It’s time for a deluxe resort review: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge! My mom recently flew down from Massachusetts for a weekend (yay!) and my dad spoiled us with a savanna view room at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge (double yay!) Here are all of my thoughts and everything I experienced throughout the weekend.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of Disney’s deluxe resort options, meaning it is one of their most expensive resorts. Although it’s expensive, it does come with a lot of perks, including free transportation to and from the parks and Disney Springs, and bus pick-up and drop-off locations being closer. 

Deluxe resort guests also have the opportunity to attend a park’s extended evening hours on select nights. Extended evening hours are only available to deluxe resort guests, where they can enjoy two extra hours in select parks on select nights. Lines are shorter and there are smaller crowds! What can get better than that? You can view these dates on the MyDisneyExperience app.

The Room:

Within this resort, there are two buildings guests can be placed in: Jambo House, which is the main building, and Kidani Village. And there are three room tiers guests can choose from for their stay: rooms and suites, deluxe studios, and villas, each with the option to be with or without club-level service.

We stayed in one of their standard rooms with a savanna view. A SAVANNA VIEW! Yes, that means we woke up and fell asleep to animals right outside our room. My mom and I would go out on the balcony constantly to see what animals were out there, and it would be different every time! There were a lot of zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, crowned cranes and more. It was one of the coolest rooms I’ve ever stayed in and made me want to stay forever.

The room itself was a standard Disney resort room. There were two queen-sized beds, a bathroom, a beverage cooler, a coffee and tea station, and spacious drawers and closets. And my favorite part was, of course, the balcony, because of the view of the animals.

The Resort:

The dining options at this resort are delicious, and we dined at two of them during this stay: The Mara and Sanaa. If you’ve read my “Five Underrated Dining Locations at Walt Disney World” article, you’d know that The Mara is one of my favorites. This spot is located at Jambo House and serves African-inspired dishes for adventurous eaters, but also the typical Disney chicken tenders and flatbreads for the pickier eaters.

Sanaa is located at Kidani Village and serves great African cuisine with Indian flavors, and has a view of a savanna guests can watch while they eat. The great part about this resort is the internal resort shuttle. This shuttle runs between Jambo House and Kidani Village for easy transportation. Sanaa was a great restaurant and had a great atmosphere, but for me, it was a one-and-done.

Other dining locations at this resort include Jiko – The Cooking Place and Boma – Flavors of Africa. Jiko is a fine-dining restaurant that serves traditional African, Indian and Mediterranean cuisine. My favorite dish here is the strip steak. Boma is a buffet-style dining experience that features flavors from over 50 African countries. I’ve never dined here, but I’ve heard great things about this location.

Many deluxe resorts have more than one mode of transportation to the parks and to Disney Springs, whether that be a monorail or a boat. But Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge only has one mode of transportation: the Disney buses. They come more often because of this, but having only one mode of transportation as a deluxe resort is a downside for me.

If you’re a big fan of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, I would highly recommend staying here! The bus ride to the park is actually less than five minutes, and guests can see animals in their savannas even if they’re not staying in a savanna view room.

Overall, I really enjoyed this resort and I honestly wanted to spend more time watching the animals from my balcony than going to the parks. I’ve stayed at other deluxe resorts (reviews coming soon), and this resort wasn’t my favorite, but it was still a great stay!

As for every Walt Disney World resort hotel, check-in time is at 3 p.m. on the day you arrive and check-out time is at 11 a.m. on the day you depart. There is a possibility of your room being ready prior to check-in, and you may request a late check-out, but there is no guarantee for either to happen.

If you have any other questions regarding this resort or have a suggestion on what resort hotel I should review next, let me know by messaging @HappilyyEverAshley on Instagram or TikTok.