Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom?

[TeamH5]

I've narrowed our post-cruise stay down to these two hotels. Grand Floridian looked amazing (with an amazing discount) but just to 'adultish' for our toddlers. Even though they have the Alice in Wonderland dining, my kids I think would enjoy the live animals better.

That being said, which was your favorite? I'm leaning towards Animal Kingdom since they have the live animal viewing. Are the 2 hotels close enough though that we could walk over and explore Wilderness lodge? That's what I'm thinking anyways, get a room at Animal Kingdom, but explore Wilderness lodge and possibly stay for Chip N Dales campire sing-along, then back to our room for a little night time animal watching... And finish exploring Animal Kingdom before leaving the next morning.


The only reason I would choose Wilderness lodge over Animal Kingdom is if someone can tell me if they have animals at Wilderness lodge as well.. My kids, though having never seen Giraffe's outside the zoo, have still seen them. They haven't seen bears or antelope/deer, if Wilderness lodge has them then hands down that's our choice.. Lol

What say you??? AK or WL??

Thanks for moving, since it was moved I have another question. If it's on WDW property, do we have to pay park fee's to stay there?? Can we go to MK and just walk around? Sorry about this.. We plan on only staying 1 day so if there's not time we'd rather NOT have to pay the park fee's, especially for a family of 5.

 

[mmouse37]

I've narrowed our post-cruise stay down to these two hotels. Grand Floridian looked amazing (with an amazing discount) but just to 'adultish' for our toddlers. Even though they have the Alice in Wonderland dining, my kids I think would enjoy the live animals better.

That being said, which was your favorite? I'm leaning towards Animal Kingdom since they have the live animal viewing. Are the 2 hotels close enough though that we could walk over and explore Wilderness lodge? That's what I'm thinking anyways, get a room at Animal Kingdom, but explore Wilderness lodge and possibly stay for Chip N Dales campire sing-along, then back to our room for a little night time animal watching... And finish exploring Animal Kingdom before leaving the next morning.


The only reason I would choose Wilderness lodge over Animal Kingdom is if someone can tell me if they have animals at Wilderness lodge as well.. My kids, though having never seen Giraffe's outside the zoo, have still seen them. They haven't seen bears or antelope/deer, if Wilderness lodge has them then hands down that's our choice.. Lol

What say you??? AK or WL??

Grand Floridian is right on the monorail....a huge plus for MK and EPCOT.

Animal Kingdom Lode and Wilderness Lodge are on opposite sideso of the property....you need to drive or take Disney transportation to get them.

WL and GF are closer to each other than AKL and WL....but not walkable. WL does not have live animals like AKL.

The WDW property is HUGE!!!! WL is considered a Magic Kingdom resort...you can take a boat to the MK from WL.

Personally, I would base my resort stay on which park I plan on visiting in that short amount of time.

If you want more insight to the different resort offering I suggest you post this question on the resorts boards....you will find TONS of resort info on that board.

MJ

 

[kcashner]

No, you can't walk from AKL to Wilderness lodge. However, you can take a DCL bus to any park and switch to a bus to the other resort.

Animals at Wilderness Lodge? Not when we stayed there. The Chip and Dale sing along/movie night is cute. Remember that it gets cool at night!

Having stayed at both, I'd vote for AKL. It's one of our favorite places. Check the price of the regular room, then look at what it would cost to rent some DVC points and stay at a villa (this works at either place). Which is better depends on what specials WDW is running and when you are staying, but the villa gives you more amenities.

 

[jilljill]

I moved this over to the resorts boards for you.

 

[angieoatman]

We just booked at Animal Kingdom Villas and it looks amazing. My kids also love to see animals and they are also looking forward to staying there. Any property you stay at will be amazing, because it's WDW.

 

[vassar36]

Both resorts are great, and I am sure you will be happy with either of them.
We have stayed at WL and eaten over at AKL (but never stayed there).

As someone mentioned before the resorts are at opposite ends of the property. AKL is far away from the Magic Kingdom, and WL is very close to the magic kingdom (a boat ride away). AKL only has buses, WL has mostly buses and boats to the MK and to Fort Wilderness and the Contemporary Hotel.

Ft Wilderness (FW) is a boat ride (or bus ride or bike ride, it is a VERY long walk) from Wilderness Lodge. FW has the Chip and Dale marshmallow roast sing along (not WL) to get there you have to take a boat and then an internal bus within FW. Both show movies when it gets dark. Speaking of when it is dark, you can catch the nightly "water parade" show at WL.

FW has animals (just pony rides--maybe you are thinking of this) but it is not anything like AKL.

Also to keep in mind at WL it is more convenient to take a boat over to the Contemporary Hotel and either eat there at Chef Mickey's or catch the monorail over to the Poly or GF.

