Help complete newbie AKL or POFQ?

[Bovril82]

Hi all,

We are a family of 4. Two children of 8 and 5 on our planned travel date.

I want to book before the hamper part of the 2022 offer expires, but I've left hotel research a little late!

We have never been to Disney.

When I first looked AKL seemed like the perfect choice for us, but I am wondering if it is a little out on a limb. Will we struggle with evening restaurant options over 2 weeks? I am assuming the children will be very tired at the end of the day so we wont want to go far and POFQ looks like a convenient hop to Disney Springs for more options. Also, AKL is a lot more ££.

Can anybody with experience at AKL help?

Thanks so much, panicking a bit!

[loldis]

If you think you'll only be eating near the resort rather than at the parks (or other resorts) of an evening then yes, POFQ might be a better option. You've got the boat to DS as mentioned, but you can also stroll over to POR and use their restaurants. It's also a great first resort choice since it's quite small by Disney standards.

But AKL isn't that far on the bus to DS, you're probably only looking at an extra 10 minutes compared to POFQ.

ETA: What a lot of families (and even me as a solo adult ) do is spend the mornings in the parks and head back to the resorts shortly after lunch. That give you a few hours to relax, even nap if you need it, before heading back out in the evenings. This could potentially open up a lot of dining options for you compared to exhausting yourself trying to spend all day in the park then not wanting to go anywhere of an evening.

[Rding]

If its your first time your going to want so see all the nightime fireworks,shows and parades probably more than once so thats a fair few nights taken up in any case. Add on to that youve 2 amazing restaurants at AKL Boma a great buffet,Jiko's(expensive but worth it imo)and Sanna over at Kidani village. I don't remember the food court that much so cant comment on that. The hotel is further away from the parks except AK but not that you really notice and the bus ride to DS is probably not much longer than the boat from POFQ. The one thing I will say is that I have never not got on a bus to and from AKL to DS but have had to wait for boats to and from POFQ as there were big lines.
Given the choice I would go for AKL we have done it with kids as young as yours and we diddn't find it difficult in fact if they did rooms for five it would be our 1st choice every time.

[Claudette]

I think that a lot is made of AKL being out on a limb, in the middle of nowhere, miles from anywhere else. However when you actually look at a map, it is simply not true. I have not yet stayed at AKL, but I have visited it many times, I have taken Disney transport between there and parks or Disney Springs and have found no discernible difference between those journey and any other journeys I have made on Disney transport.

I have AKL booked for my next trip, I think it has some great dining options which I am keen to try out for both dinner and breakfast where available. But I think you have a fair point that the boat to Disney Springs provides easy access to many more dining options.

I briefly considered changing to POFQ based on cost and simply because I would like to try the resort one day. I decided to stick with AKL because of the evening hours and I want to see if there are any more deluxe hotel guest advantages coming. We are an adult only party, but if there were children, the theming of AKL would be another reason that I would stick with AKL versus POFQ.

[Bovril82]

Thanks so much for your reponses! I think we have discounted Orleans.

One last question. This is probably a how long is a piece of string thing really. But, my husband wanted to book a value resort initially as he said we will never be at the hotel as it is our first time at Disney exploring the parks. Is he right? AKL is an extra £3500 to the value resort my husband picked out. Will we be at AKL on an average first timer's trip to make it worth it?

[loldis]

Personally, I agree with your husband. Especially for AKL, as the main draw is the animals and you'll probably only sit and enjoy the view for a few minutes a day before you're off to the parks. However, families with young kids say that they really appreciate having the balcony as somewhere to sit in the once the kids are asleep. I have no idea if that is worth it, not having kids myself.

FWIW, I used to stay deluxe but they've shot up in price over the last few years and really aren't worth it to me now. £3.5k is a lot of money which even if you can afford, can always be spent on something other than a slightly nicer room and potentially extra benefits over value. They've currently only announced one, the extra evening hours. So now I would only choose deluxe if it was a very special occasion, or I got a deeply discounted deal.

All Star Movies would probably be my pick for families at the moment. The rooms are recently refurbished, the resort theming is really fun and the kids will probably love it. It's cheap by Disney standards, and will get you to the parks nearly as quickly as any other resort on property. I'm booked in All Star Music which should also be newly refurbished (it's currently closed, so can't confirm - was due to complete though) but I think the Movies external theming is better. Rooms are pretty much identical between these two and Pop Century, just slightly different art/fabrics at Pop. But Pop is another one to look at if you're still concerned about dining, since you have the Skyliner which opens up easy access to quite a few resorts (you can visit and dine at any other resort, it's typically only pool access that is limited to guests only) plus Epcot.

