Jambo! The newest AKL Information thread

[psac]

Going solo for 2 days in Sept and considering staying here. Does anyone thing the Savanna view is worth an extra 140$ a night? Won't be in the room much other than to shower and sleep.

There are plenty of public viewing areas at both Jambo and Kidani. We hang out in our room a lot so we always book savanna view, if we weren't going to be in our room a lot we would likely just book standard view, to us, AKL is worth it either way.

Totally agree with this — if you’re doing room time it’s definitely worth it, but for a commando stay, I would say no. For us the best animal viewing time has always been late afternoon/early evening, like 2-5 pm.

 

[MarBee]

Totally agree with this — if you’re doing room time it’s definitely worth it, but for a commando stay, I would say no. For us the best animal viewing time has always been late afternoon/early evening, like 2-5 pm.

We had a savanna view in the past and thought it was worth every penny. But we are staying in a room that overlooks the lobby now, and I’m starting to rethink the savanna views because we love it here!

 

[Iowamomof4]

This may be a dumb question since it's a deluxe resort, but are there any rooms that don't have a balcony? I was looking at TP and the view from some of the standard rooms looks so awful, I wondered if it was possible those rooms don't even have a balcony (specifically looking at the standard rooms near the lobby).

 

[MikeNamez]

Totally agree with this — if you’re doing room time it’s definitely worth it, but for a commando stay, I would say no. For us the best animal viewing time has always been late afternoon/early evening, like 2-5 pm.

We had a savanna view in the past and thought it was worth every penny. But we are staying in a room that overlooks the lobby now, and I’m starting to rethink the savanna views because we love it here!

There are plenty of public viewing areas at both Jambo and Kidani. We hang out in our room a lot so we always book savanna view, if we weren't going to be in our room a lot we would likely just book standard view, to us, AKL is worth it either way.

Thank you all, i think you guys helped make up my mind. I'm going to do a standard view!... thanks for all the info

 

[KenHutch]

Going solo for 2 days in Sept and considering staying here. Does anyone thing the Savanna view is worth an extra 140$ a night? Won't be in the room much other than to shower and sleep.

On my last trip I resort hopped over there and had a nice conversation with a CM there. She told me that if I stayed there and wanted to save money I should book standard and request a partial savannah view. She told me a lot of the rooms have beautiful views but for one reason or another they are not classified as savannah views. She also told me they try to (based on availability) give people the best view they can and based on the hotels design they do not have that many classic standard views.

 

[MikeNamez]

On my last trip I resort hopped over there and had a nice conversation with a CM there. She told me that if I stayed there and wanted to save money I should book standard and request a partial savannah view. She told me a lot of the rooms have beautiful views but for one reason or another they are not classified as savannah views. She also told me they try to (based on availability) give people the best view they can and based on the hotels design they do not have that many classic standard views.

Ill def put that in as a request, maybe ill get lucky.

 

[psac]

Yeah I forgot about that. A number of the standard views have savannah views that overlook the “people pens.” They’re big ugly fenced areas that are made to hold people away from the animals if the resort has to be evacuated. They were originally classified as savannah views but they got too many complaints, so now they’re standard, and for standard pricing people love them.

 

[sndral]

Going solo for 2 days in Sept and considering staying here. Does anyone thing the Savanna view is worth an extra 140$ a night? Won't be in the room much other than to shower and sleep.

Thank you all, i think you guys helped make up my mind. I'm going to do a standard view!... thanks for all the info

Ill def put that in as a request, maybe ill get lucky.

Yes, there are a lot of standard rooms that have partial savanna views. If you request Kudu trail (and don't mind walking a bit) all of those rooms have at least a partial savanna view and several are classified as standard view, likewise there are a couple on Zebra trail rooms overlooking the Uzima savanna people pens which I believe were reclassified to standard view. The pool view rooms are nice as well (except a few that see mostly roofs) - although the only animals you'll see are **** sapiens but the foliage is lush - that used to be a bookable category for not much more than standard view, not sure if it still is. The less favored views are facing towards the road/parking lot on Giraffe and Ostrich trails, the short wings in the front of Jambo.
BTW, you may find the resort so relaxing that your commando park strategy may fall to the wayside, stranger things have happened

edit to add - oops, didn't realize calling humans by their taxonomically correct genus would get censored!

