Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House Review

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of the Deluxe resorts, and is what we think the coolest of all the resorts on property.

The theming of this resort is bar none, once you step into the grand lobby you are taken away to a different place. The lobby itself is just stunning. Many compare it to the lobby at Wilderness Lodge, which makes sense since they were designed by the same architect, Peter Dominick. Both have incredibly impressive lobbies, however we prefer the one at Animal Kingdom Lodge just a smidge more, it just feels more spacious to us, and the massive windows at the rear of the lobby afford some amazing views out onto one of the savannas that surround the property.

View of the lobby with Christmas decorations from the Club Level lounge

Upon entering the lobby you’ll find the gift store to the right, and this is one of the more impressive resort gift stores on property with very unique offerings. To the immediate left is bell services, and further in, also to the left are the check-in desks.

If you continue through the lobby to the rear, you’ll find a set of stairs that take you down a level to doors that lead out to the Arusha Rock overlook, where you can get some amazing views of the Arusha savanna and the animals that call it home. There is also a fire pit in this area with comfortable rocking chairs where you can sit and enjoy the atmosphere. Often there are also cast members in this area who can tell you all about the animals that are living out on the savanna.

Heading back into the lobby, you’ll often times find cultural representatives who can tell you all about their home country and are great to spend some time speaking with. Off the lobby, there are four wings, which they call trails, that lead to the guest rooms. One of the coolest things about these wings are throughout each one there are artifacts on display, so there is almost a museum like quality, plus there are a number of overlooks with seating where you can find a private spot to sit and enjoy the savanna view. These overlooks can be especially nice if you don’t have a savanna view room, but want to spend some time watching the animals.

The rooms at the Animal Kingdom Lodge are a nice size, smaller than some of the other deluxe resort rooms, but not so small they feel cramped. Many have two queen beds, while some have a king bed. The views you can select from are savanna view, water view, or resort view. The savanna view rooms are the most popular since you can enjoy watching the animals on the savanna from the comfort of your own room or balcony. The water view rooms look out onto the pool area, and the resort view rooms basically cover everything else, and some even have a partial savanna view. This resort also has club level rooms, and although we absolutely love the club level lounge here, we don’t like that the club rooms are not on the club level floor other than the DVC club rooms, and the rooms can be a very very long walk to the lounge.

We tend to book the savanna view room while we’re here, simply because that is what really makes this resort stand out from the others.

The rooms are a bit darker than you’ll find at other resorts, although in recent years they have brought in some lighter soft goods to brighten them up a bit, however we really like the darker tones since it makes it feel a bit more calm and luxurious to us.

The pool at Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of our favorites on property, it is huge and has a zero entry which is a really nice feature. It does have a slide, although it is a smaller one. There are also hot tubs near the pool which are a bit secluded being surrounded by shrubs and outside the main pool area gates. There is also an animal viewing area here where you can watch the flamingos.

There is also a fairly large pool bar which has some really tasty drinks!

There are two main restaurants at Jambo house, Jiko and Boma. Jiko is only open for dinner and has an amazing menu, it is one of the signature restaurants on property. Boma is open for breakfast and dinner, and is a buffet. Both are great options and have some amazing food. There is also the Victoria Falls lounge, which has some lite bites and a large selection of drinks.

The Sustainable Fish at Jiko

The sister resort to Jambo house, Kidani Village, has even more dining options and is a short bus ride or walk from Jambo House. Here you can find Sanaa, which is known for it’s amazing bread service, as well as other delicious options.

The one complaint that is often thrown around about this resort is its location. It can feel pretty far away from everything other than the Animal Kingdom, and the only free transportation option is the Disney bus system. This is the only Deluxe resort that relies entirely on the buses to get to the parks. You can however use ride shares to get where you want to go, or even use a Minnie Van if you’re able to get one, just keep in mind those can be hard to come by during popular times such as park opening and close.

Our most recent stay here we splurged and stayed in a two bedroom suite on the hotel side. The unique thing about Jambo House is that it has DVC rooms in it along with the regular hotel rooms. Since we were in the hotel side, we did not get that full kitchen, however we did have a nice kitchenette that was more than we needed. One big bonus of the suite is unlike the regular hotel rooms, this had an actual refrigerator, so we could store dairy and perishables in the room.

This room was one of the club level rooms that was a haul from the club level lounge. It was actually the furthest room possible from the elevators to go up to the lounge, at the very end of the Kudu Trail. It took over five minutes to walk from the room to the elevators to get up to the lounge, which may not sound too horrible, but after a long day in the parks that walk was less than enjoyable.

We did, however, absolutely love the club level lounge here. The cast members at the lounge were some of our favorites, they were so incredibly helpful and made us feel like family. They all knew our names within the first day, came over to chat when we were hanging out in the lounge, and were just so much fun, they really seemed to love making people happy.

The food offerings at this lounge are probably the most unique of all the club level lounges we’ve experienced, but were all absolutely delicious. I will say, if you are a very picky eater, this may not be the lounge for you. The days we were there there were a lot of fish offerings and lamb. They did have some less adventurous food like pasta and meatballs, but for the most part the hors d’oeuvres were a bit more adventurous.

Breakfast on the other hand had some of the best breakfast food we’ve seen at club level. The sticky buns were phenomenal, plus they typically had some egg dish, bacon and or sausage, fruit, and various other offerings like cereal. You could also request a mimosa from the cast members, or make if fancy and request a POG-mosa, which is just a mimosa made with POG juice instead of OJ.

We would recommend staying here if there is someone in your family who loves animals, or if you want to do a more resort centered stay. If you’re planning on doing a more park heavy trip, where you won’t be at the resort other than to sleep, this probably isn’t the best resort for you as it is not the most convenient to the parks and you’re spending a lot of money for the atmosphere and views out on the savanna which you would miss if you’re only there at night.