Honeymoon Resort Question..

[PBarton]

Hi Everyone!:wave:

Can I ask a few questions?

We will be travelling to WDW next year (early May) for our Honeymoon!!

We are going to stay at a WDW resort, and are currently looking at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. Can any recent AKL visitors please give feedback re. room/food/location. And how good is the transport (we will ONLY be using WDW transportation for the whole stay).

We have stayed at the All Star Movies twice now, and have found the WDW busses to be fine, although we have needed to wait for ages on the return trip to All Stars, esp. from Downtown Disney and the Magic Kingdom - how does the AKL compare?

Also, how does the AKL compare with the Swan/Dolphin or the Wilderness lodge?

Any feedback would be very much appreciated, you guys are awesome!

Thank you!

Paul

 

[RoninHood]

Your getting married,ah poor guy.

 

[Moustronaut]

Also, how does the AKL compare with the Swan/Dolphin or the Wilderness lodge?

AKL is very similar to WL as far as room size goes. These are both the smallest of the deluxe rooms on Disney property. The only differences would be themeing. Do you want pacific northwest forests and lakes or african grasslands and animals. The amenities should be about the same.

Swan/Dolphin will be a bit different. It's not operated by Disney so you'll see different amenities than other Disney hotels. You still get extra magic hours and package delivery but you will not be able to charge things to your room. The S/D's theming is more fantasy than based on a particular place like the Disney resorts. I'm not sure how the room size compares but at S/D you do get the Starwood Heavenly bed. Also the you get high speed internet access at S/D included in the extra $10/day resort fee. They have many and varied restaurants and offer different transportation options to MGM and Epcot including buses, boats, and just plain walking.

Bottom line... you can't go wrong with any of these choices. It just comes down to personal preference. Have a great trip.

 

[PBarton]

AKL is very similar to WL as far as room size goes. These are both the smallest of the deluxe rooms on Disney property. The only differences would be themeing. Do you want pacific northwest forests and lakes or african grasslands and animals. The amenities should be about the same.

Swan/Dolphin will be a bit different. It's not operated by Disney so you'll see different amenities than other Disney hotels. You still get extra magic hours and package delivery but you will not be able to charge things to your room. The S/D's theming is more fantasy than based on a particular place like the Disney resorts. I'm not sure how the room size compares but at S/D you do get the Starwood Heavenly bed. Also the you get high speed internet access at S/D included in the extra $10/day resort fee. They have many and varied restaurants and offer different transportation options to MGM and Epcot including buses, boats, and just plain walking.

Bottom line... you can't go wrong with any of these choices. It just comes down to personal preference. Have a great trip.

Thanks Moustronaut! That is exactly the sort of reply that I was looking for!! (keep them coming everybody!)

Yes, I was reading about the Starwood Heavenly bed in our brochure, is it really THAT good??

Re. the AKL lodge transport.. Does each destination have a dedicated stop at the Hotel, or is it a case of waiting at the stop until the correct bus arrives?

 

[SnowWhite5669]

Wilderness Lodge honeymoon suite is absolutley incredible. We stayed there for our anniversary in February. It's on the conceirge level... king sized bed... huge jacuzzi tub... balcony... very romantic!! Artist Point for dinner is also very very good! Oh and do the fireworks cruise that leaves right from WL! WL overall is a very romantic place to stay. We went back in May and loved it just as much even though it wasn't the honeymoon suite!! We took the boat most of the time to the Contemporary and used the monorail to get around. So it's the best of everything!! Don't pick an All-Star for your honeymoon though.

 

[K-dub]

Paul,

AKL & WL are our 2 favorite Disney resorts! We were in AKL in April and are headed to WL in Oct..

Regarding your quest for the best "Honeymoon Resort" choice, I believe I'd opt for the AKL. There are numerous romantic areas in and around the Lodge.

The rooms are decorated with a little darker,(more romantic), wood tones and colors and the window treatments are heavier/darker to keep out morning light for those "sleep-in" mornings.

The swimming pool is open 24/7/365 and is VERY romantic around 1-2 am with steam gently rising form it's surface and dim lighting.

In regards to food, there are 2 of the nicest restaurants "on-property" @ AKL. Boma is the highly acclaimed buffet restaurant and Jiko is the nicer fine-dining restaurant. Both are must-dos for the honeymooning couple whether you stay there or not! We celebrated our 24th anniversary @ Jiko in April. Fantastic!!! You can find menus for these 2 rstaurants here. http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm#res

The food court @ AKL is fairly similar to most other resort food courts although there is a pretty heavy emphasis on African flavors and can get a bit old after 3-4 days. You won't find any straws available in these restaurants/food courts since you will be near the animals and their savannahs.

The bus transportation between AKL & the parks, DD, and water parks in my opinion, is superior to most other resorts even though it's usually a further distance travelled. AKL's seclusion causes it to not have to share bus routing with any other resort, thus there is less down time swinging through other resorts coming and going.
Short version= you always travel where you want to go rather than other guest's resorts enroute.

Again, AKL should be a very nice fit for you, especially if you're adventuresome in food tastes.

 

[PBarton]

Wilderness Lodge honeymoon suite is absolutley incredible. We stayed there for our anniversary in February. It's on the conceirge level... king sized bed... huge jacuzzi tub... balcony... very romantic!! Artist Point for dinner is also very very good! Oh and do the fireworks cruise that leaves right from WL! WL overall is a very romantic place to stay. We went back in May and loved it just as much even though it wasn't the honeymoon suite!! We took the boat most of the time to the Contemporary and used the monorail to get around. So it's the best of everything!! Don't pick an All-Star for your honeymoon though.

Thanks SnowWhite5669.. We will only be staying in a normal room, for ££/$$ reasons!