We've only eaten at AKL so far so i am not as familiar with the all activities there...when we went to eat at Boma one night and explore the hotel, we could see the animals from the lobby look out spots and at the pool and it looked great. I know there have story telling around a fire pit, night vision viewing, and it was great to speak to all the CM at the hotel. I heard the AKL-K shows movies by the pool at night too. My only hesitation is that it seemed far away from the parks "bus wise".( It took a really long time to get back to our hotel via bus)

I have kids too, and they loved WL there is a bubbling brook that starts in the lobby and goes to the pool and a gyser that goes off each hour. Its our favorite hotel at disney...I have known people that stayed at AKL with their kids and loved it too, so I don't think you can go wrong with either choice.....

 

[wishing4PA]

I've narrowed our post-cruise stay down to these two hotels.


Thanks for moving, since it was moved I have another question. If it's on WDW property, do we have to pay park fee's to stay there?? Can we go to MK and just walk around? Sorry about this.. We plan on only staying 1 day so if there's not time we'd rather NOT have to pay the park fee's, especially for a family of 5.

By "only staying 1 day", you mean you will just be there 1 night, right??
If you don't plan on buying park tickets (IMHO, probably not "worth it" for less than a full day of park visiting, but it would be hard to resist, for me), then you won't be able to go into a park. I'm not sure I could stand to be right across the lake from the Magic Kingdom (at WL) and not go there. And neither could I deal with DD7's tantrums in such a case, lol.

For a one night stay without going into a park, I would choose AKL, if only because it is farther from the Magic Kingdom. Also, from everything I see/read about it, it's fantastic.
Good luck with your decision!

Also, if I misunderstand, and you do plan to take your toddlers into a park, then I change my mind and pick WL with a visit to the MK. I also should add that I'm not the expert (not having stayed overnight in either resort) ... just thinking of logistics with your short time frame and little ones. I'm sure either resort would be great.

 

[Tbone17701]

Thanks for moving, since it was moved I have another question. If it's on WDW property, do we have to pay park fee's to stay there?? Can we go to MK and just walk around? Sorry about this.. We plan on only staying 1 day so if there's not time we'd rather NOT have to pay the park fee's, especially for a family of 5.

You will have to purchase a pass to enter any of the parks at WDW despite where you are staying. However, you can certainly visit the boardwalk area, Downtown Disney and any of the other Disney Resort Hotels without paying to do so.

My two cents on the resort is to consider WL for it's location if for no other reason. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourselves at either though!

 

[WDWLODGE]

It sounds like you may be new to WDW. WDW is very large. I can't think of the exact number off the top of my head but it is about 47 square miles. Will you have a vehicle? IMO the transportation is terrible at The Animal Kingdom Lodge. That may be because it is so far away from everything except The Animal Kingdom. If you have your own vehicle you can't loose with either one. The Animal Kingdom has animals in "the backyard" while at The Wilderness Lodge you are a quick boat ride from Ft. Wilderness which has a petting zoo, horse stables, etc. Both resorts have good restaurants and pool areas. IMO The Wilderness Lodge has better transporation to the parks. So if you are relying on Disney Transportation I would suggest The Wilderness Lodge.

 

[princeryanandevan]

AKL is pretty far out - you would have to take the bus to anywhere you want to go. WL is on the water - a boat ride to MK, FW, CR etc....you can also walk the trail over to FW. The kids would probably love the animals at AK - but bear in mind that it gets dark earlier now.

My kids LOVED WL - they loved the campfire and marshmallows on the beach, the fact that you can see the EWP from the beach, and the theme of the entire resort.

I don't think you will be disappointed in either one though

 

[Havsop]

Love Wilderness Lodge!!

 

[Chelley00]

There is so much more to do at AKL than just watch animals. They have all kinds of activities (cookie decorating, animals activities, parade, campfire storytelling, night vision goggles) and the pool is great. We can spend an entire vacation just hanging there. If you aren't going to the parks, spending the day at AKL is great. And we've never had a problem with the busses there.

 

[mrsxsparrow]

Having stayed at both properties, I would recommend Animal Kingdom Lodge.

You don't have to buy a ticket to one of the parks to stay there. However, no ticket means no admission, so no, you would not be able to go to a park and walk around.

There are other things to do though. You can explore the hotel itself -- they have a bunch of different, free activities there. You can walk around and view the animals, visit the pool, see the animals after dark through night-vision goggles, etc.

