I would keep the CP reservation. The party is so overpriced now & it would be harder to find another nice place to eat on Christmas Day than it would be to find a place to watch the fireworks.
Disney's ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE Information & Questions
- Thread starter kimmar067
- Start date
- Status
psac
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2009
It's pretty small. In the morning they had muffins and coffee and other simple things. I don't remember seeing sandwiches or anything like that, but maybe someone has been there more recently. They also have things like cereal boxes, milk, entenmans cookies and donuts, etc. As you can tell, more breakfasty stuff than anything else. They have the shuttle to Jambo for the Mara, definitely a better choice.Hi!We will be at Kidani next year, 5/8-5/12. I love AKL, but have only stayed in Jambo so far.
I understand that Kidani has no QS, but there is a small "grab & go" store. What types of things are offered there - sandwiches, microwavable things, etc? Thanks!
LvsTnk
Home is AKV&BLT
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2000
Thanks! Hopefully more will join us
We have our trip in Dec. but have a trip booked in July too 24-29th 2016
Love July the pool is awesome swimming in Dec. is iffy
disneyfantotheend
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2003
We just got back from a stay at AKL. We had one night in a pool view room. Amazing straight on view. Then we moved to a value studio for 7 nights. We got the best savanna view. It was so amazing and we saw SO MANY animals!!! Our good bus Karma followed us to AKL. Only time we ever had a noticeable wait was right after Illuminations. Love, love, love AKL!!!!
kimmar067
TAGS?? It's all about the 'likes' now!
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2001
GREAT! Another AKL-fan-for-life!
Melissabo
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2008
I just booked AKL for January 2016. Planning on taking DH to Jiko one night for dinner, I got my ADR for it. We have two boys 9 and 6 and we were planning on taking them to Simba's cub camp for 2-3 hours while we are at dinner. We have been to disney 2 other times with the kids but never did a kids club. I know my boys would not want to sit for the dinner nor would they like the food.
My questions, do you think they would like the club? If it is some fun activities and it is something kids enjoy I will take them there. If the opinion is that it is basically just a babysitting service we would just cancel the dinner and do something else. I only want to do it if it is something they would enjoy. Also, how long do you have to reserve the kids club in advance? thanks!
My questions, do you think they would like the club? If it is some fun activities and it is something kids enjoy I will take them there. If the opinion is that it is basically just a babysitting service we would just cancel the dinner and do something else. I only want to do it if it is something they would enjoy. Also, how long do you have to reserve the kids club in advance? thanks!
kimmar067
TAGS?? It's all about the 'likes' now!
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2001
....I think the 6-y-o would enjoy it; the 9-y-o, maybe not so much. If I were you, I'd call to find out exactly what activities are available for the older one - if it includes something like the night-vision goggles, then it's definitely a MUST! Having eaten at Jiko, personally, I'd not want to cancel - it's definitely a great culinary experience.
nkereina
Last chance to lose your keys.
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2009
Just back from 4 days/3 nights in a standard studio. First time staying at AKV. Room and hotel were really nice. We were in Jambo House, room 5505 on the zebra trail. Our balcony overlooked large birds and vultures, and one morning all the giraffes and warthogs were within our viewing range. Very cool! Used the pool once briefly, thought it was nice. Ate dinner and breakfast at the Mara - both were good, though I was surprised how crowded the Mara was at 8pm for dinner. Ate breakfast at Boma one day, it was also good but we thought both the buffet and seating areas were a little crowded. Bus experiences were really good the whole time. I know a lot of people say that AKL is very far removed from the parks except AK, but I actually thought the commutes to DHS and Epcot were pretty short. It was a long drive to and from MK and Disney Springs, but that didn't bother us. Overall, we had a good stay and would stay there again down the line if it worked with our plans.
One quick story - on our check out day, we moved to a Universal hotel. After being there for a few hours, I realized I had left both of our iPads in the safe in our room at AKV! I quickly googled the AKL number, and they connected me to AKL lost & found. They quickly confirmed they indeed had both of our iPads and agreed to overnight them home to us on the day we arrived home, so we would be home to receive them. I got them back yesterday and couldn't be more pleased with how the whole situation was handled. Super grateful to the staff there for this!
One quick story - on our check out day, we moved to a Universal hotel. After being there for a few hours, I realized I had left both of our iPads in the safe in our room at AKV! I quickly googled the AKL number, and they connected me to AKL lost & found. They quickly confirmed they indeed had both of our iPads and agreed to overnight them home to us on the day we arrived home, so we would be home to receive them. I got them back yesterday and couldn't be more pleased with how the whole situation was handled. Super grateful to the staff there for this!
wellesleyprincess
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2005
Just back as well. Overall a fantastic stay. We had a pool view standard studio just off the lobby and it was a great location for us.
