TRIP RETROSPECTIVE
PART 4
Accommodations
We loved all four hotels we stayed at and would stay again in the future. But there were some features that were better than others at each. I’ll give a rundown of the pros and cons of each hotel. I won’t attempt to rank them since they were all Deluxe in the best sense of the word. We stayed at 3 2BR villas (AKL-Jambo, BCV, and BLT) and one set of regular rooms (HRH).
Animal Kingdom Villas - Jambo House
Of the three 2BR villas we tried, this one (a lock-off) felt the most cramped. However, not knowing any better, that didn’t bother us. DS enjoyed having a sleeper chair separate from DBIL’s sleeper couch (which they had to share at BCV). The beds were comfortable. Water pressure in the shower was great - I was surprised because TP always says water pressure is mediocre at Disney resorts, but I found that not to be the case. It was actually better than at home.
We did NOT have a savanna view, but I’m glad we saved the money because we wouldn’t have used it very much. It was easy enough to walk downstairs and go out to the lookout areas, and we didn’t spend much time in our villa anyway.
The decor and theming was really spectacular, especially in the lobby. One thing I that was a tad off-putting, however, was walking between Kidani and Jambo. The resort is SO big, and the buildings on the Kidani side especially look sort of industrial from the walking path. The opposite of immersive.
Sanaa was one of the best meals of our trip. It was worth it to stay at AKL to be nearby to AK and Sanaa, which made our first AK day quite convenient (despite almost being late for our ADR!). The Mara, however, was a mediocre. They need to up their game.
The Uzima Pool was great, especially since there were so few people at Jambo. The slide was just the right size for DS to start out the trip on - very tame. The hot tubs were pretty full though. There are two, and one is much smaller than the other. They show movies on a screen near the pool in the evening.
This was the only time on the trip where we did not have laundry or a kitchen. However, with only three nights, that worked out fine. The rooms were spacious and the beds were comfortable. My only complaint was that the pillows were very thick. The DDs ended up sleeping with their heads directly on the bed. At home, my pillow is quite thin by design - my neck aches in the morning if my head is too elevated, and I can’t breathe if there is too much fluff over my mouth or nose. But there are worse problems to have!
The resort wasn’t too sprawling so it was convenient to get to the lobby, pool, restaurants, etc. And the access to the parks can’t be beat. I would never stay at Portofino or Sapphire Falls (with kids / on a tight schedule) because the distances beyond Royal Pacific / Hard Rock were prohibitive for walking, IMO. Book HRH early so you can get the AP rate! It is worth the savings to get an AP for one member of your party! I got a Seasonal AP, which was valid for my dates, but even if you have to get all the bells and whistles, it is still worth it for the savings. Plus, you get Express Pass included at premier hotels! Great deal.
Food options in the hotel were good. We tried the Kitchen. We didn’t make it to the marketplace / quick service, but it had breakfast items, pizza, and ice cream.
The pool was one of the kids’ favorites. There was a zero entry area with sand, a water slide, and plenty of space to spread out.
This resort felt like home to us. That was good cause we were there for 7 nights! It was spacious, comfortable, and close to the action. Since we spent so much time at HS and Epcot, it was the perfect location for us. The only thing I would change is open the Epcot Skyliner line in the morning so we could rope drop HS!
The beds at BCV were the most comfortable, I’d say. The water pressure in the showers was great. The kitchen was the perfect size and had all the amenities we needed.
Stormalong Bay was epic. The water slide was just thrilling enough to be fun for me to do multiple times. DS was never brave enough to try it, but the kids loved the sand pool and lazy river enough that it didn’t matter. The hot tub was never too crowded while we were there.
I definitely recommend visiting SAB in the evening. It was never too crowded (no wait to get in) after 7pm. I was told 11am-2pm was peak and it slows down after 5pm. Much better to be at the pool when the sun was down so we didn’t have to worry about reapplying sunscreen and shielding our lingering burns from our VB day.
My one complaint about BCV is that it is so sprawling. We did not get a room anywhere near where we requested. It was quite the hike to get anywhere - I think we timed 7 minutes to the bus stop. Probably 10-12 minutes to get to SAB or International Gateway.
There are so many good food options at BC/YC/Boardwalk that you could never tire of them all. Walking down to SAB we were always lured by the smells from Cape May’s Cafe. We didn’t even get to try anything besides Ale & Compass and the Pizza Window at Boardwalk. Not to mention you have Epcot next door.
I’m fairly certain we will be back to BCV someday.
By far the poshest room we set foot in was the 2BR villa at BLT, complete with a magnificent theme park view. We didn’t get a high floor as I requested (we were on the 4th), but we did get the side of the building I wanted. The height ended up being perfect, actually. Any higher and I fear things would seem even further away.
The rooms were very classy. It seemed a little more business-like. Not in a bad way, although it wasn’t as welcoming a feel as BCV. It was very roomy and DS appreciated having the sleeper chair again (at BCV there was not an extra sleeping surface).
This was the only hotel where the water pressure was not as good as my home. That’s probably the biggest complaint I have about it.
We didn’t get a chance to try the pool, but it looked great. I didn’t realize that there was a separate lobby in BLT until check-out, which would have been helpful to know when we were bringing our bags down to bell services that morning! Oh well. 
I didn’t love the food at Contempo Cafe, but the ambiance was striking. I loved eating by the monorail.
There was sometimes a line for the elevators, so having a stroller was a nuisance. Being able to walk or (at less busy times) hop on the monorail was a great perk. When I’m in a rush, I prefer to have the timing in my control, so we always walked if we had a schedule to keep.
Overall, one night at BLT was about right for our trip, especially given that price tag. (I’ve already written it off in my mind so I’m going to pretend we didn’t actually pay that. 
)
Thoughts on a Split Stay
We didn’t go into this trip planning to stay at four resorts. And in retrospect, it would have been much simpler to consolidate to 1 or 2. However, because of the nature of the way our trip ballooned from 7-14 nights, that’s the way it happened.
Since our trip was 2 weeks, it was nice to break it up a bit and the split stay was doable. I was glad we had the chance to stay at each of these hotels to try them out, especially since we are considering buying DVC. Honestly, moving was fairly convenient, other than the ~2-3 hours of packing each time! I’m sure DW (who bears the brunt of packing the kids’ stuff) could have done without that.
However, in the future, I think we will arrive in Orlando and go straight to UOR for 2-3 nights, then transfer to whatever hotel we want to stay at in the Disney bubble and stay put for the duration (I would never end my stay at UOR! What a letdown. 
).
Now that I have a better idea about what we like and don’t like, we can make a more informed decision, so I don’t think any of the effort was wasted. We have no regrets.