Welcome Back & Chat

Tyler

Welcome to the Disneyville podcast, episode 59.

Jessica

Where we talk about Disney magic, Disney cruises. Nope.

unknown

Oh man.

Jessica

Guys, should I just stop?

Tyler

We talk about Disney and Disney and Disney and Disney parks and Disney and Disneyland and Disney World and Disney movies and Disney World and Disney.

Jessica

The reason we do it is we were told that it can help when you say early on, like some of the things that your uh podcast or video, whatever, is about, that it can help with like the way they do AI indexing and coding. I don't know, I'm making all this up, but you know what I mean, with SEO for people finding what your video is. And so that's why we were like, well, let's say it early on. And so like some some key words. I don't think I've gotten it right ever.

Tyler

And so I think you get it right more often than not.

Jessica

You think so? Yeah, I think so. I think I get in my head about it.

Tyler

Well, it's funny because like I've every once in a while I'll do like a Google search of like Disney podcasts, and there's all these lists out there, and we're not on any of them.

Jessica

Any of them like, what are we doing wrong? Well, we know enough of you guys listen, so it's like, what are we doing? What did we did?

Tyler

We not we're not doing something right. I don't know. I don't know. We're doing something wrong, and I don't know what it is. Anyway, for those of you who have found us, welcome. Thank you for being here on this episode of Disneyville. We just got back from Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Orlando Orlando. Um, so we stayed at I okay. I always say Grand Floridian is my favorite.

Jessica

You do, yeah.

Tyler

And I do think it is, especially with some of the updates they just did. We actually walked over there. We'll talk about that later.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

Tyler

But uh we stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge. And it might be my second favorite. I I I I go back and forth all the time, but after staying there this time, I'm like, you know what? It's just so unique, it's so different from anything else. I mean, oh my gosh. So that's what today's episode is about is Animal Kingdom Lodge. And I am pumped to talk about it after coming home from it.

Jessica

I know. We have a lot to say. Um, we're pretty sure, by the way, that the next episode we're gonna do like a news roundup, and that is where we'll talk about the new changes with Grand Floridian we saw, uh, the new restaurant at the Polynesian that we ate at, and then other just news we've heard of or seen or experienced that we want to talk about. Just like a big news update show.

Tyler

News Roundup.

Jessica

New Bob's burgers.

Tyler

Anyway, I was doing Woody's Roundup. You were doing we're all over the map today. Are we okay?

Jessica

We are all right. I think we're excited to be back to chat with you guys.

Tyler

We've been gone.

Jessica

Yeah. Okay, we're gonna go through this as a true um kind of deep dive overview of the resort. So we're gonna just talk through everything. If you've stayed there, you've never stayed there, you've been thinking about it, but you're not sure. This episode should be either really entertaining or really helpful for you, I hope.

Tyler

And if you just found this one and you're just looking, okay, we're thinking about staying there, you're trying to figure this out. This is a great, hopefully, overview of like, okay, these are the things I'm looking for. This is gonna be a good thing.

Jessica

We've got video of everything we're talking about, so you get to see all that too if you're watching the video version.

Tyler

Exactly. So if you if you want to find that b-roll, you'll see that on YouTube. Um, we have several of these, by the way. We have one on Old Key West, we have what have one on Pop Century, we have the Cabin slash Fort Wilderness. Um, we even have some of the cruise ships, Disney Treasure, Disney Wish. We've actually now stayed at every single Disney Resort Hotel. But since we started the podcast, we're now doing these episodes. And as we do these episodes, we're also doing blog posts as well. So I think after this one, I think we're gonna have enough that we're gonna do a playlist on our YouTube channel of all the resort overviews. And then we're also going to on our Disneyville.com website have a separate page of like resort overviews as well. So from now on, you know, we'll just keep adding to that. All the stuff we're talking about here, we're gonna lay out there on that blog post as well. So if you don't want to come back and try and scrub through this video to try and find what we're talking about, all this information is gonna be on that blog post as well. So hop over to disneyville.com and you can see that there as well.

Jessica

Yeah. A lot of what we're gonna share today are things that I I wish I had known before we stayed there. And keep in mind, this is the second time we've stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The first time is like 10, 11, 12 years ago. Okay, oh my gosh.

Tyler

I think.

Jessica

So 14 years ago. Oh my gosh. There are some things we learned on this trip staying there that we didn't learn until too late. And we'll get into that, or just things that if we had known earlier on, we would have taken advantage of certain things earlier on. So we're gonna kind of get into that as we go through. So things we wish we knew before we stay to Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Tyler

Yeah, and again, we've stayed there before, we've been doing this a long time. We've gone over there so many times, but it's still there's just so much.

Jessica

There's just so much. So, okay, let's dive

Why Stay At Animal Kingdom Lodge

Jessica

in. So, Animal Kingdom Lodge is a deluxe hotel category. I will say this though in the realm of pricing of deluxe resorts, oftentimes it's not nearly as expensive, and it's not always true, but oftentimes it's not nearly as expensive, even for a Savannah View room as the Grand Floridian, contemporary Polynesian, which is kind of crazy because you're getting this wild experience, literally um, with animals that you're obviously not getting at any of the other hotels. So it's such a unique experience, but oftentimes it's deluxe still, but it's cheaper. Right. And we'll get into some of the cons too. I see.

Tyler

I think that yeah, I for me, I think the biggest reason behind that is the transportation. I mean, it's located pretty far away. It's close to Animal Kingdom, like so it's pretty far from Magic Kingdom, it's pretty far. There's no uh monorail, there's no boats, there's no uh Skyliner. The only way you're getting around is buses. So I think that's a big detractor for a lot of people. So that's kind of my one thought as to why it's pretty consistently less expensive.

