I made a change ... for the better? I hope so!

[Jimmy Mouse]

I had a Yacht Club standard room booked for 4/20 - 4/28 2019 but with the new passholder rates I got Animal Kingdom Lodge, Club Level with Savanna View for just $459.22 more. I know I will save that alone with food and drinks since we would do breakfast daily and we do drink alcohol in the evenings. Also I think the kids would love it. So did I make a good decision??? Also we are staying at the Beach Club over Christmas and I would really like to try a different resort.

 

[Nancyg56]

I think you made a great decision. AKL CL is amazing, and add Savannah View to that stunning Lodge? It does not get much better than that.

 

[Ensusieasm]

Excellent choice!

 

[evilqueenmindy]

You made a great choice in my opinion, especially since you’ll be at beach club on another trip (I prefer beach club to yacht club anyway). Club level at all resorts is great! And savannah view just seems amazing to me (I haven’t stayed at AKL, but it is on my list this year)

 

[jo-jo]

We love the resort. But just remember there are only buses, just didn't want the draw of club level makes you forget that item.

But it sounds like a good deal to me.

 

[mickeynut1]

I had a Yacht Club standard room booked for 4/20 - 4/28 2019 but with the new passholder rates I got Animal Kingdom Lodge, Club Level with Savanna View for just $459.22 more. I know I will save that alone with food and drinks since we would do breakfast daily and we do drink alcohol in the evenings. Also I think the kids would love it. So did I make a good decision??? Also we are staying at the Beach Club over Christmas and I would really like to try a different resort.

Agree with the others that you made a great choice! We love AKL and while we haven't tried CL there, I've read great things about it. Plus, as a pp mentioned, since you are staying at the BC over Christmas, it'll be nice to stay somewhere different in the spring .

 

[Karen46]

With your beach club stay, I would definitely do it! Great choice

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Just curious if you’ve been to AKL / AKL CL? We stayed AKL CL for the first time in April and really liked it, but it’s a bit different CL experience than some of the other resorts. What I mean by that is that the lounge isn’t on the same floor as the CL rooms... the distance from room to lounge can be materially longer than many other resorts.

While we enjoyed CL there quite a bit (personally I rank it #1 or #2 for food/lounge offerings of the CLs), it’s not really a “pop in the lounge for a second to grab a beverage” kind of setup. So, it’ll be different than your CR CL experience earlier this year.

Sorry if you know all of that, just came to mind when reading your post.

All of that aside, if the location of AKL and reliance on bus/vehicle works for you, seems like a good choice to me! Have fun.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Not to be a downer, but I wouldn't have made that switch. It's simply personal preference, but we like the larger rooms at YC and the ability to walk/boat to two parks, particularly at busier times of the year. Whenever I look into CL vs. standard rooms, I always ask myself if I could pay OOP for food and beverages with the extra money I would be spending on CL. If the answer is, yes, $60 would cover breakfast and a few drinks at night while staying at YC, I wouldn't have switched.

 

[Babsy]

Congratulations on your discount! I think that you will love AKL CL! Delicious food and great views of the savanna. The AKL is an awesome resort! AND I agree, it is always fun to stay in the different resorts in WDW.

However, I did want to echo GADisneyDad14's concern about the room location and the lounge at AKL. We once stayed in a 2 bedroom savanna view with CL access and we were way up on the end nearest Kidani on the 4th floor, IIRC. It was a Lo-o-ong walk to the elevator off the lobby to go to the lounge. I seriously doubt that you will be that far away plus we enjoyed the room and really enjoyed the AKL CL offerings. But it is a consideration that the AKL CL doesn't always seem as convenient as some others.

 

[ramee]

I chose AK for a new experience.

Although, you’re going over Easter and it would be nice to have the option to walk to HS and EP(flower and garden, as well).

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Ahh... I didn’t notice you were going over Easter. That’s when we were at AKL this year.

I’ll tell you one thing that was every so slightly a pain that week. MK had 8am openings all week, plus one 7am EMH. We’re rope drop people and like to be there when MK opens. Coming from AKL, that put a tight timeline on getting up/ready/breakfast in the lounge/to the park. Obviously 8AM MK openings put a morning crunch on coming from any resort, but arguably more-so from AKL given the distance. When we would leave the room for breakfast those mornings, we would make sure we had everything ready to go straight from the lounge to the bus stop, no time to go back to the room.

