Boardwalk vs Animal Kingdom Lodge

If you had to choose, which standard 1 bedroom would you prefer- Boardwalk Villas or Animal Kingdom Villas? Any tips or information would be appreciated :slight_smile:

A 1 bed at Kidani has an extra bathroom, and a sleeper chair which gives an extra bed. I love it there, would love to try Jambo too, but thereā€™s no extra bed or bathroom.

I love the location of the Boardwalk, but not stayed there (I just couldnā€™t bear being so near to Stormalong Bay but not be able to swim there :sweat:)!

So for me, Kidani.

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For me, BW all the way. If for no other reason I like being able to walk to 2 parks. I like the theming at AKL better but I also like the evening entertainment at BW. Bus rides from AKL are all long unless you are going to AK. If you have a park hopper it is so easy to be one park during the day then enjoy all the choices for dinner at EPCOT which is just a short walk away.

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The long bus rides are really the one thing thatā€™s selling BW to me the most. I usually stay at Bay Lake, so I wanted to enjoy the same fast transportation and walking options, but I LOVE the theming of AKL!

I do love AKL, donā€™t get me wrong. Usually you can get a very good price there and I believe it is the best value of all the deluxe resorts. That being said location is more important for me so I will always seek out a room in the big three, Boardwalk, Beach Club, or Yacht Club.

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AKL is my favorite resort in WDW; I love the theming, the lobby is breathtaking every time you enter, and Iā€™m kind of an ā€œanimal nutā€. The restaurants are all very good (Jiko is one of the best in WDW), and the pools are beautiful. And after a long day of touring, sitting in the relative calm of Victoria Falls for a nightcap is the perfect way to end a day. The extra 4 or 5 minutes it might take on the bus (or in the car) have never bothered me.

If I was to choose a different resort, it would be BW, for all of the reasons mentioned above; walking to two parks, lots of good dining choices in walking distance, and the bustle and night life after dark.

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This might sound silly, but why not do both?
We split stay on our trip and stayed at AKL when we were going to go down and do AK. It was awesome to be able to put multiple resorts in the same stay.

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Did it affect your ability to get fastpasses? I like the idea of having a 7 night stay and I know I can get hard to get FPP for the last couple days.

Iā€™ll be honest Iā€™m not 100% sure on the intricacies of that one. Someone who is a bit more versed and experienced in the FPP system might be able to jump in.

All the fast passes I wanted to select worked out fine for us, however that being said Pandora was on the cusp of opening so we didnā€™t have to try and get passes for the new rides.

The tickets we got were 10 day tickets and were attached to the first Wilderness Lodge stay. They lasted 14 days and I was able to book FPP for the entire trip. (Iā€™m not sure if thatā€™s a normal thing or not)

As we moved from resort to resort, each time we checked into a new place we got new Magic Bands and had everything transferred over (tickets etc) We also did a 4 day stay at universal smack bang in the middle and still had no issues with FPP reservations for the stays when we came back.

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For split stays you can make FPs for whole whole stay when the first stay opens as long as you have an AP or tickets outside of a ā€œpackageā€.

Although I have not stayed DVC at either resort I do have to say something about the perceived length of AKL bus rides. There is a very real advantage to be able to walk to two parks, but for almost every other park you will most likely spend less time on an AKL bus. If you take a bus from the BW, you will also stop at swan/dolphin and maybe even YC/BC. At AKL you stop at AKL.

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Should I break out my bus schpiel??? :wink:

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Boardwalk villas is a great location for evening dining around epcot and or Hollywood studios or on the boardwalk itself

If you want a cheaper alternative then the Swan or dolphin are next door and we found them to be as good as yacht or beach club which are also next door

The beauty of swan and dolphin for us was we could book with avios airmiles

I feel animal kingdom all of the time would be too samey

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Your next trip you are staying at Poly- right? I think it was during one of my Poly stays I started timing buses. 28 minutes to HS- yup-28. The bus ride from AKL is not that long. I do not think I have ever timed it over 22? Now- if I cannot walk it or boat to it I use Uber. I am way too old and impatient.

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I think if you havenā€™t stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, itā€™s definitely worth a visit. Very different from any other Disney hotel and if you have an animal lover in the family, itā€™s really amazing to wake up with them right outside your window.

That being said, Iā€™ve done AKL now 3 times and will now always choose Boardwalk. For us, itā€™s a ā€˜been there, done thatā€™ feeling and the convenience of the Boardwalk location trumps it. We now choose mainly between Boardwalk, Beach Club or Yacht Club. I love being able to walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

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This thread makes me happy!!
We had planned on doing a split stay (AKL/BW) for F&W for a chance to stay at AKL but when ā€œFree Diningā€ came out it cut our costs considerably if we just spent the week at BW. We have never been to either but being able to walk into Epcot during F&W was HIGH on our list. So we went w/ BW for next week, looking forward to trying out a new resort and we will just have to visit AKL once again!

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Youā€™re point about F&W might be the winning argument. My next trip will be during F&W 2018, Iā€™d love to pop on over to Epcot for some fun food :slight_smile:

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Thanks everyone! I might do split stay, just will call and make sure at the time of booking FPP wont mess up. I donā€™t usually purchase tickets in a package anyways.

Never stayed at either - but this would go into my decision making.

1 - Actual size of accommodations in relationship to my party needs
2 - Cost
3 - Convenience / location

Not knowing anything about the accommodations themselves or the cost. I would be inclined to do BW. I LOVE LOVE LOVE AKL lobby and the sense of adventure. We went to WDW with friends that have been on safari a few times and they thought AKL was amazing. However I would probably do BW as I like the nightime activities, the proximity to EPCOT and HS.

HOWEVER if you had a safari room - would totally do AKL. I know everyone notes that it is far away from everything - but in reality it isnā€™t THAT much further.

The only down side to BW is the freaky pool. Seriously what Imagineer thought it would be a good idea to have Pennywise from IT as the theme from the pool?!?!?! This is supposed to be the Boardwalk in Atlantic City - why not have the little dude from Monopoly or something?!?!

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Seriously that guy is the perfect makings of childhood nightmares. Weā€™re thinking of staying there and I know my kids will HATE him! Itā€™s the only thing that deters me from a The Boardwalk.

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HA - the quite pool is nice though. But come on