Jessica

And it's often available. You know what I'm saying? We move, as many of you guys know, we've moved this trip around like three times, I think, at this point. And we weren't originally gonna stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but it was available, it was at a really good rate. Yeah, and so that's why we jumped on it. But my point being, even if it's kind of last minute, you might be able to find a room there.

Resort Layout Savannas And Views

Tyler

So, just a very quick overview. Animal Kingdom Lodge is a pretty massive hotel, and there's two parts to it there's Jumbo House and there's Kidani Village. So we're gonna kind of talk about both, and anybody can stay in either one. You can book a room in Jumbo House or you can book in Kidani Village, but Kidani Village is a DVC resort. So if you are a DVC member and you own there, you can stay there on your points, whatever. But anybody can stay in either one. So if you like Kidani Village, which is basically the lobby is a little bit smaller, it's very similar, but a little bit smaller, but the resort itself is larger, you can also stay there. But anyway, this is all we're gonna talk about all of it together. So when we say Animal Kingdom Lodge, we kind of mean all of it. Just kind of Yeah.

Jessica

Cause I mean they're there are two resorts in one. It really is all one.

Tyler

Exactly.

Jessica

It's pretty cohesive, but there's definitely pros and cons to both, and so we'll get into that.

Tyler

Exactly. So Disney's blurb on their website describes the Animal Kingdom Lodge as such. My voice is so tired.

Jessica

Already so soon.

Tyler

Okay. Step into the heart of Africa at this magnificent resort hotel. Inspired by the traditional African crawl, the horseshoe curved design provides spectacular views of four lush savannas that over 200 hoofed animals and birds call home. Delight in dazzling pool areas, exciting animal programs, and one of the largest collections of African art in the United States as you experience your own African safari adventure with a touch of Disney magic.

Jessica

Wow. I couldn't have said it better myself. With just a touch of Disney Magic. I will say, out of all the resorts, this is obviously highly themed. When you walk into the lobby, it is literally breathtaking. It was fun. We've been, you know, we were in the lobby when we first checked in, and me and the girls were sitting there, you were kind of checking us in, and I could see people coming in and just gaffaw.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah.

Jessica

Especially it's beautiful at night. It's beautiful all time of day, but at night, there's something about the way they light it too. Oh my gosh. That is so pretty.

Tyler

And it's so fun because so many people, I mean, it's been around for, I don't know, 20 years now. And so many times, the entire time we're there, people walk in, and the the first thing they do, like you said, they could fall, and like everybody just stops and takes a picture.

Jessica

Like, because you just have like it's just yeah, and none of the pictures and videos do it justice. That's what's crazy.

Tyler

Yeah, it really is.

Jessica

It's it's you know, the dark, intricate wood carvings all around. It feels like a very nice lodge that I I assume it would look like in Africa.

Tyler

I don't know, but this is the last time I feel like Disney was truly inspired with their architecture. And we're gonna we really have to go into this, but this was the last time I'm like, they had a theme and they ran with it and they did it, and they did it right because they I think the next thing they did after this was the Riviera. Now I love the Riviera, the rooms are incredible. But I'm like, it's a you could take that hotel and you could plop it anywhere and it would fit in. Architecturally from the outside, it's just kind of a Marriott-looking hotel. You can look at any of the DVC resorts, you can look at the new Polynesian, the lobby of the new Polynesian hotel. Very nice, but it looks like a Hilton that you would probably stay at in Hawaii. Like if you stayed at a nice Hilton in Hawaii, it probably would look like that. But when I go to Disney, I want like a theme, like I want to be transported somewhere else. Yeah, and this I feel like was the last time Disney did that in their architecture.

Jessica

That is probably true.

Tyler

Gosh, anyway, okay. Then I will get off my soapbox there. So, okay. Um, so by the way, if you are not staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, you can still go to Animal Kingdom Lodge. First of all, go over and try some of their restaurants. They are some of the best restaurants on property. All of them. We'll talk about those in a little bit, but just go over there and eat there. But then you can go out, they have Savannah overlooks, you can go and walk around and just look at the animals. It's so fun. So that's always a fun way to just go and experience, walk around the lobby, see the animals. That's just a fun way to spend it.

Jessica

One recommendation I would have is if you were not planning on staying there, but you've never been over there, it's hard to find a good excuse to get over there. You know what I mean? Like, wow, we've got to get you maybe have to Uber there, you have to take a Disney bus to a park, then a park bus from there to what you could do is since Animal Kingdom usually closes early, like five or six, stay till close or around then, and then have a dinner reservation around 6:30 at Sanaa, would be my recommendation. And so you could just take the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge from the park, enjoy it. It's a very quick five, six, seven-minute ride. And then from there, maybe you would Uber back or you could do the whole long haul, go to a park and then bus.

Tyler

But exactly, yeah.

Jessica

That's a great way where you can have a great meal. You can wander around and you can go out and look on the overlooks outside behind the lobbies.

Tyler

And they that you'll be perfect time of evening too, where it's just sunset to four golden hour.

Jessica

It's a perfect plan.

Tyler

Yeah. It's almost like we did exactly that.

Jessica

Kind of. So we mentioned these overlooks. We'll get into the different savannas, or actually, maybe let's get into that now.

unknown

Okay.

Jessica

We're gonna, if you're watching, I'm gonna pop up a picture of what the resort map looks like because I think it's easier to visualize it. It's the two separate sections. So on the right is the Jumbo House section. That is where we stayed. That's like the main lobby, main part of the resort. And then to the left, the two connected horseshoes is Kidani Village. Now, you may notice Kidani Village is much larger, like Tyler said. Like it's more rooms.

Tyler

So the, like I said, the the resort itself at Kidani Village is larger, but the lobby is like less than half the size. Yeah, we but it's like the same exact design, it's just smaller.

Jessica

Yeah. And they've got their own gift shop and sundry shop there. It's much smaller again, you know.

