Resort Review - Animal Kingdom Lodge

Hello everyone!  Welcome to another edition of my resort review!  Today I am going to talk about the Animal Kindgom Lodge and Villas. 

I have only stayed here once and it is a SUPER popular place to stay.  I really enjoyed my stay here and I think I will do it again at some point.  It has its pluses and minuses.  But all in all it is fantastic!  Lets start with a great video tour of the resort, as always, provided from by http://www.travelriggers.co.uk/.  (AllEarsNet didn't have a video of this fabulous resort yet!)

But they did have a video of the Kidani Village - the all new villa section!  Check it out!





AKL Jambo House Lobby - photo courtesy of AllEarsNet.com



The theming is obviously completley different than the Wilderness Lodge Resort that I reviewed previously, but you can see that the entrance and lobby are a similar design.  The Animal Kingdom Lodge's lobby is grand and inviting.  The African theming and music is exceptional.  Off the lobby you will and entrance to an outdoor viewing area of the savanna as well as many halls that you can walk down. (They take you to the guest rooms.)  Take a walking tour of the resort and you will see that there are several locations to look out on the savanna and see animals - giraffes, zebras, etc. - roaming freely.  This has to be one of the coolest things about this resort and a reason to stay here or at least pay it a visit while you are in Disney!

The main building of the Animal Kingdom Lodge is the Jambo House.  This is the original portion of the resort, built back in 2001.  A few years ago Disney decided to add villas to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  The first converted several of the regular guest rooms over in Jambo House.  While this was being done, construction was also taking place on a whole new section of the resort - the Kidani Village.  These are all strictly Villas - studios, one and two bedrooms.  It is about a 10 minute walk in between the two buildings - important to know since the Kidani building does NOT have a quick service restaurant. 



Jambo House Main Pool - photo courtesy AllEarsNet.com

The two main pools at the Animal Kingdom Lodge are incredible!!  The Jambo House Pool features a zero entry - great for the little ones to sit in play in an inch of water!  There is also a water slide featured with this pool.  Around you, you will also find viewing areas of the Savanna.  My daughter and I were swimming here one day and walked over to our chairs and looked out and there were two giraffes eatting from a tree!  It was so cool!!  



Kidani Village Pool - photo courtesy AllEarsNet.com



Over at the Kidani Village you will find a pool area that is out of this world!!  The kids will love it!  I know mine did!  The one minus, if there is one, about this pool area is it's location.  To get to it you have to walk out the lobby and down past the valet area.  It isn't that it is a long walk, it is just the walk itself and that it isn't convienent that I found to be a downer, but the pool area more than makes up for that!  This is one of the few pools on resort property that is off limits for pool hopping - which is ONLY allowed to DVC members! 

Water Play Area at Kidani Village Pool - Photo Courtesy of AllEarsNet.com

There are different room view options at the Animal Kingdom Lodge - standard view, pool view, and Savanna view.  If  you are going to spend the money and you have it to spend - do the savanna view!  We stayed in a standard view and looked at an oh so lovely parking lot.  One night we got to stay in a savanna view and WOW it was AWESOME!!  Like the Wilderness Lodge they have an option to have bunk beds in your room, which is nice with kids since it gives you more floor space., plus what kid doesn't LOVE bunk beds!!

If you have ever dreamed of visiting Africa, but aren't sure how to swing it, give the Animal Kingdom Lodge a try!  I don't think you will regret it!!  For more great information about this resort check out the following links - More Pictures!, Fact Sheet, Kidani Village Fact Sheet

Is this the resort for you?  Have you stayed here before?  Let us know below your thoughts on the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

New Interactive Queues Enhance Your Experience!

Walt Disney Imagineering recently unveiled a new interactive queue at the Haunted Mansion attraction at Magic Kingdom® Park.

Here's a Sneak Peek!!

You can now view a new story line inspired by some of your favorite characters, previously seen only inside the Haunted Mansion. Throughout the interactive queue, you will find new crypts and other “spooky” sights, as well as tombstones with witty epitaphs to the dearly departed, such as “Drink A Toast To Our Friend Ken, Fill Your Glass And Don’t Say ‘When.’”

This Haunted Mansion revamp is one of several enhancements being made to queue lines throughout the Park to help increase interactivity during your waits.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh attraction in Fantasyland also recently received some queue enhancements. A towering honey tree now welcomes you at the entrance of the new queue, which younger guests are welcome to climb through and explore. Later on, you can communicate with a timid Piglet, stomp your feet to scare pesky gophers out of Rabbit’s garden, drum a tune on Rabbit’s fruit and ensure Pooh has plenty of delicious honey to look forward to by guiding honeybees on your journey to and from beehives. You can even draw pictures in walls of virtual honey poured by Pooh himself – all before setting foot on the attraction.

