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Jambo House

Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge

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I've stayed at Jambo House (then AKL) three times. At one time it was a bargain staying here, but once Disney had you hooked on the AKL drug, the price seems to have risen disproportionally with other resorts, offering less of a discount than other deluxes. However, there's no denying that the views are gorgeous, the food is excellent, and if you really need interior corridors, this place has 'em.

My first time at AKL, I had a room so far from the lobby that I thought I'd be in a different Zip Code. My second time, I had a savanna view room that was more of a pool view, but I had a newbie with me and was *DOING* the parks, so it really didn't matter. (His daughter was flying down later that week with her mother. That he knew what to see and when and where and how to do it was a really big plus...) My third time there was a most excellent room, right up the stairs, and down the hall...

Map of Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House. Click on the map for a larger view... Note this isn't a real Disney Map, but a composite of the old AKL map and the new Jambo House map. The old map had much more detail. But, map ©Disney anyway, and as far as I know, accurate...

The main attraction to AKL are the savannas that surround a good portion of the hotel. They're separate from each other, and hold different animals. So even if your room overlooks one savanna, you should take the time and visit the others. The savannas are generally separated at the tops of the "wineglass" shaped hotel. Many of the animal storage pens are located there, some in the ground level portion of the hotel. (No, I've never noticed any "zoo" smells in/at AKL. Com'on, this is Disney. They probably wash and repaint all their animals every night...)

While Uzima and Arusha Savannas are Jambo's own, Sunset Savanna is shared with Kidani. The stairways are outside (true in many, if not all of the first through sixth floor stairways at Jambo,) so you can get an pretty good view of the savannas there, and I've been able to talk to the CM's (the real animal keepers) when you're on the lowest point of the stairway. Anyway, if you want a better picture than what you get through a dirty window, find a stairway.

There are also more than a few little nooks around the place to visit, some displaying African art or culture, some overlooking the savanna with chairs that beg to be sat in along with an adult beverage.

Here's some video from my 2003 stay...

Insert Video Link - 2003 AKL stay

(Video not yet published on YouTube.)

Jambo House: Entrance, Lobby, Registration, Bus Stops

Jambo House - Hotel Interiors

Jambo House - Room interiors

Jambo House - Uzima Pool Area

Jambo House - Arusha Rock Savanna viewing area

Jambo House - Arusha Savanna (views from a couple of different stays)

Sunset Savanna (Pre-Kidani)

Jenny, Cathy, PiC and I had reservation at Boma during Christmas in 2010. While I was there, I took a few pictures, including a few 4-stop HDR pictures.

Jambo House and Boma, December 2010