Tyler

Exactly. Now, I will say, talking about the savannas, if we want to kind of talk about those for a minute.

Jessica

And you can see them here on this map.

Tyler

So in front of Kidani Village, you have the Sunset Savannah, which we kind of looked out on and it was really pretty, but we haven't stayed there, so I can't really talk too much about the Sunset Savannah.

Jessica

But speaking of that savannah, I didn't connect that from the other side of Jumbo House, it also is overlooking Sunset Savannah.

Tyler

Oh, that makes so much sense.

Jessica

So I looked, I'm like, oh, well, that because it's a huge, I mean, that's gotta be, yes, that is definitely the largest savannah by double.

Tyler

So yeah, that makes so much sense.

Jessica

So then a lot of the hotel, both sides of the hotel, are looking at the same giant sunset savannah.

Tyler

So honestly, I would say if I were to, if I were to go back in time and request a savannah view, which we did the first time, I think I would request the sunset savannah.

Jessica

Yeah, because then you're you're seeing the biggest savannah, probably the biggest mix of animals. I don't know, I'm assuming.

Tyler

Yeah.

Jessica

And you kind of get a view of Kidani, and you're not far from Kidani if you want to walk over there, which we'll get into as well.

Tyler

So we did uh the first time we stayed there years ago, we stayed in our view was the Arusha savannah, which I almost requested this time, but I thought, no, I'll leave it up to fate. I'll just see where they put us. So they actually put us, if you look at the map, over on the very far right at the Uzima savannah. I would say you probably don't want to stay there. It had its pros and its cons. I think it was more cons than pros. And here's the thing. So it was private, it was a very private.

Jessica

It was but it was- And we'll show you our view right now if you're watching.

Tyler

Yep. So it was small and private. We didn't have very many like neighbors and stuff like that. And it was kind of cool in that regard. Like you kind of looked out and there was a lot of trees on the other side, which was cool. But there were several animals that we never saw. We never saw any zebras, any zebras, we never saw any ostriches, we never saw any um, I don't know. There's like four or five different animals on the list that I could see. Like when we would go and look at the Arusha Savannah, I know they were there. So I don't know if they just don't like that side or if they couldn't get to that side for one reason or another. But I'm like, the whole week we're there. I kept waiting for like zebras and stuff to come over. So we had, of course, we had the the the anchor ankle ankle cattle. We had the giraffes, we had all kinds of stuff out there. Yeah, the giraffes were so But I wanted zebras and I wanted ostriches and I wanted all these other things that they were in the other savannas. So it was the privacy was nice, but I don't think the trade-off of not having all the animals was worth that. So I would say if we go back, I'm gonna request the sunset savannah.

Jessica

Yeah, see a different side.

Tyler

Yeah. I also feel like I just saw way more birds in that area, like just giant birds, you know, pelicans and all kinds of cool stuff around.

Jessica

Um so the only other savanna is the Penbei Savannah, which is the small one on the other side of Kidani Village as well. Kind of similar to our savannah we saw just on the other part of the routine.

Tyler

Yeah, the very far, yeah.

Jessica

Another fun little addition is we'll talk about the pools in a bit, but near the main pool at Jumbo House, well, the only pool at Jumbo House, kind of behind it, if you will, is a little area of flamingos. And it is just such a cool little fun addition that's there. The girls were delighted. I was delighted, everyone was delighted. And I will say, I remembered that area being really stinky. And so I told the girls that they got a kick out of that, the idea that we'd go over there and they'd be stinky. And they didn't stink. I don't know, I don't know what they cleaned up.

Tyler

Well, two things at the Indianapolis Zoo, those flamingos stink. So you're not wrong. And I remember it stinking in Animal Kingdom Lodge too. My only thought is that maybe it's a little bit cooler out, so maybe they start to stink when it gets hot out. I don't know.

Jessica

The flamingo feathers sweat.

Tyler

I'm just saying, I don't know. But I remember it smelling pretty bad too.

Jessica

Okay, I'm glad I'm not crazy though, right?

Tyler

Okay, so that's the savannas, those are the animals.

Jessica

Pretty important stuff to know, especially if you are booking a room, to know like, where should I request? And again, requests aren't guaranteed, but it pays sometimes to request. Doesn't hurt.

Tyler

Exactly. I mean, we got what we requested the first time.

Jessica

Yeah. So because I think if they see that and they're assigning the rooms, like plenty of rooms. Yeah, they'll probably do what they can.

Tyler

So either you or your travel agent can call and request that or add it to your reservation. Yeah. Um, okay, so let's talk about the rooms.

Jessica

Also

Room Types And Booking Tips

Jessica

important.

Tyler

Very. So someday, I'm gonna stay in one of those giant suites.

Jessica

Oh, someday.

Tyler

Those giant suites are never available.

Jessica

Also, my gosh, how much are they?

Tyler

Oh my they're only like 20 grand a night.

Jessica

Only 20 grand.

Tyler

No, I don't know, but they are very, very cool. But every time I look at like the videos or pictures of them, I'm like, oh my gosh, I mean, they look so cool. Two bedroom villas and stuff. They got kitchens, they got oh my gosh, they look so cool.

Jessica

Yeah.

Tyler

Uh, but anyway, I feel like every time I've ever looked, they are sold out. So typically what you're gonna look at are either Who has that much money to blow that they are always sold out?

Jessica

You know what I'm saying?

Tyler

I don't think they I don't think they have very many. And I think that's more what it is versus I mean, and they're building so many others. I think they realize well, especially like back then, they didn't have a lot of villas when the Animal Kingdom Lodge was built. Think about how many one, two, and three-bedroom villas have been built on Disney property since Animal Kingdom Lodge. I mean, they have just exploded there. Yeah. So anyway, um, so that's the the room views is probably the most important thing you're gonna pick here. They have two two beds, they have one bed, but I mean, they're really at Animal Kingdom Lodge, the one thing you're gonna focus on is your view.

