Resort suggestions

[GrandMum]

My next solo trip is tentatively planned for Nov 1 - 9, 2018. I keep going back and forth on resorts and would like some suggestions/feedback from anyone.
I usually stay at POFQ but with the longer time between visits, I'll have some extra time to save up. I've been thinking of 4 days at POP and then 4 days at WL or AKL. I've never stayed at any of those and have never done a split stay.
I'm anxiously awaiting for Disney to announce the military discount for next year (hoping) so I want to be ready to book.
Thanks

 

[Sue M]

Sounds great!! We love both WL and AKL. There's something special about both. If you can get a savannah room at AK! It will be amazing. But we also enjoy pool view. Lots of activities for adults at AKL. We love going to the evening Cultural Safari. A cM puts on an amazing slide show and talks about his or her country. Very engaging. Culinary tour of Boma and Jiko. Evening savannah viewing with night vision scope.

WL is also a beautiful resort. I love the woodsy feel. The Electric Water Parade goes by nightly. You feel far away but you are very close to MK, great transportation for dining around MK resorts. You can take a boat to MK, CR (and hop on monorail to MK resorts)or Ft W. so while it doesn't feel like it, WL is very close to all the action.

 

[JasonMouse]

WL and AKL have some good discounts, AKL being my favorite. We stay at Pop all the time to save money and it's fine. 4/4 is certainly fine for a split vs 8 at a moderate. If no great discount exists, any of the moderates will do nicely. If moderates are all over $160/night, well Pop it is!!

 

[Jack & Monica]

Concur with everything stated above. I am retired military, and I am awaiting the military discount. There always seems to be rumors of when the discount will get announced. The past couple of years it seems to be in the SEP time frame. I always book my resort reservations banking on the discount from the previous year. This entails calling back in SEP to get the better pricing. This always works perfectly. The only things I needlessly worry about are the discounted tickets. I am going in JAN of 2018 and want to have the tickets in hand in order to get the FP options that my family will want. That will mean having the tickets by November which should not be a problem. We have consistantly stayed at Kidani Village which I believe is a slightly better option than AKL. The lodge is literally a 5-min walk and there is a constantly running shuttle between the lodges. KV gets picked up first on the bus route. We are staying at the Wilderness Lodge for the first time on this trip though. I have always loved the theming for the WL and now with the construction being done -- I am very excited to check out the improvements. If you are a semi-regular visitor, why not check out other resorts? One of the best, if not the best sites for all things military disney is this site http://www.militarydisneytips.com/ If the discounts stay the same for this year, AKL, KV, and WL will have a 40% discount. You can make this a 50% discount by taking advantage of some of the great savings tips provided by the great folks contributing on this site.*

*Buy Disney Gift Cards at BJ's Wholesale Club online (no membership needed). Use a Disney Visa to get a 2% back on the gift cards. BJ's seems to offer a constant $100 gift card for $94.99. Every once in a while they top this offer. You now are up to slightly better than 7%. You then open a Disney Savings Account and you can put the gift cards into this and get the $100 per gift card. You have to leave the money in the savings account for a bit, but you can pay your resort bill with the savings account. Overall, you get close to an extra 10%. There are even more ways to do this, but this seemed the least complicated of the options. I already have a Disney Visa and the gift cards are extremely easy to purchase. I literally buy the $100 gift cards at 10 at a time. Opening the Disney Savings account requires a small non-gift card deposit using your Disney Visa, but then it is open. My gift cards arrive very quickly -- something like 2-3 days. You then have to enter each of the gift card numbers into the Disney savings account. It takes a little time, but it is worth doing.

 

[flortlebap]

AKL is an amazing resort, I'd definitely go there over the PO resorts, given the choice.

 

[mickeynut1]

Sounds great!! We love both WL and AKL. There's something special about both. If you can get a savannah room at AK! It will be amazing. But we also enjoy pool view. Lots of activities for adults at AKL. We love going to the evening Cultural Safari. A cM puts on an amazing slide show and talks about his or her country. Very engaging. Culinary tour of Boma and Jiko. Evening savannah viewing with night vision scope.