We have stayed at the Sequoia Lodge at DLP (pardon the spelling!) From photographs that I have seen of the WL rooms, the two resort room styles look very similar..

We will probably stay at the AKL, I just need some feedback to make sure that we are making the right choice.

Re. The boat transportation from WL.. Last time we stayed at the All Stars, we got a bus over to the WL to check it out, and decided to take the boat back to Magic Kingdom. We enjoyed the trip, but found it took a long time to get there (although we might be mistaken). The same story applies when travelling between MGM and Epcot via the Swan/ Dolphin.. it just seemed to take forever!

 

[mousermerf]

If i recall correctly (I might not, it happens - see the SSE thread!)..

AKL, WL and Grand Cali were all designed by the same architect - thus very similiar in styles.

AKL is really neat in the way that off to the side of the main lobby it "sinks into the ground" to a lower level with the restaurants. I thought that was a really cool style mark.

AKL and WL main lobbies are practically identicle in their massive size and granduer - just different themes. I like WL, but I would like to visit AKL (I've been to it, never stayed there) so its really whichever you choose, you wont be losing out.

I'd say WL in the winter and AKL in the summer - just because summer's heat supports the African theme and the Winter supports the Wilderness theme (with its quilts and fireplace!).

 

[honeymooner05]

Congrats PBarton! We're going to stay at the Beach Club for our honeymoon in September. We chose that hotel because it's close to our 2 favorite parks (we love the 5 minute walk from the resort to EPCOT to eat the food in the countries). We also like the idea of walking across to the Boardwalk for some drinks at Jellyrolls and being able to walk back and not have to wait for a bus. If you stayed at the Swan or Dolphin you would be able to walk to the Boardwalk too.

 

[mousermerf]

Oh, i dont recommend the Swan/Dolphin. they're both currently under rehab being repainted and such, but i just don't like them.

They don't inspire me.. convienent, but that's about it. I feel the same way about Boardwalk, Yacht, and Beach - all just sorta "blah" to me.

 

[PBarton]

The food court @ AKL is fairly similar to most other resort food courts although there is a pretty heavy emphasis on African flavors and can get a bit old after 3-4 days. You won't find any straws available in these restaurants/food courts since you will be near the animals and their savannahs.

Thanks again!

Can you explain the food courts please, I presume (??) that they are of a higher standard than the ASM. We could live with the food courts there, as we were at the parks most of the time anyway (we are in the first to arrive, last to leave club at the parks!).

We did find the food courts got VERY busy several times during our stays at ASM, does the same happen at the AKL??

I appreciate all of the feedback everyboby!

 

[lebeau]

We stayed at AKL for our honeymoon and it was a wonderful experience. I haven't stayed anywhere else on property - so I can't offer much by way of comparisson. But I can't think of an area in which the experience could have been improved - particularily for a honeymoon. If you do decide to stay there, I can promise you won't regret the decision. You'll love it!

 

[K-dub]

Can you explain the food courts please, I presume (??) that they are of a higher standard than the ASM. We could live with the food courts there, as we were at the parks most of the time anyway (we are in the first to arrive, last to leave club at the parks!).

I've been to the food court @ AS Music and it's much larger than AKL's or WL's. They have to be larger because there's no other food choices @ the AllStars.

As far as theAKL's being a "higher standard", there are trade offs both ways I think. The AllStars have lots more choices of "mainstream" foods available. The AKL foodcourt has the normal selections plus several "African themed" food choices.

Since I'm more of a 'drag out of bed around 10am' club member, I couldn't even tell you what AKL food court offers for breakfast or how crowded it is then. I have heard there's a very nice breakfast buffet in Boma every morning. I swear, I've gotta check that out sometime!

 

[lebeau]

Thanks again!

Can you explain the food courts please, I presume (??) that they are of a higher standard than the ASM. We could live with the food courts there, as we were at the parks most of the time anyway (we are in the first to arrive, last to leave club at the parks!).

We did find the food courts got VERY busy several times during our stays at ASM, does the same happen at the AKL??

I appreciate all of the feedback everyboby!

The food court was frequently slammed and was easily the weakest aspect of our stay there. Prices were high and the quality of the food was low. (My wife got some pre-packed fruit most of which was overripe and she got a pre-packed PB&J sandwich which was stale!) On the whole, we rarely ate at the food court. But there are 2 very fine restaraunts on site; Boma and Jiko.

Generally, we only used the food court (Mara) for "quick hits". I'd grab a cinamon roll (mmmm) and a cup of coffee before heading out to the trams. Usually for burger and fry-level fast food, we'd eat somewhere else. For an actual meal at AKL, we'd eat at Boma or Jiko. There were also some groceries available at Mara which were quite expensive but better quality than the fast-food offerings. We also got room service a couple of times which was fine - which was both convenient and romantic.

 

[PBarton]

Thanks everyone!

I will be leaving here now - (until tomorrow of course ), but will check back in the morning, via my works internet to read any further postings...

You guys/gals are the best!!:wave: :sohappy:

 

[Epcot82Guy]

I just have to second what everyone has said and simply emphasize that you will not be making a bad choice either way. Just a note. If you are looking to save money, you might look into a nice room at one of the moderates. When you have these suites, you get some special treatment, especially when they know it is your honeymoon. Regardless, two of my friends came back from a honeymoon at WL (regular room) and loved it. Two others stayed at AKL for their honeymoon in 2003 and loved it (they had a Savannah room - GET THIS if you go there).

Really, the resort will not make a huge difference. Each one is outstanding in its own way. Pick a theme you like, and plan lots of time to explore the others. You will find some great food finds and romantic spots, especially at Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, and the Boardwalk.

Have a great time!