Animal Kingdom Lodge is on many wish lists of resorts to try at Walt Disney World, and with good reason. This unique hotel offers so much that can’t be found at Disney’s other hotels—including cultural experiences and the famed savanna overlooks. Animal Kingdom Lodge is always high on the list of hotels we consider, and we’re happy to share our experiences in the Savanna View rooms!
The Basics and Booking Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
Animal Kingdom Lodge is a deluxe resort at Walt Disney World. These are Disney’s best hotels. If you’re considering them, you may want to read some of our other posts. We have a ranking of the best Disney World deluxe resorts. We also have a guide to all the hotels of Walt Disney World.
And here are our reviews of all the deluxe resorts (links open in new tabs):
Review of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge (you are here)
And if you’d like to see where this resort falls overall, check out our complete Disney World hotel rankings.
Staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, you get the perks of any Disney stay. You’ll have access to free transportation to and from the parks and Disney Springs. You’ll also have access to Early Theme Park Entry and the ability to book your individual Lightning Lanes at 7AM (as opposed to when the parks open). Animal Kingdom Lodge is a deluxe hotel, so guests have access to Extended Evening Hours, granting these guests extra time in select parks on select nights.
Rack rates for standard rooms at Animal Kingdom Lodge in 2024 range from $487 to $888 per night, making it among the least expensive deluxe resorts at Walt Disney World. Savanna View rooms range from at $696 to $1174 in 2024. When deal season is on, you can get these rooms for closer to $550.
Animal Kingdom Lodge is most known for the Savanna View rooms. While these are some of our favorite rooms on property, we really think they’re “worth it” only in deal season (we typically book with an annual passholder discount). This is mostly because the hotel is itself so beautiful, and you can view the animals as much as you like from public viewing points just outside the lobby.
That said, we personally only ever stay in the Savanna View rooms. Basically, we see a sweet spot when you can get a good price on these rooms (or Club Level rooms). The only other views at Walt Disney World we’d put on this level are the Theme Park Views of Magic Kingdom at the Monorail Resorts.
If budget is a factor, though, we totally recommend booking a room without a view if it’s the only way you can experience the resort.
Jambo House vs. Kidani Village
Animal Kingdom Lodge comprises two areas—Jambo House and Kidani Village. We’ve only stayed at Jambo House, which is what most people think of and are talking about when they say Animal Kingdom Lodge. Jambo House is both a deluxe resort and home to a small number of Disney Vacation Club Villas. Kidani Village is just Disney Vacation Club Villas.
You can book vacation club villas like regular hotel rooms, but you'll pay a huge markup. If you’re interested in a Disney Vacation Club stay as a non-member, we suggest renting from David’s Vacation Club.
Kidani is about a ten-minute walk from Jambo House, and really the only reasons to walk over there are (1) to see their savanna and (2) to visit their restaurant, Sanaa. The rest of this review is about Jambo House exclusively.
Animal Kingdom Lodge Review - Arrival and Check-In
Most recently, we were doing a split stay, having come from Coronado Springs (Gran Destino Tower). We’re fans of split stays because they allow us to divide our trip into parts based on our needs.
This can be something like a deluxe hotel for days when we’re lounging by the pool and a value for days when we’re at the parks all day. On this trip, Emily had to work two days, so we booked an Animal Kingdom Club Level stay so she could enjoy our savanna view and the lounge while she worked.
If you’re flying in, you’ll want to arrange transportation from the airport to the hotel. Disney no longer has a free service for this.
In general, we recommend online check-in when staying at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel, but we often avoid it when staying club level (the club has special information to give you at check-in). In this case, we’re very familiar with the Animal Kingdom Lodge Kilimanjaro Club Level, so we were fine skipping their greeting.
This is usually the part of a deluxe review where we tell you “if your room isn’t ready, you can check your bags and easily get to [nearest park]” but there’s no “easy” transportation from Animal Kingdom Lodge. Regardless, if you check in online or arrive and your room isn’t ready, you can leave your bags with bell services and hop on the bus to your favorite park!
Animal Kingdom Lodge Grounds and Theming
As we said, the hotel is broken into two parts, Jambo House and Kidani Village. We’ll be focusing solely on Jambo House in this review.
Jambo House is essentially a large U-shaped building with a main “building” (not really a separate building, but you get it) at the bottom, rooms along the wings, and three savannas (west side, middle, east side).
The Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House lobby is one of the most beautiful spaces in Walt Disney World.
We like the specious lobbies of the Wilderness Lodge, Grand Floridian, Polynesian, Grand Californian (at Disneyland), and Animal Kingdom Lodge much more than the smaller lobbies of the Yacht Club, Beach Club, and BoardWalk.
Besides beautiful design, the lobby has small displays of African art and artifacts throughout. Honestly you could devote a substantial-sized blog post solely to the Animal Kingdom Lobby. (Use the arrows to navigate the below gallery.)