SPEAKER_01

Is your view, yeah.

Tyler

So Savannah View rooms, they have a lot. So if I mean it's obviously a jump in price to get a Savannah View room, but if you can make that happen, there's nothing better. I mean, waking up having your coffee.

Jessica

Yeah, I mean, guys, if you're gonna pay to stay honestly, if you are going to be staying there and you can feasibly afford it, make the jump to the Savannah View room because it's kind of the whole point. And every once in a while we've thought about staying there, and I'm like, Well, Tyler, we can you know we could save this money and just do a regular and he's like, Jessica, I am not going to the Animal Kingdom Lodge without a Savannah View room. And he's right, that's kind of the whole point.

Tyler

So if you can swing it, especially if you can find a good deal like this, I say typically you can find some kind of special offer, which helps. Yeah, so definitely you or your travel agent, be on top of checking those special offers because you can save money. Now, that said, they do also have pool view rooms, and the pool view is not is not bad. And you know, if you want to stay there, but you can't do that extra bump up to the Savannah View, it's so easy to hop out of your room and walk over and look at the savannah view. The overlooks, yeah.

Jessica

There's plenty of places, so it's not like don't do it if you can't. I guess I feel like I came off too strong. Let me backtrack. But my point is if you can swing it, it's not gonna make or break you. I really feel like it will elevate your experience there for sure. Because taking your coffee in the morning and just sitting out there, or even in the afternoon, oh my gosh, we sound like hopping out there with a little spin drift and just looking at the animals. And my favorite part was at night when they would just be snoozing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

Jessica

I loved the idea. You was it you that said it, that we'd be all sleeping in our bed. I don't know why I have my hands here like I'm a vampire in a coffin, but we'd all be sleeping in our beds, and the thought that all these animals are sleeping just on the other side of the side.

Tyler

Well, they would they would come and collect the animals at night and they'd come back out in the morning.

Jessica

Oh, I like the idea of them sleeping out.

Tyler

No, but they would sleep out there until at like midnight or so. So they were out there a lot. And actually, I you could look out right at our balcony.

Jessica

It's their early evening snooze before the big snooze.

Tyler

There was some kind of um, I forget exactly what they were. I'll have to look it up. But there was some kind of antelope kind of thing out there, and they were always right outside our window or our balcony. There was probably 20 of them, and they all just sat out there, they just looked like you know.

Jessica

They look like little glowing sheep because they were white, and in the darkness, you know.

Tyler

And they're seeing sitting there, giant horns just laying down, sleeping.

Jessica

So cute, you guys.

Tyler

Anyway, but yeah, then they'd come around midnight or so, sweep them all away. They had like these little golf carts and stuff like that, and they play noises, specific noises, to make them all go back to their cages, which is really cool. And then in the mornings, it was so cool. We our girls wake up early, so we'd be up early in the morning, and you know, you kind of got some mist, you got some this just this beautiful like early morning glow, and then you see giraffes coming at you from the far away.

SPEAKER_01

I'm like, oh, there's just nothing better.

Tyler

And it's so funny because by day, I don't know, four, our girls were sitting in the room watching Ron's Gone Wrong on TV. And I'm like, girls, there's giraffes out there, go look, go look. And they're like, Yeah, and I'm like, oh, kids are worse. I'm like, this is so cool.

Jessica

But they didn't, I we should say they loved it. They were only really watching like a movie when we would go in for our like midday break.

Tyler

Our nap, yeah.

Jessica

And um it was they really relish that time.

Tyler

Yeah, where they then honestly, our our younger one fell asleep quite a bit.

Jessica

Yeah, which was that was key. That was key.

Tyler

Disney will wear you out. But the mom and dad sat out on that balcony a lot hanging out watching those animals, and honestly, it was a little more peaceful that way.

Jessica

Oh, yeah. Um, so just to add, they also do have club level rooms for regular rooms for their one-bedroom suites, you know, all the way on up. Um, we've never done it there. We have done club level at the Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and Wilderness Lodge.

Tyler

Yes.

Jessica

Always awesome, but so expensive. That is not something we typically do. No. Just because usually the price jump is not worth it. We only do it usually if it's like a weirdly good rate, and we're like, you know what?

Tyler

We haven't done that.

Jessica

Usually we don't. Um, but they also have studios and deluxe studios. And I think this is good to know because you do in the studios, it's just a kitchenette, a sleeper sofa, and a queen bed and a pull-down bed. So it is a little bit of a different setup, but the deluxe studios have a little bit more room. So the idea of if you like the idea of having a kitchenette in your room, because maybe you're maybe you're gonna be there a week or 10 days, and you're like, you know what, it would be nice to have, you know, a little fridge, a little sink, so an area to be able to do that kind of stuff, that can be very valuable. So it's something that's a good thing.

Tyler

I will say if you're comparing a regular room versus one of the deluxe studios, the square footage difference is not very much. So take a look at the two differences in price and be like, okay, it's not very much square footage. And you can look at the actual square footage difference. And the reality is you're going to get like a sink, a microwave, and that's about it.

Jessica

And the f in the like mini fridge, whatever. Yeah.

Tyler

So you're probably going to look at spending for a week, six, seven, eight hundred dollars, depending on what what special offer you have and all that. So you got to kind of ask yourself, is it worth having a microwave in our room for an extra $600?

Jessica

That's basically what's our deciding factor to not do the deluxe studio. Exactly.

Tyler

So just something to kind of if you're if you're weighing those two options, it's probably not going to be worth it.

Jessica

Keep in mind there's a microwave in, I think a couple microwaves, in the quick service restaurant, which is not far from any of the rooms. So if you were like, I'm wanting to make like a little thing of Easy Mac or something for my kid, because what you can do that you just have to bring it down the hall to the things.

