MinnieMouseMama
Registered: March 2009
Location: Princeton, IL
Posts: 44
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Review Date: Mon June 17, 2013
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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beautiful resort
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Cons:
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needs new bedding
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After trying out all the value and most of the moderate resorts, we decided on AKL because my parents finally joined us!! We had an amazing stay in a pool view room. I was worried about the noise, but it was never too loud, even at night. We had no problems with buses being crowded or running late. While some reviewers feel this resort is "too far" away, I have to disagree. Ten more minutes on the bus is not a big deal to stay in such a unique place. If you are worried, please take a look at a WDW map and make the best choice for your family. The rooms are dim, but no so dim that things felt dank. I know that new bedding is in the works, but the old bed spreads really do have to go! We were in a DCV room so there was a fridge, microwave and extra sink which was nice. I will say that the toilet/ shower room is very small. Bathing little children is a challenge. Mousekeeping did a nice job and we had no complaints with the cleanliness of the room. I wasn't sure that a deluxe resort would be worth it, but after our visit to AKL I am sure this was the resort for us.
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Disney6Pack
Registered: January 2009
Location: Zachary, LA
Posts: 23
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Review Date: Thu February 28, 2013
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Beautiful
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Cons:
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buses, location on Disney property
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Stayed four nights in a standard view studio 2/9 – 2/13 on rented vacation club points. My group was me, DD15, DD13, and DD10. This was a surprise vacation for my DD13’s 14th birthday since they were off from school for Mardi Gras break. Drove overnight and arrived early at 8am. Had done online check-in 10 days prior with no special requests (other than noting the birthday) because I wasn’t familiar with the layout of this resort. When I checked in, they said no rooms were ready that early. I asked to see a layout of the resort and an explanation of where the studios were located. I wanted easy access to bus, food, and pool. They said they could give me a room facing the pool on the main lobby on the 5th floor and they would text me the room number when it was ready. Never received text message with room assignment, and I’ve always received the text during other stays on Disney property. CM did give me a Birthday button for my daughter. Since we drove, we left all our stuff in the van, changed clothes in the locker room by the pool, then headed to Universal Studios for the day. I know, how could I do that… well Universal was having a Mardi Gras parade and concert that evening and we wanted to enjoy that during this trip. Arrived back at the resort at around 10:30pm and had to go to front desk for room assignment and keys. Had the bell-hop bring our luggage up to room. He was very friendly; asking if we had any questions about the layout or amenities of the resort, and provided some useful information about pool and activities. He asked us where we were from (Louisiana – escaping the crazy Mardi Gras people) and said that over half of the resort was full with La people with the same idea. Didn’t realize that we were going to be there during the cheerleading competitions, so there were a lot of cheerleaders around the resort (the resort was “at capacity” according to the CM who checked us in). Didn’t have any issues with them at the hotel, but we encountered a lot of rude behavior by them at the parks.
Since this was a short trip, we didn't spend much time at the resort. Room was somewhat clean. Bedroom and bathroom appeared to be clean enough, but I did see some dust in bedroom. I dropped something in the sink area. When I retrieved it from the floor, I noticed that the floor under the sinks was extremely dirty (which was extremely gross to me). The lighting here is extremely dim. We would open the curtains if we were there during the daytime if we needed to be able to see anything. There was barely enough space and storage for four people for a four night stay, but if we would have had more clothes then we wouldn’t have had enough room. I tried the sofa sleeper and found it a bit uncomfortable myself, but DD15 and DD13 slept on it and said it was fine. I thought the bed was too soft (I’m used to a more firm mattress) so I woke every morning with a slight backache. The only tv we watched as maybe a few hours of the Disney channel, so I didn't really notice anything about the channel selection. TV reception seemed fine to me. Room stayed very cold and I had to turn up the temp in the mornings so that everyone would get out of bed. Had a laptop, smart phone, and ipod touch. Could not get the phone or ipod to connect to the wi-fi. Could not get the laptop to stay connected for more that 15 minutes at the time before it would drop (I did not have this many problems with connections at Saratoga Springs or The Art of Animation on our last visits there). We have verizon family plan with four phones and no trouble with reception in the room. Kids were able to text and talk with no issues. Even called the kids down by the pool without issue. Refrigerator and coffee pot work well, but did not use microwave, toaster, or hair dryer. The safe in these rooms are still the old ones with a key to lock and unlock – no problem with that. Our room was a lock-off that connected to the next room. Heard nothing from outside or from the adjoining room and did not hear any toilets or showers. I loved the location of our room (5406). Room door overlooked the lobby and balcony overlooked the pool. It was a short walk to the elevators and out the front door to the bus stop. Since we were staying on rented points, we did not have mousekeeping until day 3 of trip. Not an issue for us, but we did bring extra towels from the pool area because 4 females with a lot of hair need more that one towel each to make it through 3 days of showering. On the day that the room was serviced, they only took away all the dirty towels and replenished all supplies. Couldn’t tell if they vacuumed the floor, but they definitely didn’t make the beds or straighten anything in the room.
