Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge

This is my last Disney post for Disney week. *sigh*


Today I'm going to talk about Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge's pros and cons, as well as some tips.

The resort is split between two buildings: Kidani Vilage (where I stay) and Jambo House. Kidani is the Disney Vacation Club part of the resort. Rooms are essentially more like mini apartments. Kidani has a small gift shop and a very home-y feel. While it's typically meant for DVC members, I do know non-members who have stayed there.

Jambo House is much bigger, and is home to a large breakfast buffet at Boma. It has a huge gift shop and definitely feels more like a hotel, if you ask me. I've never actually stayed there, but I did eat at Boma on my most recent trip.

Bonus: All of the rooms were just refurbished this year!

Phoebe reading by the savannah!

Pros

First off, the pros:

🦁 The Views! If you book a savannah view, you will not be disappointed. There are giraffes, ostriches, zebras, and more! The animals are confined so that they don't come too close to the guests, but they still come pretty close. We had this one ostrich that wandered outside our room every day. My niece appropriately named him "Mr. Ostrich". If you can't get a safari view, no worries! There are two viewing areas by the lobby, and the animals can be seen through the windows in the hallways.

🦁 Distance to AK You could probably assume this given the name, but Animal Kingdom is only a 5 minute (maybe less) bus ride away from the resort, so buses are pretty easy to come by.

🦁 Activities I'll talk about this in a little bit...

Cons

Now for the cons...

🐵 Distance Because of the animals, like Animal Kingdom, the Lodge is pretty far from the rest of the parks (on Osceola Parkway). It's a decent bus ride to and from, not including traffic. So if you're looking to go to a park opening, prepare to leave early. If you love Animal Kingdom, it shouldn't really be an issue. But if you, like me, don't visit AK as often, this is a drawback.

🐵 Buses My family loves to walk to the parks (we find it much easier), which would explain why we usually prefer to stay at The Boardwalk or Baylake Tower (both resorts offer a walkway to one or more parks). For Animal Kingdom Lodge, the only transportation is a bus. This is me being very picky because I love the monorail and the exercise, so for me, this is a con. It's probably the biggest con, actually. 

🐵 Size Because the resort pretty much sits on a savannah, the rooms wrap around the entire area. This means the hallways are long. We were on the main level, so it was about a 7 minute walk to and from our room. I kid you not. I know this kind of contradicts what I said earlier, but after riding an immensely crowded bus for 15-20 minutes on top of it being past 10, the last thing we wanted to do was walk the distance to our room. It's not a huge deal, considering you get to see animals all the time, but it is something to consider.

Tips

🐗 Take advantage of the activities going on at the resort. One morning, we had nothing to do, so we walked outside and got to put together feeding boxes for the giraffes. Because we did it, we received a giraffe bead. Other families had many other kinds of beads from actives at both

Here we are putting together the feeding boxes 🌿

Kidani and Jambo. Had we been staying longer, we probably would have done more, but alas, we had a short timeframe.

🐗 If you can, try to to get a savannah room. It really is worth it! The kids loved waking up and sitting on the balcony to watch the animals! 

🐗 Check out the pool! I must admit, I'm not a pool person. My parents and I prefer to go, go, go. But my nieces love to swim, so we walked to the pool. It's a hidden spot tucked away, but it was really nice. Per the Disney way, it was themed to the resort. My nieces loved it! It was a great way for them to take a break without  losing the Disney fun.

The slide at the pool 

🐗 If you're eating at Boma, the restaurant at Jambo House (or Sanaa at Kidani), and you're staying at the opposite part of the resort, take the shuttle! It runs to and from the resorts. You can walk or take a taxi, but it's a great option nonetheless. It was the last day of our trip, so we took the shuttle. 

If you or your family loves animals or Animal Kingdom, Animal Kingdom Lodge is a great choice. However, if you prefer Magic Kingdom or Epcot, a closer resort would be a better option. My nieces LOVED it, while my parents and I like it, but would prefer to stay somewhere closer to MK and Epcot. It truly depends on your preference!