Which Resort Would You Stay At?????

[Exp.626Stitch]

We want to split our stay between POP and one of the following resorts. Which one would you suggest?

Wilderness Lodge

Animal Kingdom

POFQ

POR

Please help me choose!!

Thanks...

Tracey

 

[Suzanne74]

It really depends. Will you be visiting MK often - if so then WL easily as it will save time. Would you rather have a more relaxing time and your family is big animal fans, then say at AK. If you want to save money, I recommend POR over POFQ.

 

[Stitch Inside]

POFQ JK. Need more info. before we can suggest anything for you. We love the WL. We tried AKL this most recent trip and enjoyed it too. The lobby was amazing, the room was immaculately clean, and Boma was a great buffet for breakfast and dinner. But of the moderates, we like POFQ the best for its compactness, with CSR running a close second for its pool and theming.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

That's kinda comparing apples and oranges, to put the deluxe up against the moderates isn't playing fair. AKL absolutely rocks, beasties outside your windows in the a.m., queen-sized beds, gorgeous theming and lobby...who could beat it? But if you must go mod, I'd go for POR...hear the theming there is pretty terrific, too. But really, there's no comparison. I'd almost say, if you're going for keeping to a tight budget, stay in a value. Otherwise, go for broke with a deluxe.

 

[SAWYERMAW1]

Of the moderates I prefer POFQ over POR. We've stayed at POFQ six times and POR twice. IMO the convience of POFQ outweights the landscaping of POR. We also stayed at BC and AKL and find POFQ in the running with some of the deluxes.

 

[*Fantasia*]

WL!!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

WL - having the boat to MK just makes it all the more magical.

 

[DznyDreams]

I totally understand your dilemma! I always wonder which resort should I pick....POR or WL? So, among your selections, I guess I've narrowed it to 2.

POR is large and spread out, so you'll do a lot of walking at this resort. I personally like the food choices at POR vs. POFQ. (Yes, I have stayed at both resorts.) POR is beautiful! There is boat service to DTD, which is very nice, but you can spend a lot of time waiting for the boat unless you just get lucky with the timing. Bus service is fine as long as you allow ample time for travel. When we had a PS, we'd just make sure we were at the bus stop at least one hour prior to our seating time.

I've not stayed at AKL, but I've visited the lobby. It's beautiful, but I just don't like the location, so WL is my choice! We are planning to stay at WL this December. I love the boat service to MK/Contemporary/Ft. Wilderness. We like the WL restaurants, and the fact that we are very close to other MK resort hotels that have GREAT restaurant choices. Transportation from this resort is fine, but not the best. (Maybe it has improved since my last stay? I'm hoping!!) The theme of this resort appeals to me above all others, but I'm a little odd. (My actual favorite resort of all time is the Contemporary Tower, but we just can't justify paying those prices on a yearly basis....we'd prefer to go often vs. staying in our favorite resort each and every time.) Another big plus, as someone has already mentioned, is the queen beds. The rooms are just ever-so-slightly larger than POR too.

It's a tough decision. If it were mine to make, I'd pick WL unless the budget forced me to choose POR. Either way, you will not be disappointed. If you go moderate, just remember that you can always visit the other resorts and enjoy their grounds/lobbies (just not their pools ).

Diane

 

[rachael95]

We just got back a few days ago from POR. This was a nice resort, but it drove home to us that we don't need to stay on property and rather than going to WL next time as we originally planned, I think we'll be looking for a place off property.

POR is HUGE. In order to get to the closest bus stop it seemed like we'd have to walk forever. Since we were also going with my sis who lives in Orlando we ended up driving to the parks instead of using the bus. It was so nice driving to the parks we realized how little we needed an on property hotel.

That being said, my all time favorite hotel on property is AKL. If you can swing it, I'd do that. It's quiet, clean, cool and just lovely.

POR is a nice hotel but for the price, I'd rather pay a little more for a deluxe or else go off property. DH was not happy with the TV in our room, too small and didn't have newer connectors for our DVD player. The fridge in the room also was set to keep everything slightly too warm and it was set in such a way that you could not change the temperature yourself. (Our cooler kept things much colder than the fridge.) Bathroom was MUCH smaller compared to the bathroom in AKL. Though we did have two sinks which was nice. One other thing, you may get stuck on the top floor and I didn't see an elevator. We were on the first floor though, so I didn't look very well. We also ended up walking through the bushes in order to get to our room because if we took the path they set up, we would have had to walk around the entire building and a cleaning shed before we could get into the room.

