Jambo! The newest AKL Information thread

[disravenlaur]

We have 2 rooms booked standard view. We have never stayed at AKL before. Do they have connecting rooms? What are the best rooms to request with a standard view?

 

[disnmooner2013]

If we stay non-club level at AKL w/ Savannah View we are thinking of making it 7 nights instead of 6 next year. Or we are thinking of making our stay split between cl and non-cl. Would we be able to stay in the same room since the 4th floor of AKL is cl and non-cl rooms?

 

[NatureBoyChris]

Love this thread and all the information provided, but I'm in need of a little help. I've never stayed at AKL, and I'm clueless about where to request. We are staying in a DVC Studio with Savannah view. My kids favorite animals are giraffes, and I'd like to have a room with a good view of them. Can anyone suggest an area of the resort to request? We are staying in the main building.

 

[sunset7132]

Hi all - back from AKL and wanted to share my thoughts. Goal was to enjoy the balcony overlooking the savanna in the mornings with my coffee, use the pool, and head to parks in the late afternoon/evening. Disclaimer – this is meant to share my specific experience in the hopes it might help others so I understand that YMMV ! I really did have a great trip, and I tried to go into it with low expectations because nothing is guaranteed, but it’s tough when you’re paying that much for a room to see animals and you don’t really see any. Also, I’m longwinded so settle in

The category I booked was “Queen + Bunk Beds – Savanna View” as it was the only savanna view available with the Passholder discount. Used Touring Plans Room Request Fax Service to request room: Jambo; Flr 3; NW-facing room. Example 3507, 3505, 3509, 3503, 3511 - was assigned room 3505 overlooking Arusha Savanna! It was such a hard decision deciding which Savanna to choose, but wanted to see zebras so ultimately went with Arusha as I had read that was the only savanna with them. I was very excited!

Room was a decent size, was clean upon arrival and kept that way by housekeeping. I had Privacy sign on door in the mornings when most rooms around me were being cleaned so before I left room for the parks in the afternoon I made a quick call to housekeeping to let them know I was leaving and asking them to service the room and it was always taken care of. Bed was totally uncomfortable and made a loud creaking noise whenever I got up. Bring a nightlight because I ran into that darn bunk bed all the time in the middle of the night. Room had a coffee maker with the Cuisinart pods but I got coffee from the Mara as it was a short elevator ride away – so convenient! Loved the location of the room as it was close to pool and also on same level as the lobby.

While the location and decor was excellent, I did not have good luck viewing animals on the savanna at all. I was typically on my balcony from 7am – 10am every morning and there were never any animals outside my room. There sometimes were 2 giraffes, 2 zebra and 2 other deer type animals on the savanna but WAY on the other side closer to the Kudu Trail rooms so I really couldn’t see them due to distance and being blocked by trees. I could see kinda giraffe legs, but not heads One morning they seemed to be huddled over at the end of the Zebra Trail rooms so I decided to go investigate what was over there. From the outside stairwell at the end of the hall I found all the animals! All pacing by the fence seemingly waiting for a keeper to come. Up rolled a golf cart, opened a fence and away went the animals. I understand that you aren’t guaranteed to see animals, and that they have to be fed and looked over and taken care of, but if I’m being honest it was disappointing. Maybe they are out at different times of day? Or again, just my bad luck, but AKL likely won’t get me to pay for a savanna view again, unless I want to watch the pond being drained, cleaned and refilled every morning *newsflash – not worth the money .

Bus transportation was also not great (more bad luck?). Never waited LESS than 15 minutes for a bus from AKL (to AK, Disney Springs, Epcot, MK) and the wait back on Saturday night from AK to AKL was at least 45 minutes – which I understand can happen, but it is very frustrating when you see 2 buses each come and go for Pop Century, Fort Wilderness and Coronado Springs and none for AKL. I had the Uber app pulled up and the next AKL bus showed up.

All was not lost though! AKL has an amazing pool, pool bar and Victoria Falls Lounge that I enjoyed quite a bit. Plus the quick service breakfast at Sanaa was delicious (still no animals out over there either). The breakfast was not listed anywhere on any of the Jambo house materials so I walked the 10 minutes over to Kidani to check it out and there is a sign at the top of the stairs in the lobby headed down to Sanaa. I think I sat right next to @ariane37 but didn’t want to interrupt her breakfast, especially not being sure . Another note, the lifeguards closed the pool at 10pm every night (I thought I had read they were open 24 hours?).

A major highlight was seeing Joe Rohde in the Victoria Falls lounge late on Saturday night (I needed a drink after the bus fiasco from AK). I thought about walking up and telling him how great Pandora was (I had been there that night), but he was with a big group and I’m not the type to interrupt. A pretty cool memory to have even seen him on that day though.

