In this post, we review the Kilimanjaro Club, the Club Level offering at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. If this is the first post of ours you’re reading, there might be two others you’re interested in. First, we have separately reviewed Animal Kingdom Lodge. If you’re looking for information about the hotel generally, you’ll need to read that post.
Second—and maybe more importantly—we have an entirely separate post covering the ins and outs of Club Level at Walt Disney World. If you’re wondering about the details of what’s included, whether it’s worth it, and just how we evaluate it broadly, you’ll want to check out that post. This post focuses specifically on the Kilimanjaro Club Lounge at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Booking Kilimanjaro Club
Club Level is a special room designation at all the the deluxe resorts (and one moderate resort) at Walt Disney World that includes a variety of perks. If you’re interested in reading about Club Level at the other deluxe resorts, we have reviews here (links open in new tabs):
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kilimanjaro Club Level Review (you are here)
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort - Royal Palm Club (Main Building) Level Review
Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort - King Kamehameha Club Level Review
Disney’s Coronado Springs (Moderate Resort) - Chronos Club Level Review
We booked our Savanna View Club Level room through our choice go-to travel agent, Lauren Quirk of Travel with Character LLC. Using an Annual Passholder offer, we saved 35% off the rack rate of the room.
Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of the trickier hotels to really place a price tag on Club Level.
In 2024, Savanna View Club Level rooms (there are Club Level suites without savanna view, but no standard view regular Club Level rooms) start at $872 per night. This compares to $487 for standard rooms (not Club, not savanna) and $696 for savanna view (not Club).
Using the lowest cost rooms as a baseline, Kilimanjaro Club starts off at a $385 premium. Since many people are paying for the Savanna View rooms regardless, it might make sense to compare Savanna View Club to Savanna View not Club, in which case the premium is only $176.
Given that Animal Kingdom Lodge is a bit isolated, Club Level is a good chance to experience something new, and maybe to try a Disney no parks day to save on ticket costs.
Animal Kingdom Lodge Club Level Check-In
Disney pushes online check-in these days, and we’re generally fans. If you check in at the hotel’s front desk you’ll want to make sure they either give you directions to the lounge or have someone from the lounge come get you (this sometimes happens, sometimes doesn’t). If you use Disney World’s online check in, you can just head to the lounge before or after stopping at your room.
In either case, it’s important to pay a visit to “check in” with the lounge staff once you’re at the hotel. This was they know who you are and have an opportunity to show you around the lounge and give you any welcome information/gifts.
Since we’d previously stayed at the Kilimanjaro Club and our room was ready, we just went straight to the room. But even though we’d checked in online, I made sure to stop by the Club Level concierge when I got to the lounge, and I’m glad I did!
They actually had a nice little welcome package for us that included a small (edible) gift and the welcome letter. This is exactly why I say to make sure you speak to someone at the lounge when you arrive!
Animal Kingdom Lodge CLUB LEVEL PERKS
Again, our post on Club Level at Walt Disney World more generally is a better place to get a sense of the value of Club Level. Briefly though, by staying Club Level at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, you’ll get:
access to a lounge (The Kilimanjaro Club Lounge) with five small food and beverage servings throughout the day
access to a dedicated concierge staff, including by phone and text
The first of these is really the most important, and it’s what we focus most on in this review.
As a guest of a deluxe resort at Disney World, you’ll also get all the perks of a Disney stay, like Early Theme Park Entry and transportation to the parks, plus the deluxe-exclusive Extended Evening Hours.
The Animal Kingdom Lodge Club - The Kilimanjaro Club
The Animal Kingdom Lodge club lounge is the Kilimanjaro Club, located on the sixth floor of Jambo House, overlooking the lobby.
Access to the lounge is restricted to Club Level guests, who have to touch their Magic Band in the elevator to access the sixth floor.
There is a desk at the front of the lounge staffed by two club level concierges from 7AM to 10PM.
The lounge is basically one big room broken into two sections. The main section has seating for about 34 people, a television that plays a selection of Disney movies (a break from other lounges that tend to show television), and the serving area.
A second section is behind the concierge desk and has seating for about 12 and its own television, typically playing children’s programming. There are a few small seats for kids in that area, too.
There’s a small area off the lounge with seating for four, including outlets and USB ports.
Like the rest of Animal Kingdom Lodge, details permeate the Kilimanjaro Club. I wouldn’t suggest these will blow anyone away, but its nice to see a lounge that keeps up with the quality of the rest of a great hotel.
There is a fridge stocked with soda and milk, dispensers with juice, lemonade, tea, and water, a coffee machine, a Nespresso machine, and beer and wine on request.
There are also cordials available to pour yourself during the "Evening Indulgences" service.
Like all the Disney lounges, Kilimanjaro Club can get quite crowded, particularly during the morning and evening servings. There isn’t really much you can do to avoid this.
That said, and despite Kilimanjaro being one of the better lounges in our opinion, we’ve never had serious crowd issues at Kilimanjaro. We have run into issue where space was essentially nil at some of the other lounges, but even during peak times we’ve felt like Kilimanjaro had enough space for us.