Tyler

Yeah, going from a regular room to a villa, having a full kitchen, that's a very different conversation. But the deluxe studio. You know, if it was, you know, 20 bucks extra a night, that's one thing. But it is sometimes quite a big jump. So definitely just something to think about.

Jessica

So one thing to keep in mind that this is one of the things we wish we knew before we went a second time is that there is actually a walkway between Jumbo House and Kidani Village. Now, this was just a Google search away. We just didn't think to search it, honestly. But one of the, I think it was a bus driver had told us, like, oh, Kidani Village's pool is so much cooler than Jumbo House's. The water slide is bigger. It's just a really cool area.

Tyler

What I think, yeah, what you said was the pool is smaller, the slide is bigger.

Jessica

Yeah, something like that.

Tyler

And then at Jumbo House, it's the opposite. The pool is bigger and the slide is smaller.

Jessica

Yeah, and the pool is very big at Jumbo House. Yeah, or yeah, at Jumbo House. Um, but there's also over at Kidani Village like this really cool water play area. I had no idea even existed. And I'm like, if we had known that was there, we definitely would have gone over there. But we didn't go over there to swim because A, it just didn't fit into our schedule. But B, we were thinking, okay, in our wet bathing suits, then getting on a bus to transfer from Kidani Village back to Jumbo House, because our understanding is that's the only way you could get between them. Turns out they're much closer than they appear, and there's absolutely a walkway.

What We Wish We Knew Beforehand

Jessica

It's like a 10 to 15 minute walk, depending on how fast you're going. And if we could have just walked back in the warm heat in our bathing suit, that wouldn't have been a big deal. So good to know. I also learned that we were told to just take the Disney bus that would take you to Kidani Village and back. And it also goes to a park. But anyway, they tell you which bus at the bus standard.

Tyler

I think it's the Disney Springs bus.

Jessica

But it might change. Well, it turns out there's also just a straight up shuttle that just goes back and forth between the two. That's like one of those white, not a passenger van, but like that size type of shuttle bus that you catch right outside the lobby at both of the hotels. And it just goes back and forth. And we saw it once and we thought, oh, maybe it's like a parking tram type.

Tyler

Yeah, that's kind of what I thought. Yeah.

Jessica

But yeah, it goes back and forth between. So another super convenient thing. It's like every 10 minutes.

Tyler

Right. And you might ask yourself, you know, why even have that? Well, partly because the restaurants are kind of split between the two. So obviously you might want to go over there just to see the different savannas and stuff like that. But Sanaa, which is one of the best restaurants, oh my gosh, you guys, is at Kidani Village, and Jico and Boma are at Jumbo House.

Jessica

Okay, so here's a big downside to Kidani Village. I had to look this up because I was like, I wondered if they had a quick service. So it says there's quick service dining through Sanaa's breakfast, which they, I guess, in the morning. And I remember seeing a sign for this. It's like a casual breakfast option versus when you're doing lunch and dinner at Sana'a. It's a little, it's not nice, nice, but it's a nicer restaurant. Then for lunch and dinner, guests generally use Sanaa, like the full-blown table service, if you're just wanting dinner, but of course that's much more expensive. The poolside Maji pool bar, or they take a short shuttle to Jumbo House for that. So that's a pretty big deal. You know, if you're wanting to refill your mind, I bet they have a big thing.

Tyler

I was just gonna say, I bet they have the coffee.

Jessica

I bet it's by the pool bar too.

Tyler

Yeah.

Jessica

So anyway, but just something to keep in mind if that would be important to you and you know you'd be utilizing. I mean, we ate at the Mara or even just like ordered my order twice. Three, I was like, at least three times. We I think we got two breakfasts there, and we just brought it up to the room. At least one dinner, maybe two. So I mean, we utilize it a lot. Yeah. So anyway.

Tyler

Why not go down every morning to go get our like morning coffee and stuff like that? So with our resort refillable mugs. So that's yeah, definitely something to consider. So speaking of that, so let's talk about the restaurants really fast. So at Jumbo House, you have two of my all-time favorite restaurants in Walt Disney World: Boma and Gico. So Boma, we will go over to. We've been whenever we go over to Animal Kingdom Lodge, we're usually going to Boma.

Jessica

And it's usually for breakfast.

Tyler

Their breakfast there is so good, and you're gonna get stuff there that you don't get anywhere else in Walt Disney World. Maybe, maybe at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. I feel like sometimes there's some overlap there.

Jessica

Yeah, maybe.

Tyler

But Boma breakfast is so good. So it's a buffet, and it's such a fun thing. They a lot of times, you know, some of the cast members are walking around playing drums, and like it's just such a good vibe vibe there. So Boma has and they do other things too, but the breakfast is what I think are the best. So it's funny because we always talk about the boba tea, which is one of our all-time favorite things, and we make it at home a lot.

Jessica

With a Disney recipe, like in an Africa.

Tyler

With a Disney recipe, which is like it's a South African kind of uh egggy meat pie. Yeah, it's almost like a meatloaf. It's it's it's so good. You can believe.

Jessica

It's so good. We gotta make that soon.

Tyler

Got it this time. It was not very good.

Jessica

It was not very good, it was totally different.

Tyler

Yeah, they've

Restaurant Highlights And Must Orders

Tyler

changed the recipe. This time it was turkey, which is not ground turkey. It was not very good. So it was just different.

Jessica

You guys have to do it.

Tyler

I still I'm always recommending that, and I feel like some people maybe have tried it and they're like, what is Tyler talking about? This is not very good. I don't know how long they've changed this recipe for, but it is it was not very good. So I if you're taking it back, take it back. The Kitchen Magic with Mickey cookbook. It's an older one. I think it's yeah, it's an older one. You might be able to find it. That is so good. It has raisins in it. It's the savory and the sweet, like you said, it's got some cinnamon, but it's salty.

