to AKL or not to AKL, that is the question?

[BevS97]

ok - trying to kick things off in here...

we;ve got a villa booked for the full 2 weeks,  but I have booked AKL for the last 2 nights as I quite fancied a treat - but it is starting to seem a little daft to go and pay for a hotel room when we have already got a villa sitting there paid for,

What do you think? AKL or stay put and save the money??

Bev

[Deano]

Hi Bev
Probabley not going to help here but i though i'd say Hello.
If it was me i think id still spend a night at AKL just to pamper myself and get a final blast of Disney before you return home.

[Anita]

Whats Money? if your finances are ok I say go for it  ,
Its only 2 night what else would you do with money ?

[theFatman]

Personally as nice as the hotels are, I'd spend the money on more memorable experiences such as character meals, cirque etc, you can visit the hotels and walk around and be nosey just as much as a paying guest.
Its really a question of what your into, we spent many years before having kids flying Business and staying in 4-5 star hotels, money didn't matter and we lived the life of luxury, now we've got the ankle biters that seem to consume vast ammounts of non returnable cash I look for the most economical route for accomodation and spend on events that are more memorable for them and us, that said if I hadn't have flown business class and stayed at top hotels I'd want to do it just to try it ,

So I'm no help at all really, apart from saying I bet Katie would rather $100 spending spree in Toy R Us than a night at AKL ,

[Angie]

We're also sayig in a villa and i thought maybe this would be a nice treat for everyone to stay onsite for a couple of nights. However when i asked everyone all they said was "no way...we want our own pool to swim at night"   so much for my bright idea  ,

[Kazzie]

While we're at our villa (well not OUR villa if you know what I mean!, in October,I've booked to stay one night at Hard Rock(the night we're doing HHN)I did (and do) think it was a bit of  a waste of money to pay for the villa and HRH for one night.But the thought of taking all the gear we'll have from the vill and try and fit it in a hotel room,instead I'd rather do what I'm doing and just travel light there with a few clothes.

If its not too much why don't you go for it?

.........Karen......... ,

[NatalieD]

Bev,
I personally think that once you've had the space of a villa, the confines of just one room might be a bit limiting - this is what we've found since we've had our timeshare, in other words we've become spoiled! When we went to Sanibel for a couple of days during our Dec trip even the kids moaned about how small the room was compared to the Vistana. So if money is no object, go for it for the experience but I'm with DFM - I'd sooner spend the money on Katie
JMO!
Natalie

[Carole]

I suppose it depends on why you want to do it. We're thinking of having a night at the Hard Rock but just for the perk of getting express pass for the day. We may not even sleep there. What do you hope to get at AKL that you couldn't get by just going there for a meal and a wander round?
On the other hand, if the funds are there and you just fancy doing it, then go for it.  ,

[ANGEL]

I'd go for it Bev, just MHO as thats what we're planning next year, a couple of nights at HRH at the end of the holiday.  Just a taster of the high life, so to speak!! .

[Princess Fiona R]

Go for it Bev, AKL was lovely but we had so little time when visiting just for a meal!!

[AlisonB]

Definitely go for it Bev!

We stayed in the Poly for the last few nights of our holiday (and paid rack rate , , which is probably less than AKL and the villa combined!, and it was almost the most memorable part of the holiday for Shaun and I. The girls loved it too - but they would probably have been more impressed with the views of the savannah!

[Wendy]

Hi Bev - OK now for my honest opinion!

I don't know if you remember but we were upgraded to AKL for two weeks last December, not really our choice as we had booked to go to POR... AKL is a very nice hotel but its not really worth spending alot more on a room when you can still see it as a visitor. I do not know what you have booked and if you got a good deal or not, but we had a standard room with a side savannah view ( I can let you know the name and number). We saw 4 giraffes (now and again) antelopes, deer and lots of birds. It was lovely to sit out on the balcony and watch them but you can see all of this from the viewing areas as well.

If you are going to spend all of your time around the resort I would say definetly go for the room, the pool is lovely but it all depends how you are going to fill your time whilst you are there.

I have only been to one Disney resort so have nothing to compare it with..... have you written down all the positive and negative aspects to see which list is the longest, might help you decide?

Another vote for if you have the money go for it but if in any doubt DONT!!!

Wendy

[MickeyMcMouse]

We are kinda in same position, before we bought into DVC we used my bosses villa on Gulf Coast for hols (unpaid overtime , ) and we always used to book 2 or 3 nights at a WDW hotel before driving down. It's great to get of plane and be checked into your hotel within an hour.

We nearly always went to WL ( fell in love with the place ) but in Jan decided to go to AKL to try it. WOW what a place. It's quite like WL, same guy designed it, but the animals are something else. We were supposed to be there for 3 nights and extended it to 4 .

The cms are great there and it was a competition tosee who could get the most "mornings" when the loser had to go and get the coffee in the morning . ,

If you get the chance, I would definately go. We would go back at the drop of a hat.

David ,

[Lisag]

Yup, I'd go for it!

We stayed in a villa for 15 days in November and moved to The Polynesian for an extra 4 nights and it was FANTASTIC!!!!

I'm not sure I'd do it again but that's because we have 3 young children and after having the space of a huge villa it's not exactly relaxing with 5 in a room.  The other small problem we had was checking in.  It took absolutely ages, I reckon with packing everything up from the villa and moving to the Poly we lost 1/2 a day, but then we're not really organised (see 3 young children!!,

We were really spoilt at the Poly and I would absolutely love to go there again but the thought of us all in the same room fills me with dread.  It's a pity Disney don't do Kid suite rooms.

Lisa

[Enright78]

Inclined to agree with Dave, I'd rather spend the money elsewhere (perhaps a nice meal at AKL?). Also couldn't face packing twice! ,

[Scotty]

Bev We have just done this and personally I wouldnt do it again, The torrential rainfall while we were there could have had something to do with my view however. We were there during peak season so it was a horrendous amount of money, and we couldnt even use the pool! The final am things were better and the atmosphere changed but the room was small - no bigger than DL and the balcony was tiny. I would go back for a meal as Boma was great.
Mo

[cat]

We did this in Dec 03, in the middle of our stay we went to AKL for 2 nights and it was great. We did use AP rates for the stay and that swung it for us. We did the same last year but with the contemporary resort instead (AP's again).
To sum up, if we had to pay full wack then we probably wouldn't have gone, but with AP rates I'd definately do this. (Kids keep asking when can we go back to AKL).

Not sure about going at the end though, we went in the middle of the holiday and just took the minimum luggage we could for the 2 nights stay, left the rest in the villa.

[BONZO]

Just locking this thread as it's nearly 2 years old!

Please feel free to start a new thread if there are any new relevant questions.