On the morning of my DD13's birthday, there was a voice message with all the Disney characters singing Happy Birthday to her. We all enjoyed that.
Ended up not going to any of the food areas so I have no comments on those areas. I liked the gift shop. There was a good selection of the standard Disney items that you see everywhere at Disney, but there was also a good selection of hotel themed and African inspired items. CMs in gift shop were very friendly. Pool and hot tub was very nice. We went there every evening and one time during the day. Only issue was this: the last night I let the kids go to the pool while I packed. My DD10 decided to wear her sneakers rather than her flip-flops (I have no idea why) and set them down in the hot tub area. They went back and forth between the pool and hot tub several times. When they were ready to come in for the night, they could not find her sneakers. I went down to look for them myself and went to the front desk to report them missing. Checked at the pool and front desk again the next morning before checking out, but they never showed up. I filled out a missing item report, but haven’t received anything yet. We lost an item years ago at Disney and it was eventually mailed to us, but nothing yet from this one and it’s been 2 weeks since we checked out. Really, who would take someone’s shoes from the pool area??? Luckily, they weren’t expensive or very nice sneakers.
Bus system was horrible this trip. Bus system seemed to run very slowly and there were long waits for buses every day. Because the resort was at capacity and the buses stopped at Kidani Village first, the buses were always full and we had to stand on every trip to a park. Only took bus once each to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios. On the day going to MK, the bus was full and we had to wait another 40 minutes for another bus which was also standing room only. There was a CM at the bus stop talking to the bus system people about it, but it did not help. We drove to Animal Kingdom because it was our last day there. Checked out of hotel, went to AK for ½ a day, then drove home. Had no issues with buses returning to resort from any of the parks. We did not leave any of the parks at “closing” time though. The parking lot was huge and full and quite a distance from the main lobby. It was a long walk to the car whenever we did use it.
I love staying at Disney resorts and I would recommend this one to anyone, but Disney did not provide that extra magic this trip. I liked that everything was inside one building and not a long walk away (I did have a conveniently located room though). If it had rained and we had wanted to go to one of the dining rooms, then we would not have had to get out in the weather and get wet. I probably won't stay here again for a while because it's my goal to try all of the Disney resorts.
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Fishfamily
Registered: February 2012
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 8
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Review Date: Tue January 22, 2013
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Theming of lodge, animals, pool, Boma breakfast
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Cons:
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Long bus rides to MK and Epcot
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My family really enjoyed this hotel. The check-in went fine and we got a room with a view of one of the savannahs. I think we were upgraded, we paid for the cheapest available. We had a studio with a fridge and balcony. We appreciated both. We could put the kids down and sit on the balcony until it was adult bedtime. And we stocked the fridge with soft drinks, milk, bread, etc that saved us some decent money over the course of a week. It is neat to see the various animals and using the night vision goggles was really special. I will say the animals you see are antelope, cattle and giraffe. One family was arguing that you can see lions from one side of the lodge. That's just not true and pretty ridiculous if you think about it. The pool is spectacular, we went three times with little kids, having life jackets for the younger ones is great. My kids are 4 and 2 and were intimidated by the slide. I suspect a boy older than 8 will find the slide pretty mundane. Having been to Africa myself I LOVED the theming. You feel like you're there with all the art and wood and so on. I liked everything about the hotel but the location, it's a long ride to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom are very close. The wait for the buses could be up to 40 minutes and yes, they stop at Kidani first so there's a chance you might not all get to sit together. That said, this is a really nice resort.
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Wykdg
Registered: January 2013
Posts: 5
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Review Date: Tue January 15, 2013
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Gorgeous setting, decor, great staff
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Cons:
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Took a long time to get anywhere on busses
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We stayed here Jan. 1-5. Our first time staying here. It is a beautiful, unique resort. The animals were abundant. Be sure to watch the savannah through the night vision goggles. We stayed in a DVC studio and it was spacious and comfortable. We could see across the savannah to the Christmas tree in the lobby of Kidani Village from our balcony.
