Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - Jambo House

We stayed at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - Jambo House for 2 nights from April 8-10 before our cruise on the Disney Wish out of Port Canaveral. We chose this hotel because we spent a day at Animal Kingdom as well. We flew in from LAX to MCO on Saturday morning and got to the hotel around 5 pm. We had 2 rooms - one for myself, my wife, and my two daughters and one for my in-laws. Both rooms were on the 5th floor as we booked through David's Vacation Club Rentals and I believe it's a DVC floor. One of our rooms overlooked the pool and the other looked out to the makeshift savanna within the hotel grounds. We immediately got the girls to the pool and they were able to swim for a few hours. They enjoyed the waterslide and the camp-like atmosphere that the pool staff put on with games, dance competitions, etc. We ate at The Mara by the pool both nights there and enjoyed the convenience. We considered the buffet but with an all-you-can-eat cruise waiting in the wings we tried to eat light. I didn't find much convenience with the hotel's location with regards to Animal Kingdom as it felt like a decent drive to get to the park in the morning. Walking was out of the question and although they had a shuttle I didn't want us to feel stranded so we drove our rental minivan - it's free to park at the parks if you're a guest at one of their hotels so it worked out fine. You can stay at any hotel if you want to visit Animal Kingdom as each will require a drive. We really enjoyed the day at the theme park - the whole experience felt more like a zoo visit than a Disney Park but we all really loved the Avatar Flight of Passage ride that you'd never find at a zoo. The park was smaller than expected and with our lightning lanes we got through it all by around 4 pm. That got us back to the hotel and the girls got another night at the pool. My lasting impression of the hotel was that it was beautiful although a bit dark. My youngest daughter LOVED the fact that she could see zebras and giraffes and other animals while at the hotel. The rooms were a bit dated but met all our needs. All in all, a very nice hotel.

This hotel is absolutely amazing. We were there quite a few years ago and just wasn’t that wowed - this time wowed. We just had a regular room - which was great for the 4 of us! When we were there before we had a savannah view room which was nice and roomy but didn’t see a lot of animals. We saw so many animals this time it was breathtaking and amazing. Just relaxing to me to sit on my deck and watch them. The resort was immaculate - the staff was amazing especially Edwin. Pools are beautiful both with slides. It was just an amazing trip. Would highly recommend !

This is marketed as a premier resort. The room was fine. The pools were good. The service was very poor. We couldn’t get a bell hop to help with luggage when we arrived or when we left. There was no one working the front desk when we needed assistance. We were worked up to a fire alarm at 5am and were led out to a holding pen directly beside the hotel. We were never given an explanation of the reason for the alarm.

The hotel is very nice, but for those wanting the disney experience, you wouldn't know this was a disney hotel. No characters whatsoever, nothing apart from the gift shop had any sign that we were in a disney hotel, the savannah lookout was amazing with a good selection of animals always viewable. Restaurants and amenities were great.

Great resort. We haven’t stayed in this building in years, but made a quick stop here recently. We had a DVC value room and it was just the right size for my wife and I. We had a view of the pool and we had breakfast reservations at Boma one morning and we were just a short walk and elevator ride to the restaurant. Great resort, I would highly recommend a stay here.

Started off good. We had a two rooms with two reservations. Only one room was ready. The one we were given was not the correct view. The second one had mouse poop on the patio and in the room. Then on two separate occasions we encountered giant roaches in our room. Tv was broken for three days and no one fixed it. We were told that you could shop and have things shipped to your house, but only things purchased at the Disney store. Which they didn’t tell us until after. We had a few very expensive unexpected meals at places that were not that great. We had to have Uber eats deliver most of our meals. For as expensive as these places are, it was not really worth what we spent.

Stayed here recently for a week and its a lovely hotel with a fantastic lobby. We had a room looking out to the pool, which stays open until 11pm, but we didn't notice any noise at all. Staff are really friendly and incredibly helpful. Having access to the Park buses is a huge asset as it is pretty much door to door service and they are very regular to all parks. The pool is large with a flume but can be difficult to get a lounger if you are not early particularly if you want one around the pool. The hotel has a gym, which is adequate but not amazing and has 3 restaurants. The only problem with the restaurants is the cost. $50 per person for a buffet and $30 per person for a buffet breakfast is a joke. My young children certainly don't eat that amount of food that warrants that price. That is the only reason why I did not give it 5 stars.

At Animal Kingdom with the family and staying at Animal kingdom Lodge Jambi House. The Buses from Lodge to Animal Kingdom are awful and few and far between. Get a grip Disney Shocking - especially in 40c and 90% humidity….

I stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge in the Jambo House Villas for an extended runDisney weekend. To be transparent, I’ve never been much of a fan of the Animal Kingdom aesthetic as a whole and really wasn’t sure what I would expect of my time at the resort. While it wasn’t quite my taste, I had a good experience overall at Jambo House and wouldn’t rule it out in the future. The studio villa was a decent size and appropriately themed to the aesthetic of the resort. The room was clean and well maintained, and overall had a very warm feeling to it. You could tell it had been a bit since the room had been renovated, but everything appeared to be in good shape (and you couldn’t necessarily distinguish wear from the general brown/rustic nature of the room). I found myself spending more time inside than I would’ve liked, due to poor weather throughout the trip, and the room was comfortable to spend extended time in. The balcony was spacious as well. Guest laundry was very convenient to access, which I appreciated between runDisney events and the poor weather. AKL feels smaller and more contained in comparison to other deluxe resorts, with most of the resort’s offerings being in the main lobby area. I didn’t have a savanna view room, but it was easy to see animals from common areas around the resort. I really liked Zawadi Marketplace and found it to not only have most of the grocery items I needed, but a fun place to walk around and browse unique merchandise. I didn’t get to try any of the table service dining; The Mara’s food was nothing great, but they had a good variety of options to choose from. The Mara also offered pre-packaged breakfast boxes as an option for runDisney guests, which I thought was a great idea. The cast members at AKL as a whole were especially friendly and helpful. I had booked a couple different reservations/room types, due to limited DVC availability, and was very surprised at check-in to find out a cast member had already arranged a way to keep me in the same room for the whole trip. Given the chaotic nature of runDisney weekends, I was extremely grateful that this cast member not only noticed I had multiple reservations, but took the time to work some magic and figure out a way to make my trip easier for me. Everyone from the front desk to the gift shop to the restaurants went out of their way to be friendly and make conversation with guests, and I appreciated how welcoming they were. Ultimately the main thing I wasn’t a fan of with AKL was the resort’s location, as it felt so far removed from most of what Disney offers. Every bus trip felt like the longest one I’d ever been on, and I found myself discouraged by the distance and keeping to the resort grounds more than I normally would at a Disney resort. Especially in poor weather, it didn’t feel easy to access other areas, and there also wasn’t much to explore in the immediate area (in terms of other places to visit within walking distance). I really did f