Animal Kingdom

[Taylorfamily4]

Staying at AK lodge in Nov. any tips or suggestions about the resort (Where to eat/activivities) would be appreciated

 

[chalee94]

I am doing that also. Jambo House is pretty dead - no idea when those restaurants will reopen. Sanaa at Kidani is open and maybe the pool bars but resort dining is extremely limited for now.

Sherberth Rd quickly connects you to 192 with a lot of chain options for dining, if that is what you'd like.

Disney Springs is a bus ride away with a lot of options there, from the inexpensive Earl of Sandwich to nicer options like Jaleo and Wine Bar George.

If you are looking offsite, there are several options at Celebration (Columbia and Celebration Town Tavern are recommended in the central area of Celebration - Charley's Steakhouse also reopened recently.)

But a lot of the typical fun vibe at AKL has been squelched by the COVID pandemic - not a lot of activities and Boma and Jiko are two of my favorite restaurants at WDW...At least the animals should still be on the savanna...

 

[disneysteve]

Staying at AK lodge in Nov. any tips or suggestions about the resort

You might want to post this in the Disney hotel forum. This is the offsite forum.

Or maybe the moderator can move it.

 

[Frederic Civish]

I definitely recommend you stay at Kidani, if you can. Jambo House is very disappointing and inconvenient without ANY restaurants open, and with the Gift Shop/General Store even being closed. We just got back from a stay at Kidani, and I went to Jambo while I was there, and was VERY glad that we weren't staying at Jambo. Even though we have stayed at Jambo multiple times and it is still my favorite, right up there with Kidani.

If I were staying at Jambo right now, that would be okay, BUT, plan to order food from Door Dash a lot. There is some quite good food available for delivery, just look, AND IT COSTS LESS THAN DISNEY. Also, if you are in a 1 bedroom or 2 bedroom then you will have a full kitchen. Order breakfast cereals, frozen waffles, breakfast sandwhiches, some TV Dinners and other things, and use them. We normally eat in the parks a lot, and at Sanaa, Boma and Jiko, but we got tired of Sanaa after our 3rd trip to AKV this year, and with it being the only 'in house' option. So we made great use of our kitchens and ordering Door Dash.

As for what else to plan? The buses do pretty good, though you might have to wait for the next bus sometimes, since they only are putting about 15 people per bus. If you stay at Kidani, this might not be too bad, but Jambo loads AFTER the bus has already been to Kidani, and I think they often have to wait multiple buses, for now.

If you plan to go to Hollywood Studios for Rise of the Resistance, then I STRONGLY recommend you be OUT AT THE BUS STOP, AT KIDANI. by 1 1/2 hours before the park opens, or YOU WILL NOT GET THERE IN TIME TO GET RoR. If you are at Jambo, then leave 15 minutes earlier than that, and take the shuttle to Kidani, so you can get on a bus, because they will be full. ANOTHER GOOD OPTION is to call UBER or Lyft, but you need to do this by 1 hour and 15 minutes before the park opens, or you probably won't even make it with this, though one of our party used UBER and barely made it, when they only were at the bus stop 50 minutes before opening, and could see the writing on the wall. Another group in our party called and Uber with 1 hour and 10 minutes before park opened and still didn't make it in time for Rise of the Resistance. Uber/Lyft typically cost $10 or $11 to HS or Uber XL costs $14 or $15.

You also should be prepared to call Uber if you are going to Disney Springs, especially at night, and especially on Weekend nights. The bus line is sometimes "3 or 4 buses deep" on Friday and Saturday nights to Disney Springs.

Make sure to make any meal reservations that you can, RIGHT NOW. There will be VERY limited reservations once you arrive. With so many restaurants not being open, and with increased spacing inside the restaurants, most restaurants in Disney World are booked solid. Sanaa at Kidani is pretty booked in the evenings, though they are open for breakfast (I hate Disney breakfasts) and often for Lunch. You CAN use the Disney Experience app in the mornings, and sometimes in the afternoons to PRE-ORDER food for Pickup at Sanaa at particular times in the evening.