Jambo! The newest AKL Information thread

Having a break in DHS now so thought I'd give an update. I am so disappointed in AKL. I cant believe the poor customer service we've recieved since arrival. Sad to see others had trouble with housekeeping too. We've had several issues as well as the construction hassle. The first front desk member was bordering on rude at our arrival. Other issues took several calls and visits to the front desk to be resolved. The construction was a topic in every shared elevator ride. Honestly if I knew our stay would be like this I would have switched to another resort. I wish we never booked AKL. I've had better treatment at multiple stays at POP. I hope everyone else has better luck.
 
Having a break in DHS now so thought I'd give an update. I am so disappointed in AKL. I cant believe the poor customer service we've recieved since arrival. Sad to see others had trouble with housekeeping too. We've had several issues as well as the construction hassle. The first front desk member was bordering on rude at our arrival. Other issues took several calls and visits to the front desk to be resolved. The construction was a topic in every shared elevator ride. Honestly if I knew our stay would be like this I would have switched to another resort. I wish we never booked AKL. I've had better treatment at multiple stays at POP. I hope everyone else has better luck.


So sorry to hear that AKL isn't working out well for you. We love the resort, but we did encounter some 'attitude' when dealing with the front desk on our last visit. I put it down to people having a bad day. I hope that it isn't a trend because in the past some of the sweetest CM's were found at AKL. :sad1:
 
Just received confirmation that we secured DVC for Jambo House Standard view deluxe villa for August 22 -29, 2020!
This will be my 2nd time staying here and my fiancé's first time staying on property. My son was only 3 our last trip (stayed at AKL) so this will be the first time to truly remember Disney. He says he remembers things but it could be from pictures. :confused3

I hope most of the construction at the resort will be done, but if not, I will still be in the Disney mood where nothing will make me annoyed. Now, I can't say that for my fiancé. He is not Disney crazy like me and my family. He doesn't get it and I hope traveling with me, and staying on property will change all that. :rolleyes1
 
Trying to reserve a trip including my parents and sister’s family for the week of Nov 15 2020, we will be a total of 10.

11 months window for DVC opened today and we are waitlisted.

What do you all think my chances are for a 2bedroom and a studio from waiting a few weeks to no chance at all?

I’ve never tried renting so many points before. It’s usually just shorts trips for me and my husband.
 


Trying to reserve a trip including my parents and sister’s family for the week of Nov 15 2020, we will be a total of 10.

11 months window for DVC opened today and we are waitlisted.

What do you all think my chances are for a 2bedroom and a studio from waiting a few weeks to no chance at all?

I’ve never tried renting so many points before. It’s usually just shorts trips for me and my husband.


I’m not sure why you’re waitlisted, both of those are still available at Kidani and Jambo, what am I missing?
 
Asking about refurbs again, is the zebra trail section still being worked on? are people still directed to the 5th floor and then back down to the floor that they are on? What about the Giraffe trail? Has it been started yet?? We are worried about the pool vie3w rooms that we have booked. Should we try top change resorts?

Does anyone know or have a link to a post or a site that already talks about the construction situation at AKL Jambo?
 


I’m not sure why you’re waitlisted, both of those are still available at Kidani and Jambo, what am I missing?
The agency/broker OP is using doesn’t have an owner of AKV points wanting to rent them at the moment.
Trying to reserve a trip including my parents and sister’s family for the week of Nov 15 2020, we will be a total of 10.

11 months window for DVC opened today and we are waitlisted.

What do you all think my chances are for a 2bedroom and a studio from waiting a few weeks to no chance at all?

I’ve never tried renting so many points before. It’s usually just shorts trips for me and my husband.
Here’s a link to Skier_Pete’s work on DVC villa availability, AKL Jambo is summarized in post 2 and Kidani is in post 3, to give you an idea of how fast things book up https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...-bd-charts-september-2019-2-bd-added.3689931/ . Generally, since Kidani has more villas you’ll probably have better luck getting villas there if you have to wait a bit for the points. There’s more than one broker of DVC points, you might search around to check availability elsewhere or check out the rent trade board here on DIS. https://www.disboards.com/forums/dvc-rent-trade.29/ Do be cautious, since you’ve posted you are looking for points be extra vigilant about scammers pm’ing you.
 