 

[NikkiDP]

Hi there! We are staying at Kidani Village in November. Are there laundry facilities? I didn't see any indicated on the map on the first few pages...

 

[psac]

Yes, there are a lot of standard rooms that have partial savanna views. If you request Kudu trail (and don't mind walking a bit) all of those rooms have at least a partial savanna view and several are classified as standard view, likewise there are a couple on Zebra trail rooms overlooking the Uzima savanna people pens which I believe were reclassified to standard view. The pool view rooms are nice as well (except a few that see mostly roofs) - although the only animals you'll see are **** sapiens but the foliage is lush - that used to be a bookable category for not much more than standard view, not sure if it still is. The less favored views are facing towards the road/parking lot on Giraffe and Ostrich trails, the short wings in the front of Jambo.
BTW, you may find the resort so relaxing that your commando park strategy may fall to the wayside, stranger things have happened

edit to add - oops, didn't realize calling humans by their taxonomically correct genus would get censored!

I laughed at that censoring as well! Biology references are not allowed!

 

[MikeNamez]

Yes, there are a lot of standard rooms that have partial savanna views. If you request Kudu trail (and don't mind walking a bit) all of those rooms have at least a partial savanna view and several are classified as standard view, likewise there are a couple on Zebra trail rooms overlooking the Uzima savanna people pens which I believe were reclassified to standard view. The pool view rooms are nice as well (except a few that see mostly roofs) - although the only animals you'll see are **** sapiens but the foliage is lush - that used to be a bookable category for not much more than standard view, not sure if it still is. The less favored views are facing towards the road/parking lot on Giraffe and Ostrich trails, the short wings in the front of Jambo.
BTW, you may find the resort so relaxing that your commando park strategy may fall to the wayside, stranger things have happened

edit to add - oops, didn't realize calling humans by their taxonomically correct genus would get censored!

I'm not really the "Relax" kind of guy. I sit at a computer all day at home for work so when I'm on Vacation, if I'm not on the move i feel like I'm wasting it. The second day im there i could see myself having breakfast on the balcony and enjoying the animals for a while. I think standard view is the move and hope for the best once i get there. Thanks for the input!

 

[RachelTori]

I'm not really the "Relax" kind of guy. I sit at a computer all day at home for work so when I'm on Vacation, if I'm not on the move i feel like I'm wasting it. The second day im there i could see myself having breakfast on the balcony and enjoying the animals for a while. I think standard view is the move and hope for the best once i get there. Thanks for the input!

I would save the money and go with a standard view. There’s also a good chance that while you’re having breakfast on your balcony looking for the animals, they may or may not be out on the Savannah. No guarantee. In fact, they are often scarce in the early morning hours. The time I’ve found to be most reliable for animals out on the Savannahs is late afternoon/early evening.

 

[TinkTank01]

They stay on the savannas at night. In fact I love seeing Giraffe silently glide by at night. Each morning the animals go to their barns for about 1 - 1&1/2 hours but then are let out after hubandry finishes their checks, supplemental feeding, medications if needed, etc.. Some animals, like the red river hogs during really cold weather, or females about to give birth, may be housed elsewhere at times.

This is very helpful information! I thought the animals would go to the barn ar night but it is exciting to realize that there is a chance to see them at night!

 

[OhThePain]

This is very helpful information! I thought the animals would go to the barn ar night but it is exciting to realize that there is a chance to see them at night!

