Thoughts on AKL and AoA split stay

[ColinCodyMom]

Hi everyone!
I wanted to take a couple minutes and give a short review of our recent stay. We were at WDW from June 18-25. We decided on a split stay so we will call this the best of both worlds lol. June 18-22 we were at AKL pool view and June 22-25 we were at AoA LM. Overall, we had a fantastic time, but man it was HOT!! We have been in July 2 times and in June once and in August once and this was by far the hottest. The real feel said 115 a couple days and gosh darn it was hot. I had all kinds of touring plans and they were all thrown out the window because of the exhaustion from the heat. The cast members we encountered were fantastic aside from one grouchy lady at the fire station on Main Street. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay but did not see anywhere near what we wanted to. My must dos will remain must dos I suppose... Great excuse for planning another trip!

Thoughts from our stay:
1. AKL is and always will remain a favorite of ours. After two savanna view stays previously, we opted for pool view this time. Our request was upper floor giraffe trail and we were on fourth floor giraffe trail. I couldn't have chosen a better room. Direct center to the pool and lush landscaping. I was worried about looking through trees or being over the flamingo pond but in that area it was perfect. Just amazing. A note about this: it is quite loud when they play the movie by the pool in the evening. They start it at 9 so it stays on until after 10. We had our doorwall shut and fan on and we could still hear the movie pretty well. I would expect some noise but for those who are worried, we heard much more here then when we stayed above chef mickey's at the contemporary two years ago. I would stay AKL pool view again in a heartbeat. Such a money saver and the resort is worth every penny. Buses were fine from this resort.

2. AoA. We could not wait to stay at this resort. I happened to snag someone's cancellation for a LM room. The resort is amazingly themed. Seriously, if you don't plan to stay, it is worth a look around. It's incredible. Cars section is fantastic. Nothing bad to say about the theme at all. I wish the same could be said for the LM location. I realize these are the value rooms and we honestly stayed in them because we have four in our family and don't need a suite or the extra cost but I will definitely forego the LM room next trip just to save my feet the extra walking. It was a hike from the foodcourt and main pool. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they put a refillable mug station at the two other pools so we wouldn't have to walk back and forth. And in the heat, oh my goodness. We were all happy with the food choices at Landscapes of Flavor. My son missed the chicken at first but loved the pizza just the same. The make your own pasta and salads are a great choice. The rooms were great; very cute. Everything was clean and wonderful. No problems with that. Just don't care to walk that far. That's our family's opinion. Also, had problems with the RFID cards locking us out. Which was very annoying as we had to walk the long, oh so long walk back and forth to get it taken care of on two separate occasions. Loved, loved, loved AoA though and we can't wait to go back. The bus service was not as good as AKL for us though. Waited well over 40 minutes one day at MK for an AoA bus. And just like every resort, the downtown disney bus experience I could do without lol.

3. We visited Animal Kingdom one day, Magic Kingdom 3 days, and Epcot 3 days. Loved the Wilderness Explorers book with badge stickers they do for the kiddos now. Very cute and informational. Nice souvenir too. Also enjoyed the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom cards as souvenirs. Didn't play though. Just too darn hot to do much this trip.

4. Split stay. We are a fan and don't truly ever unpack anything anyways. It was very simple for bell services to switch our luggage. They told us it would be done between 1 and 3 and it was. I love feeling like there are two vacations in one. Two completely different experiences.

All in all it was a fantastic stay. I'm happy we tried AoA. Great place. If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to try to answer them.

 

[mousefan73]

thanks for the report. We are also doing a split stay this year at AKL with pool view ( I might request what you did) and then POR. Even before this trip in September we are tossing ideas back and forth for 2014.

Here we are thinking about AKL again and also AoA as we need the family suite as next year I am forcing DH to join myself, kids and grandma.


questions:
1. did bell services actually transfer your bags from one hotel to the other? i would still have to physcially go to the next hotel to get the check-in right?

2. did you notice a matress difference between the two? or towels?

3. Can you compare the pools, besides that AKL has a slide?

 

[ColonelHathi]

Yes, thanks for the report. I just emailed my TA this morning letting her know that we are considering a split stay this October, so very timely!

I'm curious to know more about the Pool View and the noise from the movies? The 3 nights I am looking at staying there would likely be earlier-to-bed nights for us, but we also live in CST so not too early, do you think the noise was really loud or bearable from the movies? Might just be worth going down to watch the movie if it's really noisy, but I could see us wanting to get DD and DS in bed around 9 or so.

thanks for the report. We are also doing a split stay this year at AKL with pool view ( I might request what you did) and then POR.