Jessica

Oh my gosh.

Tyler

Unbelievably good. Almonds in it, like sliced almonds for a little bit of a crunch.

Jessica

It's the crazy texture. It's all the different, it's it's a symphony for your mouth. So the other thing I want to do.

Tyler

Oh, right and kiss it.

Jessica

That's right. If you've got little kids that maybe aren't as adventurous of eaters, the breakfast buffet has all the breakfast normal stuff too. Mickey waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, muffins, pastries. I mean, toast, bagels. So it has all of that normal stuff too. Maybe you yourself are the picky eater. Yeah. And you just want to venture. What was the best thing we had this time, though?

Tyler

It was wait, there were two, there were two. This coconut milk, oatmeal. Oh my gosh. It was unbelievable. And then they had like some dried banana chips and um a couple other things. So that was gonna be my point. So the boba tea was not great. Everything else I got was amazing. Amazing.

Jessica

So the girls approved of the bacon. They said the bacon was great and it was good.

Tyler

It was good. I mean, every it was it was all unbelievable. The sausage I got was really good. It was just I'm still thinking about that oatmeal though.

Jessica

It was the coconut milk in it. It was crazy good. Oh my gosh. I want to like find that recipe. So the other thing that was really good is their warm bread pudding with like a vanilla sauce. Oh, I could have, I mean, that was some coffee. That was next level.

Tyler

Yeah. We met our friends Carrie and Antonio, which I think actually in the last episode we talked about how we were going to meet them there. We did meet them there. It was a very lovely breakfast meeting them there.

Jessica

They brought sweet like Easter basket things for the girls, which is the girls loved all that stuff, by the way. If you guys are watching or listening.

Tyler

Um, but yes, that breakfast is so good. Oh, yeah.

Jessica

It holds up, it holds up other than the babuti.

Tyler

Babuti. Did I do that right? I was closer. I didn't want to, I didn't want to. I know.

Jessica

Sometimes it, yeah, it comes off as disingenuous, but I mean it genuinely. I'm trying to say it right.

Tyler

So it's like saying Cuba is in Cuba.

Jessica

Or Barcelona, but if you say Barcelona, how the way it maybe is closer to being pronounced, it feels like I'm making fun of them. I'm like, no, I'm actually just trying to say it right. Okay.

Tyler

So nothing makes people more mad on my channel, which is all travel. It's it's something I go back and forth on all the time. People love to make fun of the way that I say something. And I'm like, well, I'm not gonna like say it in a Barcelona.

Jessica

Do the perfect example. The Buckingham Palace is the perfect example.

Tyler

I said in a video, I was like, you know, I I think I called it Buckingham Palace or Buckingham Palace.

Jessica

You might have really uh pronounced.

Tyler

I said Buckingham Palace, you know, because I'm like, I'm I don't have an English accent. And I'm like, if I had just done that one word in an English accent, I feel like, and so I this guy just roasted me. It's Buckingham Palace. I'm like, I don't have an English accent. That one sounded Scottish. But anyway, people, but I'm like, people, and I'm like, there are certain things that I'm like, okay, maybe I if I said it wrong, that's one thing. But there are certain things that I'm like, that's just an accent that I don't have that accent.

Jessica

Or if I affect that accent, I will sound like returned.

Tyler

Yeah. Or I can say that one word in here in Barcelona.

Jessica

That's right.

Tyler

I'm like, I can't say that.

Jessica

Very authentic, very authentic.

Tyler

Anyway.

Jessica

So the other thing to know is that, like you said, the restaurants are split. All of the restaurants are at Jumbo House except Sanaa. So let's talk about the rest of the Jumbo House ones. So we brought up Boma. That's the one that you, I mean, it is 10 out of 10. The dinner, by the way, is very good too. It's just been a while since we've done it. Right. Also a buffet. They're gonna have kid-friendly options too, as well. Any of the buffets in Disney. But the next one we should talk about is Jico. Oh my god, the cooking place. This I think has maybe won awards. I think it's this restaurant.

Tyler

It is, this is genuinely, to date, one of the best meals I have ever, ever had in Walt Disney World. Like it will go down in history as like one of the best. I had it was like braised short ribs. Oh, they were the most tender things I've ever had. And they like I got the whatever, like the red wine pairing it was that they offered. Because everything is like the it's like they have the largest collection of South African wine outside of uh Africa, like no one, whatever, and they've got like all this beautiful African art all over the place. But like the pairing of that was just so so good. I it was one of the best.

Jessica

And I wanna I wanna point out to you, we ate there like eight years ago. And the fact that Tyler remembers exactly what he ate is pretty telling. I don't remember what I ate, but I remember it being really good. But I remember yours being very good.

Tyler

It was like unreal. So yeah, so definitely recommend Jico. I do, it was like you said, it was a little bit higher end, but obviously there's still kids everywhere, so it's not like a Victorian Alberts kind of thing where you can't.

Jessica

But nonetheless, we did not go this time with kids just because we just didn't.

Tyler

Yeah, it's also a signature. So if you are on the Disney dining plan, it would take two table service credits.

Jessica

That was really why we didn't do it.

Tyler

That's really why we didn't do it, and that's why we did Sanaa instead.

Jessica

So let's talk Sanaa.

Tyler

Let's talk Sana'a, because that is a one table service credit.

Jessica

Yes, this is one of my favorites. So it is African and Indian flavors fused. Um, or I mean you have options from both. It was so good. And the thing that I think I loved about it, we went at night and our table, the idea of it is that you're looking out on the sunset savannah there at Kidani Village. And so during the day, which we've been to lunch there maybe eight years ago or less. Yep. Um, and we were at a this table near the window so you can see the animals on the savannah. Now at night, you really can't, but the dinner, I mean, it's all just so good. So everyone recommends the bread service.