The staff was fantastic, especially the concierge staff. Check-in was fast and easy. We had done online check-in.
We enjoyed a dinner at Mara our first night. We also had a breakfast there and enjoyed the selections. This is the only location to refill mugs. Since our room was nowhere close to Mara, we did not fill our mugs very often. The location of Mara is not on the way in or out of Jambo House, so filling mugs is not very accessible.
We had breakfast at Boma and it was fantastic! This was on our last morning there and we shall return in the future.
The gift shop in Jambo House is one of the best resort shops. There are many items unique to AKL.
The only con about AKL is the time it takes to travel anywhere else (except AK). In our short 3 days at WDW, we felt we spent too many hours waiting for/traveling on busses. We usually stay at the Beach Club Villas and have become spoiled at being just minutes away from 2 parks and mini-golf.
A family could enjoy a vacation here without even needing to go anywhere else!
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jking6
Registered: December 2007
Location: Brookfield NY
Posts: 42
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Review Date: Sun January 6, 2013
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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pool, friendly CM's and Savana (loved the Zebras and Giraffes
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Cons:
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far from MK, Epcot
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We just stayed there during the holidays. Friendly, nice pool area, beds ok, I have had more comfortable. I just thought it was too far away from all the parks except AK. If I was doing resort only, then I would go back. The savana was awesome we loved the animals.
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Guelphite
Registered: April 2010
Location: Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 59
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Review Date: Sat November 10, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Ambience, service, pool, resort activities
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Cons:
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room lighting
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We stayed October 20th to 28th and had a wonderful stay. The design of the lodge is outstanding. Just walking through the door and taking in the great lobby with African decor and big windows overlooking the Savannah was outstanding.
We asked for a room close to the lobby and we were in room 5408 which was just off the main lobby corridor. We overlooked the pool but had lots of opportunity to see the animals at other vantage points. The back staircase was right across from our room and we could go down the outdoor staircase and stop at the Savannah and Arusha rock lookout on our way to the lobby.
The staff was very friendly and we had excellent service from the concierge desk. Our kids enjoyed the resort activities at the pool and also the nightly campfire with marshmallow roasting. When you check in you are given a schedule of various activities going on and you could easily spend a day or more enjoying yourself at the resort without hitting the parks.
The Mara and Boma were both excellent. We loved having the African selections in addition to regular American ones.
We do agree with other posts that the room lighting is pretty dim. Not a huge issue but noticeable.
We had no problem with the buses. Our wait was usually 10 min or less. It was a bit irritating that the buses always stopped at Kidani village first so sometimes the bus would be pretty full when it arrived. But everyone would still mange to get on.
We would definitely come back here.
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DisneyAngel
Registered: October 2012
Location: North Lauderdale, FL
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Mon October 1, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Theme, Views, Pool, Food, Location, Service, Cast Members
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Cons:
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Room Distances, Bus Service
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Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge is a lovely place to stay. As soon as you enter the lobby you are immersed into the African culture and the huge glass window overlooking the savannah. The lobby is a great place to learn all about African culture with all the different artifacts they have on display. The cast members are also on hand to answer any questions you may have. The restaurants are great because they offer exquisite array of African foods as well as American. The rooms are decored with African theming. But that's not all....take a look out your window....no you aren't dreaming those are animals grazing outside your room. I love waking up every morning to a cup of coffee and sitting on my balcony watching the animals.
The cons are locations of the rooms. Some may be close to the lobby but alot of them are a great distance to get to especially is you had a long day at the theme parks. And last but not least.....the bus service. The only downside is that they share with Kidani....if they changed that to where they have their own bus service it would be alot better.
Overall, I do recommend this to DVC members and I am looking forward to my stay here again in January 2013 :-)
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fawn0818
Registered: May 2009
Location: Alburtis, PA
Posts: 12
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Review Date: Fri August 3, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Animals, Awesome pool
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Cons:
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We stayed using DVC points at Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo house in July. We were upgraded from Pool view to Savannah view which was such a nice surprise. We had a one bedroom villa with a lock out studio. My girls kept calling the studio their apartment which was cute. I love the convenience of the washer and dryer being in the room as we normally do laundry every day.
