I was wondering why Disney charges so much less to stay at WL and AKL than the other deluxes. i called the other day to get reg rates and then the rates with my email coupon and its kinda crazy how much cheaper WL and AKL are than the other deluxes. Any reason?
I assume with AKL it is because it is in a more remote location and doesn't have monorail access?? But, I could be wrong. Oh, and I'm not going to knock it! LOL if AKL was as expensive as the other deluxes, we couldn't afford to stay there.
I think it falls under LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. Neither hotel is on a monorail line or easily walkable to the parks(well I think akl is close to AK but the other parks are quite a bus ride away- also no boat option here) WL you can take a boat to MK but everyplace else is a bus. The other deluxe hotels are either on a monorail or walking distance to Epcot and a short boat to MGM.
Perhaps it also has to do with the rooms...the standard rooms (that is not the suites etc) do not have the day bed that the other deluxe resorts have. They only have 2 queens, 1 queen/bunkbed or king beds therefore can not accomodate 5 in a standard room.
The real answer is that the WL was never intended to be a deluxe: it was originally supposed to be a moderate hotel. That's why the rooms are smaller and why it costs only a bit more than, say POR to stay per night. AKL followed the WL model quite closely. In fact, the hotels' landscape and architecture are quite similar.
The architecture is similar because the same architect designed both of them. I agree that it's probably because of room size. We've stayed in both mods and deluxe and the WL isn't much bigger than the mod rooms.
I think is is because the standard rooms at each resort only hold 4 people. I think the prices for the deluxe rooms at AKL follow the prices of the other deluxe rooms pretty closely. When I was pricing my trip, the concierge level price was the same at AKL and Poly, the two I was considering. WL is different in that almost all their rooms only hold 4 people. To hold 5 you have to book a Jr. Suite, of which there are only 25. There are plenty of rooms for 5 at AKL, and I think that price pretty well mirrors the other deluxe resorts.
AKL and WL rooms are much smaller than the regular deluxe resort rooms. They're more in line with a moderate size room. I think of AKL and WL as deluxe lites! They have all the amenities of a deluxe but not the price which with discounts and codes make it affordable for people who want to experience a deluxe but don't have the funds.
No monorail access or ability to walk to a park. The room size is more in line with a moderate. But, on the other hand...you do get inside hallways rather than that motel feel of the outside corridors at the mods, and you get nicer sit-down restuarants. And the ability to book concierge. I really like these two resorts. And the price difference makes them more affordable.