WL is also a beautiful resort. I love the woodsy feel. The Electric Water Parade goes by nightly. You feel far away but you are very close to MK, great transportation for dining around MK resorts. You can take a boat to MK, CR (and hop on monorail to MK resorts)or Ft W. so while it doesn't feel like it, WL is very close to all the action.

I agree .

We've stayed at both and love both for different reasons. I don't think you can go wrong with either one. Have a great trip .

 

[helenm29]

Split stays can be lots of fun....we stay at POFQ and switch over to Animal Kingdom for the second part of our stay. We LOVE the Savannah view at AKL...that being said we've never stayed at WL but have been over there for meals and really love the look of the resort, seems very relaxing! we are going to try it next time we get a chance! Have a great trip and enjoy wherever you chose!

 

[Mopedmom1]

Two weeks around Thanksgiving we are doing a triple split, AKL Savannah view, WL Standard view, and finally YC Garden view. We usually stay at POFQ but this trip is in celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary, so a splurge was in order.

AKL is the only resort of these three we have stayed at previously and I highly recommend it. If you plan on spending a lot of time at the resort nothing beats sitting on your balcony with room service, watching the animals. The resort is a bus ride away from all the parks, with MK nearly 30 minutes, depending on traffic.

WL is a good choice if you plan on spending much time at MK. The Lodge is beautiful and I am looking forward to seeing it all decorated for the holidays. Not sure how much will be out for you in early November.

I have nothing for you on POP. Our trip in June was a short notice quick trip to see Pandora and we stayed at ASMU. It was perfectly serviceable (since we were only there to sleep) except for the non existent coffeemaker. I hear refurbished POP rooms will have that.

Doing a split stay requires you be organized. Packing pods and a good toiletry organizer help with the transfers. I use a Hanging Bra Organizer that I found on Amazon to stash all my toiletries in instead of putting everything on the counter. When it's time to pack up and move, just fold it up, put it in a large zipper bag (to prevent leakage) and stash it in the suitcase. I also bring a hanging foldable dirty clothes bag and a small folding box that is my catch all for miscellaneous stuff that sometimes gets strewn about the room.

I envy your solo trip. It is just my DH and me now and we really enjoy our trips, but being able to do whatever you want without worrying about someone else.......... maybe someday. ENJOY!

Maybe stash a little extra aside each week and do BOTH AK and WL!

PS: Thank you for your service.

 

[tsme]

Personally I'd go with WL.

 

[raddisneyfan]

I've traveled solo and done split and never had any problems. I would definitely vote for AKL. Love the beautiful theming, the animals, the food options...i also find it to be quieter than a lot of the other resorts. I've never stayed at WL or POFQ, but have visited many times and I am actually staying at WL in September for 10 nights and at POFQ in December for 8--can't wait for either. My way of keeping the magic alive is switching up the resort and location within the resort I stay at each time--gives the trip a little extra something after having been to the parks and rides and restaurants so many times over the years. Have fun saving up all those pennies!

 

[GrandMum]

Thanks for all the suggestions and comments. Sounds like I may end up just flipping a coin for WL or AKL. Or it could end up with whichever resort I can book with the military discount (fingers crossed for that). I'm a military brat (and we all use that affectionately) and the spouse of a retired military officer. My husband does not like traveling let alone visiting WDW - yep there are people like that - so he stays home and takes care of the farm. I'm also hoping to do the Wine & Dine 5K, have time at F & W and the 1st MVMCP.

 

[Sunshine1987]

Sounds like a wonderful trip! I dream of a solo trip someday!!!

POP is great and you will get to experience the refurbished rooms! As far as the choice between WL and AKL that is a tough one! I personally LOVED AKL but we were upgraded to a Savannah view so our room was amazing! We stayed in a Deluxe Club room at WL this summer because there were six of us and that was nice too but I slightly prefer AKL overall. I have ate at all three table service restaurants at AKL and love them all! I really want to do one of the special tours there as well. I don't think you can go wrong with either choice though. WL is absolutely beautiful, especially at Christmas! Sorry I probably didn't help much!

Have fun planning and experiencing your trip!!!

 

[Spencer Wright]

AKL is a personal favorite. A good thing about the pool views there is that (from my experience) they pretty much all actually have a good pool view.