AKL vacation within a vacation...Q's and opinions wanted

Definitely do All Star first and then Animal Kingdom Lodge. Doing it
the other way wuold seem like a downgrade (deluxe to a value).

As for doing things just at the Lodge, here's a listing of what was
offered when we were there a few years ago:

Recreational Activities in the lobby and at the pool - 11:45 AM & 2:05
PM
Cookie Decorating at Boma - 1:00 PM
Lodge Tour starting at the firepit - 3:30 PM
Junior Researcher program at 4:00 PM
Poolside Actitivies - 5:00 PM
Storytelling at the firepit - 7:30 PM
Games with Savanna Guides - 6:30 PM
Cultural Safari - 8:30 PM
Night Vision Tracking - 10:15 PM
Horticulture Show and Tell - 9:00 AM
Track the Animals - 9:30 PM

Plus scheduled flamingo and pelican feedings

The two hot tubs are awesome - I think they are considered the
strongest on property. Tip if you want pizza in your room. Don't
order it from room service. To avoid the fees, you can easily go to
the Mara and get a whole pie yourself and bring it back. I think it
took a half hour for a room service pizza and fifteen minutes to get
the Mara pizza (it's the same thing). You can spend a lot of time just
sitting in the lobby too. There's games all over the place. I
honestly didn't think we'd ever get my daughter-in-law out of the
place.

<disnut8@************> wrote in message
news:1110500907.107186.315520@z14g2000cwz.******** o********...
>
> As for doing things just at the Lodge, here's a listing of what was
> offered when we were there a few years ago:
>
> Recreational Activities in the lobby and at the pool - 11:45 AM & 2:05
> PM
> Cookie Decorating at Boma - 1:00 PM
> Lodge Tour starting at the firepit - 3:30 PM
> Junior Researcher program at 4:00 PM
> Poolside Actitivies - 5:00 PM
> Storytelling at the firepit - 7:30 PM
> Games with Savanna Guides - 6:30 PM
> Cultural Safari - 8:30 PM
> Night Vision Tracking - 10:15 PM
> Horticulture Show and Tell - 9:00 AM
> Track the Animals - 9:30 PM
> Plus scheduled flamingo and pelican feedings
> The two hot tubs are awesome

Ditto to everything, plus-
The pool is a zero entry, perfect for your little one if the weather
permits.
The spa/health club offers all sorts of massages.
The lobby shop is wonderful for kids; there are musical instruments, masks,
animal statues, very kid friendly.
The playground is really nice too.

Michelle in Atlanta

Kathy wrote:
> 1. We are considering our AKL stay to be the "relaxing" portion of
our
> trip. We prefer to relax and take things easy at the start of the
> trip...use the time to really unwind, take time to smell the roses
and
> not feel guilty about "wasting" our time away from the parks. The
parks
> are really our favorite part of any trip to WDW, and we think we'd
> rather spend the start of the trip looking forward to our park days
> rather than feeling the "big fun" part of the trip is over once we
get
> to AKL.

Others have pointed out in other threads that AKL has the advantage of
direct bus service to all the parks, so I don't think it's an either-or
proposition. Get up, have breakfast, go to a park, come back to AKL for
some pool time and maybe dinner, then go back to another park. You can
vary this approach depending on the weather, the hours of the parks,
where you want to eat dinner, etc. I agree with the other poster about
one thing in particular: although I really like AKL, I would not want
to spend my last days at WDW there without going to the parks.
Personally, I think the fireworks at Epcot are a great finale for the
trip.