Jambo! The newest AKL Information thread

I will be staying at AKL for the first time in August (super excited)!!! My mom and I have a CL (non-DVC) room reserved. We plan on eating at Jiko, Sanaa, and the Mara. Anyone have any tips/advice for an AKL newbie? We plan on spending most of our time at the resort. Thanks in advance!
 
I will be staying at AKL for the first time in August (super excited)!!! My mom and I have a CL (non-DVC) room reserved. We plan on eating at Jiko, Sanaa, and the Mara. Anyone have any tips/advice for an AKL newbie? We plan on spending most of our time at the resort. Thanks in advance!
Get ready to be WoW'ed.......For this is one of the resorts that is awesome ( amongst many ). Mara is the BeST QS on any resort BY FAR!!! visit Many times.
Sanaa is differnt, but very enjoyable, with great service...Awesome ambience too.
Jiko is the only one we haven't visited yet, but Kimmar067 has & said it's amazing.... Others have stated the same..Even Pet Werner from the Dis. calls it the BEST RESTAURANT on property.... Community Hall is something to do at Kidani. Also Night vision goggles to view the animals. The CMs here are some of the most knowledgable and willing to teach/talk about their culture too....Both pools at either place are equally excellent as well, and the bus service even though a slight bit longer than others, is superior. Nightly s'mores are also fun, and those are held at Arusha rock (every night).
 
Get ready to be WoW'ed.......For this is one of the resorts that is awesome ( amongst many ). Mara is the BeST QS on any resort BY FAR!!! visit Many times.
Sanaa is differnt, but very enjoyable, with great service...Awesome ambience too.
Jiko is the only one we haven't visited yet, but Kimmar067 has & said it's amazing.... Others have stated the same..Even Pet Werner from the Dis. calls it the BEST RESTAURANT on property.... Community Hall is something to do at Kidani. Also Night vision goggles to view the animals. The CMs here are some of the most knowledgable and willing to teach/talk about their culture too....Both pools at either place are equally excellent as well, and the bus service even though a slight bit longer than others, is superior. Nightly s'mores are also fun, and those are held at Arusha rock (every night).
This is a fantastic response! Thank you so much for taking the time to write it. Night vision goggles and smores sound right up our alley. I am too excited! :dogdance:
 


We will be staying at AKL for the first time and have booked a savannah view room with bunk beds. My daughter is a HUGE giraffe fan and will LOVE to be able to see giraffes from our room. Just wondering which savannah would you recommend requesting to be able to see giraffes the best? Thanks.
 
We will be staying at AKL for the first time and have booked a savannah view room with bunk beds. My daughter is a HUGE giraffe fan and will LOVE to be able to see giraffes from our room. Just wondering which savannah would you recommend requesting to be able to see giraffes the best? Thanks.
[GALLERY=][/GALLERY]

We didn't have savanna view, but we went to the outlook multiple times and saw them om both sides. They got really close one evening! But speaking of which, late afternoon/early evening seemed to be when the animals were close/active, so I would plan to be back at the resort then if you can.
 
Get ready to be WoW'ed.......For this is one of the resorts that is awesome ( amongst many ). Mara is the BeST QS on any resort BY FAR!!! visit Many times.
Sanaa is differnt, but very enjoyable, with great service...Awesome ambience too.
Jiko is the only one we haven't visited yet, but Kimmar067 has & said it's amazing.... Others have stated the same..Even Pet Werner from the Dis. calls it the BEST RESTAURANT on property.... Community Hall is something to do at Kidani. Also Night vision goggles to view the animals. The CMs here are some of the most knowledgable and willing to teach/talk about their culture too....Both pools at either place are equally excellent as well, and the bus service even though a slight bit longer than others, is superior. Nightly s'mores are also fun, and those are held at Arusha rock (every night).
....I concur! :thumbsup2 [...how's Matt doing, BTW? ]
 


We will be staying at AKL for the first time and have booked a savannah view room with bunk beds. My daughter is a HUGE giraffe fan and will LOVE to be able to see giraffes from our room. Just wondering which savannah would you recommend requesting to be able to see giraffes the best? Thanks.
As I've said in a previous post somewhere here lol Kidani is our 'Home' resort. We always stay on Sunset Savannah for just that reason (I'm a giraffe lover:lovestruc), and I know that Sunset Savannah is shared with Jambo, so maybe request that one. Someone here that usually stays in Jambo might be able to help you further with that if there is any other savannah the giraffes are found on over there. Also, the giraffes are very often viewable from the lookout points off the lobbies of both resorts (we even saw them sleeping at night on our last trip in Jan). :love: The animal specialists make sure to widely distribute the animals food esp the giraffes to encourage them to move around the savannah.

