Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Orlando

This is my very first hotel review; let me know if it’s to long?

Disney's AKLodge is surrounded by a man made safari, with live free roaming wildlife.

I arrived late at night; the outside was very dark; intentionally done for the animal’s sake which is a good idea. The lobby is very rustic with an African Theme; dark polished wood floors, like walking on black glass. The back of the lobby has an impressive floor to ceiling window stretching about 5 stories. The valley of the lobby has tons of art work and furniture, like an African inspired furniture gallery.

The service at check-in was quick. The front desk agent advised us we had been upgraded from standard view to a savannah view (Awesome), But there is no difference between the two rooms.

The lobby is located on the 3rd floor and theres very few elevators in the lodge makes getting around a little hard. If you want to save time you should use the stairs opposed to hunting down an elevator. Be sure you bring hiking boots if you get any room to far from the lobby.

The rooms are small and dark even with all the lights on. Over-sized furniture in the room makes it seem even smaller. Hoping to see some wildlife, I wasn’t too impressed with a view of a 6ft bamboo round up fence / animal pen outside my balcony. The animals don’t exactly want to hang out by the hotel for your viewing pleasure, so they hide out far away from the Lodge for more privacy. FYI the balconies are monitored by surveillance cameras, I think that’s for the animals safety, so remember to close your curtains before you shower and dress or like me you will be giving security and your neighbor's a XXX show. There’s no mini bar, no robes, and no welcome package. The bedding wasn’t plush, the beds were kinda hard; the bathroom was small and dark, The only station you will be watching is the Disney channel and all the Disney Resort Vacation Club Channels. After 12 midnight there is no room service, also the front desk agents seem reluctant to give out dining alternatives, if you order food delivery you will have to go wait outside in the front parking lot to pick up the your ordered food.

The Lodge has 3 themed restaurants, Boma is the African influenced buffet style restaurant. The wait time is very long even with reservations. The food at the buffet all tasted kinda bland, and a lot of it had a SWEET flavor. I can eat anything when I’m hungry, but I’m not a big fan on sweet flavored foods, I like spicy, salty, savory foods. Oh yeah and restaurant staff is very slow and they seem unhappy.

Mara is an African style market / cafeteria. Its pretty chaotic, there’s no direction as to how to serve yourself. Not much of a food selection either, You can get better food at McDonalds for less money and more organization.

The spa/gym is like a ghost town, you will need to be given a special locker card to lock and pull the key from the lockers(no one tells you this). The steam room smelt of mildew and the sauna was cold. Actually the sauna didn’t work at all, even after I turned it on and waited for awhile, no heat ever generated. The gym is small, nothing special. The pool area is pretty standard for resorts, nothing memorable about that either.

The gift shop prices are off the charts. Oh and If you’re a smoker, prepare to walk at least 4 miles to find the only two designated smoking areas on the property. This lodge isn’t a place I would enjoy relaxing in, its closet like rooms and its long complicated obstacle course of stairs and hallways, makes this place exhausting to hike through. Maybe if you book their concierge club level suite you would have a Deluxe 5 star stay with better service.

On a positive note, during the day plenty of wonderful animals can be seen, plenty of detail throughout the lodge, in all areas especially the lobby its pretty impressive, the shuttle service offered by the Lodge is fast and convenient which is a great time saver, oh and the gift shop staff is very friendly and always willing to help with a smile, but that’s about all that this place has going for it, There building the new Animal Kingdom Villas, maybe it will be better.

Traveling to real places is great, but sometimes staying at a themed resort is better. This is the case with the Animal Kingdom Lodge, Disney's version of an African safari lodge. Staying in a safari lodge in Africa may seem like the real thing, but it's set up for tourists and is an exclusively tourist experience. The safari lodge is really just a fantasy, and that is why it is best done where fantasy is done best: Disney.

I have stayed at most of the Disney World hotels, and though many are really great, the Animal Kingdom Lodge is, in my opinion, the best. It's the newest Disney hotel in Walt Disney World and was designed by the same architect as the Wilderness Lodge (the Second best Disney hotel in my opinion), Peter Dominick, so it shares this resort's perfect theming and grandeur. The Animal Kingdom Lodge has a feature that sets it apart from all of the other beautifully themed Disney hotels, and that is that you can see African animals right from your window.

The Animal Kingdom Lodge is spectacular. It has a beautiful lobby that is always full of activity. In true Disney fashion, every small detail of the resort makes you feel as if you are immersed in Africa (the fantasized version, of course.) They have, though, used real African pieces and designs to create a wonderfully African experience. Be sure to ask the friendly and professional staff that are all from different places in Africa to tell you about anything you see or to teach you phrases from their native language.

Another one of the best things about this hotel is the restaurants, which are (again in my opinion) the best in Disney World. Jiko is very upscale, and serves as a great introduction to African food. Boma is buffet-style dining with almost equal quality food. It's designed to feel like an African marketplace. People love to get the Zebra Domes chocolate dessert they have here. There's also a counter service restaurant that is a standard in all Disney resorts called Mara which provides quicker food.

The rooms, though, are the main feature of this resort. Although you can view animals from many places in the hotel, the magic comes from seeing them outside your window. There are giraffes, zebras, flamingos, and many other exotic animals in the three savannas. The key thing to know about this resort is the importance of getting a savanna-view room. The best rooms are the ones that face the middle savanna, Arusha, and are in the middle of the wings, called "trails", and are on middle floors.

The one downside to the rooms is that the bed mattress and the bathroom layout are the same ones used in all the Disney resorts, from the cheapest to the most expensive. For the cost of this resort, I feel they should be very different, but these details won't hurt the overall experience of staying here.

The resort has two main drawbacks that are important, though. The first is that it is far away from all of the Disney parks except Animal Kingdom and Blizzard Beach. The reason for its remote location is for the animals' comfort, but the thirty minutes it takes to reach most of Disney World can be a little obnoxious. The other major drawback is the cost. But it definitely delivers if you can afford it.

If you do stay at this resort, be sure to reserve an extra day in your travel plans just to spend at the resort and experience all it has to offer. There are tours, kids' activities, crafts in the gift shop, a large themed pool, and just so much to see and explore. If you are seeking the Out of Africa fantasy, don't go to Africa. Just go to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Hey! Disney is like a speciality of our family, so any advice I can offer, I definitely will! Both places are really nice to stay. I guess it's going to mostly depend on which parks you plan on spending the most time in, or where you'd like to be centrally located. The Magic Kingdom itself is slightly separated from everything else, so unless you want to take additional transportation to other things to do, I might suggest the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The Animal Kingdom park is closer to Epcot and MGM, as well as Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island, so it's quicker and easier to get to everything else you might want to do. I'm headed there myself at the end of August, I can't wait!! If you have any other questions, let me know! :)