Same here, AKL and POR! Both pools (AKL and POR main pool) look so cool, and I am excited about the AKL activities!

 

[ColinCodyMom]

thanks for the report. We are also doing a split stay this year at AKL with pool view ( I might request what you did) and then POR. Even before this trip in September we are tossing ideas back and forth for 2014.

Here we are thinking about AKL again and also AoA as we need the family suite as next year I am forcing DH to join myself, kids and grandma.

questions:
1. did bell services actually transfer your bags from one hotel to the other? i would still have to physcially go to the next hotel to get the check-in right?

2. did you notice a matress difference between the two? or towels?

3. Can you compare the pools, besides that AKL has a slide?

Yes bell services told us they could either come up to get our bags or we could bring them down but the transfers were done from 1-3. So easy!! We went to downtown Disney until 3 and then hopped that bus to AoA.

Very big mattress difference which I should've mentioned. Both were comfortable for me because I'm short but for my dh and ds who are over 6 feet they couldn't fit lengthwise. I would say AKL are definitely more comfortable but I slept fine on both . Towels? Other than needing to bring towels to the pool at AoA I didn't notice. Maybe there was but they were fine to me!

Besides the slide and hot tub all pools were great. Not too warm which is what I feared and definitely not cold. The big blue is larger with a huge pool deck and a lot of chairs and tables which I liked. Always had a hard time finding a chair at akl. More shade at akl. We went over to kidani but wow that pool seems quite small. We didn't stay to swim. Great splash areas at both kidani and AoA.

 

[ColinCodyMom]

Yes, thanks for the report. I just emailed my TA this morning letting her know that we are considering a split stay this October, so very timely!

I'm curious to know more about the Pool View and the noise from the movies? The 3 nights I am looking at staying there would likely be earlier-to-bed nights for us, but we also live in CST so not too early, do you think the noise was really loud or bearable from the movies? Might just be worth going down to watch the movie if it's really noisy, but I could see us wanting to get DD and DS in bed around 9 or so.

Same here, AKL and POR! Both pools (AKL and POR main pool) look so cool, and I am excited about the AKL activities!

The noise was bearable but we also bring a loud fan to drown out noise which was on at night. It wouldn't deter me from staying there at all! Loved it but I wasn't expecting it. I would just go watch the movie if it was too loud lol. I loved loved loved the room location. Our boys are older so the noise was fine for us. But it was definitely louder than I thought.

 

[DSNY4ever]

Thank you, thank you! This is exactly our split stay for our upcoming trip

How were the food courts at both in the morning before the parks opened? Were they crowded, chaotic? How long did it take you to get in and out?

We are staying in LM too, we don't mind a longer walk...but walking back because your room won't open sounds very frustrating!

I might have more questions later. We are so excited

 

[ColinCodyMom]

Thank you, thank you! This is exactly our split stay for our upcoming trip

How were the food courts at both in the morning before the parks opened? Were they crowded, chaotic? How long did it take you to get in and out?

We are staying in LM too, we don't mind a longer walk...but walking back because your room won't open sounds very frustrating!

I might have more questions later. We are so excited

. Yay! Loved them both!!
Yes both food courts were quite crowded at breakfast. AOA is much much larger so much much easier to find a table. It really depends what your family eats. We had one in the waffle line, one in the pancake line and one in the French toast line lol. That drove me crazy because the kiddos found our table and sat and we had to jump lines trying to round up all the food. It moved pretty quick. Mara was much simpler and compact. I would say a half hour at akl and a little more at AoA. That was our experience. To order, pay and then eat. Probably a bit less. Late night the food courts were crazy packed.
I don't mind the walk either and thank god for the amazing theming at AoA. Made it a bit easier. I read all the reviews about the long walk and I agree. Its quite a walk. But an amazing resort! Loved it!!

 

[mousefan73]

I has asked about the towels and matress as many threads that compare deluxe vs. value, alot say towels are thicker, fluffy at deluxes. And that value beds are hard.

 

[ColinCodyMom]

I has asked about the towels and matress as many threads that compare deluxe vs. value, alot say towels are thicker, fluffy at deluxes. And that value beds are hard.

Gotcha! Value bed wasn't as comfortable. Yep I would say harder but I slept fine! Same with towels. I would say they may be fluffier but both were okay . I hope you have a great trip!

 

[Pixiedust2758]

Thank you for your report. I'm considering a split-stay for my upcoming February vacation (no kids, just me and possibly another adult). It was nice to read about someone's experience!