More than one hotel at Disney World?
 

We are a family of 4, with soon-to-be 6-year old twins. I've been doing a lot of research, but this will be our first trip to Disney World since I was a kid.

We all were excited about staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but we are starting to think it's too far from the Magic Kingdom where we want to spend much of our time. So we are very interested in the Contemporary Resort too.

We plan to stay 5-6 nights. And I think besides the Magic Kingdom, we will most want to visit Animal Kingdom.

My question:
Would it be crazy to stay at the Contemporary Resort for a few nights then switch to the Animal Kingdom Lodge?

Thanks for any and all advice.

No. So long as you don't mind packing and relocating, very reasonable.

Major benefit being able to walk to MK and have in hotel monorail service to EPCOT from Contemporary.

The kids will love the Savannah View animals at AKL. AKL has a great pool. Worth the relo for a night.

Thank you, stumpworks73, this is very helpful. I am pondering a similar scenario.

You are not going to have monorail service to Epcot from the Contemporary UNLESS you are willing to change monorails at the ticket and transportation center.

I may be in the minority here, but that sounds crazy to me. You'll almost certainly have several hours where you have to check out of Animal Kingdom Lodge and can't get into your new room at Contemporary. It just sounds like a lost day to me and a lot of effort. I appreciate the interest in Animal Kingdom Lodge and its distance from the Magic Kingdom, but the easier way to get around that is to rent a car for your stay so you can go wherever you want whenever you want. (Keeping in mind that it's much harder to get to Magic Kingdom with a car wherever you are staying because you are forced to take the transportation from the Transit center.)

Rather than change hotels, I'd simply visit Animal Kingdom Lodge one evening and spend some time there enjoying dinner and the nightly programs. That way you don't have to change rooms.

Or you could take a taxi if you just want to make one trip out to Animal Kingdom Lodge and enjoy an early dinner and the nightly programming.

We stayed at the AK and loved it. I'd just ride the bus from the AK to the MK and not switch rooms.

Thanks for the feedback: both pro and con. We'll continue to figure out our plans over the next week or so, if anyone else has thoughts or direct experiences. Thanks!

I've stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge before and loved it. Even the location. But I rented a car, and it was easy to get everywhere but the Magic Kingdom. And even then we were able to leave early in the afternoon, go back to the hotel, and return right after dinner for the evening when it was less crowded.

Our favorite restaurants at the complex are Jiko and Boma (buffet, great for breakfast and dinner)

Savannah room views are wonderful. Have done the bus transport and car. Waiting for a bus is not a problem for us

We have stayed at the Contemporary and it was certainly nice to be able to get to the Magic Kingdom quickly, and more importantly for us, LEAVE it quickly. Our daughter has some sensory issues so the quick and easy return to the hotel was great for that. A few nights we exited and the line for the monorail was too long considering the issues my daughter was having so we just walked. It is just a bit of a walk, but trust me, it will feel like nothing after the park.

We took the bus to the Animal Kingdom once while staying at the Contemporary. It wasn't a big deal. It took a bit, but it wasn't bad. Maybe 25 minutes. We find ourselves actually enjoying the bus ride as it is a bit of air conditioned calm before you start running around a park. As far as departing Animal Kingdom and taking the bus, we left mid-day, so we had no issues with lines at all. I would imagine the bus departure lines at the Animal Kingdom are much less then at the Magic Kingdom even if you were to stay until peak departure times (evening/closing time).

That being said, I have heard wonderful things about AK Lodge. Just be aware, I am about 80% certain you have to take a very short bus ride even from AK Lodge to get to the AKingdom park. I seem to recall reading that when looking into a possible dinner reservation at the Lodge one year (we didn't end up doing it though). AK Lodge is NOT directly on AK Park's property I believe. So it is not like it is PERFECTLY convenient for getting to AK Park...just really close.

I agree with others, it seems like a large amount of hassle switching hotels after a few days, but, if I were to ever do it, it would probably be for the very two hotels you mentioned. I seem to recall hearing as well that if you transfer hotels within Disney, I THINK they may transport your bags to the new hotel for you. I am not sure this is an official service though. That might be worth calling the Contemporary's front desk to ask that question. That would be a large help.

One final thing I will add...I view the Contemporary as a solid CONVENIENCE hotel. From what I hear, I would view the AK Lodge hotel as an EXPERIENCE hotel. By this I mean the Contemporary looks cool but you can check that out by just taking the monorail through it. It's main differentiating and attractive feature is simply where it is located. The AK Lodge on the other hand seems to offer more depth as far as the experience/things to see during a stay there.

samsaba's post is excellent. I completely agree.

Thanks starrs! Was I correct? Do you have to take a bus from AK Lodge to the AK Park?

Yes.
http://allears.net/acc/faq_akl.htm

I stayed last year on the concierge floor and it was absolutely amazing. The friends we were with drive down through several states just to stay there and they don't go to a single park. We went to the parks and fireworks at both the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The AKL is a very unique and wonderful place. The pool is fabulous.

My absolute favorite is the Wilderness Lodge. Outstanding architecture and ambiance has a beach, and beautiful pool decent slide. Rooms with bunk beds or even better the condo units which are fairly new. So relaxing after a long day.

Bookmarking

Thanks so much for the advice and thoughts! We are going to give this a try. We plan to stay at the Contemporary the first 4 nights, and then AKL the final 2.

What you said Samsaba about "convenience" for the Contemporary and "experience" for the AKL was what inspired me to want to try this in the first place. So that is good to hear. Thanks.

We're still months away, but I'll report back on how it goes.

Circling back on this after a wonderful trip to Walt Disney World.

The split stay was a snap. And it was a nice way to break up our trip. First 4 nights at Contemporary Resort, with a focus on the Magic Kingdom. Then 3 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge with a focus on Animal Kingdom and just hanging at the pool and hotel. Plus, moving was easy: bell services took care of it and our bags were waiting for us at AKL when we arrived that afternoon after spending a few hours in Epcot.

I'm glad it was an easy move, and in this case, I'm especially glad I was wrong about the stress.