Tyler

It's yes, so good. Holds up.

Jessica

Yes, the kids liked it too. They were trying the dips. There were like eight different dips. Some of them are spicy.

Tyler

Yep.

Jessica

Try them before the kids. We learned that, and I'm glad we did.

Tyler

And there's a couple different kinds of breads too. There was like three different kinds of breads.

Jessica

There was like some not um the kids were vibing. We were all vibing on that bread service.

Tyler

So good.

Jessica

Some sweet, some salty, some savory, some Yeah.

Tyler

I I will say this was the best meal off the top of my head. I think this was the best meal we had on this trip.

Jessica

Maybe. It was because you got the um I was gonna I need to. Let me just pull up the menu. I'll pull up the menu because I want to get it.

Tyler

So there was this basically where you get a like rice bowl, and then you can pick like one thing from one menu and one thing from another. So one veggie thing and one meat thing. So I picked, I think, raised beef, and then I picked chickpeas, which is like a chickpea stew kind of thing. And then I you can like mix them together with your rice. Oh my gosh.

Jessica

I literally pot Gi.

Tyler

Pochy, yeah.

Jessica

Inspired.

Tyler

I I took it home in a box. I'm like, I know I'm not gonna eat this because we have the dining plan, so we have plenty of food coming our way. But I'm like, I can't not bring this with me because it is so good. It was unbelievable.

Jessica

I got the cauliflower hurrah, and it was pretty good. I just I remember like wanting something lighter. It was pretty good, but I think if I did it again, I would do the potty inspired thing. So yeah, it's right there at the top.

Tyler

Okay, you can uh choose one. So there's Journey and Harvest are the two different menus you pick from. So you choose one from Journey, which is butter chicken, braised beef, lamb vendeloo, or Durban shrimp curry, and then you choose one from Harvest, um, and that's the plant-based menu. So Chick Pi Wat, which is what I got, Rajma Masala, lentil doll, Sukuma wiki, uh, and then they're served with scented basmati rice. And they all come in, like I said, three different bowls. You kind of mix it all together as you want. Oh my gosh. The the flavor fusions were unreal.

Jessica

Yeah, that was a good experience. Also, we got the uh samosas because we just wanted them. Uh, because samosas, they were so good. I mean did you make the Michael Scott joke?

Tyler

No, but I did in a video like how hard is it?

Jessica

Chocolate and marshmallow and graham cracker.

Tyler

So there's a joke in the office where he Oh, yeah, you either get it or you don't. Well, trying to tell the story, Jess. There's a joke in the office where he orders a samosa. I think he gets it's a samore. So if you don't get it, then he's like, How hard is it? It's graham cracker and marshmallow and chocolate, whatever. I made that joke in a video like a day before we went to this. That video went live on our channel, and somebody commented about like, uh, a samosa is actually an Indian thing. I'm like, no, I know.

Jessica

People think we're dumb. That's okay. No.

Tyler

She has the lowest opinion of me of anyone.

Jessica

Um, so lounges and bars, we can be kind of quick on this one. Um, there's pool bars at both of the pools at Kenani Village and Jumbo House. Then, though, there's Victoria Falls Lounge, which is this beautiful mid-level. We'll show a video of it. This mid-level bar between the lobby, which is above, and then all the way down are the entrances to Boma, which you can kind of overlook and Jico. And so it's this just really cool bar that I mean, and I think during the day I saw kids in there too training.

Tyler

Oh, yeah, I saw kids, yeah, because they have like some tables around the edge too.

Jessica

So like not right up to the bar, but yeah, such a cool, you can literally overlook BOMA, you get all the smells. You're also right by the lobby. It's just such a fun environment.

Tyler

Yeah, and they've got like a little bridge going over it, like Jessica said in the lobby, so you can like walk right over it, you see down into it, and then Boma's below you. It's just gorgeous. That whole area is so pretty. There's like a waterfall in that area. Oh my gosh.

Jessica

So well designed.

Tyler

Animal Kingdom Lodge actually has one of my all-time favorite gift shops too. And I don't know what it is about it, because most of it is the stuff you can get everywhere. Yeah, yeah. But they have a lot of stuff that's Animal Kingdom Lodge specific. But I think it's the fact that when you first walk in, there's like two steps down. And I don't know why, but that

Pools, Arcade, Campfires, Playgrounds

Tyler

makes sense. There's like the ramp, there's the yeah, it makes it seem so unique. It does, it stands out in my head.

Jessica

Well, there's also like this artisan that was like working on something there that you just bought.

Tyler

So cool. So right outside the gift shop, pretty much all day when we would walk by, somebody was outside like hand carving. Yeah. Not I'm carving, but like chiseling. It was so cool to watch them. I sat there and watched them for a while.

Jessica

There were kids just watching, it was so cool.

Tyler

These little wooden figurines that have different animals and stuff like that. So I actually ended up buying one and I asked it, so I ended up buying it at the gift shop because I was gonna buy it in the lobby. And then I ended up going into the gift shop and I asked the cast member there, I was like, is this the same? Like, are these the ones they make here? And she said, It might not be one they made in the hotel, but it's all the same people. So the people that make the ones in the lobby are also the ones that make these, it's just conglomerate or whatever. So she's like, it's all the same. It's not like we buy these, you know, en masse from somewhere else. It's like it's all the same group of artisans. So I bought this little giraffe.

Jessica

That is so cute.

Tyler

Um, and he fits in. I have a little village of the world up in my office, and he's like this, he's the right scale for my village of the world. But I've got little figurines or little things from all over the world. Um, so that's gonna go up to my office. And then I also bought this. I have been looking at these for years, and I'm like, you know what? I'm doing it. And what actually this only ended up being, it wasn't much, $39.99 for this little hand drum here. Actually, I don't think that's a bad deal.

