Wilderness Lodge or Animal Lodge(Decisions, Decisions)

[MikeWazowski]

So far we've narrowed our resort picks down to the Wilderness Lodge or the Animal Kingdom Lodge. My family has never been to either before which is why there on the top of our list.

We are looking for somthing different. Which one has better transporation to the parks. Does the AKL only have buses.

Where are the standard rooms located in both resorts. Would you consider the room size to the standard rooms in the poly, grand, or contemp tower.

Thanks

 

[Hollymom1229]

The AKL is bus only transportation, but they run so well it felt like we never waited. This resort is amazing. From what I could tell most of the Standard rooms overlooked the parking lot, but when you step out of your room you can easily reach an animal viewing area. This place is what the magic is all about.

 

[susy]

I think AKL has the edge on transportation. We LOVED it there!!!! We are trying WL this November. Why not split your stay? Good luck!

 

[kdibattista]

Animal Kingdom Lodge!!! It's our new favorite hotel and I don't think we will be staying anywhere else. Here's a map... hope it helps

http://www.wdwig.com/aklmap3.jpg

 

[daannzzz]

I have stayed at both and they are both great. I like the decore inside the rooms at AKL better. At WL you take a boat to MK and buses everywhere else. We never had any trouble with the buses though at the time we went they stopped at the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian too. I hear now they go over to Fort Wilderness. At AKL the buses do not go to any other resorts to pick up guests.
The pool at WL is a hair more fun because the creek flows into it and the slid is amongst the rocks. At AKL the pool seems larger and has a different look. The slide is okay and not themed.
I thought the food court was laid out much better at AKL with more seating than at WL.
The WL is wonderful and does feel like you are in the Northwest but I love the AKL and we spent allot of time out on the balcony watching the animals.

 

[catheren]

We are trying to decide also between the WL and the AKL.
Both hotels are being offered at the same great std room rate w/ a code.

The rooms are much smaller than the Poly, CR. Not sure about the GF rooms. The AKL std rooms and WL std rooms are identical in size and layout. Rooms have 2 queens or 1 queen and a bunk bed.


We have stayed at the WL many times and its our favorite. Transportation to parks, etc is by bus -- w/ the exception of the CR and the MK, they have a boat. The location of the std rooms are usually the rooms surrounding the lobby. Views can be pking lot, roof top. (We have never had a std view, we have always been upgraded)

The theme is beautiful, northwest lodge, national parks.

We love the WL and don't want to be disappointed if the AKL is not what we hoped.

Any posters been to both? Thanks in advance.

 

[daannzzz]

As I said before I have been to both and each is wonderful. I had stayed at WL twice before my stay at AKL. We had a deluxe room at AKL so it was a bit bigger than the regular rooms at both resorts. I personally wouldn't go for a standard room at AKL as to me the whole point is being able to sit on the balcony and watch the animals. While I in general like the AKL better over all it is only slightly better. I still am more awed at the lobby of the WL and the actuall architecture of the building is more impressive there too.

 

[catheren]

daannzzz, thanks for your help.

Since I am going the std room rate, I will stay w/ the WL.

Perhaps we will make dinner ressies at the AKL and ck it out.

 

[daannzzz]

I am actually headed to WDW in May and will be in a woods view room at WL since the discounted price was much lower than a savannah view room at AKL.
I have eaten at Boma twice and loved it. The Food Court Mara was decent but not excellent and I will be trying out Jiko in May.

 

[Selket]

I haven't stayed at either hotel but was deciding among the deluxe resorts for our upcoming stay and I have a 5 yr old and another who will be 16 mos old when we are there. I am going with AKL because of the zero-entry pool (seems perfect for both children and me too for that matter!) and for the animals. I think both will really enjoy viewing the animals and I don't think WL has anything that can compare with that. Not sure either of them will appreciate the architecture of wherever we stay but the animals they will notice. WL has the boat to the MK but other than that, I've read better things about the AKL busses - a straight shot to any park. Also AKL is a newer hotel so perhaps it is in better shape but that may not be a factor if the upkeep is good everywhere at WDW.

Enjoy!

Carol G.

 

[JESW]

We have pondering the same thing. Our family has not been to either resort...yet.

We are considering splitting our stay next trip. IF we go in June we would like to stay at the AKL and The Boardwalk Inn. (One EPCOT resort and one MK resort). And IF we go in November (our usual time) we would like to stay at WL and The Beach Club (again, one EPCOT resort and one MK resort) I thought it would be nice to be at the WL during a cooler time as it reminds me of a winter resort. (When we were there last Nov. it was COLD)

From what others have said, I don't think you could go wrong at either resort.

Jill

 

[mom-2greatkids]

We have been to both WL and AKL. WL is definately our favorite. AKL was a beautiful resort with unbelievable theming, but we found WL to be much more relaxing. DD loves to play in the sand on the beach and watch the light parade--we missed those things at AKL. Also at WL you were able to rent the watercraft, which we haven't done yet but may do next year.

Last but not least, I would not go to AKL again without bringing brighter lightbulbs-LOL. Prior to our trip I had read that the rooms were dark and some people didn't like them. At the time I though these people were CRAZY for complaining a dark room. Well, when we walked into our room at AKL I could see just what them meant. In fact, our first morning there DD woke up and said "Turn on the lights" DH and I just laughted because all the lights were on.

