Jambo! The newest AKL Information thread

[Tiffany4909]

I've booked my family (7 people = 4 adults, 1 teen, 2 kids) in two AKL club level rooms in late January and THIS is my main concern -- the space available in the room. In looking at the rooms online, they look super old and small. Where in the room would four full-sized suitcases even fit??

If anyone has photos of the room and where/how the suitcases fit, please share!

We need to stay near Wide World of Sports because my niece is competing in a field hockey tournament. So I assumed AKL club level would be the best, nicest option. But the room size is freaking me out that we will feel cramped.

Our room had a connecting door to the room next door. So we put our empty suitcases in the area in front of that door. There was room between the tv/dresser stand and mini fridge for 2-3 suitcases to stand upright. Depending on how big your bags are you may be able to store under the bed but ours were a few inches too big.

 

[Cajun23]

Have they started the room refurbishments and any idea what is getting refurbed?

 

[AmyAnne]

Can someone help me with daybed specifics? Last time we were at AKL (a long time ago) the "daybed" was an actual small bed. Do I understand correctly that the "daybed" is now some kind of fold-out chair? Also, how does the current daybed compare to a regular twin bed?

 

[sndral]

Can someone help me with daybed specifics? Last time we were at AKL (a long time ago) the "daybed" was an actual small bed. Do I understand correctly that the "daybed" is now some kind of fold-out chair? Also, how does the current daybed compare to a regular twin bed?

I don’t think regular AKL hotel rooms ever had a ‘day bed’ of the sort that YC/BC or the Poly have, at least when I first stayed at Jambo in 2001 or 2 they didn’t. Regular rooms at Jambo have 2 queen beds or 1 queen and bunk beds or 1 king AFAIK.
The 1 & 2 br. DVC villas at Jambo (except value) and Kidani have a fold out sleeper sofa and a fold out sleeper chair. The chair folds out into a single sized bed. I’ve slept on the chair & it’s not bad. The studio villas have a queen size bed and a fold out sofa no chair or day bed & they only sleep 4.

 

[GoGoBeans]

Jambo! Is there anyone there now or just back that has the December resort calendar? I’d love to know the schedule for the bell ringers and carolers. Thank you!

 

[gillep]

Jambo! Is there anyone there now or just back that has the December resort calendar? I’d love to know the schedule for the bell ringers and carolers. Thank you!

https://www.themouseforless.com/tripplanning/resorts/wdw/pdf/AKLCalendar.pdf

Here is the guide but I didn't see the schedule for either the bell ringers or carolers. Under Holiday Activities it says to see a Recreation CM for details.

 

[Lovetherodent]

Bus service was great except the one morning we waited for 35 minutes for a bus to DHS. A bus came already loaded from Kidani, a few people were able to fit on. The transportation CM there asked for another bus which took quite awhile to come, but again came loaded from Kidani. We were able to get on that bus but there was a line of over 40 people still waiting for more buses. Other than that hiccup, we never waited more than 5-10 minutes for a bus.

Only other critiques would be the use of space in the room. Having 3 adults in a room with only 2 drawers and the closet for storage was not enough. Same with the sink area, with no shelves underneath somewhere to store things. The bathroom toilet/shower room was very tight, the door almost hit the toilet.

I agree, bus service was so nice. Only once (morning for park opening time) did we wait more than 5-10 minutes for a bus. The door does practically hit the toilet; found the tight toilet/tub part of the bathroom very hard to navigate, but after a night at the Pop, was extremely happy to have 2 sinks!

 

[funkyspunky871]

Just a quick comment: We're here now and while the hotel lobby is absolutely stunning, we are completely underwhelmed by our room in Jambo house and by the savannas. We bought a standard room. There's this weird chiming sound coming from the ceiling, it is tiny, and doesn't get too cool. Nothing really special but not terrible either. Still, we went out to the savanna overlook to see what we were missing by not having the more expensive room. Two zebras, two giraffes, two horned animals that I don't remember the name of, and lots of birds. We were expecting more o be perfectly honest. Glad we didnt spend the money on the upgrade! But again, the lobby is gorgeous and the Christmas tree can't be beat!! It's also nice and relaxing underlike the GF lobby which we visited a couple nights ago.

 

[GoGoBeans]

https://www.themouseforless.com/tripplanning/resorts/wdw/pdf/AKLCalendar.pdf

Here is the guide but I didn't see the schedule for either the bell ringers or carolers. Under Holiday Activities it says to see a Recreation CM for details.

Thank you! I found my resort guide from last Christmas and the times where 6:15 and 7:15 on the odd number days beginning 12/11 and ending 12/23. I’ll ping DSS if they can share the times for this year. We already have next year booked. The performances were so wonderful, I’d love to catch them again.

Going through the folder and finding all kinds of random things I saved was wild.

 

[OhThePain]

...Still, we went out to the savanna overlook to see what we were missing by not having the more expensive room. Two zebras, two giraffes, two horned animals that I don't remember the name of, and lots of birds. We were expecting more o be perfectly honest. Glad we didnt spend the money on the upgrade!...

There are a lot more than that. It all depends on which savannah you looked at, which spot you were watching from, what time of day you looked, how long you looked, what the weather was like. etc., etc.,etc. The animals have their freedom to be in their savannah or be in their pens. There are also certain times of days when the CMs call them back for routine checks. There are times I've sat on the balcony and not seen anything and other times when the savannah is really active. Maybe you just had some bad timing.

 

[DisneyFan2013]

I stayed at AKL in late October. When I arrived and got to my room, I wasn’t crazy about it because it had a king bed (I prefer two beds) and it was kind of far away from the lobby (I had requested to be close). I told the front desk and they reassigned me to a new room closer to the lobby with two beds (yay!). However, when I went to take a look at the room, I noticed that the balcony had one of those high gates that obstructed the view and sunlight. (I really don’t understand those balconies. Are they child safety balconies or something?) So I just stayed in my king bed room with the nice balcony.

