Choice of accommodation
 

Going to stay onsite for 7 days in October 2019 and was looking at the accommodation. and would like some advise

We have nailed it down to either

Animal Kingdom Lodge (Savanna View) Or

Fort wilderness cabin

both are the same price so not sure as we have never stayed at any Disney hotels before

Which one would you pick and why?

TIA :wavey:

Out of those two, Animal Kingdom Lodge. It's an amazing resort with some of the best restaurants onsite - and animals! We've stayed twice and never had problems with the transport, and I know that some say the rooms are dark - it's themed as an African hunting lodge, so it fits the (fabulous) theming.

Sounds good to me

Im still none the wiser! :)

AKL comes with free DDP and Fort Wilderness cabins comes with free QSDP. Do your prices include upgrading the QSDP to the DDP at FW?

No I didnt realise that there was FREE DDP. It does not say when I check the availability, it just tells me to add the DDP.

That's because it's not released yet, but will be in the next couple of weeks (19th April is the date we're all working to), so I'd hold off booking until then. There are lots of threads about it and the boards will light up once it's released. Booking accommodation now is pretty much the most expensive way to do it.

I just tried a booking again and it asks to add the DDP or QSDP as an extra

For accommodation/resort choice, I'd personally chose AKL over FW. FW is huge! There's an internal bus system that runs 3 or 4 different loops. You can park your car by your cabin, bit there's no parking at the pools or Pioneer Hall where the shop and restaurants are. Depending where you are it can be a long walk, so you need to use the internal buses, or hire a gold buggy, bit they're expensive.

AKL has more of a wow factor and is much smaller with it being a hotel set up. The pool looks so much better too, whereas the one at FW looks like a basic hole in the ground - there's no sculpting to it or anything that makes it fun or special.

If you like the look of the theming at FW, but prefer a smaller hotel style set up, then have a look at Wilderness Lodge too. That's a gorgeous resort and one that we hope to stay at some day :)

As I said, FREE dining isn't released yet, so you only have the option of adding it and paying for it at present. Wait a couple of weeks for release and then it will be free.
AKL gets free DDP
FW gets free QSDP
To upgrade from free QSDP to DDP costs £17 per night for ages 10+ and £3 per night for ages 3-9.

You won't see anything yet, but prices for free dining pretty much stay the same as they are pre free dining (ie - now). Some prices even go down! If they do rise, it's usually only by a small amount and certainly nowhere near the value if free dining. You just need to wait and keep your eye on here for news of the release.