My family recently stayed at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge for two nights. Animal Kingdom Lodge is considered one of Disney's Deluxe Resorts; others in that category include the Contemporary Resort, the Grand Floridian, the Polynesian Village Resort, the Yacht Club Resort, the Boardwalk Inn, and the Wilderness Lodge.
Many of the rooms have a balcony which overlooks the crown jewel of the hotel- the African savannah (pictured above). From your balcony you can easily see giraffes, zebra, guinea fowl, gazelles, and kudu.
A frequently asked question is does this hotel smell from all the animals. The answer is: absolutely not! Even the savannah view rooms have absolutely no animal smell whatsoever. The cast members must clean constantly.
At any given point in the day you can at least see some of these animals in the savannah. The day we arrived, we saw all of these animals from our balcony. When it began to rain, the animals retreated to the trees a little farther back, but they were still visible.
Side note: This is the only Disney resort where I have ever seen an insect. I've never seen one anywhere on property- not even at the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show, and that is 200 people eating outside in the open. However, there are tons of bugs at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Ants, gnats, mosquitoes, we saw them all. I assume they spray at other points in the park, but don't at AK because of the animals, but I don't know that for sure.
This hotel has SO many rooms, but the thing that I really liked about it was that there are only two buildings. Unlike so many other Disney hotels which have several "houses" with dozens of rooms each, the Animal Kingdom Lodge only consists of two buildings, and all of the rooms have interior doors. It is still a very large hotel with hundreds of rooms, but being able to walk to your room without going outside is a huge plus for me.
Our room was fantastic. I loved the African theming on the headboards, pillows and other small details around the room. My favorite touch was the mosquito nets behind the headboards.
I also loved the furniture. Unlike most other hotels, the furniture in these rooms feels substantial and solid, as if it were hand-carved.
Of course, we had a mini fridge, as with all Disney hotels. I happened to like the way our was hidden in this cool furniture.
The favorite feature of our bathroom was the hand-held shower head. As a parent, I loved using this to wash my children each night. If you look closely you can also spot our retractable clothesline to hang wet clothing or swimsuits.
My baby loved the map wallpaper in the sink area. I really liked the double sinks and the elevated shelf just under the mirror. That was a great spot to place our toiletries to get them off the main counter.
We had a pretty standard sized closet and safe. The safe in the Polynesian is digital and programmable to your own 4-digit code. However, the safe at Animal Kingdom Lodge is just a lock and key safe, which I actually like a lot better. If you lose your key a replacement will cost you $5, so put it in a safe place.
You'll notice that there are no rooms on the first floor because those rooms would be on the ground floor with the animals. The Jambo house, their name for the lobby, is on the third floor of the hotel. Our room was on the second floor of the hotel, and the pool is on the first floor, but on the opposite side of the hotel from where our room was.
We took a trip to the pool, and it is beautiful. I love the zero depth entry and the size of the pool is great. They do provide lifejackets for the kids if you need one. They also have a (small) waterslide!
The only thing I did not like about the pool was that the bar is right next to it. I mean, literally 20 feet from the side of the pool. The day we went to the pool there were a dozen adults at the bar and they were a little loud and boisterous. I thought this actually took away from the family friendliness of the pool area. I, personally, don't like my children having to be around tipsy adults or even see alcohol, so this was a bit of a difficult area for us. In the Magic Kingdom there is no alcohol served at all, so it was hard to reconcile the obviously adult element right next to the understandably juvenile area in a Disney hotel.
If you take a short walk around the far side of the pool you will see my favorite part of the resort: the flamingos! In this area there is a cast member who stands right by the flamingos to answer any questions you might have. I asked about whether or not they could fly, and she said that naturally can, but Disney veterinarians keep their flight wings short. She said that this procedure is not as invasive has some wing clipping procedures and that it is painless, like having your fingernails clipped.
Near the pool is the hotel's quick-service restaurant, The Mara. At The Mara, the first thing you'll probably notice is that it is dark in there. The entire hotel is dark, like- bring a headlamp dark, so we try to sit by the window when we eat here.
The Mara offers a variety of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack foods. It is very similar to Captain Cook's at the Polynesian.
There is ample seating inside and outside The Mara. For children classic Disney cartoons are playing on the TV's at the corners. When I say that they are classics, I mean that you couldn't buy these cartoons if you tried! My kids loved them!
We were on the dining plan, and this plate was 1 Quick Service credit at The Mara. It was huge. I shared with my youngest child and there was a lot left over.
I should note that there are a total of four restaurants at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Boma (buffet), Sanaa (family table service), The Mara (quick service) and Jiko (fine dining). I have heard that the Jungle Juice (non-alcoholic) is to die for at Sanaa, but you have to specially request it, as it is not on the menu.
Animal Kingdom Lodge is the first Disney Resort that made me want to come back for more. I didn't enjoy the transportation to the parks (bus only), but this hotel is unlike any I've ever seen. It was worth every penny. The Hominy family will be back!
