Jambo! The newest AKL Information thread

[anneboleyn]

You'll love it! If it says Jambo, that's where you'll be staying as each one is its own booking category.

Yay! Thank you so much for clarifying I am looking forward to it so much!

 

[monica9]

We checked in on Saturday morning (9/23) around 12:30 p.m. and left the next Saturday (9/30) around 1:30 p.m. We really didn't have a huge amount of resort time as we did at least one park a day and the Halloween party (Something I would change next time would be making more time for the resort, especially with the hot temps when we were there. The girls needed more down time.) But, I tried to work the bead activities and some of the pool activities into our schedule. Several of the bead activities were in the morning. One morning, we did flamingo feeding at 9 a.m. at Jambo, then went over to Kidani and did animal tracking, then back to Jambo for bio blocks and then animal enrichment. So, my daughter got 4 beads in one morning. They did medallion rubbing in the lobby around 12:30 p.m. that my girls enjoyed too. They LOVED the "Primal Parade" in the lobby at 8:15 p.m. if you are ever there later in the evening. That was a big hit with all of the kids there. Every activity we did was wonderful. The cast members there are amazing!

Wow that’s great! We will have a couple days where we aren’t getting to the parks until early afternoon. One day we will be doing mcvmp so we dedicated the whole first part of the day until 4 to the resort. We have boma booked at 9:30 so hoping we don’t miss some of the beads. I didn’t designate too much time since we are going in December and not sure my daughter will want to swim too much.

 

[Miss Whimsy]

hey guys--I just upgraded to AKL with the spring discounts that just came out, but the only room they had for my dates was a pool view. I know that means no Savannah view, but my question is how loud the pool gets? We aren't really come back and nap during the day people, so I guess I'm just asking about evening and morning? I've been over pools at some hotels where that's where the ~party~ happened at 11pm so just want to check?? any insights appreciated.

 

[RedK]

Hey all - thinking about upgrading my moderate to a week at AK in February. I know February in FL is a lot cooler - will there be any differences in seeing the animals? I'm hoping they would all still be outside even if it is cooler.

 

[Lvsdisney]

hey guys--I just upgraded to AKL with the spring discounts that just came out, but the only room they had for my dates was a pool view. I know that means no Savannah view, but my question is how loud the pool gets? We aren't really come back and nap during the day people, so I guess I'm just asking about evening and morning? I've been over pools at some hotels where that's where the ~party~ happened at 11pm so just want to check?? any insights appreciated.

We had a pool facing room our last trip and were right by where they did the pool activities for the kids, so they had music, etc. No we were on the 5th floor, but the sliding doors did a good job keeping out the noise. When you opened them it was loud. I didn't notice any other noise during our stay except for those times. I don't know what time the pool will close while you're there, but I believe there is a fence now, which would keep out any loud people late at night.

 

[Lvsdisney]

Hey all - thinking about upgrading my moderate to a week at AK in February. I know February in FL is a lot cooler - will there be any differences in seeing the animals? I'm hoping they would all still be outside even if it is cooler.

When we went it was during January and cooler (Think 65 for the high for the day). The animals came out later in the morning/closer to noon. They were outside all day though and we saw some awesome views of them while exploring the resort.

 

[Miss Whimsy]

We had a pool facing room our last trip and were right by where they did the pool activities for the kids, so they had music, etc. No we were on the 5th floor, but the sliding doors did a good job keeping out the noise. When you opened them it was loud. I didn't notice any other noise during our stay except for those times. I don't know what time the pool will close while you're there, but I believe there is a fence now, which would keep out any loud people late at night.

thank you! that's almost literally the only thing that would ruin the trip for the BF aka for me is if his sleeping situation is disturbed lol

 

[pepperandchips]

thank you! that's almost literally the only thing that would ruin the trip for the BF aka for me is if his sleeping situation is disturbed lol

Affirming what the previous poster said. We were amazed by how much noise the sliding door kept out but couldn't hear much if anything in the room. Also the pools generally close earlier than we would like so you shouldn't be too affected by late swimmers unless you go to bed super early!

And I LOVE your avatar. Mine used to be a fantasia centaurette too until I decided to show my face!

 

[Miss Whimsy]

Affirming what the previous poster said. We were amazed by how much noise the sliding door kept out but couldn't hear much if anything in the room. Also the pools generally close earlier than we would like so you shouldn't be too affected by late swimmers unless you go to bed super early!