Have a great trip! Your DD is going to LOVE IT!:sunny:
 
Get ready to be WoW'ed.......For this is one of the resorts that is awesome ( amongst many ). Mara is the BeST QS on any resort BY FAR!!! visit Many times.
Sanaa is differnt, but very enjoyable, with great service...Awesome ambience too.
Jiko is the only one we haven't visited yet, but Kimmar067 has & said it's amazing.... Others have stated the same..Even Pet Werner from the Dis. calls it the BEST RESTAURANT on property.... Community Hall is something to do at Kidani. Also Night vision goggles to view the animals. The CMs here are some of the most knowledgable and willing to teach/talk about their culture too....Both pools at either place are equally excellent as well, and the bus service even though a slight bit longer than others, is superior. Nightly s'mores are also fun, and those are held at Arusha rock (every night).
So glad to hear about the counter service. Most deludes have crappy counter service with beach club being the absolute worst!
What is community hall at kidani?
 
So glad to hear about the counter service. Most deludes have crappy counter service with beach club being the absolute worst!
What is community hall at kidani?
because kidani is DVC they have a community hall where you can play games and do other activities while staying there.

If you want to learn further I'm attaching a link from touring plans since Disney's own official link won't load here for some reason.
http://blog.touringplans.com/2013/11/05/disney-world-community-hall-faq/
 
....didn't realize that they even had a CS....
Yes it's in the gift shop and if I remember correctly they only had pasteries or egg sandwiches during breakfast. No pancakes or waffles. We ended up going over to contemporary most mornings
 
because kidani is DVC they have a community hall where you can play games and do other activities while staying there.

If you want to learn further I'm attaching a link from touring plans since Disney's own official link won't load here for some reason.
http://blog.touringplans.com/2013/11/05/disney-world-community-hall-faq/
i agree the deluxes have lousy food courts i wonder why, POFQ has a great food court but now we like AKL , we have graduated lol
 
As I've said in a previous post somewhere here lol Kidani is our 'Home' resort. We always stay on Sunset Savannah for just that reason (I'm a giraffe lover:lovestruc), and I know that Sunset Savannah is shared with Jambo, so maybe request that one. Someone here that usually stays in Jambo might be able to help you further with that if there is any other savannah the giraffes are found on over there. Also, the giraffes are very often viewable from the lookout points off the lobbies of both resorts (we even saw them sleeping at night on our last trip in Jan). :love: The animal specialists make sure to widely distribute the animals food esp the giraffes to encourage them to move around the savannah.

Have a great trip! Your DD is going to LOVE IT!:sunny:
Kudu trail and Ostrich trail in Jambo overlook Sunset savanna. Kudu trail having the better views, IMO. Kudu is on the side opposite of the pool and the CS restaurant - Mara, so plan on extra walking if you are on Kudu trail. Sunset is the largest savanna, btw, but Arusha and Uzima also have giraffes.

i agree the deluxes have lousy food courts i wonder why, POFQ has a great food court but now we like AKL , we have graduated lol
Not sure why, probably because they have so many sit down restaurants instead and maybe they assume people at Deluxes prefer that?
Of the Deluxes I've stayed at I like both Gasparilla's @ the GF and Capt. Cook's at the Poly. The whole YC/BC BW area CS options are a fail IMO, hence the need to hop into Epcot's world showcase for all of the great CS options in the various countries. Doesn't help w/ breakfast, of course, as World Showcase isn't open early enough.
 
Today's poolside activity was Mickey Tie-dye shirts. They are $17. There were pillowcases also available but i didnt ask about the cost.
 
i agree the deluxes have lousy food courts i wonder why, POFQ has a great food court but now we like AKL , we have graduated lol
I think they do because they have table service restaurants and most people that stay at deluxes will eat table service where as those that stay value get the counter service promotions so they make sure they have more options for them? Maybe values were at first geared towards families with younger kids and deluxes for adults? No idea but thinking it has to do with their "no table service" at their resorts
 

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