I still love AKL and might even stay there again (in one of those rooms near the stairwell at the end of the Zebra Trail maybe!). It’s a beautiful resort and was a nice respite after the craziness of the parks.

That was just a bad luck day, we were in room 3417 or something like that and i was mad we had a rock in the way, but we saw a giraffe running and playing, it was so amazing , then it had a little squabble with something that looked like a little hedge hog, it was very entertaining

 

[suse66]

Awesome review! Thank you so much for sharing. I am staying at AKL this summer but have a standard view booked. I figured I can go to the viewing areas to see the savannah and animals. Like you, I hope to enjoy the pool, restaurants and lounges. I am particularly excited about having dinner at Jiko! Thanks again for your feedback.

 

[DisneyDiana]

Love this thread and all the information provided, but I'm in need of a little help. I've never stayed at AKL, and I'm clueless about where to request. We are staying in a DVC Studio with Savannah view. My kids favorite animals are giraffes, and I'd like to have a room with a good view of them. Can anyone suggest an area of the resort to request? We are staying in the main building.

We love the studios at Jambo House and always see giraffes from our room. I usually request a room on Kudu Trail. The farther down the hallway you are the better the view IMHO.

 

[DisneyDiana]

I have seen many posts over the years about the lack of animal sightings in the mornings. Just an FYI, we are regulars at AKL and have been told many times the animals go in every day for check ups from 7-10 am. Our best times for animal viewing from the balcony have always been in the late afternoon, particularly if it is raining. The rain seems to energize the animals and they often run around chasing each other during passing thunderstorms. Our favorite time was when we watched the wildebeest chasing a zebra all over the savannah. He finally jumped on top of a big mound of dirt suddenly and the wildebeest all bumped into each other and started chasing one another. We absolutely love AKL!!!

 

[ceeceegee]

I have a question about the location of your room. I have requested almost the exact room on the 5th floor. If you were going to do savanna again, would you request the same location? Or what would you do different? I know you said you wouldnt pay for this view again so hypothetically speaking.
Just curious

It would depend on my goal - if I just wanted a pretty view of the savanna I'd keep the same room location as it was shady in the mornings and it was a nice view. if I wanted to see lots of animals I'd either try a similar location on the Kudu Trail or the rooms at the end of the zebra trail (x591 - x596) as that is where they were all huddled and they were very close. I'll try to figure out how to post a photo. There is just no way to know!

 

[ceeceegee]

I have seen many posts over the years about the lack of animal sightings in the mornings. Just an FYI, we are regulars at AKL and have been told many times the animals go in every day for check ups from 7-10 am. Our best times for animal viewing from the balcony have always been in the late afternoon, particularly if it is raining. The rain seems to energize the animals and they often run around chasing each other during passing thunderstorms. Our favorite time was when we watched the wildebeest chasing a zebra all over the savannah. He finally jumped on top of a big mound of dirt suddenly and the wildebeest all bumped into each other and started chasing one another. We absolutely love AKL!!!

Well clearly this would've been helpful information for me to have known ahead of my "I'm going to spend mornings on my balcony with coffee and giraffes!" trip.
Oh well, live and learn I guess.

 

[Momtwofour]

I have seen many posts over the years about the lack of animal sightings in the mornings. Just an FYI, we are regulars at AKL and have been told many times the animals go in every day for check ups from 7-10 am. Our best times for animal viewing from the balcony have always been in the late afternoon, particularly if it is raining. The rain seems to energize the animals and they often run around chasing each other during passing thunderstorms. Our favorite time was when we watched the wildebeest chasing a zebra all over the savannah. He finally jumped on top of a big mound of dirt suddenly and the wildebeest all bumped into each other and started chasing one another. We absolutely love AKL!!!

We are staying in a 1bdrm villa Jambo House. Any room location suggestions? And thanks for the advice on animal viewing! We are planning alot of evening resort time so hopefully we will see alot then!

 

[MumziMom]

Does anyone have any comments on the following? My daughter's friend from abroad will be arriving very early in the morning (6 a.m.) at the airport. The 3 of us will not be arriving at the airport until 2:30 that afternoon. I will be forwarding him his Magical Express information, (and I understand that he will not be able to tag his luggage) but I wanted to know how to request "Early Check In, if Possible" if one of the arriving party is not one of the "main guests" - I'm not sure if we should send him his magic band, and if this will help or not. I understand check-in is at 3:00. Since he will be flying at night, I would love to be able to let him sleep for a while. I could pay for another night, so the room is there when he arrives, but don't really feel like paying another $230 (I bought one annual pass, so the rate is good.) . He said that "he sleeps well at airports" so he could sleep in the lobby at Jambo House - he's young - I just want to be a good host.