We were in the Bayou section in 3601. It was a corner first floor room, so fairly quiet.

*Edit*
Forgot to add that I was not very impressed with POR service. We asked twice for an extra laundry bag and pillow. Never got them. AKL and Dolphin had great service for things we needed. I finally had to write a note to housekeeping asking for extra laundry bags (they gave us 1) after we'd only gotten the one that was in the room when we checked in and hadn't gotten a single other one even though we'd been there 4 days. Hotel theming was well done though.

 

[jsmla]

My $.02:

*If I had young ones and were planning on spending most of my time at the Magic Kingdom I'd choose the Wilderness Lodge. The boat is much more pleasant than the busses. WL also has more of a "middle of it all" feel than AKL.

*If I were planning to spend a lot of time at the resort, especially the pool, I'd opt for the Animal Kingdom Lodge. AKL has the nicest pool of the resorts on your list and the animals are really neat. We also prefer the dining at AKL over that of WL. As far as I know AKL doesn't share busses with any other resort while Wilderness Lodge often does.

*POR and POFQ each have trade offs. My family prefers the atmoshphere at POR (kids loved the arcade) but it is quite spread out. If you don't want to do a lot of walking try for a room near the main pool or food court. POFQ is more compact but not as kid friendly IMHO. The busses can get really crowded for POR, especially if sharing with POFQ. The food court at POR is one of my family's favorites.

Hope this helps!

Jennifer

 

[califred]

Well I'd pick AKL, but I've never been to any of hte resorts.

We're doing a split POP/AKL stay this October and I can't wait!

 

[Disneyjosh229]

If you want convience, I would choose Wilderness Lodge, great resort and themed awesomely!

 

[MissTink]

AKL!!!!! It's sooo nice (wow!)

 

[nhpooh]

We want to split our stay between POP and one of the following resorts. Which one would you suggest?

Wilderness Lodge

Animal Kingdom

POFQ

POR

Please help me choose!!

Thanks...

Tracey

If you want a deluxe stay at WL, we love this resort.

If you want Mod. I would stay at POFQ.

 

[sherrycurl]

i have stay at pofq and loved the small, cozy feel of the hotel. it is not that long of a walk to the bus stop (only one) at the front of the resort. having said that, i have wanted to stay at the akl and wl forever. if you are doing mk i would stay at the wl. if anything like me the second of half of the trip is rest and relaxation i would stay at akl. i am sure in whatever you chose you will love it.

 

[DisneyGirl83]

I prefer POR over POFQ only because I feel closer to things...and I like AKL better then WL, I like the pool and the restaurants better at AKL but WL is only a boat ride from MK...no matter where you pick I hope you have a great time!

 

[Exp.626Stitch]

Thanks evryone for responding!!

Here's a little more infor about ourselves. It is just me and my BF. We've stayed at CSR and loved the relaxed and peaceful surrondings. The bus service was slow at times but we always got a bus from a theme park to resort. We have stayed at POP before and absolutely despise their bus service ( Had to wait for 5 buses one night). Bus service is a huge factor in our decision. My BF does not like to wait for very long. I have read that WL shares buses with other resorts and that worries me a bit. However, we have visited AKL for breakfest at Boma and I fell in love with this resort (I've never been to WL but the pics look great) If we stayed at AKL we will not be staying Savannah though but that really isn't a big deal to me. When we were leaving AKL to go to AK it did take quite awhile for the bus to come and the resort seemed pretty busy to me.

In regards to POR or POFQ we will be staying there if no good AP rate comes out for AKL or WL.

So which should I choose WL or AKL?

Thanks for any suggestions

Tracey

 

[Chicago526]

We want to split our stay between POP and one of the following resorts. Which one would you suggest?

Wilderness Lodge

Animal Kingdom

POFQ

POR

Please help me choose!!

Thanks...

Tracey

I didn't read the rest of the thread, so I 'm just responding to the orriginal post. I'd stay at either the WL or POFQ. WL is just amazing and of close to my fav park, MK. POFQ is a moderate and so less expensive, a good way to save money that can be spent on souvineers or sit-down meals, and is also lovely and central to almost everything in WDW.

 

[palmtreegirl]

AKL or WL.

 

[vanyel]

Based on your e-mail about yourselves - I'd stay at AKL if you get a good rate. I had ressies there but changed to CSR because of an unexpected financial glitch!

It would be so romantic to sit on the balcony watching the animals.

My preference for the moderates would be POR but you won't go wrong with POFQ either.