Jambo! The newest AKL Information thread

[Arden01]

Thanks for your help! That was my suspicion about the hours. I'm actually trying to book them for my brother and his GF per their request, but it might actually be better to do the spa at Grand Floridian because it'd be easier to get there in the middle of the day (at least from Epcot and MK). It is a bit more expensive but sounds like it might be worth it.

I don't know about the late night hours, but I got a mid-day massage there and it was amazing. I booked about a day ahead. Everyone was really lovely at the spa and I still am dreaming about what a great experience it was.

 

[disneybeautyfnp]

Starting out BIG with your first onsite stay Have a great time!

Go big or go home, right?

 

[h&D3]

2 questions for everyone:

What do you like better boma breakfast or boma dinner?
\

For us it was dinner. We tried breakfast a day or so into our trip and it was just sort of bland. The service was awful and just so-so on the food. Now perhaps we just hit a bad moment. We've had dinner there before and we loved it.

 

[summerlvr]

I will be staying at AKL 11/25 - 12/4 with a pool view. I wanted savanah view but no availability when I booked. What is a good request to put in for pool view? Is there any chance of a partial savanah view? Never stayed at AKL, so not familiar with the resort. I apologize if this question has already been asked. I did search through the thread but not finding much related to pool view. Thanks so much!

I don't believe any of the pool view rooms have a partial savannah view, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Usually when I book a pool view room, I request giraffe trail. It is close to transportation, the lobby and the restaurants. I also usually request upper floor so that I'm not bothered by pool noise.

 

[Lvsdisney]

Does touring plans show the DVC rental rooms? We went for a standard deluxe studio and looking through touring plans, it seems that the pool views are in an area that's a little louder while the partial savannah views are further out and quieter. I don't care much about the view but the quieter the better for my toddler.

In Jambo House the DVC rooms are on the 5th floor. So you can select upper floor on TP and then click the up arrow on any room to see if they have views from the 5th floor. For a standard studio, if you want to be away from the pool, I would ask for Kudu trail which is on the other side. Otherwise, you could ask for partial Savannah view.

 

[Lvsdisney]

I will be staying at AKL 11/25 - 12/4 with a pool view. I wanted savanah view but no availability when I booked. What is a good request to put in for pool view? Is there any chance of a partial savanah view? Never stayed at AKL, so not familiar with the resort. I apologize if this question has already been asked. I did search through the thread but not finding much related to pool view. Thanks so much!

There is no savannah view from the pool view rooms, but you could ask for on the Giraffe Trail which will be pool view but away from the activities area and the bar and may be a little quieter. Though it is closer to the playground and hot tub. When we were there, all of the kids activites took place closer to the Zebra trail.

 

[patster734]

Makes sense. There are plenty of places to view the animals around the resort!

We have a Savanna-view, Club level room near the viewing area from Jambi lobby, but my best viewing was when I walked to the end of the hallway and exited out to the outside stairways. I was greeted with a giraffe that was extremely close.

 

[CJK]

Does anyone have the October activities guide? Some friends are leaving tomorrow, and I just wondered if there's any way to get the new guide before they leave. Thank you!

 

[SunnyDey]

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.

 

[bwbuddy5]

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.

That's a great review, looking forward to our first trip there in a few months. How were the busses and the walk times (especially since you went to both pools)

 

[KenHutch]

Well reading this link has worked. For our 5th vacation in 11 years I have booked 2 rooms for 10 days at AKL.

 

[SunnyDey]

That's a great review, looking forward to our first trip there in a few months. How were the busses and the walk times (especially since you went to both pools)

They had a a small shuttle van that would take you back and forth between Kidani and Jambo. We never had to wait more than 3-4 minutes for it. I've heard the walk is about 10 minutes.

Our only long wait for a bus was at Disney Springs. We waited about 30 minutes for a bus one evening with some tired kids who wanted to get back to the room. The rest of the time we always waited less than 10 minutes. We were impressed with the bus service overall.

 

[patster734]

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.

We just got back yesterday. We stayed Club level, so we spent a lot of time in the lounge. Our room was 4411, and looked out on the Savanna and the main viewing area, next to the lobby. We had one breakfast at Boma, one dinner at Jiko, one dinner at Victoria Falls, and a couple of dinners from Mara which we carried back to our room.

Because of the heat, we typically returned to AKL between 3 and 6 each day, with one of the exceptions being the AK day due to seeing Rivers of Light.

One small suggestion to anyone planning to use the hotel's airline check-in, use it early. We checked in near 7am, and we were the third group in line. We went back to bed after dropping off our luggage. The line grew throughout the morning, and by 11am, the line sprawled into the lobby, with 10 or more groups dropping off luggage.

 

[earfulofmagic]

One small suggestion to anyone planning to use the hotel's airline check-in, use it early. We checked in near 7am, and we were the third group in line. We went back to bed after dropping off our luggage. The line grew throughout the morning, and by 11am, the line sprawled into the lobby, with 10 or more groups dropping off luggage.

Excellent tip, thanks.

 

[monica9]

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.

Great review.
How long were you at the resort? I feel like we don’t have time for my daughter to enjoy any of the activities. Do they have any going on before 1pm? We are going to try to go for rope drop and go back to resort until 2 pm.

 

[bwbuddy5]

I'm not sure why this popped up on my recommended videos, but here's a good one from a couple of years ago (2015), showing the POV walk from the Kidani bus stop to Jambo. It took him about 7 minutes in flip flops, obviously would be longer if you were out on Pembe. I'm encouraged, it appears to be the type of nice green walk that I enjoy.

Given this video and SunnyDey's trip summary in post #1969, June 2018 can't get here soon enough!

 

[Spencer Wright]

They had a a small shuttle van that would take you back and forth between Kidani and Jambo. We never had to wait more than 3-4 minutes for it. I've heard the walk is about 10 minutes.

Our only long wait for a bus was at Disney Springs. We waited about 30 minutes for a bus one evening with some tired kids who wanted to get back to the room. The rest of the time we always waited less than 10 minutes. We were impressed with the bus service overall.

Its about a ten minute walk but its not shaded and up a pretty hardy incline, so its not big deal; but can be brutal on a hot day.

 

[anneboleyn]

Well, it is official...I just booked AKL Savannah View for September 3-8, 2018 (well technically the person who I rented the points from booked it lol...but either way it is official)! In MDE it says Jambo House, so hopefully that means that is the building we will be staying in because I did prefer that one!

I hate to wish away almost a year of my life but I cannot wait for next September

 

[SunnyDey]

Great review.
How long were you at the resort? I feel like we don’t have time for my daughter to enjoy any of the activities. Do they have any going on before 1pm? We are going to try to go for rope drop and go back to resort until 2 pm.

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!

 

[Lvsdisney]

Well, it is official...I just booked AKL Savannah View for September 3-8, 2018 (well technically the person who I rented the points from booked it lol...but either way it is official)! In MDE it says Jambo House, so hopefully that means that is the building we will be staying in because I did prefer that one!

I hate to wish away almost a year of my life but I cannot wait for next September

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