You'll lose the gift basket staying at a value since this is only for mod/deluxe bookings but IMO, the contents aren't worth writing home about. Nothing you can't buy in the parks except maybe the coin, but there'll be more than enough 50th merch available to make up for that.

[The Fatadder]

The other thing to think about is that Disney have now confirmed the extra magic hours policy when it returns in October. All hotels will have half an hour extra access to all parks in the mornings, while the deluxe hotels will get additional evening hours. So going to AKL will get you the latter, but POFQ will not.

Who knows what Fastpass is going to look like when/if it returns, but I have a feeling that we will end up seeing a similar change where the higher level hotels will come with additional benefits.

I was considering between POFQ and AKL for next year (for 2020 we were booked to be in POFQ, while for the replanned August 21 we moved that to Saratoga Springs). In the end I decided to go with AKL

[Claudette]

Originally Posted by Bovril82

Thanks so much for your reponses! I think we have discounted Orleans.

One last question. This is probably a how long is a piece of string thing really. But, my husband wanted to book a value resort initially as he said we will never be at the hotel as it is our first time at Disney exploring the parks. Is he right? AKL is an extra £3500 to the value resort my husband picked out. Will we be at AKL on an average first timer's trip to make it worth it?

See more...

I find the often said “we won’t be in our room we are on holiday” makes me roll my eyes. Of course you will be in your room, you don’t wake up and immediately leave and you don’t get in there and immediately fall asleep. I don’t go on holiday to sit in my room any more than the next person, but I have never stayed in a hotel room and not noticed things about it such as the quality or comfort level. I dare say with two young children, you would spend a bit more time in the room than we would as two middle aged adults.

I have never stayed at a value, although I have had Pop booked for a couple of night twice in the last twelve months (not gone ahead obviously) as we wanted to try it out on a short stay, with a view to staying there longer in the future. I think the theming at the values is fabulous, we have been watching some vlogs lately though and we are thinking that maybe it wouldn’t be for us for a longer stay, but it looks great for young families.

I think if I were choosing between AKL and POFQ with say a £1000 price difference, I could justify AKL. A £3500 difference is something else though. In the past split stays weren’t viable because of free dining offers, but with the far less generous dining credit offer, it is something to think about. A week at a value followed by a week at AKL would be great.

[loldis]

Originally Posted by Claudette

I think if I were choosing between AKL and POFQ with say a £1000 price difference, I could justify AKL. A £3500 difference is something else though. In the past split stays weren’t viable because of free dining offers, but with the far less generous dining credit offer, it is something to think about. A week at a value followed by a week at AKL would be great.

See more...

I'd agree with this, split stays are more attractive now. Although I wouldn't book the second week in AKL now, I would wait for the free nights offer that is typically released around November. This doesn't normally require tickets to qualify, so the tickets from your first booking would still be valid. And AKL usually qualifies for 2 free nights per week so on my dates, that would reduce it from £426/night to £304. Still over double a value, but much more palatable.

If it were me, I would book the full stay in the value now, just to secure a room. Then if the free nights offer is as good as usual and available on your dates, amend the dining offer booking to 1 week and create a second booking for free nights.

[Kat11]

Originally Posted by loldis

I'd agree with this, split stays are more attractive now. Although I wouldn't book the second week in AKL now, I would wait for the free nights offer that is typically released around November. This doesn't normally require tickets to qualify, so the tickets from your first booking would still be valid. And AKL usually qualifies for 2 free nights per week so on my dates, that would reduce it from £426/night to £304. Still over double a value, but much more palatable.

If it were me, I would book the full stay in the value now, just to secure a room. Then if the free nights offer is as good as usual and available on your dates, amend the dining offer booking to 1 week and create a second booking for free nights.

See more...

Sorry to jump in on this thread but would you happen to know if the free nights incorporate Easter? I’ve had to move our Aug holiday to April so I’d miss the free dinning credits offer. I’m presuming that there’s no free night offers in April either but if there was a chance I’d wait until November to book our rooms.

Kat