Later on, I discovered tiny ants in the room. They attacked my snacks that I had in ziplock backs and crawled on the surfaces of the table, refrigerator, and nightstands. I went back to the front desk a few days later to inform them and they did offer me a new room, but I declined because I was leaving the next day. They also said they would send an exterminator to the room.

I enjoyed my stay for the most part and I appreciate that the AKL staff did their best to accommodate me. It is a beautiful resort. I think I’ll probably stick to POFQ in the future though.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

There are a lot more than that. It all depends on which savannah you looked at, which spot you were watching from, what time of day you looked, how long you looked, what the weather was like. etc., etc.,etc. The animals have their freedom to be in their savannah or be in their pens. There are also certain times of days when the CMs call them back for routine checks. There are times I've sat on the balcony and not seen anything and other times when the savannah is really active. Maybe you just had some bad timing.

I agree with this. When we stayed in June we saw the most animals in the morning hours as walked from our room to the lobby.

 

[Armoire]

We're here now and while the hotel lobby is absolutely stunning, we are completely underwhelmed by our room in Jambo house and by the savannas. We bought a standard room.

We are also here now, in a standard room but partial savannah. I generated a faxed request via Touring Plans, and we ended up in a 1 queen with bunk beds (kudu trail, sunset savannah, 2nd floor) for me and my husband. We have seen all sorts of animals! In our little cul-de-sac grassy area, a grey crowned crane, zebra, eland, addax (headbutting each other!), giraffe, and ankole cattle (one sleeps outside our window every night and leaves in the morning). It has been an amazing experience!



We went to the overlook once and everything was really far away. Maybe both of us were just unlucky with that.

 

[kristenrice]

I generated a faxed request via Touring Plans...

I just wanted to comment on my experience with this...

We went in October 2018 and stayed at Kidani (DVC members) in a standard studio for 4 nights. I used Touring Plans to fax in my room request and I got the EXACT ROOM I requested! It could not have been more perfect! We also had 3 nights in a studio at OKW and I made a request there as well and I got a room that was almost the same one I requested...just one building over. I know it doesn't guarantee anything, but I will be using it for every trip from here on out.

 

[pickypiratepete]

We are staying the last three nights of our trip in a standard studio at Jambo. I absolutely love the relaxing feel of the resort and pool and find by day 6 we’re ready to slow down a little and enjoy the beauty, so this works well for us. The only small issue we had was the fold out sofa. I don’t remember it being awful, but It was a typical sofa bed. I was thinking of packing or shipping some kind of mattress topper to just help a little with comfort. I also read on another resort thread that sometimes they have an egg crate type of topper you can get from mousekeeping. Does anyone have any experience with this? I’d love to hear your ideas. Thanks so much.

 

[Spencer Wright]

Just a quick comment: We're here now and while the hotel lobby is absolutely stunning, we are completely underwhelmed by our room in Jambo house and by the savannas. We bought a standard room. There's this weird chiming sound coming from the ceiling, it is tiny, and doesn't get too cool. Nothing really special but not terrible either. Still, we went out to the savanna overlook to see what we were missing by not having the more expensive room. Two zebras, two giraffes, two horned animals that I don't remember the name of, and lots of birds. We were expecting more o be perfectly honest. Glad we didnt spend the money on the upgrade! But again, the lobby is gorgeous and the Christmas tree can't be beat!! It's also nice and relaxing underlike the GF lobby which we visited a couple nights ago.

While I love Jambo House, its animal viewing is subpar compared to Kidani Village.

Plus, animal viewing options are so abundant, there is really no reason to pay for Savannah View (in my opinion).

 

[sunset7132]

Have they started the room refurbishments and any idea what is getting refurbed?

following

 

[dreams4disney]

My husband and I stayed at AKL Jambo House (standard view) the first time in November. We arrived around 10am and went to ask to store our luggage until our room was ready. The lady at the desk asked if we were celebrating anything and we told her no. She then asked if we wanted a room with a queen and bunk beds or a room with two queen beds. I told her we didn't pay to have a room with bunk beds and that the two queen beds would be fine. She was very nice. It wasn't very busy at check. She told us our room was ready and she showed us on the map where our room was located. We were put in room 4554 and it couldn't have been better. It must be a partial Savannah room. We saw animals every morning and evening.

I did not make any request on our reservation for a partial view.I didn't make any requests at all. I booked a standard view and thats what I expected to get. My husband and I have been going to Disney for years and have never been given an upgrade.

There are so many places to look out and see the animals. It was an amazing resort. It as stunning all decorated for Christmas.

We are going to go back in June with our adult children and we booked standard view again. I am not worried about having a view of a parking lot, there are a ton of places to look at the animals and the lobby is so relaxing.

 

[crazylady]

I've booked my family (7 people = 4 adults, 1 teen, 2 kids) in two AKL club level rooms in late January and THIS is my main concern -- the space available in the room. In looking at the rooms online, they look super old and small. Where in the room would four full-sized suitcases even fit??

If anyone has photos of the room and where/how the suitcases fit, please share!

We need to stay near Wide World of Sports because my niece is competing in a field hockey tournament. So I assumed AKL club level would be the best, nicest option. But the room size is freaking me out that we will feel cramped.

No pictures. But we kept one suitcase on top of the refrigerator cabinet and one open on the luggage rack in the closet. We might have unpacked my son's stuff into a drawer.

 

[Ariel620]

Is the pool at Jambo open yet? Is the long refurb finished? If so, is anything different?