2026 Trip Report and cost breakdown - 5 days at AKL

2026 Disney Trip

We just got back from our yearly WDW trip and having now spent some time reflecting (and evaluating my bank statement) I wanted to share a quick trip report! This got REALLLLLL long, sorry!

For some context we are family of 4 (kids are 6 and 3). We have been doing Disney in a “big year/small year” sort of cadence. This year is lighter year as we’ve got a big trip to Europe this summer. I had been telling the kids this was a “bonus” trip given that we weren’t really planning on going at all this year.

Day 1 Arrival/AKL Jambo House

I have to admit to being a bit of a Minnie Van addict. I have nothing against a shuttle or an Uber but there’s just something nice about sitting comfortably in the back of Suburban while the kids watch cartoons - it’s just so quiet! So that being said we opted for Minnie Van pick up from the airport. It wasn’t cheap but I’d absolutely do it again. You just can’t beat getting into the Disney bubble as soon as you leave baggage claim.

We stayed at AKL Jambo House this time around. This was our first trip as DVC members and despite owing at (and absolutely loving) the Polynesian, we opted to try something new this time around. AKL did not disappoint. Our one bedroom was just a short walk off the lobby, on the 5th floor with an incredible Savannah view. As soon as we opened up the curtains we were greeted by giraffes basically front and center. The kids loved it and we spent a ton of time on the balcony watching the animals.

This ended up being the warmest day of a VERY cold trip, so I’m grateful that we decided to devote a bunch of time to swimming. The pool was a bit crowded but we were able to get chairs, and had delicious drinks from the pool bar.

Day 2 Epic Universe

Okay, so this wasn’t strictly a Disney Trip. In fact the whole reason we came down was to do a day at Epic Universe. Our son is HTTYD FANATIC so we knew that we had to get to Isle of Berk as soon as we could. 

To be honest I have very mixed feelings about how the day went. On one hand EU has INCREDIBLE theming. Every land had the immersive feeling of Galaxy’s Edge. It was simply gorgeous, and so cool to walk around and see everything.

On the other hand, the day we were there EVERYTHING was down. The big coaster, the Harry Potter ride, the Wing Gliders coaster in Isle of Berk. It was a mess. The knock-on effect was that since everything people wanted to do was closed, the lines for what *was*open were incredible. We opted not to do the Express Pass - it would have been almost $1,000 for our family - waiting in lines forever was rough but I would have been even more annoyed if we paid almost $2k (tickets + EP) and weren’t able to ride any of the big rides.

In any event the day was fine. Wing Gliders did eventually open back up at the end of the day and after about 150 minutes in line my son got to ride it, and it was one of his highlights. Don’t think we’ll be back anytime soon though.

Day 3 AK/MK

This day was nuts. In previous trips with the kids we’ve stayed on the monorail line and prioritized naps and a more leisurely pace. This was going to be our only Disney park day and we sort of decided to shoot for the moon. Our daughter doesn’t do naps any more anyway (although I could have certainly used one).

We roped dropped AK and walked right onto Na’vi River Journey. The whole Pandora world was cool although it was sort of tough to explain things to the kids since my wife and I aren’t really Avatar people. I didn’t have a lot of context for what we were seeing but it all looked gorgeous.

The new Zootopia show in the Tree was so cute! Our daughter loves Zootopia and the 4D stuff was so fun! When we came out after the show we got to see Joe Rhode across the river filming something, so that was a nice little surprise.

We *love* a character dining experience so naturally we did brunch at Tusker House. The theming was super cool and the food was pretty good. The only bummer for me personally was that the characters were sort of bunched up; I got up to get our kids their food from the buffet right when we first got there and in the 5-7 minutes I was gone ended up missing 3/4 characters. 

The kids still got to see them which is what matters, I just love seeing them interact with the characters and I was sad to miss it. It happens though and I’d definitely still recommend it for anyone wanting a good character breakfast (get the shakshuka!)

The Safari was great, as was the Lion King show. This was our kids first time at AK and I can definitely see coming back when they’re a little older and can do Everest and Flight of Passage.

Given that AK is even lighter than normal on rides we opted to park hop to MK. We did do a quick run back to the room to charge phone and put on more clothes - it was FREEZING. We got packed early for this trip, and that came back to bite us when the forecast changed and we didn’t catch just how cold it was going to be.

Freshly jacketed we headed off to MK and it was just as magical as ever. We got there in time to catch the Dapper Dans, and then headed to Tomorrowland for some People Mover, Laugh Floor, and Astro Orbiter action. After that we did Pirates (our son’s first time and he loved it), and then hit up Skipper Canteen for dinner. 

IMO Skipper Canteen is one of the most slept-on restaurants at WDW. The food is pretty decent (if simple) and you can get a Jungle Bird, one of my favorite cocktails. Plus puns, what more do you really need in a restaurant?

