Just returned from 6 nights in Jambo - Giraffe Trail 2024 pool view. Nice room with a great view. Very well sound insulated and mostly could never hear anything going on in the pool area. Pretty quick access to front of the lodge since it's immediately to the right of the main doors.
Some overall thoughts:
Mara is pretty reasonable priced for food compared to most fast food, and thats mostly what's on the limited menu. Zebra Domes still available! As all over WDW, beverages are very costly. Scoot down Sherberth Rd (right out of the AKL main road rather than straight) and you are back on 192 pretty quickly. CVS right there. $6 for a case of water. Don't go to the Walmart. Its crowded like MK Main St at 9pm during fireworks once parks start closing.
Finding your room can be a challenge. Recommend asking at bell services and NOT wandering around dragging bags and searching. The posted maps are not great at telling you HOW to get to a wing. Lots of dead ends and floors you can't get to from certain places will lead to "moments" with a travel weary family.
Selected no room service for the week. Might have been a mistake. Mid week had to grab a couple rolls TP from the cabinet in the restroom by Boma and refresh the towels from the pool towel stock. We were never in the room during maid service times so not easy to go get them replaced. Generally accepted practice seemed to be bag your trash and leave with old towels in the hall to be picked up the next morning during maid service.
If you plan a mobile order for Mara after MK closes and you are riding the bus back late, expect a long pickup time. 1.5 hours plus. Everyone is doing the same on the bus headed back.
If you find yourself back at AKL after a long day, sit-downs all booked, walkup waitlists are all at capacity (as they are nearly every night) and tired of same old Mara choices - consider riding down that shortcut to US 192 if you have a car. Plenty of restaurants and takeout close by if you are in a jam. One night at 10:30 pm due to bad planning had to make a Chik-Fila run for salads. Sanaa mobile order is a good choice too, but no avail very late.
Pool area was awesome. Jambo Pool bar was fun. Not so fun is the every day diaper incident at the pool where they clear you out for 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on the situation. Please keep those babies clean and well covered in good swim diapers. It affects everyone when this happens!
We road the bus one time to Disney Springs. Stayed till near closing. Horrible experience. Took over 1.5 hours to get back. Drove the car the rest of the week with 10-15 minute drives from AKL to any theme park parking lot. Magic Band is scanned to allow access to any theme park parking lot. If you are going to early entry (plus 30 minutes before that) you will usually be first up front in parking lot anyway. If driving late to theme parks, you can usually navigate down close to the front and find any open spot for a shorter walk too. For the TTC early entry days, the ferry always ran first before the monorail ever opened up.
We were disappointed there were no AKL pins available. Anywhere. Supply chain issues I guess. We like to get a pin at each resort when we stay there, and this was our first time to AKL. Sure, we can buy one online afterward....
Overall, we really enjoyed our stay. The late night extra hours for deluxe resort guests at MK and EPCOT or totally worth it too!