WHY do you love Animal Kingdom Lodge?

[cgattis]

So I can literally ditto every single thing said in this thread except 1) I like the dark rooms (I like the Poly too) and 2) our giraffes didn’t play tag! (Ermagerrrrrd!!! )

My favorite thing is the SMELL of the lobby...IDK if it’s the smoke or the grilled meat smell or what, but DH and I loooove it.

I also ditto the Boma suggestion. If you want a lower-cost but unique meal, the Mara has a really good African stew.

Try to catch the drummer on the front porch one night—ask at the desk!

I hate to tell you this, but you might just be hooked!! If our next trip wasn’t focused on SW, we’d be there again!

 

[VandVsmama]

2 summers ago, we spent just 1 night at AKL with the rest of the stay at All Star Music. AKL was so amazing. We had a savannah room. I stayed up until 3:00 in the morning watching the animals. It rained that night. The animals just stood there in the rain enjoying the peaceful quiet. I can't wait to go back and stay there again some day. I love that resort.

 

[iheartglaciers]

There are so many things I love about AKL!

• Relaxing vibe.
• Watching the animals without crowds! It feels more intimate than being at Animal Kingdom and there are lots of areas to view them without needing a savannah view room.
• So many free activities throughout the day.
• Opportunity to meet and learn from the cultural representatives throughout the resort.
• The food! I love the restaurants—Boma, Jiko, and Sanaa.
• I think the bus service is pretty good at AKL. Some people say MK is far, but the MK resorts are far from AK!

 

[Deploraboo]

Stayed there last year and seven other resort stays later, it’s still no. 1 on my list. Proximity not great, true, but the buses are never filled in my experience, and with Uber/Lyft/Minnie/taxi, who cares. They have a great large pool, great kid activities, gobsmacking lobby, amazing food, and flamingoes at the pool. Highly suggest savannah view as watching those animals in the morning and evenings is amazing. They also have viewing locations all over the place. Just a wonderful experience and if AK is your favorite park, it’s very close, and Blizzard Beach is nearby too.

 

[patster734]

When you stay there, you must explore the hotel! The hallways extend for some distance, and at each ‘elbow’, there’s African artwork, and usually another view of the Savannah. At the end of a hallway, there was a door leading to an external stairway that gave me an upclose and personal encounter with a giraffe and several other animals. It was awesome.

 

[Coffee66]

When you stay there, you must explore the hotel! The hallways extend for some distance, and at each ‘elbow’, there’s African artwork, and usually another view of the Savannah. At the end of a hallway, there was a door leading to an external stairway that gave me an upclose and personal encounter with a giraffe and several other animals. It was awesome.

We stay at animal kingdom lodge. Only thing missing have some animals roam the lobby. Laugh out loud

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

Although we have only been to WDW once, and stayed at AKL Jambo. It was absolutely amazing and we really loved it! It is beautiful and I love the whole environment. We loved seeing the animals constantly. It has a great pool and the Mara is a really good quick service option for food. There are multiple fire pits, viewing areas and rocking chairs to enjoy the animals, and daily smores.

The gym is pretty good too if that is your thing.

We will be staying at Wilderness Lodge and Beach Club later this year and I think AKL will still be my favorite.

 

[bryanb]

I haven't had the privilege of staying there yet, but the food at AKL is worth a special trip during almost every WDW vacation. Boma has just a touch of the exotic without scaring anyone off who might not be adventurous eaters. Their ribs (on Wednesday and Saturday nights) are some of my favorites on property. I'm going to have to learn how to make beef bobotie too (it's a ground meat casserole with curry and cinnamon, onions, raisins, and topped with an egg custard)... just surprisingly delicious.

 

[Starwind]

I knew I could count on your to help convince me!!!

I paid $691.74 for 5 nights at ASMo.
The cost for 5 nights at AKL (standard view) for those same 5 days is $1891. $1200 more. That’s huge to me- but...... I think I have to go for it!

The other thing for me to consider is that the dining costs also be higher- since we would eat at AKL for several meals instead of a food court at ASMo. {gulp}

You guys are the best!

We had a standard view for our 3 night stay at AKL in December. We ended up with a partial savanah view (there was a people pen in front, and part of the building to the side). We still saw lots of animals from our balcony - including giraffes !! Also, there are so many viewing areas around the resort !! We spent most of our time at the resort, not doing any parks at all.

For food, there is the Mara, which is quick service. As with other deluxe resorts not as much selection as the value food courts, but certainly doable. See https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/dining/animal-kingdom-lodge/mara/ and the menus at https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/dining/animal-kingdom-lodge/mara/menus/ We ate there multiple times.

Also, the Sanaa restuarant is quick service for breakfast. We really enjoyed our breakfast there.

One of our favourite meals at AKL is Boma for breakfast. It is a buffet.

Finally, nothing stopping you from going to other resorts for meals. We took the bus to DHS and then (after taking the gondola to visit Boardwalk, Beach Club and Yacht Club to see their holiday decorations) took the gondola down to Pop Century and had dinner there once [awesome pot roast!], then the bus to AK then bus to AKL.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

This now skips over to restaurants, but if we were to do only one table service dinner, where would you go with a 6 year old and 9 year old?

I think Whispering Canyon Cafe at Wilderness Lodge. I think your boys will love it. There used to be hobby horse races, I don't know if they still have those. There are shennanigans and a fun atomosphere. Most character meals are $50-$65 adults and $35 kids, which is crazy expensive. Whispering Canyon is much more reasonable $36 adult and $17 kid, and a ton of fun. The waitstaff does things that can seem rude, but they are all in for fun. (My daughter asked if she could have sweet tea, and the server said "NO! Where do you think you are?
The South or something?) So warn or prepare the boys it is fun and they can be loud and it is OK.