 
Have you been or will you be going soon???  I can't wait to check these out this fall!

Crusing just got easier!!

Hey there Disney Fans!!  Have I got some great news for all of you out there that have been hoping to book a Disney Cruise, but thought it might not be accessible to you!  Well yesterday I shared with you that Disney would be offering a port out of Galveston...well that's not all!  They went full out!

Disney Cruise Line will now offer ports in - New York City, Seatlle, WA, Galveston, TX and Los Angeles, CA.  There is so much information that I am just going to share this link and you can look through it all!

New 2012 Disney Cruise Line Sail Dates and Information!

So what one do you want to do???!!!

Keep the Magic Alive!!

If you are like me you come home from a trip to Disney and just cannot wait to get back!  Maybe you are even a little sad that it is over and start dreaming of that next trip - planning it from your phone on your drive home or talking about it on your flight!

Well welcome to my new series - Keep the Magic Alive!!

Tip for today on keeping the magic of Disney alive while at home....

Check out Magical Mouse Radio!  I have been listening and just the other day I got to listen to Magic Kingdom theme park music all morning!  Can I just tell you - it puts you in the spirit!  You here the music of Wishes and close your eyes and you can see them!  Listening to the music as it actually plays on the rides or hear the monorail loop!  I am telling you it works!

So go listen to the Magic!!  :-)  And hey...contact me - info@beourguestvacations.net - and we can plan that next trip!!!  :-)

Disney Cruise Line...out of Texas in 2012?!

Yup you are reading right!  According to the Houston Chronicle Disney will announce tomorrow, April 6th, at a press conference, that Disney Cruise Line will offer 12 seven night cruises on the Disney Magic in 2012.  The Magic will depart from Galveston, TX to the Western Caribbean with ports in Grand Cayman, Mexico's Costa Maya and Cozumel.  The first cruise is set to depart September 22, 2012.

Rumor Alert!!!

Ok take this with a HUGE Grain of Disney salt!!  There is a rumor out there that a discount will be released on Friday.  The rumor goes something like this - Walt Disney World Travel Company employees were told they would need to work overtime Friday to handle an overflow of calls.  That's it...that's all I've got.  I will let you know more when I do!  But if it is what most think it is...another chance at Free Dining...you better believe that people will be jumping all over it!  No idea what the dates will be or what to expect at all.  This is the most quiet I have ever seen it be about what a deal might be, so be here for the latest!  I will update here, facebook and twitter if and when I hear anything!  But know that you can reserve your room today and I can alter your deal.  All you have to do is put down a $200 REFUNDABLE deposit!!

Tuesday Tip - The Importance of ADRs

Hello there Disney people!

I posted recently about how to book your ADRs online and some of you may wonder why this is even something you should concern yourself with.  I will tell you why - if you don't book ADRs be prepared to not eat at any of the top restaurants or to sit and wait if that is even an option.

Recently I was talking to some friends about ADRs and how important they are.  Disney has some incredible restaurants to eat at.  Some are higher end, some are buffets, some include characters, etc.  Pretty much all of them will be impossible to get the day of if they are any good and most are!

I can't tell you how many times I have been down in Disney and heard people yelling at Cast Members (aka CMs - disney lingo!) at the reservation desks because there are no openings.  They walk up to the Crystal Palace - where you can eat with Pooh and friends - at 6pm thinking they will just get to sit down and eat.  I like to equate it to the best restaurant in NYC - would you ever think you could just walk up and sit down there?  No.  Well guess what pretty much every restaurant in Disney is this way!  Especially at peak times of year.

Does this mean that without ADRs you won't be able to sit down to eat?  No, not at all.  BUT your chances of getting to eat all the places you want go down, way down.  You can ALWAYS walk up and try, never hurts to try, right?  But be prepared to hear no and to walk away knowing that...well I told you so - LOL!  I have walked up and asked and been seated, but when that has happened I have also sat for 45 minutes waiting.  So be prepared for that as well - with little ones that are hungry this is not always a good time.

If you booked way in advance as I have this time, you get to book at 180 days out from your arrival for your whole trip.   In this case you will pretty much get your choice of where you want to eat.  If you book later and the options have become more limited book what you can and as I said above try once you get there, never hurts.  But my suggestion is to have the ADRs booked as a back up.

I will gladly help you with booking your ADRs, part of my FREE services!