While my family has been to Disney a few times we have never stayed in a deluxe resort and had booked the poly for April 2022. Now with akl opening I am wondering if we should switch. We would save money on akl but poly has the monorail. We would book a standard view at either location. We are a family of four with the kids being 11 and 9.
Would you pick akl or poly?
They both will have recently renovated rooms. I have have stayed at both of these resorts and have even completed a couple of split stays. I have said if I ever did another split stay I will do Poly/AKL (save the best for last).
Although you can get a parking lot view at AKL I have always used the touring plans room request at AKL. Some standard view pictures:
I can only speak on Poly, since I’ve only stayed there. We loved the location, close to MK and also close to TTC to go to Epcot. Loved being able to see fireworks from the hotel at night. I’m booking a return for our 2022 trip. I’m excited to see the refurb.
AKL is a resort I would love to stay at. Poly just wins right now with little kids And being close to MK.
Although one of my most treasured memories was the time the two year old woke up at 2am and there were giraffes outside the window!
Aw I bet! I think my kids would love AKL! I would love to do a split stay. Or add on two nights there to wind down from a trip.
I am planning on both next April… just waiting to hear back on DVC rental… and waiting…
I’d lean Poly, especially if MK is the park you expect to spend the most time in. The proximity to MK at the Poly is hard to beat as you’re a short monorail ride, big boat, little boat from walking down main street in 10 to 15 minutes.
Both are well themed and fun resorts. AKL is gorgeous and the animals are a lot of fun to observe, especially if you can get some form of savannah view from the room (a few standard views can see the savannah). I did really like staying there, but the family didn’t like it as much as I did. I will say our AKL year we spent more time at the resort than normal - ate at the buffet for dinner a lot etc. Not sure if that was coincidence, because the resort offers a lot of things to do, or we were tired from the more remote location making it tougher to get into the parks - just an anecdotal observation.
Both are really good - but if you expect to hit the Magic Kingdom a lot, go with the Poly…
I’ve never stayed in either and both are on my shortlist if I can pull myself away from loving the Epcot area. But I will say one of the reasons I love the Epcot area is proximity to two parks and multiple resorts all within walking, boating and skyliner and no busses. So since location is such a thing for me I’d probably lean Poly with more access to more dining, resorts and a theme park without a bus. However, if you have a car none of that matters so much and I’d stay where I could save money or the theme/resort feel was better and that’s a personal choice between these two. AKL rooms are smaller than Polys though so depending on how long your stay is. 12 nights with two teens in a studio at BWV felt tight and it’s bigger than an AKL room.
Polynesian is hard to beat. Best location, looking at Cinderellas castle and fireworks from the volcano themed pool. Kids loved the waterslide and pool just as much as the parks. You can now walk to MK, monorail, boat and short walk to transportation center to take monorail to Epcot. Sounds corny, but the vibe, the Hawaiian music lightly playing throughout the resort adds a lot. Also nice to have all the dining options of MK, The Contemporary, and Grand Floridian without a huge transportation commitment.
We stayed at AKL on our last trip and while it was beautiful and we had an amazing time I wouldn’t stay there again - I just found it too cumbersome to get places (on our previous trip we were at Beach Club so that kind of spoiled me). We had an amazing view and could see giraffes out our patio but we were hardly ever in the room so that was a fairly minimal benefit.
I’ve stayed at both. Poly hands down for me. Proximity to the parks, transportation options and views. It truly feels like a tropical vacation. AKL is beautiful, but that’s it.
I switched my pre-Wish stay from Poly to AKL. The new Poly rooms look awesome, but there is just something about AKL that I love!
If I was to choose I would have to say Poly.
I’ve wanted to stay there since I was a kid and that’s locked in my brain as “ultimate Disney”.
I think there’s more to AKL than its ambiance / aesthetics. We loved the restaurants at AKL, the choice between two beautiful pools, and the Kidani water play area. We didn’t mind the transportation - though we were comparing it to POR, so if you’re used to walkable parks, it’s a substantial difference.
I’m sure that Poly is nice, too. We’ve only been for dinner, so I can’t really compare the two directly.
Have stayed at both in the last 18 months (precovid March 2020, then March 2021). Both are awesome, but poly has the edge. You can’t beat the location. MK and more resort dining a short mono ride away, plus you can rent the little boats to explore and get closer views of WL, etc. AKL is beautiful, but unless I had an entirely AK focused trip, I would just go there for dining.
