Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom Lodge

[nickelsfamily]

DH and I are planning a one night stay with our 2 boys for February 18-19. Our boys are 6 and 2. We have never stayed at either resort and are not sure which is better. The reason we are picking from these two is that the trip is a birthday trip for the little one-and we all enjoy the outdoors-these 2 seem to fit the bill! Now I need to decide.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!!

 

[tripplanner]

That's a hard decision. My immediate thought was WL. It's my favorite and is soo convenient to MK and you can easily take a boat to the CR and ride the monorail with the kids and eat at Chef Mickey's. AKL is very similar to WL, but it does have the animals. Having animals off your balcony is pretty cool. It would be hard to go wrong with either resort, but if it was my choice I would probably lean towards WL.

 

[all4fun]

For one night? I'd do Animal Kingdom and make sure you get the Savannah view. We did two nights there a couple of years ago and ds was just enthralled with the animals. We have stayed at VWL as well and it is a beautiful resort - ds loved the water feature in the lobby! We joked we could have spent the entire vacation right by the gurgling water, lol. Even so, I thought it was much "cooler" to look out our balcony window and see giraffes and other wild animals that we normally don't see up close and personal. It was truly a one of a kind experience. I'm assuming since you're local you'll have a car so transportation shouldn't be that big of a deal?

Hth!

 

[bopper]

Do you want to spend more time at the parks or at the hotel?
WL is closer to MK. Animal Kingdom lodge requires a bus ride anywhere, but the boys would probably enjoy the animals.

 

[rt2dz]

We've stayed at both, and of the two, my entire family (me, DH, DS5, DS3, and DS1--not that he counts) prefer AKL. And it's not that we didn't like WL, he just prefer AKL.

AKL is way more unique and you just can't beat the animals (but do be sure to have a savanah view if at all possible). It IS bus only transportation, but it has its very own bus line and it does end up being faster than most other resorts bus systems.

WL does have nice themeing. It is also exteremly close to MK with the boat (easier if you have a stroller) and to campground if you are doing Hoop-do-Doo. More close restuarants if you'll be doing sit downs a bit (but for one night, two days I doubt that would make a huge impact).

Room size & set up (except theme) is exactly the same.

 

[nickelsfamily]

Yes, we will have a car. This will be our 5th trip to WDW in the past 12 months!! I think the AKL would make this trip stand out from the others for the boys, especially since it will be in celebration of DS2 birthday. I am going to try to call right now for the savannah view *wish me luck*
I also think that we will enjoy eating at some of there restaurants, we all love to try new and different food.
Thanks for the help!