Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge in Orlando, FL

I was a bit disappointed with our stay at Jambo House. I paid for a full savannah view, and there were no animals the entirety of our stay (kudo trail) in our view besides a few large birds. For the money the resort is charging I expected to see at least one giraffe over the course of my 4 day. My advise to anyone booking is to request view of sunset savannah. It seemed like all the zebras and giraffes hung out there. In addition, for the price of the room the house keeping is below subpar. So much visible dust on all the furniture, hair found on bathroom floor right when we first entered the room as well as rusty shower curtain hangers. Overall the only pros I can think off is the resort atmosphere is a nice peaceful getaway from the hustle and bustle of the Disney parks. In addition, we did not have any issues with the bus service to the parks and Magic kingdom was only about a 15 minute ride. That being said, will probably not stay here again.

Compared to other Disney resorts this one is a bit lackluster. The hotel and grounds are beautiful and pool was awesome. The restaurant by the pool (Mara?) was an awful experience. You can get better service at McDonlads. We ate at Boma for breakfast twice and it exceeded our expectations. Now for the room…we had adjoining rooms with our son’s family that included a 1 yr old, 3 yr old and 5 yr old. 3 times the 3 year old tripped and fell flat on his face coming in from the balcony. The treshhold on the slider is about 3 inches higher than the floor and is a serious tripping hazard. We tried to always assisst as he came in and out, but he was so excited he was moving quick. The last time he fell we thought he broke his ribs, but don’t worry Disney…. just bruised and scared. For a hotel that boasts a view of animals on the savannah from the balconies, you would think they could come up with a safer solution for the sliding doors. I have stayed at many hotels with balconies in my 60 yrs and it is definitely achievable. I caution anyone with kids or elderly adults to pay careful attention coming in and out from the balcony. Overall good stay but other Disney resorts are better.

We, a party of four adults, checked into AKL on March 5th for a week. Arrived late afternoon in our hire car. Greeted immediately and had our luggage taken inside. Check in luckily not too busy at all. We’d booked two resort view rooms and were given our key cards shortly afterwards. One room was fine, the other less so, with a balcony view of a wall, above which we could see trees and some rooftops. My husband went to the Front Desk to be told a resort view room could look onto the parking area or have views of the rooftops. We were going to Disney Springs for a meal but I decided to try to resolve the problem before we left. This is where we met Kimberley in the lobby area. She was dressed in a red uniform, possibly Guest Relations? I explained the issue and she was beyond helpful, immediately looking on her iPad and making a call. She managed to secure room 2555 from the following day, which ended up being around the corner from our other family members room. We thanked Kimberley profusely, but I hope this is passed onto her again. The hotel is lovely, with a beautifully decorated lobby, high ceiling, African decorations, artefacts and a mud fireplace. We enjoyed time away from the parks relaxing by the Uzima Springs Pool and watching the animals from the various inside and outside viewing points. We didn’t have young children with us but there always seemed to be activities going on for the younger ones. Our two adult daughters did enjoy toasting marshmallows on the campfire early one evening. We were on the Disney Dining Plan, a first for us, so enjoyed much of the hotel food. We had a delicious evening meal at Sanaa, super Quick Service food from the Mara, plus an evening and a breakfast buffet in Boma, where the selection of food was great. More than enough to satisfy even the fussiest of diners. During our evening visit we had the absolute pleasure of meeting Paul, the second staff member deserving a mention. We laughed from the minute we met him until we left. He was a joy and it was a delight to be served by him and to learn about how long he’s worked at AKL. We also witnessed the live musical performance on both visits to Boma. The bedrooms were beautifully clean with plenty of wardrobe space, lovely comfortable beds and well equipped bathrooms, with lovely shower products. Kimberley helped us at the end of our stay too with regards to redeeming our remaining Quick Service/Snack credits. Another shout out to other Front Desk staff who helped with my enquiry regarding purchasing one of the speciality Mickey Mouse Celebration Cakes for my daughter’s 30th birthday. We found out the Mara is one of the few places to have them in stock so we raced down there and sure enough they came up trumps! Thank you all, it was delicious! All in all we had a great time. There are a lot of people who feel they’re very entitled, judging by some of the comments. Be nice to people and they’ll be nice to you. I have no hesitation in recommending this hotel and look forward to a return visit.

