Port Orleans riverside vs Animal Kingdom Lodge

Good morning,

I need some help committing to with POR or AKL. My wife, 2 1/2 yo daughter and I are headed to Disney World in December of this year. I keep on going back and forth with each resort. Please help me to commit! Here is what is important to us.

  1. We don’t mind walking to things so a larger size of a resort doesn’t matter.
  2. We are low key eaters with a toddler- We will have the quick service dinning plan. Fancy eating doesn’t interest us. Also, We don’t mind adventurous food choices- we like different types of food.
  3. We will have 3 days of non-park days. We will need stuff to do at a resort. Pool, playground, trips to other resorts.

Any and all help guidance will be much appreciated. If we would be staying at AKL it would be a standard view not a savannah view. I am military and the price between the two resorts are not a big difference.

Thanks,

Justin

I love both resorts but given your description I say AKL.

  1. Although you say the size does not matter, I think the walk inside is a little easier (AKL)

  2. Both resorts have great food courts! The Mara at AKL has a slight edge for me since I love some of the unique choices.

  3. Non park days: the difference in the resort activities makes AKL the choice. Here is this month’s activity guide.

A few other reasons: I greatly prefer the AKL buses! The AKL lobby at Christmas is a destination in itself! You can use the TP room request to request a standard room with a meal views (not guaranteed but I have always received my request).

One last reason: last April I was in a standard room with a 20 month old. He woke up in the middle of the night. It was magical that he looked out the window and saw the giraffes sleeping outside the window- it was time for us all to go back to sleep. I love POR but AKL is magical.

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BTW, you might want to move this to the WDW section, where you will get more responses. Thanks!

I always just look at “latest” but yes it may help to move. You can edit the category of your own thread.

If prices similar: AKL! Because: Animals! Also, the pools are amazing, and it’s a quick hop over the the awesome Kidani kids area. And there really IS a big difference between moderates and deluxe in grounds and theming and things to explore.
Also, thank you for your service.
Also, have an AMAZING trip. :slight_smile:

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If the price is not a big difference, definitely go AKL. POR is a great option as a nice resort on a little more of a budget. I’d definitely recommend it, but AKL is a special experience, especially with a bunch of non-park days. And the Xmas Tree in AKL is a special sight as well in December.

Supposedly with careful selection of room requests, you can see the Savannah from some Standard view rooms so make sure to choose carefully and hopefully you can get the best of both worlds there (cheap with an animal view)…

This photo was taken from the balcony of a standard view room- but even a room over the parking lot would be magical! I forgot to mention- no balconies at POR!