The lobby is actually on the third floor of the hotel. It’s hard to put into words, but the setup of the main building is very open and flowing beyond the lobby. A fire pit, the Victoria Falls Lounge (with accompanying water feature), and the two restaurants—Jiko and Boma—are located off the west side of the lobby and down some stairs/ramps on the lower two floors.
The resort is a treat to explore because you seem to get where you’re going without ever knowing how to get there—which I understand makes no sense at all, but really does reflect the “flow” element I was talking about.
The “flow” feeling also results from the fact that there is water literally flowing down a rock formation from the third floor lobby to the first floor.
Also adjacent to the lobby are the Zawadi Marketplace store and the Sunset Lounge, a lounge space used for various activities at the resort. Many of the Cast Members at the resort are knowledgeable either in animal care or African history, so many activities have an education component. (Note: While cultural representatives were gone for a while, they’ve now returned.)
Out the back of the lobby is the main savanna overlook, with viewing of the Arusha Savanna (we’ll discuss these overlooks more below).
From the first floor, you can walk outside to the Uzima Pool, which has a small wading pool nearby. This is also where you’ll find the Uzima Springs Pool Bar.
There’s also a playground and an overlook of the Uzima Savanna.
Finally, the hotel also has a fitness center.
Animal Kingdom Lodge Savanna View Room
In this section we’ll have a video walkthrough and three galleries: one with overview shots of the room, one focusing on the bathroom, and one with some more specific looks at the room.
We’ll be focusing on a room with queen beds, but king bed rooms are also available. All of our stays have been in Savanna View rooms overlooking the Arusha Savanna. We share some views in the next section.
The rooms at Animal Kingdom Lodge were all refurbished in 2020. Nowadays, almost all the rooms in Walt Disney World have gotten this style re-design, so the biggest differentiator when it comes to rooms is going to be theme.
The renovations included wall-mounting the televisions, replacing carpet with wood flooring, and adding outlets / USB ports.
I’ve generally praised the renovations at all the Disney hotels, and I was thrilled to see them come to my favorite hotel.
Some people have been disappointed with the changes, particularly at the value hotels, where they felt some of the spirit of the rooms had disappeared.
I’ll admit that I do feel the Animal Kingdom Lodge rooms lost a bit of that (the old vanity area wallpaper was amazing, for example), but on balance they’re now a better mix of beauty and function, so I’m overall happy with the new rooms.
I’m glad to see the rooms now have Keurig coffee makers, which I lamented in my last review that all deluxe rooms should have by now.
The Savanna View
Both stays we’ve had the same amazing savanna view. Our view was aligned pretty much with the savanna overlook behind the hotel, which meant we had a similar, but elevated, view as you'd get from the overlook.
It can be hard for photos to do the view justice. I wouldn’t say the animals feel right at your doorstep, but they don’t feel as far in real life as in the photos.
It was nice to be able to just hang out on the balcony and watch the animals. There’s also a viewing guide available here. With views like this (and some other things we'll talk about in a bit), Animal Kingdom Lodge is a great resort to stay at if you’re considering a Disney World no parks day away from the parks.
Recreation at Animal Kingdom Lodge
Animal Kingdom Lodge has the deepest activity roster of any Walt Disney World resort. You could easily fill a day with activities.
Several of these are paid, but most of them are free. Rather than list specific examples with banal commentary, we’ll just post the full December 2022 schedule here. You can see that you could probably easily fill an afternoon at the resort.
The activities cover a wide range. Most are for all families, but sometimes you’ll see something like wine tasting that’s targeted to adults visiting Disney World. Most are free, but you can see there are a good number of paid activities, too. The hotel also maintains the “standard” roster of pool activities and other kid activities, like tie-dye and movies under the stars.
Probably the most well-known aspect of Animal Kingdom Lodge recreation is the savanna overlooks. There are three of these at Jambo House and two at Kidani Village.
Sticking with Jambo House, the main savanna overlook is behind the lobby and looks over the Arusha Savanna.
Off the pool area is the Uzima Savanna overlook.
And from a small room off the lobby you can look into the Sunset Savanna (substantial ongoing construction during our last visit made this a bad option.)
The overlooks can be hit or miss. Sometimes you’ll have a family of giraffes hanging out right outside the overlook…
…other times everyone will be partying at the back of the overlook.
Animal Kingdom Lodge Review - Restaurants
Animal Kingdom Lodge has, arguably, three of the top five restaurants at Walt Disney World: Jiko, Boma, and Sanaa. Sanaa and Jiko are especially good for vegetarians. Jiko and Boma are located in Jambo House, while Sanaa is a 10-minute walk away in Kidani Village. These dining options are yet another factor that make this hotel one of the more “destination in itself” resorts at Disney World.
Table Service at Animal Kingdom Lodge
Jiko - The Cooking Place is the signature table service restaurant at Animal Kingdom Lodge, requiring two table service credits for those on a Disney dining plans. Both Jiko and Boma are located on floor one of Jambo House. Jiko has been one of our favorites for years, but the service is often slow.
