Renting points at Polynesian or Animal Kingdom

[disneymom2two]

We've decided to try to rent points and stay at either a studio at the Polynesian or Animal Kingdom end of August (8/21-25). I can't decide! One of my friends recommends AK because she says Poly is always having something done to it. My 11 year old who will be with us loves animals so she's in favor of AK. My husband wants a real Disney feel and some friends recommended Poly for that. I've always wanted to stay at the Poly so I'm leaning that way. My 18 year old son may come with us which would make the Poly the better choice. We planned on renting a car but would be okay not doing that if it isn't necessary. I thought of doing a split stay but was advised against it because we're only there 5 nights. Help me choose! Any pros or cons I haven't thought of?

 

[mco65]

If your gonna be at the PARKs MOST of the time, i would opt for Poly because its hard to beat that TRAM ride to MK and Epcot.. If your gonna spend more time at the resort.. or at least a moderate amount then AK might be more pleasing...

 

[dclpluto]

Poly is a lot more points than animal kingdom will cost you more $$$.

 

[loves to dive]

You may not have a choice, it may just depend on whether or not either one is available. If you have a choice, I'd go with AKV. Poly is convenient to MK and in theory just a monorail ride away from Epcot. I say in theory because the thing can and does break down or stop often and you can spend some time sitting on the track. If it's not running you are going to bus it to Epcot, HS and AK so you have easy access without busing to one park. We used to stay at Poly way back when the only choices were the monorail resorts but wouldn't stay there now. It's very loud and busy. AKV is a beautiful resort. It has a little more grown up feel to it but if your son likes animals he will love it. There are lots of places to view the animals and some good food choices as well. Yes, you will have to bus it everywhere but it's pretty close to all the parks except MK, but it's just as close to MK as any of the other resorts except those on the monorail line. I would have no problem with a 5 night split stay, I've done it a number of times since we tend to do a night or two in the moderate resorts then switch over to deluxe and we never stay longer than 6 nights. I've done 2 and 2 often. I drive down and always have a car and the only time I use it is to switch resorts so obviously, I don't think it's necessary.

 

[schrammalot]

I say Poly just for the fact that AKV is so far away from everything. If you don't mind the distance, then you really can't beat the price of AKV, especially for their basic studio.

 

[loves to dive]

AKL isn't any further away from anything other than MK than most of the other resorts are. All the all stars and CS are in the AK area, if you were staying as some of the moderates, you would most likely be further away from AK and HS then AKL is. Everything is far from MK except the monorail resorts.

 

[schrammalot]

AKL isn't any further away from anything other than MK than most of the other resorts are. All the all stars and CS are in the AK area, if you were staying as some of the moderates, you would most likely be further away from AK and HS then AKL is. Everything is far from MK except the monorail resorts.

I just felt like it was super far away from everything when we went there for dinner. Maybe I was just hangry.

 

[DisBuckMan]

AKL isn't any further away from anything other than MK than most of the other resorts are. All the all stars and CS are in the AK area, if you were staying as some of the moderates, you would most likely be further away from AK and HS then AKL is. Everything is far from MK except the monorail resorts.

Agree completely. The distance thing with AKL gets way overblown here. AKL to Disney Springs, which is all the way across property, takes 12-13 minutes by bus. To MK, it's about the same. Most other resorts are 8-10 minutes by bus. Is 4-5 minutes extra REALLY that big of a difference? Heck, the boat from WL takes that long to get to MK, and it's touted as a huge selling point of WL.

 

[mickeynut1]

We've decided to try to rent points and stay at either a studio at the Polynesian or Animal Kingdom end of August (8/21-25). I can't decide! One of my friends recommends AK because she says Poly is always having something done to it. My 11 year old who will be with us loves animals so she's in favor of AK. My husband wants a real Disney feel and some friends recommended Poly for that. I've always wanted to stay at the Poly so I'm leaning that way. My 18 year old son may come with us which would make the Poly the better choice. We planned on renting a car but would be okay not doing that if it isn't necessary. I thought of doing a split stay but was advised against it because we're only there 5 nights. Help me choose! Any pros or cons I haven't thought of?

