AKL

Well, I do think it's going to be hard to compare to a Monorail resort. Especially if you don't have a car. I'm a bit biased because I always rent a car, in which case it really doesn't make a lot of difference. You will spend more time on transit if you stay in the AKL, unless you get a car. There are some offsetting factors though:

1.) AKL is a bit cheaper (generally)
2.) AKL has animals
3.) AKL has GREAT theming
4.) AKL has a ton of activities

I highly recommend just getting a rental. I know a lot of people are averse because they think they will not get the same feeling of "being in Disney World," but I think that if you get one you'll find after your trip that you did like twice as much stuff in the same vacation because your travel time is so reduced. Even if you have a car, being on the Monorail is a big plus though, but I think you should try AKL at least once. It's a fantastic resort.

AKL is beeeee-autiful. The only downsides are that I like to get a savanna view room, which means I can't go there for cheap; and the whole bus thing can get frustrating after a while. But, you're not sharing busses with any other resorts, so lines at park closing should be low.

Restaurants are fantastic--Boma and Jiko are two of our favorites. And the pool is really great (no quiet pool, though...).

Kidani Village will be opening up in May, so that will add a second stop to the bus route, as well as twice as many people around the resort than there were previously. Also, Kidani is a bit of a walk from the main building, so using amenities there might not be as easy as it is at other Hotel/Villa resorts.

All of that said, I love AKL. It's an amazing place. There's no other experience like it.

Lots of info of course on the aklresort.com website. Scroll down on this page for some suggested room location requests.

Any idea when you'd go?

Paying for parking is a non-issue. If you're staying on property parking is free. In general I'd say the walks in aren't too bad and there are some tricks that you can use in certain circumstances. I will definitely say that you will spend far less time in transit driving than taking Disney transit. The time spent riding the tram in is minimal compared to the time spent waiting for and riding buses. Of course it's still all going to pale compared to riding the monorail from your resort right to the MK. But that's only one of the parks anyway.

We love AKL, too. Will you be considering a savannah view?

About parking faaaaar away from entrances, if you go early in the morning, you'll be up front anyway. If you go later, just ask the parking people if you can drive up to the front and take a vacated spot in the first few rows. Usually there are at least a couple of people who come for the first hour and leave, so that spot will be empty.

MK is annoying because their parking is at the TTC, but you can always go to breakfast at a monorail resort and park there, then take the monorail in.

Epcot--you can get close enough to the front to walk in. Or have a meal at an Epcot resort (or park at the swan/dolphin) and go in through the international gateway

AK--you can get close enough to the front to walk in.

DHS--you can get close enough to the front to walk in, but the tram ride isn't bad.

I'd say even if you park far out in one of the parks, you lose 2-5 minutes on the tram ride and gain 20+ on the transit. Of course then you have to drive, but since you're going to have a car anyway.

I think you should definitely stay at the AKL at least once! Do your kids like animals?

Since you guys seem to be on the verge of becoming regulars, are you considering DVC at all? (Not recommending it or anything, just curious)

It's very much like having a time share. You buy it and you get "points" (which can be used other places besides WDW) and you have to pay maintenance fees on the points (right now they're around $5/mo). Lots of details. I don't think they'd be cost effective for staying at the poly for example.

I love AKL. It's my second favorite resort after the Swolphin. We don't rent a car. The transpo never bothered us. It was always pretty good when we used it. There was only one time out of 2 stays there that we had a wait for a bus & it was of all places, from AK. Go figure. We took our Grandkids & they loved being able to watch the animals off the balcony.

That said, I would only stay there if I was willing & able to pay for the Savannah room.

UL - DVC is always MORE than willing to send you info or give you a tour/sales pitch. I did one with my best friend when she was thinking about doing DVC & they gave us each a $50 gift card for doing the tour. I'd like to get DH to do a tour, even tho we have run the numbers & decided DVC isn't for us. I'd love him to see the DVC rooms. They're gorgeous.

It would be fun to see the rooms--especially the Bay Lake Towers rooms--close up.

Two great points. I would never bother with AKL sans Savanna view either. Also the DVC spiel is worth seeing AND you get a prize at the end. You can get fastpasses or a gift certificate and I haven't heard of too many people for whom the sales process was awful.

Staying and the AKL is an experience you will never forget in my opinion. My wife and I stayed there last year and it remains one of the most memorable trips we have had to WDW. And that's saying a lot since we go yearly. It is a bit far from things but we never waited more than 15-20 minutes for a bus. Most of the time the wait was like 5 minutes. The bus schedules have gotten much better since they introduced the new system over Christmas. I say go for it!

AKL is our family's favorite resort, hands down.
You just canot find anything like it anywhere- well, maybe Africa.
ITA though, you need to have a Savannah view room, otherwise keep saving for it or stay somehere else.

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i think the only reason to get a non-savanna view room at the akl is to hope you get upgraded. that seems pretty rare these days though.

It's interesting though, because there's non-Savanna views that are just bad views of the savanna, and there's non-savanna views that are views of the parking lot. I could live with the first...but the second...yuk...