And I LOVE your avatar. Mine used to be a fantasia centaurette too until I decided to show my face!

aw thanks! yeah I totally wore out the centaur section of my Fantasia tape as a kid lol.

thank you for the info! I'm just being a worrywart since the upgrade is mostly a present for the BF and I don't want the room location to ruin it for him.

 

[desertbloom]

Just booked my first ever stay at AKL for the beginning of Feb. Super excited to try a new resort and check one more off my bucket list item of staying at every single Disney World resort!

 

[monica9]

I’m looking at your room view from touring plans and it looks awesome. It’s a standard 2 queen bed room?
How far would you say the walk was from your room to the bus and from your room to the lobby?[/QUOTE]

We just got back from our first stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and we had the most amazing time. We paid for a standard room, and we sent in a fax requesting a partial savannah room if possible. We were assigned to room 2516 on zebra trail. The room had the best view of the savannah. We saw giraffes every time we looked out the window, as well as so many other types of animals. It was also so close to the pool and the Mara for drink refills and quick snacks. The staff was wonderful, especially to our two girls. (They even replaced our daughter's suitcase when it was damaged in transit with a beautiful new Mickey suitcase!) The girls participated in all of the bead activities at AKL (earned their Mickey bead!), in the Primal Parade in the lobby in the evening, and in several of the pool activities. We tried out both the Kidani and Jambo House pools, and we loved them both. We ate at Boma for dinner and really enjoyed it. It was my favorite meal! We also ate at Mara several times for lunch and dinner and found that to be good as well. We only wished we had more time to spend at AKL. Next time, we might do more half park days and more lodge time since our lodge time brought some of our best memories. If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to try and answer them.[


I’m looking at your room view from touring plans and it looks awesome. It’s a standard 2 queen bed room?
How far would you say the walk was from your room to the bus and from your room to the lobby?

 

[RedK]

Desertbloom - Me too! Honestly, after I booked, I felt almost breathless. There's something about staying in AKL that seems like an even bigger adventure than just an typical trip to WDW.

 

[DizDaD7]

Under a month till we're back home...Can't WAIT!

 

[DizDaD7]

Even Less for you...Kim

 

[MaggiesMomNJ]

Totally new to this resort ...we have a split stay with the first 6 nights at GF under the visa promo ... we were going to stick with Port Orleans rack rate for the last three nights until I found out today that I could get the animal Kingdom Lodge for only $200 more for a savanna view (visa promo) ... so here we are, I have tons of reading to do!

The one thing I really want to know about is what to request to be relatively near the pool and the quick service restaurant.

 

[DizDaD7]

Totally new to this resort ...we have a split stay with the first 6 nights at GF under the visa promo ... we were going to stick with Port Orleans rack rate for the last three nights until I found out today that I could get the animal Kingdom Lodge for only $200 more for a savanna view (visa promo) ... so here we are, I have tons of reading to do!

The one thing I really want to know about is what to request to be relatively near the pool and the quick service restaurant.

This place is awesome...SOOO relaxing

 

[sndral]

Totally new to this resort ...we have a split stay with the first 6 nights at GF under the visa promo ... we were going to stick with Port Orleans rack rate for the last three nights until I found out today that I could get the animal Kingdom Lodge for only $200 more for a savanna view (visa promo) ... so here we are, I have tons of reading to do!

The one thing I really want to know about is what to request to be relatively near the pool and the quick service restaurant.

Zebra trail is the request to make for a savanna view room close to the Mara and the pool. For a first stay I'd probably ask for Arusha savanna view, too, but the other savanna visible from Zebra trail, Uzima, is nice as well.
We're doing an AKL/GF split too, starting w/ AKL about 66 days from now, not that I'm counting down or anything like that

 

[MaggiesMomNJ]

This place is awesome...SOOO relaxing

It looks like it

 

[MaggiesMomNJ]

Zebra trail is the request to make for a savanna view room close to the Mara and the pool. For a first stay I'd probably ask for Arusha savanna view, too, but the other savanna visible from Zebra trail, Uzima, is nice as well.
We're doing an AKL/GF split too, starting w/ AKL about 66 days from now, not that I'm counting down or anything like that

Thank you! I will screenshot this lol and call to add since I won't remember! I wonder if that's a common split

 

[paradesintherain]

Desertbloom - Me too! Honestly, after I booked, I felt almost breathless. There's something about staying in AKL that seems like an even bigger adventure than just an typical trip to WDW.

That's so cute, I love your excitement. AKL is the best, so it's well deserved!