Advice? Thanks!

 

[JessiMommy]

We have 2 rooms booked standard view. We have never stayed at AKL before. Do they have connecting rooms? What are the best rooms to request with a standard view?

We usually stay at AKL in late summer/early fall because in addition to everything else that is fabulous about this resort, we love the pool! We always book standard and request a room on the Zebra Trail so were closest to the pool. Our favorite bank of rooms is at the end of the first hallway that juts out off the Zebra Trail. Room numbers 3486, 3485, 3484, 3483. (Those are third floor rooms which we like best but change the 3 in each room number to a 2 or 4 etc to get a different floor.) See the purple arrow on the map below. We overlook one of the hot tubs and have a partial Uzima Savannah View. There is an exterior staircase right there that leads directly to the pool deck and we are very close to the lobby and restaurants. If you don't care to be as close to the pool or lobby I'd just request any partial Savannah View room. I've included pictures we took from the balcony of room 3486.

The picture on the bottom right is a zoomed in version of the one on top.

 

[Realgrumpy]

How many partial Savannah view rooms are there? What are the chances of getting one?

 

[KrazeeK120]

We are contemplating a stay at AKL next October (as in 2018...we just got back from a trip and I'm itching to plan another one!!).

My question is, does the Mara get crowded around dinner time? We have a young son who will be just shy of 3 when we go. We stayed at WL on this trip and most nights we returned to the resort for dinner, a little resort exploration, and bed. We stayed CL and ate dinner in the club, but another CL stay just isn't in the budget next year for various reasons. So, I think we will need a QS dinner at least a couple of nights and was wondering if we will be dealing with a huge crowd.

 

[kayteekt]

I asked this in the CL thread but figured it can't hurt to ask here too, in case someone knows

Does anyone know how many Bunk Bed rooms there are for CL at AKL?
I really want CL again but DGD really wants a Bunk Bed room.
I currently have a Pool View room booked but am so tempted to call and switch us. I wondered if we had any chance at all of getting a bunk bed room? Touring Plans shows 1 but I know their room parameters are often off
If it is right then no, I won't do it. The odds of us getting the 1 Bunk bed room for our 1 night are slim to none. We'll just stay put, maybe book the Night Safari instead. It won't replace what I'll miss from the CL but it would keep her happy

I have this same question. Asked over in the CL thread, no info yet.
Booked a savannah view room. We have 2 kiddos, they would love the bunk beds.

 

[AngiTN]

I have this same question. Asked over in the CL thread, no info yet.
Booked a savannah view room. We have 2 kiddos, they would love the bunk beds.

I never got an answer but we did book a CL room and requested bunk bed room and we did get one

 

[Princess Minnie321]

We are contemplating a stay at AKL next October (as in 2018...we just got back from a trip and I'm itching to plan another one!!).

My question is, does the Mara get crowded around dinner time? We have a young son who will be just shy of 3 when we go. We stayed at WL on this trip and most nights we returned to the resort for dinner, a little resort exploration, and bed. We stayed CL and ate dinner in the club, but another CL stay just isn't in the budget next year for various reasons. So, I think we will need a QS dinner at least a couple of nights and was wondering if we will be dealing with a huge crowd.

We ate at the Mara several times during breakfast and dinner hours with our 3 and 5 year olds last November. We were always able to find a table and the line looks long, but it moved pretty quickly. I found it slower at dinner time then at breakfast. The food was better then the qs places we ate at in the parks and in our experience, they were much busier and more chaotic then the mara. It was really nice to have a qs restaurant at the hotel for nights the kids were tired and needed to leave the parks for some down time. We had such a great experience at AKL that we booked here for our trip next year. The convenience of the mara was one of the reasons we chose to return to this hotel.

 

[kayteekt]

I never got an answer but we did book a CL room and requested bunk bed room and we did get one

Thanks for the report!

With CL do you request like normal (thru disney or touringplans room request) or via your concierge contact?

 

[KrazeeK120]

Thanks for the report!

With CL do you request like normal (thru disney or touringplans room request) or via your concierge contact?

Not at AKL, but we recently stayed CL at WL and I made my room request through DSS. I got exactly what I wanted FWIW.

 

[AngiTN]

Thanks for the report!

With CL do you request like normal (thru disney or touringplans room request) or via your concierge contact?

I had to call to change my reservation. I made my request with her when I made the change. It was my only request. Interestingly enough the room was also ready really, got the text at 8:30 am. Didn't even indicate i wanted it early