I did find the buses to be slower and less frequent than when we stayed at the value resorts. It's also a long ride after a long day at the park.
Our other problem was with concierge. We had to reset our magic band pin and in doing so our charging privileges got removed. We only found this out when we got to EPCOT the next day and spend a decent amount of time in guest relations getting it fixed.
I did find the buses to be slower and less frequent than when we stayed at the value resorts. It's also a long ride after a long day at the park.
Our other problem was with concierge. We had to reset our magic band pin and in doing so our charging privileges got removed. We only found this out when we got to EPCOT the next day and spend a decent amount of time in guest relations getting it fixed.
LJSquishy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2011
We also just got back from 9 nights at AKL - Jambo House. We were there from 10/21 - 10/30 and rented DVC points from a wonderful member here on The Dis. We were in room 5134, a Value Studio which had an awesome savanna view along the Ostrich Trail which faced the Sunset Savanna. Our first full day at Disney World we didn't see many animals, but as the days went on we saw more and more. The giraffes liked to sleep in front of our room most nights! 
We had numerous opportunities to watch the zebras graze, giraffes eat from their special boxes in the trees (and use their tongues to get leaves high up on the trees), and saw lots of other animals. It was a really great location.
We fell in love with AKL and I was actually sad to leave after our 9 nights. We stayed at CSR in 2012 for 7 nights and on that trip I was ready to come back home but AKL is another world of its own. I found it to be a mix of an African theme with elements of The Polynesian resort. I didn't know until arriving that AKL has an indoor water feature/pond as well as a couple of outdoor ones so it was a pleasant surprise! I loved the flamingo pen right by the pool -- so neat! I didn't swim in the pool but it was beautiful and the hot tubs are tucked away to make them a little more private. Our room was close to the lobby so it was very convenient for us in all aspects.
For those who haven't already read it somewhere else, the lobby is quite dark in the evening and is slightly dark during the day. To me, it was instantly relaxing to come "home" to AKL's dim lighting after a long park day, but to others it may seem dark and confining. The lighting in the rooms is also very dark -- I was expecting this as I had read it numerous times elsewhere, but it's definitely true. To put on my makeup I had to lean into the mirror over the sinks and it was still a little difficult. The bathroom lighting is absolutely terrible...and I mean terrible. It feels like you've got a nightlight on, so just be prepared! The lighting in the main part of the room was fine, especially at night. It was great having the kitchenette bar sink and counter area to put our mugs, snacks, etc. We had a leaky fridge one of the days and maintenance fixed it within a few hours while we were out in the parks. I also loved having two full-length mirrors in the room! Our Value studio had plenty of hangers in the armoire to hang my dresses and most of my shirts. The iron and ironing board were convenient and worked just as they should. We also did laundry mid-trip and it was a very quick and enjoyable process (we used the 5th floor DVC laundry room since we rented points) that took just an hour total to wash and dry our clothes (we used two washers and two dryers so we wouldn't overload the machines).
Now, on to the food...The Mara was awesome. I've heard it's one of the best counter service restaurants in the resorts and although I haven't tried many others, I can say it was very good. We are gluten free so I also have experience with that process. Most of the chefs/assistant chefs at The Mara were fantastic! Norma was our very favorite -- extremely pleasant, friendly, and she took the time to get to know us a little and even remembered who we were by the 2nd time we saw her. She also made the best food. There was one other stand-out chef who was male, but I can't remember his name unfortunately. It was easy to place a gluten free order and we generally waited 10-15 minutes to get our food which was expected since they prepare it in a separate kitchen area. They were great about modifying certain meals to make them gluten free so we didn't have to order just off of the dedicated allergy menu if we didn't want to. My husband loved getting a gluten free breakfast pizza a few times which normally had sausage gravy on it but Norma made him one with eggs, cheese, bacon, and sliced sausage on it. She made the best version.
The other chefs made less exciting versions but still tasty. Norma also made me fresh caramel sauce one morning for my gluten free waffles. The only food disappointment at The Mara was a bacon cheeseburger...the gluten free buns there aren't good (they're generally terrible everywhere) and the burger was lukewarm and had unmelted cheese on it. It was pretty terrible...I'd even say worse than McDonald's! 