I’m waitlisted with David’s right now. I would like to try DVCreservations but since I need two room they couldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t book one room without the other.
 
Trying to reserve a trip including my parents and sister’s family for the week of Nov 15 2020, we will be a total of 10.

11 months window for DVC opened today and we are waitlisted.

What do you all think my chances are for a 2bedroom and a studio from waiting a few weeks to no chance at all?

I’ve never tried renting so many points before. It’s usually just shorts trips for me and my husband.
I don’t know how it will work out. However, FWIW, my understanding is that AKL 2bedrooms are not really difficult to get. Plus the studio, if not value and any view, shouldn’t be too hard either. I expect that your chances are good. You could look on the DVC rental forum here on the Dis to see if anyone has points that owns at AKL. You do need to check the renter out and be careful going that route. However, we have had good success ourselves with direct point rentals. We actually just came back from a DVC rental stay At BLT with10 people. We managed to get the two bedroom for the full time and the studio from another person with some points for half the stay. We ended up with 8 people in the 2 bedroom for the full trip and 2 people had a studio rented for 1/2 the stay and booked a resort room for the second half of the stay.

hope it works out for you.

good luck!
 
We stayed in Jambo from 12/7 to 12/11. This was our second visit to Jambo house. We booked a standard room and were given an obstructed view of the savannah on the Kudu trail. They called it obstructed but we had a great view each day. I think the obstruction was a column, but it didn't bother us.

Since we were on the Kudu trail the construction didn't affect us too much. We visited the Kidani pool twice and the Jambo pool once. While in the Jambo pool the construction was annoying and distracting. There was also a crane very close to the pool that we noticed on 12/10. I would not be happy if I had a room near that construction. That said, the Kidani pool was quiet both times we visited and I believe it's the better pool. The walk was not bad for us.

All in all we had a good time. This was a split stay with Port Orleans Riverside (12/11 to 12/15). The kids (3 and 6) keep saying Jambo was the better hotel.

Just wanted to share our experience, but of course YMMV. :)
 
Newbie here who’s planned four trips to Disney this year based on advice from Disboards! Based on the construction info here, I was a bit worried booking AKL for one night prior to a stay at WL, but it was the best option available. I stayed this past Saturday evening.

Like many others, my room was beyond the construction zone and I had to navigate up and back down — but thanks to reading here, I was prepared for that. What truly baffled me was my conversation with staff after submitting feedback, and I’m wondering if this is common: I booked a standard King but at check-in was put in a Savannah Queen, allllllll the way at the end of Zebra Trail. I didn’t fuss about it, yet the front desk agent was cold and bordering on rude, repeating over and over this was an upgrade. Ok? No problem, I’ll take it. But after dragging my suitcase up and down what felt like a mile and arriving in an admittedly very beautifully refurbished room, I had my doubts it was a Savannah view. Later on, I submitted feedback through an emailed link and got the confusing call within a few minutes. Great response time! But, the gentleman on the phone proceeded to tell me there was no way I booked a King, it is simply not a bookable category...

But it totally is! Now, I have to say, I loved this hotel! I was wrong about the Savannah view, and in the morning when the zebras and giraffes lined up waiting to be let through a fence, my heart melted. Giraffes are awesome. So, despite not being totally tickled by my experience, I booked a bounce back for next December... in a Savannah King. I made the agent on the phone promise it is a real category, and of course, I can SEE that it is on their very own website.

I really like King beds! I am writing this from my (nonbookable) King bed at WL. What is the deal here? How is it possible hotel staff is not aware of what’s selling on the official website? Just a rant but also wondering if anyone else has experienced this. I kind of want to send screenshots of their website to the GM address — honestly to be helpful but it also feels a little petty.
 
