fav being POR. Having visited many of the deluxes, I have been eyeing the Beach Club and Poly. Well really all of them, but especially those 2. We finally booked Poly this summer coming up and it is supposed to be a one time thing... I'm afraid we will come back spoiled.. and probably wanting to try the Beach Club next

 

[Lovinallthingsdisney]

We had our first deluxe stay in December 2013. It was my "dream" trip to AKL (club level) during Christmas. LOVED it. I was able to talk my DH into another trip in 2014 and opted to stay at a Moderate to save money. Booked CSR (business class). CSR is a lovely resort, but as soon as we entered the room, my DH said "this is nice but NOT AKL". That was all I needed to hear. Since then, our last two trips have been at deluxe. I love the balcony and the extra space and little touches that come with a deluxe stay. We stayed at GF in November 2016 and my concern now is how a different resort will compare to that one... RPC is incredible..beyond words incredible.

 

[baldy6060]

Just wait until you realize how fantastic it is to simply hop on a boat to go between MK and WL! AKL is my favorite resort, so far, but I always miss the boat at WL.

 

[CdnKayDee]

Same boat here years ago we loved POR satyed 3 years in a row but decided on dvc. So SSR and Kadani village have been the main stays last 5 plus years. Poly this summer cant wait. However Aug 2016 we did do a week at POR with free dining and it was still great. POR sure holds its own against the deluxes. In the end I could do Mod easy but not value.