I cannot wait to go back to this resort and have no problems utilizing the bus service there. We did not wait longer than 15 minutes for a bus to arrive. The Mara was great for quick service and the MarketPlace is also great for snacks if you didn't feel like walking back to the room after getting back from the parks.
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hparksion
Registered: July 2012
Location: Salem, OR
Posts: 21
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Review Date: Sun July 15, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Everything!
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Cons:
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None
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My DH and I stayed in a studio at Jambo House using DVC points June 19-30. Our room was AMAZING! It was a standard view room, but our view was of the pool which was beautiful. This is the first deluxe resort we have stayed at and we would definitely stay here again. Many reviews talk about the transportation being a problem, but we found it to be the same if not better than the moderate resorts we have stayed at.
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RPTB
Registered: May 2010
Location: Colorado
Posts: 5
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Review Date: Tue July 10, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Comfortable and very quiet!
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Cons:
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None!
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We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge-Jambo House, using DVC points, June 25-30.
My DW is 45, I am 44 and my DS is 9. We stayed in a Deluxe Studio with a view of the Arusha Savanna.
Here are some observations…
The hotel is absolutely beautiful and in amazing condition!
Room: We stayed in room 5577, down at the end of Zebra Trail, possibly 1/10 of a mile. At a moderate pace, one can make it to that room from the elevator on the 5th floor, in 2-minutes, 39-seconds (yes, I timed myself). It could be considered quite a walk for those with small children (under 4), elderly or those with a disability; but seriously, this is Disney World people, you are going to be doing A LOT of walking, at least this walk is inside, on carpet, with air conditioning. The elevators off the lobby are amazingly fast! Being able to see the animals from our room (and during the walk to the room) was very cool! Waking up and seeing giraffes, zebras and their friends, was pretty cool. One could spend a lot of time on their balcony watching the animals, but we were interested in what the “mouse” had to offer. ;-)
The room décor was incredible! We loved the theme, plenty of Hidden Mickey’s. People in other reviews have noted that the rooms are dark; we didn’t have any issues with the “dim” lighting (and we even had a light bulb out over the double vanity). To let more light into the room, we simply “opened the curtains”, problem solved. This area of the hotel is very quiet! I don’t think we heard anyone in the hallway, or in the rooms next to us, ever!!
Many reviews speak of a “musty” or “musky” scent in the rooms, or at the hotel, due to the proximity of the animals on property. I have a very sensitive nose, and from my experience, I can tell you that the AKL didn’t smell ANY different than ANY other place in Florida. If you are concerned about a “smell”, I’d recommend bringing an air freshener with you. There is certainly no scent that should detour you from booking a stay at this property.
Buses: Never used them, I’d recommend renting a car. There is a Super Target five miles away, easy to get to from the AKL. Also, we were able to drive to the parks and park for free (because we were staying on property). I highly recommend a rental car if your budget allows.
Restaurant: Dined at Boma the first night. We enjoyed it greatly. No complaints, good selection of food for both kids and adults. The carving station was awesome!
Pool: Nice big pool, plenty of room. Ample selection of towels available at the pool. Movies every night, with plenty of activities for the kids throughout the day. FYI, you can bring food in from off property; we brought in Buffalo Wild Wings and a couple of Pizzas from Giordanos Pizza(great pizza!!); just a short drive from the hotel. We’ve previously stayed at the Beach Club and Boardwalk Inn; the pool at AKL ranks second from those three properties; with Beach Club being the best.
Staff: Pleasant interaction with EVERYONE from the guard at the gate, to the Front Desk, to the Bell staff, market, concierge, bartenders at the pool, lifeguards and housekeeping.
Night vision Goggles: Very cool free Disney experience. The experience is located near the pool at Jambo House, from dusk until 9:30pm.
Overall, this is property is laid back, and low key. We’ve stayed at the Beach Club and Boardwalk Inn and those can be loud and busy (not that that’s a bad thing); the proximity of those other 2 hotels to Epcot and Hollywood Studios is very nice, but if you are looking for a nice relaxed property that is off the beaten path, I recommend AKL. I would not hesitate to stay here again.
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flicka
Registered: August 2011
Posts: 16
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Review Date: Tue May 8, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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beautiful surroundings
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Cons:
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little farther away from everything
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My daughter and myself just returned from the Animal Kingdom Lodge, we had a wonderful time. Our room was a standard view, a view of the lobby. We have stayed here before in 2009. We love this lodge, it is beautiful. Everyone there was very nice and helpful. It is a little dark in the rooms, so pictures of room are dark. Overall I highly recommend this resort.