I got my Jambo rooms for Nov 2020, let the family vacation planning commence!

Oof this this is gonna be a bit more than I’m used to. It’s usually just me and my husband and now there will be 10 of us ranging from ages 4-64. My parents haven’t been in at least 20 years and will be my sister’s first time taking her family of three little ones.

A bit off topic but what would you suggest I do in regards to MDE? Should I make a new account for the rest of the fam or add them to mine? I have a trip coming up next month so am a bit weary of adding 7 more people to my account before hand.
 
I got my Jambo rooms for Nov 2020, let the family vacation planning commence!

Oof this this is gonna be a bit more than I’m used to. It’s usually just me and my husband and now there will be 10 of us ranging from ages 4-64. My parents haven’t been in at least 20 years and will be my sister’s first time taking her family of three little ones.

A bit off topic but what would you suggest I do in regards to MDE? Should I make a new account for the rest of the fam or add them to mine? I have a trip coming up next month so am a bit weary of adding 7 more people to my account before hand.

Congratulations on getting your rooms in Jambo for everyone!

We just returned from 10 of us with the same age range. WE had three different MDE accounts set up (one for each nuclear family). that way when in WDW WE could all three refresh to find extra FP+ after our initial three were all used. We linked the three accounts as friends and family, so I could do all the bookings myself. I Suggest that you get at least two others to set up accounts. That way you will have others able to help deal with bookings/planning as they will be used to the website.

It was a great experience going with a large group! So fun to have the entire family together! Enjoy the planning!
 
Newbie here who’s planned four trips to Disney this year based on advice from Disboards! Based on the construction info here, I was a bit worried booking AKL for one night prior to a stay at WL, but it was the best option available. I stayed this past Saturday evening.

Like many others, my room was beyond the construction zone and I had to navigate up and back down — but thanks to reading here, I was prepared for that. What truly baffled me was my conversation with staff after submitting feedback, and I’m wondering if this is common: I booked a standard King but at check-in was put in a Savannah Queen, allllllll the way at the end of Zebra Trail. I didn’t fuss about it, yet the front desk agent was cold and bordering on rude, repeating over and over this was an upgrade. Ok? No problem, I’ll take it. But after dragging my suitcase up and down what felt like a mile and arriving in an admittedly very beautifully refurbished room, I had my doubts it was a Savannah view. Later on, I submitted feedback through an emailed link and got the confusing call within a few minutes. Great response time! But, the gentleman on the phone proceeded to tell me there was no way I booked a King, it is simply not a bookable category...

But it totally is! Now, I have to say, I loved this hotel! I was wrong about the Savannah view, and in the morning when the zebras and giraffes lined up waiting to be let through a fence, my heart melted. Giraffes are awesome. So, despite not being totally tickled by my experience, I booked a bounce back for next December... in a Savannah King. I made the agent on the phone promise it is a real category, and of course, I can SEE that it is on their very own website.

I really like King beds! I am writing this from my (nonbookable) King bed at WL. What is the deal here? How is it possible hotel staff is not aware of what’s selling on the official website? Just a rant but also wondering if anyone else has experienced this. I kind of want to send screenshots of their website to the GM address — honestly to be helpful but it also feels a little petty.

Wow! Another account of angry CM"S at the front desk! What is going on at AKL? Perhaps construction complaints have them on edge?
 
Wow! Another account of angry CM"S at the front desk! What is going on at AKL? Perhaps construction complaints have them on edge?
I think you might be right. We were there the last week in Oct. and had no problem with the desk staff though I noticed there were only 2 working. We asked to have our room cooler, he was very nice and took care of it right away. Also noticed that bell services were short handed as well. We dragged our suitcase to the end of Kudu because no one was available to take our luggage from the car.
 
To add my threepenn’orth...

