Just can't decide between resorts! Wanna vote?

[BlsdMama]

We are trying to decide where to stay!!! We have to fit five in a room, so that limits it! I love the look (and the price) of PO Riverside. We fell in love with the idea of the cabins, but we're also toying with the idea of the Wilderness Lodge. The kids will love Animal Kingdom. For those of you who stay there, which two would you stay in?? I'm guessing that switching rooms more than two times is a bit over the top. We just can't decide. The kiddos are 9, 6, and 4. We will probably spend quite a bit of time in the pools and very little time in the rooms. We are staying for about eight days.

Thank you so much for all your input.

 

[klofan]

AKL - if you love animals and the african theme, stay here. i just got back sunday from there and it was soooo nice. the animals we had were better views than the safari at AK. So I would choose AKL honestly. But the WL is also great, along with POR and the cabins.

 

[magicmouse2]

AKL and Port Orleans.

 

[TiffJ]

We are staying for our 1st time onsite at WL. It is beautiful but fun for the kids too. I am so excited!!!!You can go to allearsnet.com and see some great pics of all the resorts.

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

AKL & WL.

 

[ToyStory]

I would have said Wilderness Lodge, but a standard room wouldn't be able to accomodate the number of people you have. You would need to go to a Deluxe room. I am not familar with AK but I believe you would need a deluxe room there too.

Therefore, I voted for Port Orelans Riverside. I my opinion the water view/pool view isn't worth the extra money.

 

[Nuchi15697]

Sahara view? When did they add a desert? LOL

 

[jpeltier]

The cabins offer the most space @ 500+ sq. ft. There's a kitchen, a family room with a murphy bed, the master has a double bed with bunk beds. The kids would
love the outdoor movies (free) held each night. They make s'mores and Chip n Dale sometimes make an appearence.There is also a petting zoo,a hay ride and a motor launch to the Magic Kingdom. It was the place my boys always insisted on
every time we went to WDW.

 

[Nik's Mom]

If your kids love animals, then AKL sounds great! But if you don't spend much time in your rooms, maybe you shouldn't pay for savanah view. How about pool view. There are many look-out points to check out the animals if you don't have savanah view. You could spend a lot of time just walking around that beautiful resort!
I love WL too, but AKL was just that much better.

 

[jacksmom]

WL is our favorite! But, 2nd choice would be AKL! aw:

 

[lmhall2000]

Hey there! I voted for WL...but then read your comments...you can't stay in WL or AKL without going for the deluxe room with 5 in your room, only if one of your three was under 2 years of age and uses a portacrib...I think that would be torture for a 4 year old and I don't think they'd allow it anyhow.

That said, going AKL/WL deluxe will raise the price higher than a garden view Poly or standard view Contemporary...so now if that changes the options and you can afford the upswing then I'd vote Poly first then CR over the other options mainly because the monorail is just tops for kids your age...but if you can't swing it then I'd say go with POR.

We have a family of five and stayed at AKL when littlest was under 2 and Poly when they were 8, 5,4...they LOVED LOVED LOVED POly...we're staying at CR this September and I bet they'll like it, too....hope you find the right one!
Tara

 

[BlsdMama]

Yep, we knew if we went to AKL or WL we'd have to do deluxe. We've pretty much decided that Fort Wilderness if preferrable to WL for the money and the space. We're debating over doing AKL or not. We've been thinking about doing 3-4 nights at POR and then 3-4 nights at Ft. Wilderness, but can't decide now if it is worth the $$ to stay a night or two at AKL.

Thank you all!!

 

[kdtwiss]

OK< what I am assuming here is that you are not independently wealthy - if you are go ahead for the delux - AKL and WL are both gorgeous!
BUT if $$ is an issue at all - go for POR. We are a family of 6, my little one was 2 at the time so we were able to go to POR. One of your kiddos would sleep on the trundle. The rooms are nice, clean and the resort is just beautiful. It is very spread out, so try to ask for the building closest to the food area. If you do this you are also closest to the pool as all you have to do is walk over to food area and cross a bridge to Ol Man Island (the main pool) everything else that looks close on paper is NOT. Water view ONLY means you are not facing the parking lot. We paid for water view and guess what? No water to be see. The pluses of this resort are:
You can all stay in one room very affordably
You can catch a boat to DTD
You can also swim at POFQ which from what I have seen really has one of THE best pools anywhere! That dragon slide is just awesome!
The rooms are nice , and also quiet!
We really enjoyed our stay there after discovering the shortcut to the pool, though after we visited POFQ pool kids preferred that.

Good luck!
My sister stayed at AKL and we visited her, loved her room as well - but I believe with your size family you would be paying about 3X as much as POR.