Regardless of your decision either resort is beautiful. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

We have been to both WL twice and AKL once. My vote is AKL by far. Even though WL lobby is impressive - my response to AKL lobby was WOW!
I have travelled extensively and found AKL ranks right up there with my top favorite hotels. The CM's were excellent. We didn't go there for the animals (I actually was just curious about the hotel and Disney duplicating Kenya/Africa) but we ended up enjoying them every day.
The zero entry pool was great for our kids. All the restaurants were great - even liked Mara - ate there three times for lunch (and DH doesn't do food courts!) The kids loved Simba's Club, while we ate at Jiko (excellent!)
Didn't mind the lighting in the rooms - that's part of the ambiance. Also this was the first time I actually enjoyed the walk to/from the lobby. There are windows to look out at the animals, hidden mickey's in the carpet and interesting African facts on the walls.
As far as the WL - we liked it as well and we did go back there to look around since it was about 4 years since we were there last. We actually went there to rent a pontoon boat for the afternoon (which you can do if you are staying at another resort)Found the hallways to be a little tired (IMHO - this is to be expected because of the high occupancy rates at Disney) whereas the AKL is still new.
I guess the bottom line for us was that WL is nice (and good location to MK) but if you want to stay at a hotel that is truly different that you cannot get outside of North America - AKL is it!

 

[RedE2Go]

Just adding my 2 cents...
We were in the same position as you a few months ago. I really liked both resorts and knew this would be our only time to get to stay at a Deluxe. All things seemed fairly equal....I heard some positive and negative reports on both resorts, with positive comments outweighing negative (on both resorts). What finally helped with my decision was that I will NEVER be going to Africa and this resort is totally different than anything else. While I probably will never stay at a mountain lodge as nice as WL, I am at least familiar with it. AKL is as close to Africa as I will ever get though.
I'm sure I would have loved WL, but I don't regret my decision to stay at AKL. What ever your decide, you will have a great experience.

 

[All Aboard]

We first stayed at AKL in Sep of 2002 and absolutely loved it. For our January trip this year, I first booked WL. We had visited many times and eaten at Whispering Canyon several times but had never stayed there. Shortly before travelling, I decided to split our stay between WL & AKL. First, to give us some variety but more importantly if we liked WL less than AKL, we would at least know that we would be spending time at AKL.

We enjoyed our time at WL, but spent the last day and a half looking too forward to moving over to AKL. Bottom line, we really enjoy AKL more. Here are our pros and cons:

View - AKL wins big time. The savanna view is so unbelievably unique. We had a courtyard view at WL over the pool. We, of course could see Bay Lake from there. Nice, but not overwhelming. At AKL, the moment we would enter the room, we'd run to the balcony to see "who" was there. It is an E-ticket attraction on it's own.

Lobby and resort interior - again, AKL wins hands down. The lobby is very cozy and often quite quiet. Whispering Canyon is much fun, but creates a loud atmosphere at WL's lobby and sitting area. The african artifacts spread thoughout AKL are fun to find. The view from the lobby seating area is magnificent (though the giant window). At WL, the theming is great, but no view of the outside.

Exterior of resort - WL looks better when viewing the outside. The walk up from the boat dock reveals a fantastic looking building - better than AKL.

Pool - AKL has a huge pool, colored to give it a natural appearance. It has the zero entry which is nice and a much, much better water slide. WL's hot tub is out in the open, AKL's is buried within landscaping - very nice.

Full Service Restaurant - can't judge, have never eaten at Artist Point or Jiko.

Family Restaurant - Boma is our favorite WDW restaurant. Plus, it fills the resort with such a wonderful aroma. I got into the habit of holding by breath as we walk up and then taking in a huge breath as we entered - marvelous.

Food Court - The Mara has a better selection, more seating, much better decor than Roaring Fork. One small, but meaningful to some comparison is the variety of beverages for the mugs. RF has just the basics, The Mara has at least 50% more choices including Cherry Coke and Mr. Pibb.


We really enjoyed WL, but AKL is our solid favorite.

 

[bliss4us]

We've stayed at both, and both are absolutely lovely.

I think WL had a nicer lobby - the fireplace is breathtaking - but AKL is certainly very cool as well. My preference for WL is purely personal taste - I love that whole lodge look!

The two resorts were designed, I believe, by the same person. Even though the themes are utterly different and SO well done - oh, the attention to detail! - you can see a general similarity between the way the two are designed. I wish I could give a more eloquent explanation, but if you see both, it will all make sense.

The capper for me? The animals at AKL. We had a third floor savannah view room on the Zebra trail (I think that was it) and could not get over how cool it was to have ankole cattle, giraffes, etc., hanging around outside our room!!!

I think WL has a nicer pool, though. The geyser is a great touch, too, and the boat service is fun. When we stayed at WL, though, we did have a bit of trouble getting places in a timely manner. It may have been us, though, since that was our first trip to the World.

Both places have good restaurants. Artist Point is super, but I prefer AKL, with both Boma and Jiko. We loved them!


I guess if I HAD to choose, I'd take AKL again. But what a choice to make! We're DVC owners, and our home resort is - can you guess? - VWL.

It would be hard to make a bad choice here.

Daisy

 

[JLS]

My husband and I stayed at the WL for a week in July of 2000 - we LOVED this resort. It was our first on-site trip to WDW. the boat was the best, and we liked being near the lagoon and the other MK resorts. there was really nothing we didn't like about the WL. Had a very nice meal at Artist Point.

We are going again this May and really wanted to try to AKL, so we decided to do that for 3 nights, and then we are renting points at the VWL for 3 nights following our AKL stay. 3 nights in each resort seems just right. Its will be like 2 different vacations.

Good luck with your choice. I think if you can split, do it, because then you can check out both and if you really love one over the other, you can just stay in that one next time.

 

[Synonymous]

Been to WL a few times, and absolutely, positively, no question-about-it, love the place. We've been to AKL just for the restaurants, and it is gorgeous. So this time, we're going to try a couple nights at AKL before we head to WL Villas. It will be hard being in a hotel room after getting used to villas, but I think being at AKL will be worth it.