Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge in Orlando, FL

Stayed at Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge for two nights. What a great hotel. Very big - so you need to walk a lot just to get to the lobby. Great service of coarse, it’s Disney. Check out all the restaurants. They were delicious. Expensive. We stayed in a room with it with a safari view. You wake up and a giraffe is outside your room. Isn’t that spectacular! We only stayed two nights because the ungodly cost. But worth it. We moved our hotel to another Disney resort which was more affordable. Glad I got the experience. Your kids will remember it forever.

I am not sure where to start. We are a huge Disney family (especially with a 7 and a 6 year old), and went there first time probably 7-8 years ago (staying off Disney resort property that first time). Trying to manage the expensive vacations, we tried different combinations of stays during our trips - trying to mix and match: - off and on Disney property stays - driving or flying to FL from Midwest - value Disney Resort vs. premium resorts - ordering groceries or eating onsite/parks - base tickets vs. park hoppers While mostly the trips were successful with wonderful experiences, I wanted to write (this is my first review of any sort) about our experiences at Animal Kingdom Lodge as a Disney resort and why we will come back here any chance we get. To say it’s amazing it’s an understatement and would not do it justice. The feel of getting off the bus into a relaxing, peaceful and quiet atmosphere is priceless after bumping elbows during the day with thousands of other Disney enthusiasts. But that’s not all - walking into the lobby turns into a magical experience - it’s like walking into another Disney park, taking one back to Africa with exotic animals right outside the doors, while plenty to do under the protection of a roof during rainy days. I can’t describe it with words. As with every Disney resort, the staff is helpful, attentive and provides a great customer experience. But...something special takes place here at the AKL - for example, when checking in a year or two back, we were randomly upgraded to a semi-Savanh view with bunks bed (our kids loved it while we enjoyed the view of the animals and a double sink to accommodate all my wife’s stuff!!!). This year, 2019, we visited the AKL twice (lucky us, the first trip paid by the in-laws), and something just clicked the second time that made me come out of my shell and write this review. During check-in (October 5), we were fortunate to be taken care of the front desk supervisor (Nina) who made us aware of being selected for the ‘Safari of the Day’ - another continuous effort by AKL to enhance the customer experience. We were upgraded to a Sunset Savanh view room which was completely remodeled including: - new laminate flooring vs carpets - easier on my allergies - sliding glass doors for the shower - preventing water spilling on the floor, - modern sinks - sliding doors both to the bathroom area and the bathroom itself - made it easier getting ready without waking up the kids (I am a early riser) This recent stay has been sprinkled with Magic such as extra trips by the staff to remake the beds throughout the day, complimentary water in the room, extra fast passes and chocolate on the beds at night time. To put the Cherry on top of the cake, our experience with Anne on Thursday (October 10) was amazing when we tried to see if there was any flexibility to upgrade our last day in the parks to park hopper passes (the kids wanted to attend different parks - of course). Not only did she make it happen, but in a way that saved us money, time and reduced complexity on us as the customer (regular process includes upgrading each and every ticket separately - phew, that would have taken forever). While going to Disney is expensive and many families weigh the different options, there is no question that one should stay at least once at the AKL - being here is as close as getting an additional Disney park experience without going to the parks.

We had a Savannah view room with our children and grandchildren right around the corner. We were able to see giraffe, zebras, impala, wildebeest, addax and many other beautiful animals up close from our balcony. Taking a day off from the Disney parks, we enjoyed face painting, cookie decorating, swimming, and short lectures about African animals - all activities come free with the hotel reservations. All three restaurants on site were great, but our favorite was splurge night at Jiko.

Fantastic for kids...especially if you get the savanna view! One of the only deluxe resorts that has a playground! Great pool and the zebra domes are delicious! You can get them in the quick service location! :)

Stayed here with my two adult daughters for 2 weeks we thought it would be a change to stay in a hotel rather than the larger accommodation that Disney offer. The theme of Africa was very tastefully done and the pool area was lovely. We had an upgraded room which was great however I am only 5 foot tall and had difficulty getting into the bed as it was so high. The savannah outside the windows was wonderful giraffes came in the evening to feed. Not being Americans we didn’t realise that it was love bug season so couldn’t use the balcony as it was constantly infested with dead bugs which no one swept up. We used Boma for breakfast and dinner and both were very good also the food court had a decent choice of food. This hotel was lovely but I’m afraid the housekeeping in my opinion was abysmal. There were 3 times when they had knocked early morning we told them give us 30 minutes and when we were returning from the parks at around 3.30 the room was not done. We also just asked for towels because it was too late in the day and I needed to relax after walking 10 miles a day. As I stated previously our balcony was a love bug graveyard which ok no one can control nature but we had dead bugs on the floor in our room and no attempt was made to sweep them up so no stars from me for that. Did this spoil my holiday no because everything else made up for it would I stay here again probably not It’s too far away from the parks except Animal Kingdom and I would like to experience other Disney properties