Animal Kingdom Lodge – the place

One of the highlights of our visit to the Animal Kingdom was to be a sunset safari, followed by dinner at Jiko, a 5 star restaurant at the Lodge. Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding, we missed the safari, as we were directed to the wrong place by well meaning cast members.  Instead of leaving from the Kingdom itself the safari departed at 4 PM from the Lodge and we missed it! But we were able to negotiate attending the dinner, however, and Marlene’s birthday celebration was not altogether spoiled.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is an African lodge-style resort amidst a 33-acre wildlife preserve. Standing over 6 stories tall, it includes 762 rooms, authentic African-inspired architecture and the kraal African-village landscape design—a semi-circle design popular in Africa which offers expansive views of the surrounding savanna and its many animal inhabitants.

Checking in…

Immediately after checking in, we made our way to Jiko fro our supper. The bar, also used as a waiting area for your table, was lavishly decorated for the holidays.

Jiko means ‘The Cooking Place’, and the menu is a fusion of the bold flavors of traditional African, Indian and Mediterranean cuisine. The decor is reflective of African motifs cleverly brought into the 21st Century. The dining room is all earth tones, with wooden tables and chairs, and white bird sculptures hang from light fixtures on the dark-blue ceiling. The lighting is subtle and warm and surprisingly changes from pinkish to gold over the span of the dinner.

The wine ‘tree’…

Verona, one of the Jiko hostesses, is from Windhoek, Namibia.

We asked to be seated separately from the safari group, as, after all, we had not been part of the safari. This was the menu!

Even before the breads and dippers, we were served pumpkin soup – decorated with Mickey Mouse ears, of course! The following images are self-explanatory.

We counted 13 different dishes over the course of the meal, every one to die for!!!! And we managed to get through them all. We were also served 3 wines to accompany the meal… All South African. The restaurant has an extensive wine menu and we were certainly not disappointed with the choices offered with the meal. A white to go with the appetizers and first course, a hearty Cabernet/Pinotage  with the mains, and a Dessert wine to finish.

It’s a good thing we had been plied with wine, for when the bill was presented, we almost fell over – over $350 for the two of us! Seeing that we had not participated in the safari, we thought that they had overcharged the dinner, but were surprised to find out that the dinner indeed is the largest expense, and the safari is basically free! Nevertheless, we were given a generous discount on the meal for the inconvenience of having missed the safari on Marlene’s birthday, plus they offered to let us go on the next day’s safari at no charge to us! So all’s well that ends well!

Now happy as clams and even though we were full to bursting, neither one of us could resist spending time in the generous lobby area photographing the decorations. Thatched ceilings, large beams, a woven ceiling, hand-carved golden-tone furnishings, real African artifacts and a vast mud fireplace in the main lobby surround you in the inimitable spirit of Africa. And of course, there is a huge Christmas tree for ’tis the season!

The lodge is a veritable museum of authentic African artifacts, and in fact, Disney has the largest private collection of African Art in the world here. But more about those later…

The corridors and even the elevators are decorated African style.

Our room was spacious and resembled those that I have experienced at safari lodges in the real Africa… except for the towels arranged into Mickey Mouse ears, you’d think you were in Africa!

African art decorates the walls…

The morning of the 17th, our last full day at WDW, dawned cloudy, but warm. What better, than to sit on the balcony overlooking the savanna, drinking our Kenyan coffee!

The lay out of the Lodge is U shaped surrounding the savanna. Savanna view rooms are favoured because you never know what you might see!  In this case, staff pooper scooping!

But we’ll come back to the animals in a following post. This is, after all, about the lodge itself.

More images of the lobby…

Even the Christmas decorations have an African theme.

Rocking chairs provide comfort to those wanting to linger at the viewing station overlooking the savanna.

The Victoria Falls Lounge and the Boma Restaurant are on the lower level.

There is so much to see and do around the Lodge, that Marlene and I decided not to visit any of the parks while we stayed here. So off we went to visit Kidani Village, a stone’s throw from Animal Kingdom Lodge to see what it had to offer in the way of sights.

Kidani Village is an African lodge-style resort comprised of 492 rooms boasting spacious accommodations that include kitchenettes/kitchens and multi-bedroom units.

The lobby and the villas of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village extend out and take the curlicue shape of buffalo horns. This string of buildings can also be viewed as a piece of native African jewelry, a “necklace” with villas forming the beads, garden-like walkways creating the “knots” in between, and the main lobby building as the ornament or jewel at its center.

Just behind the lobby there is a walkway to an open firepit around which the savanna spreads. We were lucky to see giraffes and Sable Antelope while visiting Kidani.

Giraffes must get into this ungainly position if they want to pick something off the ground or drink at a waterhole.  In the wild, this puts them at a great disadvantage from predators.

I love the way giraffes look when viewed head on.

Roan Antelope.

Sanaa Restaurant serves African cuisine with Indian flavors for lunch and dinner at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas — Kidani Village.

Decoration on the front counter of the Sanaa Restaurant.

And just like at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, even the elevator doors have engravings of African scenes.

And can you believe this bathroom just off the lobby?

This post gives you all a fair overview the the Lodge and Kidani Village. Next post will be the Art Collection of Africa featured at the Animal Kingdom Lodges.

Stay tuned and let me know what you think of these images!