Jambo! The newest AKL Information thread

[MeeskaMooska13]

....if you have enough time between dinner and the night safari, go past the far left corner, past the pool area, where the CMs have night-vision googles to view the animals...BTW, thumbs up on both eateries!

Our Minnie Van driver told us about this. However, when we went down to this very spot (two weeks ago) and asked about it, the CM’s had no idea what we were talking about! We were so disappointed.

 

[RaySharpton]

I'll be at AKL Jambo in a DVC value studio in June for my birthday and retirement for four days. I was just going to relax most of the time at the resort before transferring to Pop Century Resort when I will visit the parks more.

I haven't been to AKL in many years, but I am familiar with some of the things that I would like to do at the two lodges.

I'll enjoy my balcony and other public balconies with rocking chairs. Make some reservations at Boma and others. Find different places to watch the animals on property. Maybe relax by the pool. But I would like to find out what others have done and enjoyed during their visits to help plan for my vacation

I have two questions.

1. Could you tell me your experiences that you enjoyed at both lodges while visiting.

2. Is there a link to the daily activities or events. I can't remember what it is called. I want to try and plan my days.

Thank you in advance. Ray

 

[disneynanacat]

I'll be at AKL Jambo in a DVC value studio in June for my birthday and retirement for four days. I was just going to relax most of the time at the resort before transferring to Pop Century Resort when I will visit the parks more.

I haven't been to AKL in many years, but I am familiar with some of the things that I would like to do at the two lodges.

I'll enjoy my balcony and other public balconies with rocking chairs. Make some reservations at Boma and others. Find different places to watch the animals on property. Maybe relax by the pool. But I would like to find out what others have done and enjoyed during their visits to help plan for my vacation

I have two questions.

1. Could you tell me your experiences that you enjoyed at both lodges while visiting.

2. Is there a link to the daily activities or events. I can't remember what it is called. I want to try and plan my days.

Thank you in advance. Ray

Congratulations on your retirement Ray! We're going to WDW in June and doing a BW/AKV to celebrate several things one being my retirement. (well disability, but near retirement age anyway.lol)

There's a free culinary tour I'm going to try to catch. All I really know about it is show up at Boma check in desk around 3:45. I thought about doing the Sunset Safari but it's expensive and takes about 4 hours total including the dinner at Jiko and I couldn't fit it in with my plans. Nobody else I'm going with wanted to do it either. I've taken my granddaughters to AKL several times and they've enjoyed earning beads by doing different little things there learning about animals. They painted real ostrich eggs one time. Not sure where we can get a schedule for June as I think they don't put them out this early.

We'll be there June 5-8 and spending lots of time at the resort! Have a great trip!

 

[disneynanacat]

All the Value Villas are located on the 2 short trails at Jambo House on the 5th floor: Ostrich & Giraffe. There are 3 views you may get: Savannah (Sunset Savannah), pool view, and, yes, several with front of resort views aka parking lot.[/QUOT

All the Value Villas are located on the 2 short trails at Jambo House on the 5th floor: Ostrich & Giraffe. There are 3 views you may get: Savannah (Sunset Savannah), pool view, and, yes, several with front of resort views aka parking lot.

Thanks! Crossing my fingers for anything except parking lot!lol

 

[kimmar067]

Our Minnie Van driver told us about this. However, when we went down to this very spot (two weeks ago) and asked about it, the CM’s had no idea what we were talking about! We were so disappointed.

Really? They've been doing that for YEARS! I'm very surprised....

 

[gillep]

Really? They've been doing that for YEARS! I'm very surprised....

The April activity calendar that I saw on another site still lists it as Sundown-9:30pm, either at the Uzima overlook at Jambo or the Kidani Rock overlook. My guess is that the pp very unfortunately got either an uninformed or confused CM. They were definitely still doing this in mid-January.

 

[RachelTori]

I'll be at AKL Jambo in a DVC value studio in June for my birthday and retirement for four days. I was just going to relax most of the time at the resort before transferring to Pop Century Resort when I will visit the parks more.

I haven't been to AKL in many years, but I am familiar with some of the things that I would like to do at the two lodges.

I'll enjoy my balcony and other public balconies with rocking chairs. Make some reservations at Boma and others. Find different places to watch the animals on property. Maybe relax by the pool. But I would like to find out what others have done and enjoyed during their visits to help plan for my vacation

I have two questions.

1. Could you tell me your experiences that you enjoyed at both lodges while visiting.

2. Is there a link to the daily activities or events. I can't remember what it is called. I want to try and plan my days.

Thank you in advance. Ray

Hi, Ray! I'm so happy to hear you'll be at Disney World soon! What a great way to celebrate your birthday and retirement!

This site has the current activities calendars for all the resorts. It won't be exactly the same for June, but you'll have a good idea what to expect at AKL (and Pop!)

http://www.kennythepirate.com/resorts/walt-disney-world-resort-recreation-guides/

Here's another site you might find useful for AKL activities:

http://www.aklresort.com/

There are Culinary Tours daily (4pm) at both Jambo House (Boma/Jiko) and Kidani (Sanaa - which I hear is great, but I haven't done it yet).

