Which Tour(s) - Sense of Africa, Wanyama and/or Savor the Savanna?

[JessietheNCCowgirl]

My daughter and I have an upcoming 11-night stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge. During our last trip in April we took the Wild Africa Trek tour and thoroughly enjoyed it - would totally do it again!

For our upcoming trip, I wanted to take advantage of the tours at AKL since we are staying there, so currently have reservations for the Sense of Africa Tour and the Wanyama Safari. Last night I started looking into the Savor the Savanna tour and thought that one sounded awesome as well.

Has anyone done the tours mentioned above and if so, would you recommend one over the other? I was thinking of perhaps dropping the Wanyama and booking Savor the Savannah instead, but am open to doing all 3 if they are different enough.

Would appreciate your thoughts and personal experiences with the above mentioned tours and any advice of which of the tour(s) you would recommend or consider a must-do.

TIA!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

My daughter and I have an upcoming 11-night stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge. During our last trip in April we took the Wild Africa Trek tour and thoroughly enjoyed it - would totally do it again!

For our upcoming trip, I wanted to take advantage of the tours at AKL since we are staying there, so currently have reservations for the Sense of Africa Tour and the Wanyama Safari. Last night I started looking into the Savor the Savanna tour and thought that one sounded awesome as well.

Has anyone done the tours mentioned above and if so, would you recommend one over the other? I was thinking of perhaps dropping the Wanyama and booking Savor the Savannah instead, but am open to doing all 3 if they are different enough.

Would appreciate your thoughts and personal experiences with the above mentioned tours and any advice of which of the tour(s) you would recommend or consider a must-do.

TIA!

Unfortunately I haven’t done all of these tours so can’t really help with the comparisons. But FWIW, I did do the Wanyama Tour back in April and really enjoyed it. DW and I both agreed it was one of the better experiences we’ve done at Disney in recent memory. It was a really fascinating tour and really helped with our appreciation/understanding of AKL.

 

[heidijanesmith]

We really like the Savor the Savannah tour, this will be our third tour.

1st year we went just DH and I and really enjoyed it, we loved the African beers. From what I understand you spend quite a bit more time at the Boma during the Savor tour than the Wild Africa tour. We enjoyed this part a lot.

Last year we went with DD, 19 who liked the tour very much. Even though she was not old enough to drink, she really enjoyed the food and dessert.

The staff interaction is A+, we really enjoyed the Savannah tour, meeting an animal keeper, inside knowledge and so much info about the animals and their keep.

Since I have not done the Wild Africa tour, so I can not compare the two. But we really love the Savor tour.

 

[JessietheNCCowgirl]

Thank you for the replies. @heidijanesmith -the Savor the Savanna tour must be good if you’re going back for thirds! I think I will book it and keep Wanyama as well. I want to try Jiko and since Wanyama includes dinner there, it seems like a good way to experience it.

 

[Tinkbum]

Thank you for the replies. @heidijanesmith -the Savor the Savanna tour must be good if you’re going back for thirds! I think I will book it and keep Wanyama as well. I want to try Jiko and since Wanyama includes dinner there, it seems like a good way to experience it.

What's the cost for the Wanyama? I didn't see it listed on the website. We have Savor the Savanna booked, but might be interested in that one as well.

 

[JessietheNCCowgirl]

I believe it is $209 + tax per person. I just looked at my confirmation email, but the price isn’t listed. I found the $209 price on the Disney Food Blog website.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I believe it is $209 + tax per person. I just looked at my confirmation email, but the price isn’t listed. I found the $209 price on the Disney Food Blog website.

This is correct, except the $209 includes tax (I just checked my credit card charge to confirm).

 

[Tinkbum]

I believe it is $209 + tax per person. I just looked at my confirmation email, but the price isn’t listed. I found the $209 price on the Disney Food Blog website.

Thank you!!

 

[MollieDanOllieBearBoy]

This post is old, but I am facing the exact same dilemma right now. @JessietheNCCowgirl which tour did you like best? I saw another post that indicated Sense of Africa was your favorite. Can you explain the difference between the three tours? I have a good idea of what Sense of Africa entails, but what would I be missing if I do not do Savor the Savanna or Wanyama?

Is the food the only difference or is there a difference with the animal interaction and animal experts, too?

Right now, I have Sense of Africa booked in three more days. Should I do Savor the Savanna or Wanyama instead? Thanks!

 

[SamFaniam]

Bumping in hopes of getting new reviews of these tours.

 

[Karnor00]

I've done both the Savor the Savannah (June this year) and the Wanyama Safari (2 years ago) tour. I enjoyed both of them, although I do think the tours are relatively similar. The animal experts were great on both rides - really good at explaining what goes on in the parks.

Savor the Savannah mostly follows the same route as the AK ride, but about halfway through it diverts to a large hut where you get to eat dinner in the middle of the savannah. It has a great view and you can wander a little along a raised walkway to see more of the park during the dinner stop.

The Wanyama Safari is on the AKL savannah - as such it doesn't really have a set route so the driver can pretty much drive anywhere. So you're pretty much guaranteed to be able to get closer to the animals (compared to Savor the Savannah which probably depends on luck a bit more). It also has a bit more of a behind the scenes aspect to it as well which I liked, getting to see some areas which you wouldn't otherwise be able to see.

I thought the food was slightly better at the Wanyama Safari (but they both had really nice food), but the downside is that you eat it in Jiko for the Wanyama Safari - it's a great restaurant, but doesn't match eating in the middle of the savannah!

To be honest, it's a really tough call deciding between them for me. I'll certainly do one of them when I visit again in May 2020 but I'm struggling to decide which.

 

[jenushkask8s]

I did the Sense of Africa tour back in May of this year. It included the breakfast buffet at Boma, petting and feeding an okapi, feeding a giraffe, feeding ostrichs and making treats for red river hogs. It also included lots of photos of our okapi and giraffe encounters.

I very much enjoyed it and learned a lot from the animal specialists. I highly recommend this tour.