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debra fowler
Registered: September 2008
Location: fort erie canada
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Sat April 28, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Great view, excellent restaurants and shops, friendly staff, great pool.
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Cons:
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I have no complaints other than the water pressure in our shower was strong enough to take our flesh off bone..LOL
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We recently returned from our stay at Jambo House, Animal Kingdom Lodge. As DVC members we received an outstanding view of the western savannah via room 5310. The Lobby is spectacular with a 5 floor suspended bridge overlooking the 6 story glass viewing area. The counter service foods were excellent compared to other resorts we stayed in. The staff were very hospitable and welcomed us home every time we returned. The gift shop is quite large and well supplied with gift ideas from an African theme to traditional Disney merchandise and stocked pantry. The pool was very nice with ample amounts of chairs to accommodate all the quests. The wait for buses wasn't unbearably long and the time to and from the parks varied from 7 minutes to 15 minutes. Depending on your destination. All in all a great time had by my wife and I and we look forward to staying again.
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d_wooden
Registered: February 2012
Location: Tiskilwa Illinios
Posts: 15
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Review Date: Fri February 24, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Nice room
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Cons:
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Transportation
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We stayed at Jambo as a guest of a DVC member. The room was excellent with a small complaint about the small size of the bathroom. Yes, it was darker than we were accustomed to but it goes along with the 'safari' atmosphere. The Mara was adequate for a quick breakfast but nothing to brag about. The bus transportation just for lack of a better word 'sucks'. I know Disney does a wonderful job moving thousands of people daily but when you are standing in line with feet begging for mercy that means nothing. Sharing a bus with other resorts just doesn't cut it. I would stay here again in a heartbeat but I would hope for better transportation. Having stayed at another monorail hotel we may have gotten spoiled but oh what a way to be spoiled!
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thejulianos
Registered: October 2009
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 43
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Review Date: Wed February 1, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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View, animals, helpful staff
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Cons:
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spotty mousekeeping,
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DW, DS (10) and I stayed here from Jan 2-8 in an Arusha view bunk bed room. We arrived early (11am) and our room (2223) was ready. The location turned out to be great as it was close to the lobby & dining, but had a great view of the savanna.
When we arrived, we found the room perfect, with a towel mickey head to welcome us. In fact it looked as if we were the first people to ever stay in that room. It was a very comfortable room and we were quite happy with it for our stay.
Being so close to the Arusha Rock overlook, meant we got to see a lot of the animals close up from our balcony. We spent a lot of time looking out the window and taking pictures. That alone made the cost of the upgrade to a view worth it (though we did get an AP rate). I can see how you could stay here and spend a couple of days at the resort and never miss the parks. We spent an entire day at the resort and didn't get to see everything.
The bus service was OK, but several days we just used our car since we had things to do that were too complicated on the bus. I think if we had been carless, it would have been a more frustrating experience.
One night I went to get drinks from Mara around 10pm and stopped to admire the big tree in the lobby. The next morning on the way to get coffee/tea I realized the tree was gone. That was 6am. I was very impressed that they got the tree and all of the decorations down in less than 8 hours.
The only complaint we had about our stay is that housekeeping was spotty. We discovered late on the first night that the bottle of lotion provided was dried out. No big deal. The next day they didn't leave us any lotion. A call to housekeeping and they brought us 4 (yippee!) within a couple of minutes. Then the next day we left the room a little later (noon?) and they never came to make up the room. When we discovered it later in the afternoon, housekeeping said they couldn't make it until after 8pm. Which they did do before we returned about 10pm. Then another day they only left a couple of towels. They were again quick to bring them when asked. I have to say I expect more from a "deluxe" property at Disney. PoP has more consistent housekeeping than AKL seems to.
In any case it was a magical stay in every other way. We'd happily go back.
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piercyjc
Registered: December 2011
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Tue December 20, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Animal viewing, convenience
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Cons:
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none
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Beautiful setting! Loved viewing the animals from our Savannah View Room. Nice variety of restaurants for snacks or meals. Enjoyed the 1 bedroom suite and in-room laundry. Request a room closer to the elevator if you do not like to walk to meals and transportation - although we enjoyed viewing the animals along the way. Our room at the end of the hallway (5379) was very quiet.
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