Reviews of Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House (Deluxe Resort)
Reviewed by Victoria Review Date: 01/17/2013
Rating: (0) Recommended
We were a large party of 17 in early December 2012 and had five rooms on the 2nd floor and our balconies facing the sunset view. We all enjoyed viewing the animals, especially the children, from our balconies. We had a hectic park schedule and I would have liked spending more time just lounging in the beautiful surroundings of Animal Kingdom Lodge. We enjoyed the pool, hot tub, found the service people very helpful at Mara We also enjoyed a large family meal at Boma. The lobby is truly outstanding. Our rooms were in good condition and very comfortable. We were very happy with our stay and believe the children had an unforgettable experience there. The giraffes are magnificent.
Pros:
allCons:
noneReviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 12/31/2020
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
Stayed at all the deluxes...will never stay at this one again!
Pros:
Nice lobby, good food, animal viewCons:
Unpleasant staff, no coffee in the morning, too far from everything (always a bus), rooms are small and inconsistent, unfortunately not as clean as it should beReviewed by Jason V Review Date: 09/29/2018
Rating: (3) Not Recommended
I stayed here with DVC rented points. The staff was rude (never had that before at Disney hotel). We didn't know if you want your room serviced daily or fresh towels you have to pay extra. We had a safari view and saw very few animals. Had to wait in line 2 hours at check out for magical express and still didn't get to give them our bags and had to take them ourselves.
Come check the hotel out, the atmosphere is great, restaurants are great. But not worth the price. Most expensive stay I've had at Disney with the worst hotel experience.
Pros:
the atmosphere is great, restaurants are greatCons:
Expensive with bad/rude staff, can't have room serviced daily and fresh towels without paying extra, wasn't able to use magical express for bags leaving despite waiting in line for 2 hoursReviewed by WaltDisneyWorldTraveler Review Date: 03/17/2022
Rating: (5) Not Recommended
AKL has hands down the most incredible lobby and unique food options in all of Disney World. Where else can you experience live Africa wildlife right outside your window? The downside is that this resort does not have much outside space where you can walk and enjoy getting close to the animals. Even with a savanna room view; you are still quite far from the animals. The lobby is impressive; but the rest of the resort appears to be an afterthought. Would recommended getting a dinner reservation for either Jiko or Boma; so that you can enjoy the lobby - but would not recommended staying the night.
Pros:
Stellar lobby experience with incredible sit-down food optionsCons:
Long-endless hallways make you fee trapped. No outdoor walking spaces. The quick-service dining is equivalent to a high school cafeteria. The pool is quite boring.Reviewed by fdmarks Review Date: 04/13/2019
Rating: (5) Not Recommended
If it wasn't for the animals, no one would probably want to stay here. If you don't rent a car, the bus rides are over packed and dangerous for the standing little children. The time to get to the parks are outrageously long and extremely unpleasant. The front desk cast member was very incompetent and could not print my Southwest boarding pass. She also outright lied about issues with the boarding pass. and did not know that I had talked to her supervisor, who had ad no problems with printing the passes out while I waited. There were no USB outlets in the room and the same front desk cast member (Rashida) said that she did not know what a USB outlet was. There needs to be some extra training for the people who cannot do their job. The room was 4963 and it was at the end of the horseshoe of Arushna savannah. This made the trek to Mara for refills a monumental task. Will not stay here ever again
Pros:
Excellent housekeeping and views of the animals Great restaurantsCons:
Incompetent staff who lie to cover up their deficiencies. Too far from parks. Lousy bus transportation. No USB ports. General uncaring attitude that you can senseReviewed by mmfan Review Date: 01/09/2015
Rating: (5) Recommended
We have stayed at several different WDW resorts, and picked this resort for our family reunion vacation due to our Annual Passholder discount. We were disappointed in this resort, and felt for service rendered and the money paid, we would have definitely been better off at a moderate resort. Check in was very slow, we had requested king beds and not necessary to all be near each other, but they originally had us near each other and no king beds. After much discussion, the king bed request was met for two of the rooms. The resort was busier than expected for the beginning of December. The food court was very disappointing, as the resort caters to those wanting a sit down meal experience. Food court selections were very limited and food preparation took a long time. We did not use the pool as it was very chilly weather. Bus service was definitely as issue, service was very spotty with frequent waits of up to 1/2 hour. Buses were usually very crowded as Jambo house is the second pick up.
My DH became very ill our last day, and at least we were granted a check out time of 1 hour later. In all the confusion of checking out and catering to him, some clothing items were left in the room accidentally. After repeated phone calls over a period of 3 weeks, I finally got someone in lost and found to talk to me. The items were never located although I had left numerous messages. I have never stayed at a hotel that did not gladly forward items that were found to their rightful owners. Not the usual Disney experience.
The rooms at the moderate resorts are the same size, and the indoor corridors at a deluxe resort are not that important to us. This deluxe resort provide no additional amenities and was actually lacking in service.
Pros:
lovely surroundingsCons:
food courtReviewed by Breeze1979 Review Date: 05/19/2014
Rating: (5) Recommended
Stayed May 11-16. Loved being able to see the animals and the overall atmosphere of the resort.
Disliked the size of the room.....way too small for price we paid. The bathroom size was very small and the lighting terrible. For a deluxe resort we didn't feel we received any upgrade compared to a moderate.
Pros:
Animals, atmosphereCons:
Price vs. value, size of roomReviewed by Lizard1515 Review Date: 04/25/2021
Rating: (6) Not Recommended
I thought I was going to LOVE this property, but it was just okay. We had some buses take a very long time to pick us up on multiple occasions. The food options were nice but just sort of a pain to get to. We loved the pool area and the animals were awesome of course! It is pretty far from everything other than AK. Overall, not sure if we'd stay there again for the price point. Unless you love animals and AK more than anything it just doesn't impress.
Pros:
Animals on property, well themed, nice new rooms, great poolCons:
buses take a while, no other transportation options, dining is all over the placeReviewed by Breeze1979 Review Date: 05/30/2014
Rating: (6) Recommended
The overall experience of staying at Animal Kingdom was good. The resort is true to its name!
However, we had a pool view, bunk bed room. The view of the pool was poor....it was more of a view of the outside seating area of The Mara. Our room was tiny....we had stayed at Coronado right before checking into AKL so we were saw a contrast in the size. There is a lot of room in the sink area but the bathroom size and lighting is terrible! Also we didn't feel wowed by the amenities.....a bit disappointing.
We are glad we tried this once though.
Pros:
AnimalsCons:
Room sizeReviewed by David Carrano Review Date: 09/18/2013
Rating: (6) Recommended
Stayed at the AKL the week of Sept 8, 2013. Overall a very nice experience, friendly staff. The resort is beautiful,clean and nicely themed. Somewhat disappointed with the room, small in comparison to Disney's other Deluxe resorts. Our room was showing signs of wear and tear, has a worn look not what you would expect from a deluxe resort and price. Lighting was a big issue, very poor in the bathroom sink area. Had an issue second day with house keeping. We returned back to our room at 3:30 p.m. from being gone all day and our room was still not cleaned. I complained and they said that they have until 4p.m. By 4p.m still no show. We had early dinner reservations and needed to shower. After making a fuss, they came back at some point after we left and cleaned the room. No other issues for the remaining days. Overall the resort is beautiful, well themed. The rooms are not great.