We've never stayed DVC, but have stayed at both AKL and Poly and we love both for different reasons. The Poly is great if you will be spending a lot of time at MK and/or Epcot as both are convenient by monorail, but in all honesty, AKL isn't bad as far as transportation (at least not in our experience). AKL is out away from everything, but we found the buses to be fine as it didn't take more than maybe 5 extra minutes to get to the parks compared to other resorts. I think both resorts have great atmospheres with a Disney feel to them, although seeing the castle every day from the Poly is magical. With that said, I don't think you can go wrong with either one as both are awesome resorts. Good luck!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The only park AKV is particularly distant from is MK. It is bus-only to all parks, which has people exaggerate its distance.

Poly is close to MK, but is further from other parks. The monorail connection to EPCOT can be an issue, actually.

DTB did a head-to-head on AKL vs. WL the other day. Quote:

It thus might come as a surprise to learn that Animal Kingdom Lodge is closer to more parks than Wilderness Lodge. In fact, once you get past the boat transportation to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom Lodge is more convenient to each of the 3 other parks and Disney Springs. Yet, the myth about Animal Kingdom Lodge being inconvenient/isolated persists, probably at least in part due to perception.​

http://www.disneytouristblog.com/wilderness-lodge-animal-kingdom-comparison/

While this is a comparison of the Lodges, not of AKL and Poly, it remains true applied to Poly.

I would say, though, that when Poly's an option you're talking studios. If you're pricing studios, be sure to price Standard or Savannah at AKV. Value is probably not an option, and Club Level definitely isn't. AKV will have 1 queen bed and 1 double sofa sleeper that sleep 4. Poly will have 1 queen bed, 1 queen sofa sleeper, and a pull-down murphy bed that would probably work for the 11-year-old, but probably not the 18-year-old. So either way, it's important to understand only you and your DH will get a "real" bed, and reports vary on the comfort level of the two other bed options. My 5 year old and 8 year old were okay with the sofa bed and murphy, but I'm pretty sure they'd sleep on beds of nails at a hotel. They love hotels and condos and timeshares with a weird glee, even if they're not at Disney.

 

[disneymom2two]

Based on the company I'm looking at (and I am aware that there may not even be a choice of the resorts I'm looking at but if there is) there's about a $300 difference between the savanna view at AK and standard at Poly which we're okay with (standard at AK is obviously much cheaper but the selling point of being there is being able to see the animals). It's my 50th so we're going to indulge a bit. My 11 year old is very petite so if we do Poly, it will be her on the murphy bed. My son's used to sleeping on sofa beds of varying degrees of comfort when we sleep in a hotel so that wouldn't be a problem.

 

[Allison]

I prefer the Polynesian. I like being in the middle of the MK area-the park, the Grand Floridian, the Contemporary, the lake,access to the TTC.

 

[Tim Holcomb]

If you are renting points you'll have to go with whatever is available, split stays are not bad. Disney will move your luggage for you, so it's not that much work. We did a split stay in September (because we rented points) and I would do one again. One definite advantage to the Poly's CL is that they have two bathrooms. One full bath with a full tub, the other with a sink and a luxurious shower. That would be super helpful traveling with your family.

I'm not sure AKL does, but someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

I have stayed at both. They are both great. Both are worth doing. Pick one and enjoy it, and pick the other on your next trip.

We stayed at AKL in the hotel portion on the Arusha Savannah. It was truly magical. There was such a sense of peace from sitting on the balcony and seeing giraffes, zebras, and other animals right there. The bus service worked well.

We stayed at the Poly Lake View on points, and it was also a great experience. It was a quick monorail ride to dine at the Grand Floridian and the Contemporary, and easy access to the parks. Very easy access to the Epcot monorail, as well as the Resort Monorail, as well as the ferry boats to MK. The rooms are large and the double bathroom is a real plus.

There is no bad choice.

 

[Deb & Bill]

If you are renting points you'll have to go with whatever is available, split stays are not bad. Disney will move your luggage for you, so it's not that much work. We did a split stay in September (because we rented points) and I would do one again. One definite advantage to the Poly's CL is that they have two bathrooms. One full bath with a full tub, the other with a sink and a luxurious shower. That would be super helpful traveling with your family.

I'm not sure AKL does, but someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

If you are talking about the Polynesian studios, they do not have two bathrooms. They have a split bathroom with a tub, sink and toilet on one side and shower and sink on the other.

The AKV studios have a single bathroom with a tub with shower, sink and toilet. At Jambo House, the villas are converted hotel rooms, so the bathroom should be nearly identical to the hotel rooms. At KV, they will be slightly different.