Recently my family and I were fortunate to be able to spend a week in a Grand Villa at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas. This was our first experience in a Grand Villa, and it was an experience that we will not soon forget.
We arrived at the lodge around 4:00pm and found that our Grand Villa was not yet available for occupancy. This was not an issue for us since we had reservations at Boma at 5:30. Once we had been seated for dinner we were notified that our room was ready. We had a pleasant dinner and arrived at our room around 7:00.
All six Grand Villas located at Jambo House are located at the end of “trail” ours was located on the sunset savanna facing the Kidani Village construction site. Our party consisted of my brother and his family, my sister and her family, and our family of 4. The total in the Villa was 12. With 6 adults and 6 children under 12 years old, we were concerned that we were in for a chaotic week. We found these concerns to be unfounded.
You enter the villa through double doors into a large foyer. On the right is a full bath with large shower and a washer and dryer. Past the entry, you enter an expansive room consisting of a large living room and dining room that seats 12.
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To the left is a large fully equipped kitchen with bar seating, and a large pantry. This kitchen proved to work well for a large family gathering, and was large enough for two people to prepare food at the same time.
Past the kitchen and dining room is a long hall containing a guest room with 2 queen beds and a full hall bathroom. At the end of the hall is another room with another full bathroom. This room is a little larger than a Studio villa. Both of these rooms share a large 180 degree radius balcony.
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On the opposite side of the villa you will find a large billiards room. This room proved to be the most popular with the adults in the evening. After a busy day in the parks it was pleasant to unwind over a game of pool.
Directly adjoining this room is the master suite. This room contains a king size bed and is very roomy. Connected to this room with double sliding pocket doors is a large and luxurious master bathroom, with a large walk in closet. In the middle of this room is a whirlpool tub with a tile mural of an Adult Simba rising from the clouds. There is a large walk in shower with seat, as well as a separate room with a toilet. Our favorite feature of this room was the flat panel television that can be viewed directly from the bathtub.
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There is another balcony off of the master shared with the billiard room. The Grand villa contained 3 of these large balconies. We spent many morning and evening hours observing savanna wildlife from these wonderful spaces.
The general décor of the villa is heavily influenced by African art, including wire bead bowls, African rugs and tapestries. There were several details related to The Lion King, as well as hidden Mickey patterns in the carpeting.
The living room was our general gathering place in the evening and contains a large flat panel television. There is a couch the opens into a queen size bed, as well as a large sleeper chair that opens into a twin size bed. The adjoining dining area allowed for easy conversation at meal time.
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We spent an entire week in this villa and found that we were able to all coexist without any conflicts. This can be primarily attributed to the fact that this villa has several quiet areas that allow a person to withdraw from the general activity. These areas included the balconies and billiard room. All of our family members stated that this villa was by far the nicest accommodations that they had ever stayed at while visiting Walt Disney World. We would not hesitate to stay here again.
