AKL worth it?

[Chuckers]

That pool was so packed I couldn’t get 2 lounge chairs together when I went and you cannot see anything in pool area from the world’s most awkward hot tub*

*During my few days there every single afternoon people with luggage were waiting for their rooms by the hot tub. Thing was a dang magnet of a place for people with no room and no plans to soak in the FL sunshine

I only hit the pool/hot tub at 11 at night, the tub was usually not crowded then I can only imagine how packed it would be during the day.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I only hit the pool/hot tub at 11 at night, the tub was usually not crowded then I can only imagine how packed it would be during the day.

#WiseSoul

 

[Miffy]

I'm a fan of both resorts--AKL and POFQ--but in your case, I think the extra $700 would be well spent at AKL. It's an incredible resort--my favorite resort anywhere I've ever been--you'd get the advantage of the extra evening hours, and with some luck you might get a partial savannah view, although if you're in the parks all day, you might never see any animals.

Nevertheless, if the pool is unimportant, the room is unimportant, the decor is meaningless, and you'll hardly ever be at the resort, then you won't be unhappy with POFQ. The bus ride from there to both DHS and Epcot is quite short, there's a boat to DS, the resort itself is lovely, and with $700 you could buy a lot of G+s and ILLs and TS meals.

Really, only you know what you want from this trip. And, btw, if your son would be happy with just any old place, then you could save even more money by staying at a Value resort.

 

[CamillaF]

First have fun. There is no right or wrong answer here. I took my twins for there 9th birthday and stayed at AKL. It was an amazing resort and both feature pools were great. The food was delicious and I could just walk around and enjoy the resort.

The bonuses for AKL are the amazing pools, the food, the animals and the extra evening hours. Those last few deluxe hours of the night were some of my favorite. We Rope Dropped, Went back to hotel for a break, lunch and swim time (my family is not used to the heat and humidly of Florida in October) and then headed to the park till close. This allowed us to ride Guardian's of the Galaxy twice in Epcot, and Tron twice in Magic Kingdom. (once on the VQ and the second with extended hours VQ) Those hands down were my kids favorite rides in the park.

The downside is the price and the distance from the parks.

Have a great trip

 

[Specter]

No first hand experience with POFQ but we stayed at AKL last time and thoroughly enjoyed it, and we have historically been of the mindset that the resort just needed to be "good enough" because we are there for the parks, not the resort.

I will start by saying at AKL, we didn't make extensive use of the amenities, but when we did/those we did, we were really happy to have. DD was 3 and a half at the time and while we only went twice, once on our first full day when we didn't go to the parks and once on our Animal Kingdom day since the park doesn't stay open as late, she loved the playground of all things and it was great to burn off a little bit of extra energy. Also, we did not have a savannah view room but there are ample spots to see animals from and we walked the grounds and enjoyed those thoroughly. One of the most oddly graceful and simultaneously awkward looking things I have ever seen was seeing a young giraffe start running.

We were there in November and while there were some days that would have been ok it was generally cooler and we did not check out the pools. We have a neighborhood pool at home, plus my parents and DW's parents have pools, so swimming at Disney is never high priority for us. And typically, if we do bother, it is after the park day is done and we treat the quiet pools like a big soaking tub to ease the aches after several long park days.

We had gone prior to the pandemic when you used to have access to extra evening hours even if you weren't in a deluxe and so while it was a little frustrating needing to upgrade to get what we used to already have access to, as other's have said, those hours in the evening are almost worth the cost of the upgrade by themselves. DD was too small to ride but we were on the trip with other family and so we were able to take turns watching the kids and go on Guardians of the Galaxy a couple of times for the late VQ opening. We tried the earlier queues but never were able to snag them so those extra hours were really beneficial. Tron wasn't open at the time but I am confident we would have gotten to do that one too with the extra time.

We did really enjoy the dining options at AKL, too, and had dinner at Jiko, breakfast at Boma, and at at the quick service the name of which escapes me, and found all to be very good.

AKL is further from most of the other parks but we had read that before staying there and while we were initially concerned, especially because DD does better with midday breaks back at the hotel, we didn't find it to be that much more time spent in transit than other resorts we have stayed at, minus the monorail resorts obviously.