DW and I are just back from AKL/Jambo (11/27 - 12/13). As DW has a back injury that severely restricts her ability to walk distances or stand for long periods, when we booked - 11 months ago, as soon as our dates opened - I requested a disability-friendly room close to the lobby, but when we checked in we were given 4566, which is as far away from the lobby along Zebra Trail as you can get and still be in the building. It felt late (we flew in from the UK and didn’t land until 4.00pm, and we had been awake for almost 24 hours by this time) so we reluctantly took the room as we desperately wanted to ’crash out’ and get some sleep.

After negotiating the up-to-5, over then down-to-4 bit due to the ongoing refurbishment on parts of the 3rd and 4th floors on Zebra trail, we finally got there albeit DW now in considerable discomfort not to say pain due to the long trek. Refurbished room - massive TV etc - but the new beds are so high that DW (5ft 2in) wanted a footstool to get into bed, and she was also unhappy with the lack of a handrail in the shower-over-tub arrangement. (Another odd thing about the bathroom - apologies if unseemly! As Brits we usually find toilets in the USA very low compared to in the UK - the ‘knees up round your ears’ syndrome) but the one here was very high and actually uncomfortable to sit on...)

I slogged it back down to the lobby to ask if they could provide a step of some sort and the chap behind the desk could not have been more helpful - he was very apologetic that we had been put so far from the lobby but spoke to Central Reservations while I stood there and was then able to offer a move albeit only on the next day to room 3501, just under half the distance from the lobby; also a refurbished room and one designated as ‘disability accessible’ so with handrails in the bath/shower, lower beds and a space sufficient to park the ECV that we were due to collect from a local agency (K&M Rentals, on the 192 near the I-4 junction, who we have used several times before) the next morning.

i agree Housekeeping seems a trifle lackadaisical, as our room wasn’t serviced on a couple of days and I had to phone down one late afternoon after being out all day to get the coffee and ‘milk’ replenished. And although 3501 has been refurbished, the mattresses are far from new as they both ‘peak’ in the centre with a tendency to tip you out of bed if - like us - you are edge-sleepers. (Re the best route round the construction zone, we found it was easier from the lobby to go down to 1, outside along past the restaurants and pool, back in via the next entrance and up to 3 - 3501 is the first room on the corridor by the lifts and going past The Mara reminded us to refill our everlasting mugs... :)

This was our first time staying ’on property’ and our first time on the DDP (we usually rent a villa) and I doubt we’ll do this again if only due to the cost. Although the DDP gave us the opportunity to do some meals that we would never have done if paying OOP (Cinderella’s Royal Table, unexpectedly affecting for me with good food and added princesses), breakfast at Akershus (terrific food, and more princesses!), the ‘Spirit of Aloha’ dinner show at the Polynesian (not worth it IMO - cast seemed very much to be just going through the motions except for the fire-eater), the ‘Hoop-de-Doo Musical Revue’ at Fort Wilderness (seriously good fun and good food, and well worth while), character breakfast at The Crystal Palace (good food, and Pooh, Tigger and friends!). FWIW Boma remains our favourite breakfast spot.

I’m already in the earliest stages of planning our next trip, hopefully 3 / 3 1/2 weeks in December 2021 to coincide with the WDW 50th anniversary celebrations and also include both Universal and Seaworld (we haven’t been to either in 20 years). That will definitely be in a villa, though; we prefer the privacy and the space. Oh, and a hint re disabled driver tags; DW has a UK ‘blue badge’ and these are often accepted in the parks at staff discretion but not outside the parks, but if you contact the Orange County tax office you can get a temporary Florida tag mailed to you before your trip, including to the UK, whereas Osceola County requires that you visit one of their tax offices in person.

i seem to be rambling... :) :) :)
 
Saw something on FB that those staying in February are getting emails from AKL about exterior painting? We'll be checking out on the 4th but had not received anything
 
Re painting, a couple of crews had just started work on the external walkway by the pool and The Mara a few days before we came home. Didn’t cause any issues other than the walkway got a little congested at times. It will certainly take quite a while if they’re doing the entire exterior of the building!
 

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