Just got back from a 9 night stay at AKL Jambo House.
We booked using a DVC rental company and paid for a Standard View Studio Villa. This was our view. It was more than I expected - it was the entire pool!
We found we couldn't use the balcony there were so many love bugs out there, by the end of our stay there were hundreds if not thousands of dead ones. Didn't bother us much but our 3yo wasn't a huge fan LOL
I haven't stayed at AKL for a long time but it was as beautiful as I remember.
Things I loved about our stay:
- The CM's, I loved how they had them stationed at the bus waiting area and around the resort with "animal facts" and the like, we learned some very interesting facts about Poop and The New Lion King movie.
- The smell, I just love the smell of the resort lobby, I close my eyes everytime I walk it and just soak it in.
- The tranquillity, it is so quiet and relaxing, the pool even when full of people was still pretty quiet
- The kids playground, not all resorts have them and they are a must for us now we have two small kids (3yo and 10mo old)
- The Simba's Cubhouse Community Centre - wow what a gem! Some days our 3yo asked to leave the park so she could go do craft at the community centre
Things I didn't like so much about our stay:
- Even though I loved the view from our room all I heard for the ENTIRE stay was the sound of the elevator. Even through earplugs I could hear it all night long. If I didn't have so much stuff to pack and unpack I would have complained and asked for another room (we were in room number 5436)
- The Mara, they have pretty good food there but it just isn't for me, my DH loved it, he got some pretty healthy and "real" food from there but I don't eat much and there was nothing on the menu for me so we got Uber Eats a few nights that we were at the resort.
- The bus - UGH, this is tough for me to say because I've never really had an issue with the bus system before and I'm not one of those people who say "AKL is too far from everything" because I think each resort has parks it is close to and ones it isn't. But my issue was that by the time the bus got to us it was full because they picked up all the Kidani people and there was no room for us. They really need buses to go to each resort especially at peak times. People on the bus weren't so friendly in giving up their seats (even seats with BAGS on them not BOTTOMS) to myself carrying a baby (10 months old) so I had to stand all the way to MK hoping that the bus didn't make any sudden stops or swerves. It was a bit hard on the arm and back.
All in all, we loved our stay, we had a triple split stay. 9 nights here, 4 at Boardwalk Villas and 6 at Boulder Ridge Villas. Each resort had it's own special parts and I can see us coming back to AKL again but maybe when the kids are big enough not to need a stroller, it was too annoying getting it on and off the bus all the time.