Have a wonderful trip, my friend!

 

[CeruleanMoon]

This site has the current activities calendars for all the resorts. It won't be exactly the same for June, but you'll have a good idea what to expect at AKL (and Pop!)

http://www.kennythepirate.com/resorts/walt-disney-world-resort-recreation-guides/

Is there a guide that doesn't require a subscription to see? I know I saw one for AKL some months ago, I even printed it out, but now I have no idea where I found it. I'm interested in this month's since we'll be going in 2 weeks. I know I can just pick one up when we actually get there, but it's fun to see all the activities in advance, so we have things to look forward to!

 

[Starwind]

Is there a guide that doesn't require a subscription to see? I know I saw one for AKL some months ago, I even printed it out, but now I have no idea where I found it. I'm interested in this month's since we'll be going in 2 weeks. I know I can just pick one up when we actually get there, but it's fun to see all the activities in advance, so we have things to look forward to!

THe link provided does not require a subscription to view the recreation guides.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

THe link provided does not require a subscription to view the recreation guides.

Ok, I just figured out that it all depends on where on the page that you click.

When I go to the page, scroll to the "Animal Kingdom Lodge" link, and click that, it takes me to a page that says, "Premium Content. You need to be a subscriber to access premium content."

Then I tried again and discovered that if you hover over the actual image of the activities page itself and click that instead, that brings up a bigger image that you can then download. Yay!

Thanks!

 

[pepperandchips]

I like the mouse for less anyway so I just bookmark this recreation guide. No shenanigans and it's usually updated pretty promptly at the beginning of the next month:

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

 

[RaySharpton]

Thank you everyone for all of the info.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

How big are the refrigerators in the value studios? I know a lot of hotels have those teeny tiny square ones where you could squeeze in a half gallon of milk, a pint of strawberries, some waters on the door and not much else. Are the ones AKL has any bigger? I'd like to get some orange juice, milk (1/2 gal), fruit, jelly, small margarine tub and eggs (1/2 carton), but I have to be able to fit all that in a fridge somewhere.

 

[DisDad4Life]

Hello! While we've stayed at AKL-Jambo many times but we've never been over to Kidani. We've got a little larger party this time for our August trip (including 2 infants - 1 1/2 and 4 mos.) and decided on a 2 bedroom villa at Kidani. Not knowing the location of the rooms at Kidani I'm not sure if I should or need to make a room location request. Preferably we'd like to minimize our walk to the bus stop and/or pool area (I realize these may results in two completely different answers). Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[kimmar067]

The April activity calendar that I saw on another site still lists it as Sundown-9:30pm, either at the Uzima overlook at Jambo or the Kidani Rock overlook. My guess is that the pp very unfortunately got either an uninformed or confused CM. They were definitely still doing this in mid-January.

...I was thinking of the Uzima overlook....it was available when I was there for the F&WF in October of 2017....

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

How big are the refrigerators in the value studios? I know a lot of hotels have those teeny tiny square ones where you could squeeze in a half gallon of milk, a pint of strawberries, some waters on the door and not much else. Are the ones AKL has any bigger? I'd like to get some orange juice, milk (1/2 gal), fruit, jelly, small margarine tub and eggs (1/2 carton), but I have to be able to fit all that in a fridge somewhere.

They are small. About the same, if not exactly, as the ones in other hotels. They aren't square, like ones made for college dorms.

I don't think you would have a problem with what you are listing here.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

They are small. About the same, if not exactly, as the ones in other hotels. They aren't square, like ones made for college dorms.

I don't think you would have a problem with what you are listing here.

Thanks. I found a video of someone walking through an AKL studio (Deluxe though I think) and the fridge there looked about twice the size of the ones I usually see in hotels. Maybe waist height as opposed to knee height? I'm hoping ours will be that size too.

 

[dansdad]

Thanks. I found a video of someone walking through an AKL studio (Deluxe though I think) and the fridge there looked about twice the size of the ones I usually see in hotels. Maybe waist height as opposed to knee height? I'm hoping ours will be that size too.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

View attachment 316933

I don't know how you found such a perfect picture right on cue, but thanks so much! That looks like just the right size. I don't think we'll have any problem fitting what we need in there.

We leave for Florida in two days! We're not getting to Disney until Sat though. I'm so excited!

 

[pepperandchips]

Hello! While we've stayed at AKL-Jambo many times but we've never been over to Kidani. We've got a little larger party this time for our August trip (including 2 infants - 1 1/2 and 4 mos.) and decided on a 2 bedroom villa at Kidani. Not knowing the location of the rooms at Kidani I'm not sure if I should or need to make a room location request. Preferably we'd like to minimize our walk to the bus stop and/or pool area (I realize these may results in two completely different answers). Any suggestions?

Thanks!

At Kidani, you can access the pool area by going out the front door of the resort, which is basically right by the bus transportation. If you request to be close to the lobby or close to bus transportation you won't be far from the pool either. Just a word of caution that this is probably the most requested room location so they can't accomodate everyone, so if it's important to you I would let them know that and maybe consider not making any other room location requests so that they can accomodate what's important.