We had the African Stew, BBQ Chicken Flatbread Pizza, multiple soups, bounty platters, chicken Caesar salad, and many kid's meals (grilled chicken salad, breakfast platter, waffles, etc). Most mornings my husband and I split one adult Bounty Platter and it was the perfect amount of food for us. Other mornings I would get a breakfast kid's meal of some sort (either waffles w/ bacon or the kid's breakfast platter) and that was plenty of food for me (I'd give my husband the beverage from it). We also almost always split one adult entrée and one cup of soup for lunch or dinner
any time we ate there. In general the portions are large. We weren't on the dining plan so we didn't buy beverages & desserts with our meals there. One night we did buy gluten free zebra domes and the chef gave us one extra one in our box for free (5 instead of 4)!
We also ate at Sanaa one night and loved the service and the food. Well, we loved the gluten free bread service with the 9 accompaniments and thought the entrée we shared was "okay". We shared the butter chicken and Goan seafood curry. To us, the star was by far the bread service. We talked about going again just for the bread service and drinks but ended up trying some other restaurants. Our server was amazing there.
Housekeeping during our stay was superb and they did a fantastic job. We had shipped an Amazon Pantry order and had a giant box in our room that we had planned to recycle there at some point but housekeeping took it away for us before we had a chance to! That was really nice of them to do that. The resort airline check-in process was great -- our boarding passes were hanging from our door the morning of departure and we checked our bag at the desk and then had bell services hold our carryons for us since our flight didn't depart until 7pm.
Bus service was mostly wonderful -- we had about 3 or 4 instances where we had to wait the full 20 minutes for a bus to come (maybe longer even) but overall we were happy. We did have to stand on the buses most of the time coming home from the parks to allow children and less-abled people to sit. We didn't really mind that much, but it really would have been nice to sit more often. The most frustrating part about the buses was having to wait to load/unload all of the scooters...it's just unbelievable how many people are using those these days. We were there for 10 days and literally had 2 bus rides without a scooter, and this was with park hopping, traveling to resorts, etc. It's definitely gotten beyond actual disabled people using them, I think it's a lot of obese people using them. We were pleased to see that most of the time adults gave up their seats to children and the elderly, but once we saw two kids standing that couldn't even reach the handles and no one would get up so they could sit...just terrible! We also saw a mother standing with an infant in her arms...I couldn't believe it! All in all it was great to not have to drive, but boy were we happy to be done with the buses after our trip! I don't want to see another scooter or stroller ever again, LOL!
We had numerous opportunities to watch the zebras graze, giraffes eat from their special boxes in the trees (and use their tongues to get leaves high up on the trees), and saw lots of other animals. It was a really great location.We fell in love with AKL and I was actually sad to leave after our 9 nights. We stayed at CSR in 2012 for 7 nights and on that trip I was ready to come back home but AKL is another world of its own. I found it to be a mix of an African theme with elements of The Polynesian resort. I didn't know until arriving that AKL has an indoor water feature/pond as well as a couple of outdoor ones so it was a pleasant surprise! I loved the flamingo pen right by the pool -- so neat! I didn't swim in the pool but it was beautiful and the hot tubs are tucked away to make them a little more private. Our room was close to the lobby so it was very convenient for us in all aspects.
For those who haven't already read it somewhere else, the lobby is quite dark in the evening and is slightly dark during the day. To me, it was instantly relaxing to come "home" to AKL's dim lighting after a long park day, but to others it may seem dark and confining. The lighting in the rooms is also very dark -- I was expecting this as I had read it numerous times elsewhere, but it's definitely true. To put on my makeup I had to lean into the mirror over the sinks and it was still a little difficult. The bathroom lighting is absolutely terrible...and I mean terrible. It feels like you've got a nightlight on, so just be prepared! The lighting in the main part of the room was fine, especially at night. It was great having the kitchenette bar sink and counter area to put our mugs, snacks, etc. We had a leaky fridge one of the days and maintenance fixed it within a few hours while we were out in the parks. I also loved having two full-length mirrors in the room! Our Value studio had plenty of hangers in the armoire to hang my dresses and most of my shirts. The iron and ironing board were convenient and worked just as they should. We also did laundry mid-trip and it was a very quick and enjoyable process (we used the 5th floor DVC laundry room since we rented points) that took just an hour total to wash and dry our clothes (we used two washers and two dryers so we wouldn't overload the machines).