Whatever you choose, enjoy.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

We did really enjoy the dining options at AKL, too, and had dinner at Jiko, breakfast at Boma, and at at the quick service the name of which escapes me, and found all to be very good.

The Mara is the QS - our favorite QS on property! Jiko, Boma, Sanaa are also the best resort dining options we've found - our opinion, of course!

 

[I Run Long]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this but if you want to stay at AKL (I'm biased as we are DVC and own there), why not rent points? That way you can stay there for pretty much the same price as a stay at POFQ. Btw, I absolutely love POFQ too and we usually stay there as a pre-cruise resort for a couple of days. Whatever you decide, you can't go wrong with either but if you really want to experience AKL and also have the advantage of EE that comes with a deluxe resort, I would rent points.

 

[Flossbolna]

Since you say that part of the aim of this trip is to experience what is unique to WDW, I think staying at a fully themed deluxe and spending time there with the amenities is what makes WDW so special among the Disney resorts around the world. It’s called the Vacation Kingdom for a reason. It was planned as a place to come and relax and have fun at the parks, too. So my vote goes for AKL.

Also, after many stays there I never understood why people claim that it takes so long to get everywhere. Only MK takes a while, but I timed it in my last trip and it was under 20 minutes.

You also mentioned other activities like mini golf etc. Keep in mind that some of these are not easy to get to. For example Winter Summerland is only reachable by the Blizzard Beach bus - so only during Blizzard Beach opening hours. And getting there requires a transfer at AK. Tours are great fun, but I think for a first trip they take too much out of your day.

And finally, since you mentioned wanting to emphasize unique attractions and your son liking thrills I think the previous poster‘s point about getting more rides on Cosmic Rewind and Tron with EEH makes those more valuable to you (Cosmic Rewind is amazing and if I could I would want zornige this over and over again). After Hours at Studios get you Galaxy’s Edge which you have in California, too.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Also, after many stays there I never understood why people claim that it takes so long to get everywhere. Only MK takes a while, but I timed it in my last trip and it was under 20 minutes.

Our experience, as well. For folks who spend every other day at MK, the bus to and from would be long. But the bus trip from AKL to MK is the same distance as bus trips from any of the monorail resorts to AK, right?! I did some checking. If a family buses to each of the 4 parks once in their stay, the time on a bus from AKL, in total, is actually a couple minutes less than some resorts!! The resort is nicely isolated, very peaceful, but not nearly as remote as some would suggest! It works even better for us now, since we enjoy more days at AK than we do MK - just our preference, of course!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Also, after many stays there I never understood why people claim that it takes so long to get everywhere. Only MK takes a while, but I timed it in my last trip and it was under 20 minutes…

I was negligent on this point. OP you could be packed in like a sardine for 20-25 mins on a bus to/from AK standing the whole time. NBD to WDW vets but when I encountered it as a DLR vet I was like what the heck is this nonsense?!

I would spring for a Minnie van to MK or rideshare to TTC during busy times to/from MK if staying AKL.

 

[Genie+]

imho the best thing to do if you’re leaving during the mass exodus after MK fireworks -

Walk over to Bay Lake Tower and uber/rideshare.

Renting DVC definitely is an option worth consideration. Not sure when you plan to visit. Right now AKV has availability for standard and savannah view studios July through Dec 2024, with the exception being Sept is kind of patchy. Depending where you rent from (here on DIS should find $18pp, while broker likely $20pp+) and rooms 14-20pts/nt depending on date/view, Standard view ~$275-$330/nt and Savannah view $325-$375/nt. That’s including all cost (there are no taxes, parking fees, etc). KEEP IN MIND - regular cash bookings thru WDW have very generous cancellation/reschedule policies, and DVC rental requires commitment. We’ve rented DVC over 7 times so far without any issue, but we’re usually near 99.5% positive the trip will take place and everybody has their own risk there.

 

[AC168]

Both my kids (8 and 17 at time) loved AKL Savannah view. We split stay and did AKL for second part when we did most of parks already. One morning we hung out on balcony with three giraffes that were 50 yards away at most.

