Just got back from a 7 night/8 day stay at Jambo (standard room) a few days ago. This was my second time staying there, the first being a Savannah room in 2017.
Even though I booked a standard room, I was placed in a a pool view room located in Zebra Trail. The room was one of the older, none refurbished rooms, but I enjoyed it and everything was clean. The room did have a bunk bed which I wasn't expecting, but means there was only 2 of us it didn't really bother us. Also, the room had the loose bottles of soaps. I was surprised as I thought all resorts switched to the permanent bottles mounted on the shower walls.
I ate at the Mara several times for breakfast and lunch, and Boma once for dinner. I enjoyed both.
The pool was nice and large and never got to crowded. The zero entry was a cool touch. Its a little strange that the seating areas located around the pool aren't combined. In order to get from one seating area to another you either have to swim, or exit the pool's gated area, walk around the perimeter of the pool outside the fence, and then enter the pool area through another gated entrance. Not really a complaint, just strange.
Now for transportation. I know this is a big topic of conversation when it comes to AKL as its the only deluxe that only has bus as transportation. For AK, HS and Epcot the bus was great. Busses came at least once every 20 mins, most of the time even more frequently. As for Magic Kingdom, the busses were terrible! I know that is the furthest park, but on 4 separate occasions I waited over 35 min (with one time being over 50 min). I always kept a look at the TVs at the bus stop showing the wait times for the next bus, and the MK bus time would always get delayed and pushed back further and further (even on days i didn't go to MK). Could have just been bad luck this trip, as I don't remember any issues last trip.
One major issue I did have with the busses is the bus stops at AKL. There are just benches and then areas where you can stand and wait. I'm pretty sure its like this at all deluxes, and possibly moderates. At the value resorts they have chains up that form a line, similar to how they have the ropes up to form lines at the bus stops at the parks. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people standing and sitting around waiting for a bus for 15+ min, then people come strolling down to the bus stop 2 min before a bus comes and jump right to the front where the bus stops in order to get on the bus first. This leaves others who were standing around waiting for 15+ min without a seat on the bus and forced to stand. I think they really need to implement ropes or chains to form a line to keep things fair. Keep the benches for anyone who wants to sit and wait, but in doing so you risk the chance of getting a sit on the bus (similar to how it is at the value resorts)
Another minor complaint is that the bus is shared with Kidani Village. The bus always picked up/dropped off Kidani Village first. It seemed ind of backwards because you have the pass Jambo to get to Kidani, so idk why they would pickup/drop them off first. Perhaps it's because it's a DVC, so it's an added perk? But because of this, the busses were routinely 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full when it got to Jambo. Plus, i'm sure there were instances were the buses filled up fully at Kidani and never even showed up to Jambo (maybe why some of the MK buses took so long?). Maybe switch it up where every other bus alternates between which resort it visits first? and i think that should be the case for all resorts that share busses.
One final complaint about the bus system is the wheelchairs/scooters. I don't have a problem with them gettin on first. However, I do take issue with the fact that their entire family gets to board the bus first with them why should they get priority seating because their family member is handicapped? far too often would i see families of 5+ get to all board first because of this (and one time a family of at least 12). Another issue is when the people enter the bus on a
scooter, but then get up and sit in a regular seat once their scooter's all strapped in. So 3 seats are being taken up because of the scooter, a 4th seat is being taken up because instead of staying seated in the scooter, the person decided to get out of the scooter and sit in a normal seat and then multiple other seats are being taken up because of the family who is with the scooter bound person.
Overall, the resort is nice and lovely. Very clean, and very friendly staff. I would definitely stay here again, but probably not on any of my next few trips.