Take the boat over for lunch or dinner on your Magic Kingdom day. The boys will enjoy the boat ride too.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

I know that AKL is well loved. We are currently booked at ASMovies during May for 5 nights. What happened was I booked the room first, and when I got the air we ended up needing an extra night at the beginning.
We booked at CSR for that one night, and then got an upgrade to Beach Club!
So we have BC one night and ASMo for the rest.

Well, I think it was @AngiTN who told me that those upgrades may encourage you to go deluxe in the future- and It may have already happened! So I’m looking at AP rates for the deluxes, and the pool view room at AKL is $336- a little more than double the ASMo rate we have.

I never considered AKL before- it doesn’t seem to be my thing I guess. But I have never been there, or even considered dining there.

I guess I”m asking you all to tell me specifically what it is that you love, keeping in mind that I cannot upgrade to a Savannah view (can barely think about the pool view rate!).

I will be with my two grandsons, ages 6 and 9, one of whom has never been to WDW. It will be mid May, so I expect we’ll have some pool time and take a relaxed park approach, although I do tend to go commando style all too often and I’ll have to rein myself in.

If it was 100% my choice, and money was no object, I think I’d be a Poly or BC kind of girl.

AKL is my favorite, and I enjoy it without the parks. It really feels so special, like you have really gone AWAY on a vacation. So many of the resorts are lovely or lively and fun, but still you know you are at WDW. AKL you are in an African lodge. It is so beautiful, and so much authentic, hand carved, things. I don't have the words for it. The buses are better than AllStars, less crowded, and almost the same distance. People who complain about the buses either never stay AllStars, or it is all in their minds because you feel so far away from the parks and WDW. If you are used to AllStar buses, you will LOVE the AKL buses, the deluxe waiting areas, etc.
That IS a lot of money, almost 3 times as much. What a wonderful trip you are giving your grandsons, and what memories you will make. Hopefully someone will come on with the link to the Activites Schedule. There is so much to do.
The boys can earn African beads on some activities (free), there is brass rubbing, story time around the fire pit, marshmallow roasting around a different fire pit, night vision goggles to view the savannah at night, etc. All of these are free. The Mara quick serve is quite good, and very close to the pool. You may want to try the famous Zebra Domes. Let us know how your trip was when you get back.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

Found the Activites Calendar. Scroll down to Animal Kingdom Lodge.
http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2020/01/walt-disney-world-resort-recreation.html

 

[Coffee66]

The animals that roam the lobby.

 

[Wild4Walt]

When I was young, I wanted to be a zoologist and work with Big Cats. Well, that was the dream of a kid but I think I've always carried that with me so I think AKL has always had a soft spot in my heart. Aside from that the lobby at Jambo House is just beautiful and I love the pool area.

 

[Disneyhanna]

We have only stayed once, we typically prefer to pay under $200/night for hotels and tend to stay at places like Hampton Inn, Best Western, Hyatt if we splurge a bit.

We got a great AP rate on a standard room for the beginning of December, I believe it was around $250/night before fees. We did a split stay because we couldn't pass up the deal!

I don't typically make room requests, and was too lazy to call and request a partial savannah room. I just picked "highest floor" from the online selections and ended up with a partial savannah room, on the highest floor possible (top floor was DVC). The room above us was a savannah DVC studio, so we were thrilled.

Here's our view from the balcony:



We saw the giraffes every day, along with a few smaller animals like ostriches. We saw some zebras in the corner on our last day. We loved AKL because it's not an experience you can get very many places, you could easily spend a lot of time just roaming around the resort. We spent three nights and it was too cold to swim but the pool looked very inviting. There are a lot of places to just sit and relax and watch the animals even if you don't have a savannah view.

Boma became one of our top Disney restaurants, we had breakfast and dinner. My mom thought it was the best breakfast she'd ever had, and if you get a late morning reservation you will be stuffed until dinner time so it's a pretty good value for Disney. My mom is not a fan of Indian or African cuisine, but Boma has plenty of options for picky eaters. Sanaa and Jiko are a bit more adventurous so I will have to go back and try those on my own some time.

The rooms are beautiful and they are refurbishing them (we lucked out and got a refurbished one), the beds are extremely comfortable with pillow top mattresses.



I love the rainfall showers that Disney is adding.



I think the new value resort refurbished rooms are really nice and a much needed upgrade, but they are just a nice motel room to me. AKL actually felt like a resort, with lots of amenities and a place where you can really relax for the day. Kids loved playing in the lobby where there is a lot of seating and tables to play games. There is definitely something to be said about getting home from the parks late at night and walking through the lobby and indoor hallways back to your room.

That being said, we will not stay at AKL every trip due to cost and location! CSR is a nice compromise between the values and AKL, so that will probably be our go-to on regular trips. Since we only spend 1-2 days at AK, we would prefer to be somewhere more centrally located. It's not out of the way or anything, but I wouldn't want to stay for a full week if I'm doing a park heavy trip and taking midday breaks.

 

[wilbret]

We have DVC contracts at Kidani and Jambo, but only stay at Kidani, for whatever reason.

As others have said, having animals just outside the windows is amazing. The building is amazing. The rooms are large and comfortable. The pool is great. Not much not to like! We have stayed here I believe 3x, with 4th coming this fall, and we have yet to actually eat in the restaurants, only at the pool bar. That's pretty typical for us, if we are at the resort, we are at the pool. If we are gone, we eat wherever we are.

The bus ride is long, but it only has 2 stops to make. Resorts like Saratoga and Caribbean have many many stops, so the bus durations can also be long.

All that being said, if you aren't getting a Savannah view room, I'm not sure it's worth the cost.