The location of the lounge is a mixed bag. The view overlooking the Animal Kingdom Lodge lobby is stunning, and it’s great to be able to walk over there and spot any action going on.
A parade goes through the lobby
The downside is that Animal Kingdom Lodge is a very active place. If you’re looking for a quiet lounge—well there isn’t really one in Disney World, but I digress—this isn’t the one for you. Noise from lobby activities, from music to parades—yes, parades—carries strongly into the lounge.
In the past, the club has actually added a conservation and culture chat. Animal Kingdom Lodge is filled with these sorts of activities, and we were thrilled to see one come to the Kilimanjaro Club. During a past visit, Emily listened to a chat given by a Cast Member from Uganda who talked about culture and conservation there. While they were gone for a while, Cultural Representatives have now returned to the resort. I recommend checking with the desk for information on talks in the club and the rest of the resort.
Service at the Kilimanjaro Club
We were really happy with the service at Kilimanjaro Club, especially given how busy it was. Alcohol (beer, wine, champagne) is placed out during the twilight serving, but we were also waited on a few times, which we really appreciated. Included alcohol is what makes club level one of the better hotel options for adults visiting Disney World.
They don’t leave the standard alcohol out during desserts, which is a bit strange and did result in a small crowd building up by the Cast Member door to request beer and wine. As always, staff are happy to assist you in any way possible if you ask.
The staff were impressively proactive at keeping the lounge clean during servings. Given how busy it gets (over 100% capacity by seat count), things could easily get out of hand if staff weren’t always in motion. But they were—constantly checking tables to dishes to be cleared.
There’s also a pretty obvious space for dirty dishes—a nook just above a waste bin—for guests who wish to clear their tables themselves.
You might think this is a small thing, but when dozens of guests have no idea where to put dirty dishes, things can really spiral. It was good to see cleanliness in high priority.
Beyond that, we found the staff much more outgoing than last time we visited Kilimanjaro Club. As we noted in our Club Level overview post, some prominent commentators think Disney is making a conscious effort to improve its Club Level services, and our recent visit to Kilimanjaro Club reflect this. It was never bad, but even this quality lounge has elevated its service.
We found the concierges helpful when we needed help, but they were often busier than the front desk as there were only two of them. Some years ago, they got us a taxi voucher to Animal Kingdom when we needed to get there before buses ran for Backstage Tales.
A treat like this is important, given that Animal Kingdom Lodge is the deluxe resort with the most limited transit options. The staff was generally kind, but definitely played favorites with where their attention went (which was fine on the days when we made an effort).
Food Offerings At The Kilimanjaro Club
There are four food offerings throughout the day:
Miamko (7AM to 10:30AM)
Vitafunio (snacks from 11:30AM to 3PM)
Kisikusiku (twilight offerings from 5PM to 7PM)
and Rehema (evening indulgences from 8PM to 10PM).
Miamko — Adventurous Awakenings (Breakfast) 7:00AM to 10:30AM
Vitafunio — Safari Snacks 11:30AM to 4:00PM
We were a little disappointed to see that Kilimanjaro Club has followed the trend of reduced midday offering. In the past it was sufficient to be a small lunch, but now they’ve reduced it to something closer to a snack break.
Kisikusiku — Twilight Offerings (Appetizers) 5:00PM to 7:00PM
The Twilight Offerings are enough for a small dinner, but you’d probably want to supplement with at least a quick service meal. Personally, we feel conflicted about the fact that Animal Kingdom Lodge has both Boma and (a short walk away at Kidani Village) Sanaa as far superior meal options than the appetizer plate you’d cobble together in the club. Over a longe stay you might find real value in the lounge appetizers, but over 2 or 3 nights it’s likely you’d rather fill up at the proper restaurants.
Rehema — Evening Indulgences (Desserts & Cordials) 8:00PM to 10:00PM
Kilimanjaro had relatively limited dessert selections, another trend in Disney clubs. To be fair, you only need so much sugar to end the night.
Closing Thoughts About Kilimanjaro Club level
Upgrading from Savanna View to Club Level usually costs around $175 per day. For a couple of adults visiting Disney World, this is usually worth it. For a family of four willing to take advantage of the offerings, it is definitely worth it.
Two visits ago, I complained that the lounge was way too busy. This most recent visit, we didn’t have this experience. This maybe makes it a mixed bag, but in the worst case you’ll just grab your food and drink and go enjoy your savanna view.
From a service and food perspective, the lounge is amazing—easily one of the best on property. And of course, the views from the guests’ rooms are some of the best on property. (And keep in mind, this experience is only a three-day sample size.)
So, until Disney increases the price gap between Savanna View and Club Level, or cuts down on the room count, I imagine the lounge will remain popular. And, until they do so, we’ll be like everyone else and upgrade from Savanna View to Club Level, because it’s definitely a worthy upgrade.
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