PART 1 - History, Our Plan, Hotel Reviews

It’s impossible to talk about everything there is to do and places to stay at Disney World! In this series, I’ll be detailing our October 2024 Disney World trip (Departing Alabama the evening of Oct 3 and leaving AKL late on Oct 7) that was cut short by 2 days because of hurricane Milton to include: staying in 2 different hotels, magic bands, how much it cost, and more!

WHY DO I EVEN GO?

For Photography

In March Amanda and I started talking about going to Disney World this year, but it wasn’t until early September, we got serious about trying to do Disney World for Amelia’s birthday in October.

I’m not a big Disney fan (haven’t seen many of the movies or TV channels) nor am I into rides and roller coasters. The reason I like to go is for the shows (which are excellent), the food (better at the more expensive places), and the photography opportunities and challenges. I know that’s an expensive proposition for that, but I also know the kids enjoy it, so I make it work for me and the things I want to do too.

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I BEEN TO DISNEY WORLD?

My history at Disney World includes:

1. 1980s - Like a 1-day trip when I was a little kid.

2. 2014 - first time back as an adult - Wilderness Lodge (WL)

3. 2016 - second time - Coronado Springs (CS)

4. 2019 - third time - Port Orleans Riverside (POR)

5. 2024 - fourth time - Drury and Animal Kingdom Lodge (AKL)

I’ve stayed at a variety of resorts and still to this day I think Coronado Springs and POR are some of the nicest and quietest places with lots to explore and do on site.

Even though I’ve been 4 times as an adult, there are still numerous things I haven’t done and is why we’ll return again one day.

THE PLAN

This was the “most different” Disney trip I’ve ever taken!

1. First we’d be staying at a non-Disney property.

2. Second we were planning on driving in to the parks instead of using Disney transportation.

These are are 2 things I’ve never done before. More on that later!

On this trip we had a basic frame work as shown below for our park days, but no in depth plans as we wanted to just enjoy our time at the park and resort without being tied to too much of a schedule. Based on that, I decided to add the Park Hopper feature which lets you go to any park any day multiple times whenever you want. This would turn out to be an excellent decision. I’ve become a big fan of driving down 1/2 way and then finishing up the next day, giving us 1/2 a day to load in and go enjoy the free stuff at Disney Springs and the resort etc.

• Day 1 - Depart after school and drive 1/2 way

• Day 2 - Arrive mid day and shop at Disney Springs and swim at the hotel etc

• Day 3 - Animal Kingdom

• Day 4 - Rest in the day and Magic Kingdom at night for MNSSHP

• Day 5 - Magic Kingdom

• Day 6 - Epcot/Hollywood Studios

• Day 7 - Depart

WHY 2 RESORTS?

The first thing that made this trip different was not staying “on-site” at an official Disney Resort.

I went back and forth on this for weeks, but in the end we thought it would be a good idea to just stay at the Drury at Disney Springs to save some money on the hotel and food, since the Drury has a more than adequate breakfast and dinner included in the hotel price. The original plan was for us to just stay at the Drury at Disney Springs the whole time. I actually booked the hotel before we even had park tickets (Since it was cancellable up until we left basically).

Disney dropped 25% off select resorts about a month before our visit. The kicker was, we were arriving on Oct 4 and the discounted rates didn’t begin until Oct 6. This actually worked out in our favor and resulted in making doing the Disney resort stay more affordable and led us to splitting our stay between the Drury and another hotel. I had heard about people doing this before, but never had done it myself.

In between when I had booked the Drury and this discount deal, I’ve had some friends dealing with significant medical issues and it really put me on the path of “LIVE FOR THE MOMENT, LIVE FOR THE NOW” kind of thought process. We aren’t guaranteed another minute on this planet, may as well live it up and have fun while you can! So then, I was in a scramble to try and look at all the offerings and figure out what may be the best fit for us. After a couple weeks of looking around, we decided to try the Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge since (1) We’ve never been there and (2) Amelia absolutely loves animals. Item #2, led me to book a Savanna View Room.

Let’s talk about the Drury first.

DRURY at DISNEY SPRINGS HOTEL REVIEW

This is not my first time to stay at a Drury and I’ve always had positive experiences. This time was no different. The location was great, staff was great, and the price was reasonable.

PROS

• Relatively inexpensive when you consider all the food that’s included

• Newer hotel with everything in good condition

• Spacious rooms for a family of 4

• Large pool and splash pad area with complimentary towels

• Comfortable beds

• Bus transportation to parks

CONS

• Parking fee of $20/night plus parking tax of $1.30/night

• Bus transportation is more packed than Disney busses based on what I saw

THE ROOM

We had a 2 Queen bed deluxe room with a nice view of the pool. The room was spacious and included a mini fridge and microwave with a separate sink area. There was plenty of room for storage. Beds were comfortable and everything was very clean. We were around the corner from the elevator on the 5th floor, room 504, and it was very quiet. We were not bothered by noise at night.

