Just back from SSR & AKL Trip Report

[Disney4ever4569]

Just got back from a stay at SSR and AKL (Con.).

First of all I have to say, "What a difference a year makes at SSR". When I bought SSR and went on my original tour of the resort, I felt like I was in a construction zone. A year later what a difference.

From the time we arrived at SSR to the time we got to our room we got 4 "welcome homes" and that felt nice. We asked for a Downtown Disney view and got a fantastic room on the second floor overlooking DTD and also about 100 feet away from a pool.

We both had a very relaxed feeling at SSR. I was very surprised at this because I thought with being so close to downtown disney that it would be very loud. This was not the case at all. At night if we closed our balcony door we did not hear a thing. Must be some kind of sound proofing.

The studio room that we had was beautiful and very comfortable. The only thing that was not comfortable was the pillows. They use sham stuffers for pillows. They look nice, but they are not supposed to be used as sleeping pillows. The bed itself was comfortable.

Then we went to Animal Kindom Lodge (Con.). We had a deluxe room on the sixth floor (6207). Very nice room, but dark. It made SSR look a lot briter by comparison. The room setup was very similar to that of the SSR studio. Seeing the animals out of our balcony was fun and getting the extra food and drinks was nice, but overall if we had it to do all over again we just would have stayed at SSR.

We did not use points to stay at AKL (Con.) We got a nice discount and paid cash for it. Even with the discount it was still more expensive then just staying at SSR and we liked SSR better.

If anyone has any questions about either resort, just ask.

 

[athenna]

Oh, you lucky, my 2 favorite resorts!
Good trip report! Glad you enjoyed SSR. Sounds like you had a wonderful view! I was very pleasantly surprised, also, that there wasn't any noise due to DTD. Definately a resort you can relax in!
I'm sorry you didn't love the AKL, it certainly is a different feel. I haven't stayed there yet, but I plan too. But no matter where I stay I always go ''visit'' the AKL and eat at Boma.
Wow, surprised to hear that even w/discount it was more than SSR.
Would you stay in a standard room at the AKL again if the discount was decent? (if you don't mind me asking).
Was it an AP discount?

 

[tinkgrl]

Hi,

I'm glad you had a good time!! Thanks for sharing!

Ms. Sparrow aka Allison

 

[cristbaby]

HI, Thanks for the trip report. Glad you had a good time. Can't wait to get to SSR for the first time in Oct.

 

[Disney4ever4569]

Don't get me wrong. I did enjoy AKL a lot. I just won't pay for the conceirge service again. As far as the discount, no it was not an AP discount, it was my last "cast" discount on a reservation made last year before Children's Place took over Disney Stores.

 

[liznboys]

ack, double post

 

[liznboys]

Thanks for the report! Interesting about the pillows...

We stayed at AKL in Feb. (split stay with POFQ). The darkness of the decor got old after a couple days. We toured SSR on that trip, and loved the decor there!

 

[tjhsr]

We stayed at SSR for the 1st time in Oct. then stayed at AKL in Dec. and we felt the same way. Wished we had stayed at SSR.Our next trip home in Oct. won't get here soon enough

 

[Judique]

Then we went to Animal Kindom Lodge (Con.). We had a deluxe room on the sixth floor (6207). Very nice room, but dark. It made SSR look a lot briter by comparison. The room setup was very similar to that of the SSR studio. Seeing the animals out of our balcony was fun and getting the extra food and drinks was nice, but overall if we had it to do all over again we just would have stayed at SSR.

We stayed at SSR and AKL last summer and had the exact opposite reaction! We loved AKL and had heard all the 'dark' comments, but we didn't find it dark at all. We also enjoyed our room at SSR, but would choose AKL first.