Reviews of Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House (Deluxe Resort)
Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 10/08/2018
Rating: (8) Recommended
Stayed here 12-26 September 2018. Main pool is being refurbished so used one at Kidani Village. Either a 10 minute walk or a quick shuttle ride away. It was very busy and felt a bit cramped but it was a swimming pool. On checking in we were assigned a room with bunk beds and a queen bed which was unsuitable, so were switched to a room with two queen beds. It overlooks the Jambo House pool (out of order as being refurbished, but we knew this already) and it really was a lovely room. A bit of a hike to get food/drinks, but the food was good so no complaints! However, the bus service at this hotel left a lot to be desired. Although there is a tracker system, and it was working, the buses did not always arrive when they were scheduled to, and we waited 45 minutes for a bus to Disney Springs. It takes roughly 20 minutes to get anywhere by bus from Jambo House - with the obvious exception of the Animal Kingdom itself - but we allowed an 75 minutes to get from AKL to Paradiso 37 in Disney Springs. We were late for our lunch reservation and our table was given to others. Similarly for buses to Magic Kingdom (night of Halloween Party and EPCOT). We waited 40 minutes again for a bus to MK in order to transfer to a boat to take us to the Contemporary for dinner. When I complained about the bus service, I was informed I could use the limo - at $25 per journey! We also just made a dinner reservation at EPCOT - again after a long wait, and no-one on hand to address queries to. Every time I looked at the bus tracker another 5 or 10 minutes were added to the bus's expected arrival time. There were people on hand in the morning to check that everyone got to whatever destination they wanted - then they disappeared and guests were left to deal with buses that were horribly late or didn't show up. For the £££ we spent on this two week holiday - I expected more.
Pros:
Lovely hotel, great rooms, excellent food, wonderful staff.Cons:
BusesReviewed by Melanie D Review Date: 10/01/2018
Rating: (10) Recommended
I loved this resort. It's so beautiful and the food choices are amazing.
Pros:
Covered walkways so you won't get wet walking to your room from the bus or restaurants. Lots of food choices for adventurous eaters.Cons:
It's really large.Reviewed by sand935 Review Date: 09/30/2018
Rating: (8) Recommended
We like staying here at Christmas the lobby is beautiful! All the levels of eating places are exceptional. Love sitting the the balcony and watching the animals.
Pros:
watching animals eating placesCons:
rooms are very dark bathroom very smallReviewed by SophieR Review Date: 09/30/2018
Rating: (10) Recommended
My family and I have loved this resort! The lobby is amazing by day and night, the surroundings are amazing and the chance to view animals all day is incredible. We booked a standard room, but were upgraded to a savanna view with a bunk bed, which made my 6 years old son very happy. The room was large and clean, we had a good view of the animals from the balcony. Short distance to the restaurants, we ate at all of them, had a great dinner at Jiko and the best meal of my life at Sanaa; try the bread service! We enjoyed both pools, at Jambo and Kidani, but my son preferred the slide at the Kidani pool. Good bus service, never waited more than 10 minutes. We are going back in 2019, looking forward to it!
Pros:
View of the animals, Sanaa, Jiko, both pools at Kidani and Jambi House, nice gift shop.Cons:
Not so good wifi serviceReviewed by sandra loveless Review Date: 09/30/2018
Rating: (8) Recommended
This resort is sooooo educational and quest friendly!
Pros:
friendliness of staff. design of resortCons:
locationReviewed by LindaHH Review Date: 09/30/2018
Rating: (10) Recommended
AKL Jambonis probably our favorite Disney resort, we just love it there! The lobby is spectacular, the hotel itself is almost like a mini museum with African artifacts scattered about and descriptions on the wall of what they are and are used for. There are several animal viewing areas scattered around the resort, which is great, especially if you don’t have a savanna view room.
The pool is lovely and the restaurants are among the best on Disney property. The gift shop is one of our favorites, too. There is no experience around, that I’m aware of, that is like sitting out on your savanna view balcony with a cup of coffee or glass of wine and watching the animals wander about the savanna just feet away. It’s really breathtaking! The only bad thing is that often times we get so wrapped up in this, we don’t want to leave to go to the parks.
Pros:
Restaurants, lobby, gift shop, pools, animals and animal viewing areas - pretty much everything.Cons:
The only form of transportation to the parks is via bus, unless you are driving your own car.Reviewed by Shannon Review Date: 09/30/2018
Rating: (9) Recommended
I love AKL, and nothing beats having breakfast on the balcony while watching the animals. Gorgeous rooms and wonderful staff.
Pros:
Unique experiences, great dining, and great customer service.Cons:
Being so far away from the rest of WDW and only having the buses as transportation options.Reviewed 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 TaraJ Review Date: 09/28/2018
Rating: (9) Recommended
We have stayed at Jambo house twice now, both times in April months. We love this resort so much as it feels like it's away from the craziness that the parks can be. On our last stay we had booked a standard view but when checking in asked if there were any bunk bed rooms available. I have teenagers and thought they would like this better. Front desk said of course and we got a great view as well. Later that night I realized they never asked if we were celebrating anything and we didn't get a button for our anniversary. My husband and I went down to the desk after sitting out by the fire listening to the music. The front desk lady was incredible! She was shocked no one gave us a button..so she loaded us up on buttons, visors, crowns, colouring books..you name it! We did notice the lighting is dark in the rooms especially in the bathroom area. We did mention it in a survey from Disney and they said they are renovating and taking all suggestions into consideration. So hopefully brighter bathrooms!
The walk to Kidani is nice, you can take a bus but why bother? We walked to dinner at Saana there and it's always good. If you have kids the dessert for the kids menu is a paint your own brownie/cake..adorable.
We love the pool at Jambo house and there are shaded spots and a great water slide. The animals and cast members around are so interesting. One of the cast members at night was begging us to ask questions and pretty funny. It would be nice to have the menu changed at the quick serve location a bit everyday. It seemed pretty standard..but maybe with the reno coming they might look into that as well. We'd definitely stay there again.
Pros:
Animals are outside of your balcony and it's a quiet resortCons:
Dark bathrooms, somewhat boring quick serve optionsReviewed by BareNecessities Review Date: 09/27/2018
Rating: (7) Recommended
The resort is stunning, and with many unusual areas to explore, both in and outdoors. The rooms though, are VERY small and VERY dark (poor lighting too except vanity area), especially when compared to other deluxe resorts. We don't mind the resort's distance from the parks, as we enjoy the ride there and back. Wait times for the buses seem a bit longer at times, but that's been rare for us. The pool at Jambo is the best part of the whole resort. It doesn't feel like a standard swimming pool, due to its design. I wish Kidani had something similar. While we're not fond of the very busy main areas near Mara, at Jambo, and prefer Kidani, from that respect, we still really enjoy staying, eating, and exploring at this resort. Mostly everything has always been top notch, but there's been a little undercurrent about each of our stays, and we've tried to pin down what it is - unsuccessfully: while the service was there, it's not been a very welcoming experience during any of our stays (including DVC). We've just not had the warmest vibe, nor the friendliest of service, at either Jambo or Kidani. It's been a recurring theme for us. Not sure why. On one occasion, and only one - the last time we stayed there - something very unfriendly (putting it mildly) occurred with one staff member (a bell services guy - we learned that they are/were contracted out through another company ?? not sure about that)... And although there were polite responses from front desk and elsewhere as a result, it felt more like they were just covering their own backsides, not really interested in solving the problem. This is NOT typical of WDW hotel staff at any of the resorts we've stayed - not ever - not even close! So we are not likely to return here for an overnight stay.