There are also things to do in other areas. You can take a bus to Dowtown Disney, which is free to walk around, although with all the shops and restaurants there, its hard for me not to spend money! You can take a bus to Hollywood Studios, then walk or take the boat to the Boardwalk, where they have some entertainment (think magicians, etc). One of my favorite things to do is to take the bus to MK, then hop on the monorail, which is free. It stops at the Contemporary, the Polynesian, and the Grand Floridian. You can watch the fireworks from the beach at the Polynesian, which is pretty magical

Of course you can do these things no matter which resort you choose. But for me, I'd go with AKL no contest. There was honestly nothing like waking up, opening the window, and seeing a giraffe family feeding right outside my window!

 

[KatMark]

We have never stayed at the WL (it holds no appeal to me for a couple of reasons), but we just returned last week after having stayed at the AKL and I think we could very easily have found our new home. We loved absolutely everything about the resort and would highly recommend it to anyone.

 

[c&m]

We've had the same debate before - AKL or WL. We ended up choosing AKL because:

1. We had older kids who didn't need to be at MK for most of our time at WDW. In fact, we spent the least time at MK and most of our time at AK, Epcot, and the water parks.
2. They didn't need to go back to the hotel to take naps (though mom and dad kind of wanted to take a nap mid afternoon ).
3. We had a car rental that allowed us to get to point A to point B easily and efficiently. With the exception of AK park, AKL is kind of far away from other points of interest at WDW.
4. We were there for 7 days and had time to wander. If you're there for only 1 day, you may want to spend it at a resort closest to the park and points of interest you want to go to. You don't want to spend most of that 1 day riding the Disney bus.

AKL is beautiful and has many animals surrounding the property that absolutely "wowed" our family. However, having read your post that you have young children and only 1 day, I think WL may be better location-wise for your family.

Edited to add: I just re-read your original post, and noticed that you didn't want to pay more to get into a park. If you don't intend to get into a park, then you SHOULD stay at AKL. Their pool is amazing, and there's a nice slide for the kids. The animal viewing and the nighttime goggles to view them is pretty neat. There's storytelling by the campfire at night. During the day, they have activities outlined in an activity sheet they give you at check-in. Lots to do without being at the parks.

 

[judowoman]

I haven't stayed at WL yet, but I did recently stayed at AK and absolutely adored it, The hotel itself was amazing as was the CM's there. I will definetly be going back and staying there!

 

[Kelblum]

Both places are fantastic and you can't go wrong with either one! We love them both, if I had to chose one, it would probably be WL.

 

[Sue M]

AKL & WL are in opposite ends of WDW. You could do a web search for a map of WDW to give you an idea of the layout.

We've stayed at AKL once, and enjoyed it very much and have had 2 stays at WL, will be 3 in Jan
I love the boat to MK from WL, and there's just something about WL that pulls me in.

No bad choices there, both are great.

 

[h2odivers]

No the two resorts are not in walking distance. But definitely check out Wildeeness lodge. Because you are gonna want to stay at AKL With your kiddies. Take the boat from MK to wilderness lodge to hang out with Chip and Dale.

 

[bowbat]

I've narrowed our post-cruise stay down to these two hotels. Grand Floridian looked amazing (with an amazing discount) but just to 'adultish' for our toddlers. Even though they have the Alice in Wonderland dining, my kids I think would enjoy the live animals better.

That being said, which was your favorite? I'm leaning towards Animal Kingdom since they have the live animal viewing. Are the 2 hotels close enough though that we could walk over and explore Wilderness lodge? That's what I'm thinking anyways, get a room at Animal Kingdom, but explore Wilderness lodge and possibly stay for Chip N Dales campire sing-along, then back to our room for a little night time animal watching... And finish exploring Animal Kingdom before leaving the next morning.


The only reason I would choose Wilderness lodge over Animal Kingdom is if someone can tell me if they have animals at Wilderness lodge as well.. My kids, though having never seen Giraffe's outside the zoo, have still seen them. They haven't seen bears or antelope/deer, if Wilderness lodge has them then hands down that's our choice.. Lol

What say you??? AK or WL??

Thanks for moving, since it was moved I have another question. If it's on WDW property, do we have to pay park fee's to stay there?? Can we go to MK and just walk around? Sorry about this.. We plan on only staying 1 day so if there's not time we'd rather NOT have to pay the park fee's, especially for a family of 5.

If you are only staying one night and not going to any of the parks (you can't enter the parks without paying), I would go with AKL. There's so much to do & see right there at the resort, and you'll really get that "Disney" feel. The one negative to AKL is that it's so remote, which I think makes it ideal for a resort-only stay.

On the other hand, if you stayed at WL, you could easily visit other resorts. Take the boat to the Contemporary, then hop on the monorail to visit the GF and Poly. Plus, there's a lot to do right there at WL. We recently did a one-night, non-park stay there with our 5-year-old, and it was great. We explored the grounds, watched the geyser erupt, roasted marshmallows, chilled by the fire, etc.

Pretty sure I've been of no help. Really, you can't go wrong with either. Good luck with your decision!