THE FOOD

The dining area is located on the second floor and it is large! Every time we went it was extremely busy, but we had no problem finding a place to sit and eat.

The first night the hot choices were chicken fingers, mac n cheese, nachos, hot dogs, and a couple other things. For breakfast there was an assortment of biscuits, eggs, pancakes, waffles, bagels, toast, bacon, sausage, and more. The next night was tacos, beans, rice, nachos, and salads. There is definitely something for everyone to enjoy each meal.

TIP

• The buffet and drinks areas are split into 2 sides and the food is the same for the most part. You can access the buffet from either side of the stands, so technically 4 people can be getting food at the same time which helps keep traffic flowing.

• Down the sides of the main building towards the back is where all the bread and pastry type items are.

• They always have a variety of fresh fruit options available as well

THE POOL

We absolutely loved the pool after a hot day! It has a shallow section that’s about 1’ deep and then stairs down to the 3’ deep section. It goes down to 5’ at the deepest point on the opposite end.

CONCLUSION

If you’re looking to stay close to on-site and the Disney Springs area at a reasonable cost with a family of 3-4 people, I think it is really really hard to beat what the Drury offers especially from a food perspective.

• Complimentary breakfast with tons of options

• Complimentary evening dinners with tons of options

• Free drinks and popcorn all day long

I saw many people saying it’s possible to walk to Disney Springs, and it looks like it is, but we didn’t try it. There is a nice sidewalk that runs along Hotel Plaza Blvd that I walked one morning at 6:00 AM.

TIP

• Join the Drury rewards program and you can save as much as 20% on your hotel room cost.

ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE REVIEW

After spending 2 nights at the Drury, the plan was to stay 3 nights at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. However, Hurricane Milton would alter our plans.

PROS

• Animals!

• Decor

• Easy Bus service

• Big pool with a slide

• Nice playground

CONS

• It’s a Deluxe resort so it’s expensive

• Far away from parks

THE ROOM

I had done the Disney check in using the app on my phone and we were able to go to the room (Jambo House, 3419) and get in without a problem. The room was pretty spacious, almost as big as the Drury but not quite. The bathroom was big and very nicely themed! Plenty of storage areas too. From my understanding the rooms were recently renovated and they looked amazing!

BALCONY SAVANNA VIEW

The first thing we did was go to the balcony to see if there were any animals and there were! Amelia was so excited! It immediately made the cost worth it to see how happy she was.

Exploring the resort. We took a quick tour of the venue. But on this day we had to get ready for the Halloween party at Magic Kingdom so not much time to waste!

THE POOL & PLAYGROUND

We only got to spend a little bit of time at the pool due to the weather, but Amelia loved it and it was large and mostly empty. This was a far cry from years past at other resorts where the pools were pretty crowded. However in this case due to the pending hurricane and constant rain we were experiencing, not many people would be swimming.

One thing I found entertaining, the staff was there doing the “normal routine” talking about the games they’d be playing and all the activities that were coming up. Even though there were maybe 5 kids in the whole pool area. Gotta give the staff credit for being dedicated!

That is one thing I do love about the resort pool is all the activities and games they offer for the kids to participate in.

Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to do the playground because a torrential downpour came about 20 minutes after we got in, and we had to get out and go inside. The playground was large, in a shaded area, and looked very nice though!

CONCLUSION

If you're dreaming of waking up to giraffes and zebras right outside your window, Animal Kingdom Lodge is the place to be! Imagine sipping your morning coffee while gazing at the African savanna without leaving Florida. The resort's African-inspired design and cozy atmosphere make you feel like you're on a safari vacation, with all the magic of Disney just around the corner. Plus, the on-site dining is top-notch, with flavors straight from the Serengeti. For a wild and unforgettable stay, this lodge brings Disney magic and safari vibes together in the most fun way!

TIP

• Look out for the 25% discounts which offer a significant room savings!

SHOULD YOU STAY AT 2 DIFFERENT HOTELS AT DISNEY WORLD?

Having done this now for the first time, I don’t see any big deal in doing it. Is it nicer to simply stay at one place the whole time? Probably. But, if you’re looking to give your family “The Disney Experience” but don’t want to shell out the big bucks for every night of your stay, then splitting the stay between a place like the Drury and a Deluxe resort is a great way to do Disney in my opinion. Especially if Disney offers a deal on rates.

In the next article, I’ll be detailing our park days!