 

[Docsknotinn]

I think to give you good input you need to tell us what your park plans are. The MK is much harder to get to from AKL, in fact all the parks are and you have to drive or bus it to the AK as well. From the WL you are still not on the monorail but at least you can boat it the MK and take the monorail or other transportation from there.

 

[BlsdMama]

Park Plans:
We could care less if we looked at Disney/MGM. We want to spend two days at Magic Kingdom, two days at Epcot, and one day at Animal Kingdom. I don't know if we'll be enthralled enough to spend the entire day there or not. We are definitely *not* independently wealthy. We really want the most bang for the buck and if the kids would really enjoy AKL that much more than Ft. Wilderness or POR, then we'd like to fit a couple of days there. I'm hoping with some kind of discount, it would become more "comfortable" to do that.

We plan on getting 8 day park hopper tickets. We plan on getting the dining plan. So, most of our expenses will be taken care of ahead of time. I like the idea of having a kitchen in Ft. Wilderness. I think we really would use it for late night snacks and breakfast. I'd be content to make the entire stay Ft. Wilderness. The only thing that makes me sad is no slide for the pool, because we aren't hitting any of the water parks so that is a downer.

I'm not sure the deluxe rooms are really worth the extra $$. And, if we stay at Ft. Wilderness first, then will the smaller rooms seem less? Or, will they just be so blown away by the view, etc.?

Or, will they just think being in a log cabin is so cool? My kids are really pretty content. They'll be so excited by this - we aren't telling them where we're going. They think Chicago, lol. They wouldn't be disappointed if we stayed off property to be honest. I just can't decide! We're hoping to make this a twice per year thing so it isn't like we won't be coming back and we can't do this all again. Save the extra $$ and look around to see where we'd like to stay next time? So many choices. BTW, we're going the first or second week of February if that makes a difference!

BTW, flying in with no rental car. That may make a difference.

 

[Lizzybee]

I voted POR but I wouldn't pay the extra for a waterview b/c the closest AB bldgs are not waterview and if you are 5 you stay in the AB section. All of the landscaping is beautiful but your waterview could be a quiet non themed pool or a little pond. I've never heard anyone say it was worth it for the "waterview" JMHO. We love POR, it's a great resort.

 

[Bugsmom73]

If you plan on doing the dining plan, it is in your best interest to stay at one resort or you will be paying up the wazoo for everything b/c you must book every resort as a different package. I would sit down and figure out where you might want to eat and then see if the dining plan will even work for you.

 

[BlsdMama]

If you plan on doing the dining plan, it is in your best interest to stay at one resort or you will be paying up the wazoo for everything b/c you must book every resort as a different package. I would sit down and figure out where you might want to eat and then see if the dining plan will even work for you.

There is definitely something I'm missing or not understanding. I assumed the dining plan was good at several restaurants and so wasn't dependent on where I stayed as long as it was on resort property. For some reason I was thinking that dining could be added later as $70 per adult and $35 per child per day. Is this not correct? I thought I'd need two ressies - one for the first resort and one for the second. There would also be two separate deposits. But, I must be wrong somewhere?

Thank you,
Kelly

 

[alabamagirl]

I can't help you on the dining plan question, but if you want "more bang for your buck" for a resort, then I would go with POR. It is absolutely beautiful, but I agree with several other posters, the waterview isn't worth it.

I stayed there in 2002 and it was wonderful. It has a great pool for kiddies, plus fishing, bicycles, boats, etc. Lots of recreation.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

You can only buy the dining plan if you buy a "package" which includes tickets for everyone staying in the room. For a split stay you must buy a "package" for each portion of the trip. Unfortunately, buying two sets of tickets is much more expensive than buying one set of tickets and with more days on it.

With that in mind -- here's what I vote for. Let's say you're staying 7 nights. Spend the first six at POR with 8 day parkhoppers and dining (that's your package). Then hop over to Animal Kingdom Lodge for your last night, room only. Your dining will last till midnight that night so you'll be able to enjoy Boma or Jiko on the package. The next day you'll have to eat out of pocket, but since it's just one day and probably doesn't even include dinner (since you'll be going home) it'll be less of a problem.

The other option I would suggest is to do say 4 nights with dining and tickets at POR and then 3 nights w/out dining in a cabin -- by that time you and your kids may be ready for a little more space and the convenience of fixing your own food.

We just got back from a 3 way split stay -- 3 nights Beach Club with dining, 3 nights SSR 1 bedroom, room only, and 2 nights AKL room only. We loved all three resorts, and loved the dining, but by day 4 we were ready for a little less food and the chance to spread out. So for us, having the dining only part of the trip was definitely the way to go.