I’m not quite sure where to start with my stay in Club Level at The Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House. Issues started on arrival. Pulling up to main entrance I had to go flag someone down to help with luggage, and then had to put it all on the cart myself while the “bell person” stood there talking to someone. We elected to self park so I took the car while my wife with 2 children under 7 and a 1year old in stroller went in with the luggage. The “bell person” left he alone with the luggage cart saying “I can’t go any further” and stood there waiting for a tip after not helping load the cart or bring it inside. So my wife was left to try and push the loaded cart into the resort with the children. Once inside she had to push the cart, along with stroller and the 2 children not in the stroller (1yo in stroller) over to the luggage stand in the lobby. While she was inline someone from concierge/club level came over (Jack) and said he was waiting for us, he was very dismissive and seemed uncomfortable when was asked to have someone help get the bags to our room since the room was already ready. At this point I came in from parking and met him, he was frazzled and seemed rushed. We were given a very quick talk about he hotel and told your room is on the 4th floor, club is in the 6th and he left us with bell services to get our luggage to the room. When we got out our Savanah view room, it was a room for 4 people, not the 5 we had. We had to rearrange furniture to be able to fit our baby’s portable crib in the room. Fortunately we are still able to use a portable crib if not we would be left without a bed for one of us. We then went to explore the club lounge. Once we got there Jack was at the desk and rushed us into the area offered a drink and then disappeared for an extended time. When he eventually did come back we asked for assistance with something, he said he would take care of it and he never came back. When we did see him again when leaving he was playing on his computer and talking to a colleague. We found the lounge poorly staffed and offerings limited. We have a son with an anaphylactic allergy to Peanuts, Tree nuts and Sesame. On the buffet there were cut peanut butter unusable, exposed nuts and sesame. This was not an issue at the Polynesian Club we had just come from as their uncrustsbles were left sealed. We searched in vain from someone to talk to about allergies when we finally did find someone they were dismissive of his allergies and when we voiced concerned that the tongs for food had been used for uncrustsbles and other items had caused caused cross contamination he said they are just uncrustsbles, unaware they have peanut butter. He eventually went into the back and brought out some fruit and turkey pinwheel slices, but this did take a while. We then left and went to explore the resort and pools. At the pool nearly every towel we opened was dirty or stained. The evening service in the lounge was not much better. We did have 2 staff that were very helpful. However the food offerings were again not safe. When we stayed at the Polynesian earlier in our stay they were extremely accommodating and offered to order us items off the allergy menu from another kitchen. We returned for the desert service and were at least happy to see they did offer Mickey bars which are safe, but when speaking to the staff, Francisco specifically, was rude about our allergy concerns for baked goods and made our son feel like an outsider. We found we had to track employees down to get any alcoholic drinks and they seemed bothered by any requests from any guests. Again Francisco specifically. This again was not the case with the Polynesian as they were extremely helpful and accommodating. We were also disappointed as even with a Savanah view we did not see any animals from our view. We were told the animals were over at the DVC Savanah mainly now. Breakfast was no better for us as most times had nuts in them, even the granola for yougourt was just mixed nuts. I am sad to say after this experience we will not return and as travel agents can not recommended this property to any clients either. Even little things like the scavenger hunt for the character cut out have prizes for children at other resorts even if it’s something as simple as Mickey stickers, however when I mentioned something, the employee in the Simba Clubhouse said your prize is the button. It’s scary to me that our food option and tastes at an Hampton Inn free breakfast are better then a Disney World 5 Star Resort Club Level. We had some excellent service and food at other resorts but Animal Kingdom Savanah View Club Level ranks lower than a Disney Value resort, as we have had better luck there.