Just like the savannah at AK, the animals at AKL are kind of free to do their own thing unless they are called back by the CMs that work with them. They can return to their barns whenever they want but they don't have to. They usually only call them back if they haven't been back in a few days or for weather purposes or routine check-ups. Otherwise, they are free to do what nature intended them to do. We've done the Backstage Safari at AK (which has either been renamed or discontinued) and the Wanyama twice and you really just get the sense that the CMs are there just to make sure the animals are healthy and happy.

On one of our trips, the heard of gazelles would eat below our balcony every night. it was quiet enough outside that we could actually hear them eating and swallowing. It was almost kind of earie sounding.

 

[pepperandchips]

Just like the savannah at AK, the animals at AKL are kind of free to do their own thing unless they are called back by the CMs that work with them. They can return to their barns whenever they want but they don't have to. They usually only call them back if they haven't been back in a few days or for weather purposes or routine check-ups. Otherwise, they are free to do what nature intended them to do. We've done the Backstage Safari at AK (which has either been renamed or discontinued) and the Wanyama twice and you really just get the sense that the CMs are there just to make sure the animals are healthy and happy.

On one of our trips, the heard of gazelles would eat below our balcony every night. it was quiet enough outside that we could actually hear them eating and swallowing. It was almost kind of earie sounding.

From our experience it definitely seems that the animals know when "barn time" is! We had a room waaaayyyy at the end of Kudu trail once with a wonderful view of the barn offstage. There was a baby zebra at the time in the barn (off stage but you could see baby and mama behind the enclosure) and the other zebras hung out near the barn basically all day. It was extremely cool to watch! Also at certain times of day (I'm sorry I don't remember exactly when but maybe around 5:00 pm) the giraffes all made their way to the barn entrance and just lurked around. Eventually they were let in but I think they know the routine!

Here are a couple photos, sorry for the crummy quality they are old iPhone 4 photos waaaaaay zoomed in


This guy was always by mama and baby. We suspected maybe he was Dad?


Everyone came to visit quite regularly! How many zebra booties do you see?


Typical of the giraffes, just pacing until time to go in to the barn!

We loved this room for animal watching. I had room 2374, standard room, 2 queens, non-accessible.

 

[Shellyb84]

Yeah I forgot about that. A number of the standard views have savannah views that overlook the “people pens.” They’re big ugly fenced areas that are made to hold people away from the animals if the resort has to be evacuated. They were originally classified as savannah views but they got too many complaints, so now they’re standard, and for standard pricing people love them.

We had a standard room with a partial view overlooking a people pen to the side, I wouldn't necessarily call it ugly. We had such a great view of the animals we didn't even notice it.

 

[abja09]

I am staying at Kidani in July in a savanna view studio with my 15 yr old son. I’m not to picky about a room and don’t mind the walk but I know I definitely want to be in the south wing. Should I just request south wing or should I be more specific? TIA

 

[Glam]

We checked in 2 hrs ago and were given a room with view of the people pen on Kudu Trail. We saw 2 animals in the 1 hour we s were in the room. I love the room and absolutely adore the resort. I'm even considering switching my august reservation at wilderness lodge to AKL. To date, we've only ever stayed at GF and Poly. The AKL room is noticeably smaller, but for 2 adults and a toddler it's fine. I love how the room fully reflects the theme. And everything about the resort makes you feel like you are somewhere else.

Disclaimer - my 3 yr old doesn't think it feels like Disney, but i love it

 

[sndral]

I am staying at Kidani in July in a savanna view studio with my 15 yr old son. I’m not to picky about a room and don’t mind the walk but I know I definitely want to be in the south wing. Should I just request south wing or should I be more specific? TIA

Personally I'd ask for Sunset savanna view as well, the much smaller Pembe savanna on the 'back' side of Kidani is sort of long and narrow and does not have Giraffes (it's barn isn't tall enough for them.)

 

[abja09]

Personally I'd ask for Sunset savanna view as well, the much smaller Pembe savanna on the 'back' side of Kidani is sort of long and narrow and does not have Giraffes (it's barn isn't tall enough for them.)

I will do that! Thanks