Now, on to the food...The Mara was awesome. I've heard it's one of the best counter service restaurants in the resorts and although I haven't tried many others, I can say it was very good. We are gluten free so I also have experience with that process. Most of the chefs/assistant chefs at The Mara were fantastic! Norma was our very favorite -- extremely pleasant, friendly, and she took the time to get to know us a little and even remembered who we were by the 2nd time we saw her. She also made the best food. There was one other stand-out chef who was male, but I can't remember his name unfortunately. It was easy to place a gluten free order and we generally waited 10-15 minutes to get our food which was expected since they prepare it in a separate kitchen area. They were great about modifying certain meals to make them gluten free so we didn't have to order just off of the dedicated allergy menu if we didn't want to. My husband loved getting a gluten free breakfast pizza a few times which normally had sausage gravy on it but Norma made him one with eggs, cheese, bacon, and sliced sausage on it. She made the best version.
The other chefs made less exciting versions but still tasty. Norma also made me fresh caramel sauce one morning for my gluten free waffles. The only food disappointment at The Mara was a bacon cheeseburger...the gluten free buns there aren't good (they're generally terrible everywhere) and the burger was lukewarm and had unmelted cheese on it. It was pretty terrible...I'd even say worse than McDonald's! We had the African Stew, BBQ Chicken Flatbread Pizza, multiple soups, bounty platters, chicken Caesar salad, and many kid's meals (grilled chicken salad, breakfast platter, waffles, etc). Most mornings my husband and I split one adult Bounty Platter and it was the perfect amount of food for us. Other mornings I would get a breakfast kid's meal of some sort (either waffles w/ bacon or the kid's breakfast platter) and that was plenty of food for me (I'd give my husband the beverage from it). We also almost always split one adult entrée and one cup of soup for lunch or dinnerany time we ate there. In general the portions are large. We weren't on the dining plan so we didn't buy beverages & desserts with our meals there. One night we did buy gluten free zebra domes and the chef gave us one extra one in our box for free (5 instead of 4)!
We also ate at Sanaa one night and loved the service and the food. Well, we loved the gluten free bread service with the 9 accompaniments and thought the entrée we shared was "okay". We shared the butter chicken and Goan seafood curry. To us, the star was by far the bread service. We talked about going again just for the bread service and drinks but ended up trying some other restaurants. Our server was amazing there.
Housekeeping during our stay was superb and they did a fantastic job. We had shipped an Amazon Pantry order and had a giant box in our room that we had planned to recycle there at some point but housekeeping took it away for us before we had a chance to! That was really nice of them to do that. The resort airline check-in process was great -- our boarding passes were hanging from our door the morning of departure and we checked our bag at the desk and then had bell services hold our carryons for us since our flight didn't depart until 7pm.
Bus service was mostly wonderful -- we had about 3 or 4 instances where we had to wait the full 20 minutes for a bus to come (maybe longer even) but overall we were happy. We did have to stand on the buses most of the time coming home from the parks to allow children and less-abled people to sit. We didn't really mind that much, but it really would have been nice to sit more often. The most frustrating part about the buses was having to wait to load/unload all of the scooters...it's just unbelievable how many people are using those these days. We were there for 10 days and literally had 2 bus rides without a scooter, and this was with park hopping, traveling to resorts, etc. It's definitely gotten beyond actual disabled people using them, I think it's a lot of obese people using them. We were pleased to see that most of the time adults gave up their seats to children and the elderly, but once we saw two kids standing that couldn't even reach the handles and no one would get up so they could sit...just terrible! We also saw a mother standing with an infant in her arms...I couldn't believe it! All in all it was great to not have to drive, but boy were we happy to be done with the buses after our trip! I don't want to see another scooter or stroller ever again, LOL!
nkereina
Last chance to lose your keys.
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2009
Couldn't agree with this more! The lobby was definitely dark, both in lighting and decor. It's a personal preference for sure, we didn't care much for it. Just not to our taste, but still beautiful decor no less. The lighting in the room is exactly as described. I carry a small travel makeup mirror and sat at the table near the sliding door with the curtains wide open and every light in the room on just so I could see! No way I could have done it in the bathroom with the terrible lighting.
TeeterTots
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2014
I'm here now. I heard there was trick or treating though my children did not.
gottalovepluto
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2014
Here's a link from an email I just received for my upcoming visit! http://images.hosting-disney.com/PostBookingStream/Resorts/RecCalendars/current/1Q-RecCalendar.pdf
huey578
Test Track Dummy
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2004
Thank you, we are arriving on 11/14. Maybe I'll get the welcome email next week
wellesleyprincess
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2005
I meant to mention this in my earlier review, but I wasn't sure then, but now as I get even a few days away from it, AKL has ruined me. I don't think I can ever stay anywhere else again! Our experience certainly would make it very hard for me to go back to a value.
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