We bopped around until it was time for Happily Ever After. Despite getting back to the front of the castle late we still ended up with a great spot, right by the Partners statue. In the past we’ve stayed at the Polynesian, and done the fireworks from the beach there. This was the first time the family got to experience things front and center. The illuminations on the castle were so cool! 10/10 experience, we’ll definitely be park people for fireworks for the foreseeable future.

We were kind of on the fence about more rides post-fireworks but as we were leaving my wife pulled out her phone and said those magical words every guy wants to hear: “Jungle Cruise is a walk-on.” So naturally we had to do that. The vibes at night were really cool and we had an awesome skipper. Once we got off it was LATE and we absolutely had to leave straight away.

But, a Tiki Room show was just starting and I just can’t say no when it’s offered up to me that easily. I love the Enchanted Tiki Room so much, and I’m so happy I got to experience it again this year, when I assumed I wouldn’t. That alone is worth the trip down lol.

We Minnie-vaned back to the hotel and got the kids in bed after 12. Overall it had been over an 18 hour day. For two young kids that’s a HUGE day and they were such champs.

Day 4 Resort Day at AKL

We always give ourselves at least one full resort day, even on short trips. We all love the parks, but to me these trips are sort of resort trips first and park trips second. Someday my kids will be old enough to hit the parks on their own and I fully plan to spend at least one day by myself drinking cocktails by the pool (and maybe hitting up Galaxy’s Edge in the afternoon, I probably can’t actually relax that much lol). 

Our resort day, like the rest of the trip, was COLD. Wayyy too cold to swim (and in fact the pool opened late anyway, likely because no one in their right mind would be swimming at 10am). But we did some nice hot tub time and then spent some time doing the String of Memories thing that AKL has. 

To be honest, I felt a little weird about the cultural ambassadors doing into this trip. My day job has me interacting with African refugees frequently, and I was kind of dreading the African Cast Members putting a Disney spin on Africa. But in the event, the cultural ambassadors were really awesome, and clearly LOVED getting to share about Africa and their culture with the kids. Our kids learned a ton and were so excited to go around to the different stations and get beads. If you’re at AKL at all I HIGHLY recommend checking this out, it’s well worth it!

Our String of Memories bead-hunting took us over to Kidani Village which was really cool to see. I’ve certainly not been everywhere but I would have to imagine that Kidani is one of the quietest Disney resorts. Not at all empty, but certainly quiet and serene. Super relaxing. We also just went for it and hit up the pool at Kidani. It was chilly but the waterslide was fun, and the hot tub was hot. I felt like an Olympic diver, just sitting in the hot tub until it was my turn to do a run on the water slide, then getting right back in the tub.

We did Topolinos for dinner; I had heard great things about the restaurant and I also wanted to check out the Riveria Resort. It was definitely cool, and the newness of it all was apparent especially coming from AKL where things can be a bit tired. Dinner was great. My son is turning into a bit of a little foodie (you know, for a 6 year old), and he tried the beet salad and marsala Brussels sprouts my wife and I ordered (those sprouts were incredible). 

About halfway through dinner it seemed like half the room got up and randomly went to the side window. It turned out there was a rocket launch! We went out to the terrace and watched the rocket from there. So cool!!

We had originally planned to hit up the Polynesian after dinner for Dole Whip and fireworks but everyone was tired and too cold to want to stand on the beach - you can’t win em all I guess.

Day 5 Leaving :(

We had about half a day at the resort and we spent every minute we could in the hot tub, with a little bit of pool time thrown in. Naturally, this was the warmest day of our trip so the pool felt great! Our tradition is that we get drinks (or, the adults do anyway) and sit in the hot tub and plan our next trip. Our kids have February break every year so we pretty much always know when we’ll be coming. For next year we’re thinking a 2 bedroom at the Poly and bring down some family for a 5 day trip. I’m really excited to show my nieces and nephew Disney, I think they’re especially going to love HS and Galaxy’s Edge so we’ll definitely make that a center point of the trip.

Cost breakdown 

Flights: $1,100

Hotel: (DVC so I’m not including a $ amount, but would have been about $3k)

Park Tickets (including Universal and LL): $1827

Meals:

Jiko: $315

Tusker House: $270

Skipper Canteen: $170

Boma: $203

Topolinos: $425

Snacks/Quickservice: $273

Merch: $575

Transportation: $766

Total: $5924

So that’s 2026 in the books. We’re pretty committed to coming down with family next February, so as soon as that booking window opens up we’ll get it booked and start the planning/dreaming process all over again! Immediately after getting back from a trip I'm always depressed that we're so far away from our next one, but we've got bunch of other fun travel planned for this year, plus I'll have all year to lurk on Reddit and read about everyone else's awesome trips!