Of course a non-issue if you don’t care about rope drop.

This wasn’t really that big of a deal for us, more of an observation than anything else.

 

[kappyfamily]

AKL savannah view is fantastic! Enjoy!

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

We love the resort. But just remember there are only buses, just didn't want the draw of club level makes you forget that item.
But it sounds like a good deal to me.

We plan on using the Mini vans or drive. So much easier than the busses!

Not to be a downer, but I wouldn't have made that switch. It's simply personal preference, but we like the larger rooms at YC and the ability to walk/boat to two parks, particularly at busier times of the year. Whenever I look into CL vs. standard rooms, I always ask myself if I could pay OOP for food and beverages with the extra money I would be spending on CL. If the answer is, yes, $60 would cover breakfast and a few drinks at night while staying at YC, I wouldn't have switched.

We have found that we like doing 1 ADR a day and breakfast / dinner at the lounge. We are not huge breakfast eaters and with the way my kids snack, they just pick their food at dinner anyway so the lounge will work great for breakfast and dinner. We also found we like coming back to the resort mid day so we can have pool time.

Ahh... I didn’t notice you were going over Easter. That’s when we were at AKL this year.

I’ll tell you one thing that was every so slightly a pain that week. MK had 8am openings all week, plus one 7am EMH. We’re rope drop people and like to be there when MK opens. Coming from AKL, that put a tight timeline on getting up/ready/breakfast in the lounge/to the park. Obviously 8AM MK openings put a morning crunch on coming from any resort, but arguably more-so from AKL given the distance. When we would leave the room for breakfast those mornings, we would make sure we had everything ready to go straight from the lounge to the bus stop, no time to go back to the room.

Of course a non-issue if you don’t care about rope drop.

This wasn’t really that big of a deal for us, more of an observation than anything else.

From what I read, the farthest we will be 7 minutes from the lounge and as close as 3 (not including a line at the elevator) depending on room location. I can deal with what would still be a shorter walk than to any QS or TS restaurant anyway. And yes we plan on getting to the parks early but as plans go, it doesn't happen much with 2 kids. But since we purchased AP's we want to focus more on the "Vacation" as a whole, not just the parks. Little girls love wild animals so I think they will love the resort. I hope we do to!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

From what I read, the farthest we will be 7 minutes from the lounge and as close as 3 (not including a line at the elevator) depending on room location. I can deal with what would still be a shorter walk than to any QS or TS restaurant anyway. And yes we plan on getting to the parks early but as plans go, it doesn't happen much with 2 kids. But since we purchased AP's we want to focus more on the "Vacation" as a whole, not just the parks. Little girls love wild animals so I think they will love the resort. I hope we do to!

Enjoy! That was our mindset this past year - we didn’t really have much park time during our trip.... did a ton of resort time, went to LegoLand one day, did some other offsite stuff. The resort activities at AKL are superb (in my humble opinion) and we found ourselves cancelling things we had planned just so we could stick around and enjoy the resort.

Have fun!

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

Enjoy! That was our mindset this past year - we didn’t really have much park time during our trip.... did a ton of resort time, went to LegoLand one day, did some other offsite stuff. The resort activities at AKL are superb (in my humble opinion) and we found ourselves cancelling things we had planned just so we could stick around and enjoy the resort. Have fun!

Yep. We will be taking the girls to SeaWorld on day 4 of our trip. They have never been and it's been 30+ years since I have been.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Great choice! Since your kids love animals, they will love AKL. It’s a GORGEOUS resort! You won’t regret it.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

I chose AK for a new experience.

Although, you’re going over Easter and it would be nice to have the option to walk to HS and EP(flower and garden, as well).

Wow! I just realized, Thanks to you, that we ARE going Easter week I honestly didn't know

 

[jenmsmith]

Wow! I just realized, Thanks to you, that we ARE going Easter week I honestly didn't know

FYI: We Love Boma brunch for Easter. Our tradition is to eat brunch and head to MK in the late afternoon. We’ve found that to be a fun, relaxing day. Enjoy AKL. It’s beautiful!

 

[ramee]

Lol. Sorry. Better to be prepared. I only know because I was trying to work with school breaks next year and considered those dates. Have fun!