Boma is our least favorite of the restaurants, but we do seem to be in the minority on this front. We’re vegetarians, so the meat offerings (which looked awesome) didn’t appeal to us.
The restaurant was also quite busy and loud—a sign of its popularity, no doubt. Boma is located across from Jiko on floor one of Jambo House.
Sanaa is our favorite restaurant at Walt Disney World. In fact, it converted us both into Indian food enthusiasts. Sanaa’s most famous dish is their bread service, which is five breads and nine dips.
Sanaa is now a fixture of our Walt Disney World vacations. Even when we don't stay at the hotel and it's a hassle to get to, it’s worth it. Sanaa is located over in Kidani Village, a short walk from Jambo House.
Quick Service at Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House
The Mara is the quick service option at Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House, serving from 7AM to 11:30PM (sometimes later). While I’ve never liked it, it’s a fine quick service option. In fact, more esteemed reviewers than us consider it one of the best counter service options in Walt Disney World!
Bars at Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House
There are three bars at Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House. Most prominent is the Victoria Falls Lounge, located on the second floor between the lobby (third floor) and the restaurants (first floor).
The lounge has a fine menu, but the location is iffy. Located between Boma (a buffet) and the lobby, the lounge is very noisy. That said, the flowing water and nearby fire pit are unique, lively features.
We’ve already mentioned the Uzima Springs Pool Bar, which is a standard pool bar.
Finally, there is the Cape Town Lounge and Wine Bar. Don’t let the fancy name fool you, though, this is just a small bar adjacent to Jiko.
Transportation and Location At Animal Kingdom Lodge
Animal Kingdom Lodge is the only deluxe resort without special transportation to a park. You have to take the bus. This is partly why the hotel is one of the two cheapest deluxe options at Walt Disney World. The other is Wilderness Lodge, which has for special transportation only a (disappointing, in our opinion) boat service.
The approximate bus travel times to the four theme parks are:
Animal Kingdom Lodge to Hollywood Studios 10-15 min
Animal Kingdom Lodge to Epcot 10-15 min
Animal Kingdom Lodge to Magic Kingdom 15-20 min
Animal Kingdom Lodge to Animal Kingdom 5-10 minutes
As with all Disney hotels, the buses run approximately every 20 minutes, and the estimated next times are on display at the bus stop and can be found in the app. While buses are shared between Kidani Village and Jambo House, we’ve never encountered a full bus going to the parks.
Personally, we find the Disney bus system to be one of the worst parts of our visits, and we’d still suggest budgeting a little for Uber or Minnie Vans, especially if you have a lot to see in a short time.
If you opt to have a car at Disney World when staying at the hotel, you’ll have free parking. Guests staying at Disney hotels also get free parking at the theme parks.
Shopping at Animal Kingdom Lodge
The store at Animal Kingdom Lodge is the Zawadi Marketplace. It has a standard offering of hotel necessities, Disney gear, and hotel-branded items.
Animal Kingdom Lodge Review - Conclusions
Animal Kingdom Lodge is our personal favorite resort at Walt Disney World, and we rank it second for guests generally choosing between the deluxe resorts pretty much solely because Contemporary has the better location.
It’s relatively mature theming and quality restaurant lineup makes it a solid hotel option for adults visiting Disney World. But the animals and deep activity lineup make it incredibly appealing the most kids, too. You don’t have the same giant, plastic figurines you see at the value resorts, but that’s always the case if you’re staying at a deluxe.
While we personally tend toward Savanna View rooms, you don’t need that view if you’re not going to be spending a ton of time in your room. The experience you’ll get from the public spaces of the resort is just as good.
There are some shortcomings. The bars are not memorable. The location/transportation is the worst of the deluxe resorts. But these aren’t anywhere near fatal to the overall experience.
Insofar as location is the reason this hotel comes at a relative bargain, it’s really a steal. Sure, if you’re at Contemporary you can walk to Magic Kingdom…but you’re not going to have as quick a trip to the other three parks, or to the two water parks, or to Disney Springs.
From any resort you’ve always got Uber/Minnie Vans as a backup when you’re in a hurry. The lower prices at Animal Kingdom Lodge allow rideshare to fit more easily into your budget.
Like Animal Kingdom the park, the Lodge is a noticeably alive place. There is always activity, permeating the resort, be it drummers in Sunset Lounge, animals running around the savanna, or the noise of silverware hitting plates in Boma.
Is this environment for everyone? No. We’ve seen a small child yell “CAN THEY KEEP IT DOWN?!” at the noisy lobby (she was all of us in that moment, though).
If you’re willing to expand your horizons a bit, or if you’ve been on the fence for a while, a stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge is a unique (and uniquely) Disney experience.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
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Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World Genie+ and Lightning Lane strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Epcot Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Animal Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and Hollywood Studios Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
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