 

[karen4546]

Now that is a DVC worth buying! 1,038 years on contract

We love our DVC too. It really helps us get most out of WDW visits at a reasonable cost.

lol 2019. That is a lot of dues…..

 

[SharonZ]

I love AKL, but will only stay if I am booking a Savannah room. POFQ is great, I love it's small size and the NOLA theming. Save the $700 and stay at POFQ.

 

[TinkAgainU]

If you have done Disneyland and California Adventure a lot, you'll have the advantage of not needing to do Every single ride - so an early park day, with Resort time later is perfect. The bus time for AKL was a lot for me, so occasionally I would splurge on Uber since I could check the rate and then decide - sometimes it was super cheap For an adult, I'd say stay elsewhere and just go to AKL for Boma before sunset to see the animals come to eat, but for a kid, the pool and animals will be Memories. Be sure to get a few cool photos of all of you there (part of that Memory thing

 

[Disneyhanna]

I love AKL but I wouldn't pay rack rates for it. It's a great option to rent at, but it is far too late to rent for May as almost all nights are booked up on the DVC side. If $700 is a big enough difference that you need to weigh the pros and cons considerably, I think you should save the money and use towards experiences like After Hours as you mentioned. It sounds like your son isn't super into animals which is the major selling point of AKL. You can still visit the resort on your AK day (it's a 5 minute bus ride) and maybe you will fall in love with the resort and can stay there next time via a rental for less than you would pay at POFQ.

 

[CynBeth]

I have stayed at both. I did a 9 day AKL stay and a 6 day POFQ stay. Even if I have the money, I will never stay at AKL again. I did concierge level, so it should have been awesome. It was not. The room was very dark and had one outlet. This outlet was needed for 3 plugs. I had to get concierge to get me an extension cord. I had a savannah view and never saw any animals near my window.
The hotel is BIG and at the end of a long day walking the parks, I was exhausted trying to get to my room Also, with the exception of Animal Kingdom, it is the farthest hotel from ALL of the other parks. You will be on the bus for what feels like an hour
POFQ is da bomb. It's a small resort so walking back to your room at the end of the day isn't a chore. It's quaint, has one bus stop, and a nice pool/hot tub. It does NOT have a sit down resaurant, but that's okay since I eat most of my meals in the park.. it DOES have beignets!!! One of the only two places in the World you can get them. It also has a boat do Disney Springs which is really fun to take.

We also did not care for AKL. I would visit and have a meal at Boma. If you want a deluxe I would do WL instead. For moderate we loved POFQ and POR plus Caribbean Beach with the Skyliner.

 

[glocon]

We loved AKL!

That said, we had a savanna view room and that made all the difference.

Getting up and sitting on the balcony and watching the animals every morning is truly magical, unlike anything else you’ll find around.

If the $700 is doable, I’d say do it for the memories.

My DS27 still thinks that AKL is one of his favorite resorts anywhere and it’s been at least 10-15 years since our stay.

Only the ride to MK is very long, and like others have said, maybe Uber to that park.
Or don’t rope drop and the bus hopefully won’t be crowded.

If that is your child’s dream resort and this is likely your only visit, I’d say do it and plan your trip so you make sure to enjoy the resort amenities.

It’s an awesome and beautiful resort!

 

[Tigjam630]

You have gotten a lot of great info here already! My daughter is also 8 and we stayed at at AKL this past Fall. She was obsessed with the bead collecting activities around the resort. Going around and talking with the cast members from Africa, learning about different animals and parts of Africa was really memorable for her and one of her highlights the whole trip. We have always stayed in a standard room and requested the Kudu trail- and have always lucked out to get a partial savanna view, so that is my room request tip if you do end up staying there!

 

[Judique]

My son doesn’t have much of an opinion. He just wants a pool with a slide and to be happy. Nice but also not helpful.

Oh, but this is very helpful! Not all the resorts have slides. Correction: AKL's main pool does have a slide and you could also walk to Kidani.

I have never stayed at P. so not sure of it's slide situation.

We are staying 1 night end of March after a longer stay at VGF. Since we will have an 8 and 7 yo with us, we know that we will have to go over to Kidani just for the slide, but it's a resort only night and day so we will be finished with the parks and will just relax and eat at the great restaurants there.