Jessica

No, I think so because it said it was global like artists.

Tyler

Yeah, so that's what I was gonna say. So it's I would have guessed, you know. When I first looked at them, I'm like, okay, I kind of thought maybe they were made on mass, kind of thing. No, and so it's on the back, it says global artisan crafted. You can buy these in Animal Kingdom or Animal Kingdom Lodge. But actually, looking at it, it says, um, we together help make a difference, says our greenest collect of hand crafted art by the Kisi Artisans of Kenya. Every stage of making this art involved genuine human hands. The only element of carbon footprint is the transportation from artisan to you. Eco-friendly, fair trade, handmade. The artisan uses only basic hand tools, no two are exactly alike. You are giving back to the world. Thank you for keeping the artisan spirit alive.

Jessica

Oh, that's so cool.

Tyler

So, yeah, products with a purpose is what this is called. So, and I'm like, and 40 bucks, I feel like is a great deal.

Jessica

I think we also got the annual pass holder discount.

Tyler

Yeah, so I'm like, this I I I Disney, I feel like you would have charged $80 for this.

Jessica

So I know when I saw this. Disney's like, oh shoot, were we not charging $80 for that?

Tyler

Uh but anyway, I thought that's a very cool.

Jessica

And if you're not watching, by the way, it's uh it's a wooden, like he said, hand drum, but it's got these beautiful, like, wooden carvings in it of Yeah, these are this is a giraffe.

Tyler

I got the one with giraffes on it because I this I felt was very indicative of this trip that we were just on. But they have, I mean, just some that have beautiful patterns on it. They have all different kinds of animals, they have different sizes too. If you don't want one this big, they had smaller ones, they also had some bigger ones. Um, but I was like the sound I thought was pretty good. Anyway, I'm very excited about it. So, but yeah, it's just really pretty and I'm very excited about it.

Jessica

I'm happy for you.

Tyler

Thank you.

Jessica

Okay, so let's talk about the amenities and things to do because there's a lot, of course. Um, the pools, like we talked about, there's one main pool that's very large at Jumbo House. There's a water slide. Our kids were, well, our oldest was comfortable going down. It's not like a crazy water slide. Um and a zero entry area. Yep, which our younger one loved that area, which I love too, because I could just kind of sit there. I didn't even have to.

Tyler

I went down there is a water slide that I went down. And you, if you are a grown man, apparently, you go slow slow. Painfully I'm literally just like crawling out. I'm like trying to I got some video of me going down it. We can add over this, but it was it was painfully slow. But our older one, she went down, I don't know, 450.

Jessica

450 times, yeah. Um, now so that's the Uzima Springs pool, then there's the Samawadi Springs pool at Kidani Village. Um, there's hot tubs, I'm pretty sure, at both.

Tyler

Yep.

Jessica

Every time I thought not all hotels in Disney have that.

Tyler

True. Every time I thought about getting in the hot tub, though, they were packed.

unknown

Yeah.

Tyler

And there was a lot of kids in the hotel.

Jessica

Every hotel should have like 10 hot tubs.

Tyler

Or they should have some adult-only hot tubs and family hot tubs. And I'm like, I get both. I'm like, we can all go in one as a family, cool. But then when I want to be away from kids, there should be some adult-only ones as well.

Jessica

Obviously, that would be an easy thing for them to institute. Yeah. Just like uh, sorry, I had to take my headphones off. My ears are tired.

Tyler

Got glasses on, that's probably what I'm saying.

Jessica

Well, yeah, that's why. That's why. Um, okay. So they also, of course, as Disney always does, have games. Yeah, they're so good at that. So good at that. They even had games like in the pool.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

Jessica

I'm like, this is freaking fun. If I were a kid, I would be eating this up.

Tyler

That's it. That's why we always suggest taking a day. Like again, if you're gonna be there for five whole days, two park days, a day off, two park days, because you're gonna want that time to relax in the middle, recharge, sleep in, go to Disney Springs, maybe a little bit. But take some time to relax. But your time at the pool there at your resort, which you're probably going to pay a lot to be staying at this resort, use that time and enjoy it. And the pool is so fun. You can relax and do nothing. You can do the kids' games, you can do so much.

Jessica

We're gonna talk about so many other things.

Tyler

There's so much to do there.

Jessica

The if you're like me, I I kind of have this problem where I don't know how to relax and I'm working, I'm working on it. And I do think I've gotten better. But I have this like fear of running out of things to do. I don't, I don't like it. And so my fear with doing a resort day was always like, well, we're gonna run out of things to do, and then we'll be bored. No, Jessica, that would be called you can sit and relax, you idiot. But anyway, you will never run out of things to do, is my point. You will never run out of things to do, especially in one day. There's so much we didn't even do all of the things at Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is incredibly frustrating.

Tyler

Yeah, I don't have that problem.

Jessica

I know you don't.

Tyler

Like uh like my friend Brian and I used to say, we are very good at luxuriating.

Jessica

Um, they also have a laundry room, which we did utilize. Yep. I did not know our shoes, the kids' shoes got wet on one of the rainy days.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

Jessica

That's a whole thing. You'll see in the vlogs coming soon in a few weeks here on this channel. Ooh, we'll have new vlogs coming live. Yeah. Um, so when that goes live, you will eventually see. But I don't think we vlogged about how we learned later. I was like, well, the shoes are wet. You know what? We're gonna be going to the pool. Why don't I put the pool? It's right by the pool. I'm gonna put the kids' shoes in the dryer there. You know, you pay your $2, whatever. Then they'll get, even if they get most of the way dry, then they can dry the rest of it overnight.

Tyler

Yeah.

Jessica

Tyler told me later, because I think it was you that went back to the house.

Tyler

Three, four days later, I go to do the laundry in the laundry room. And I was like, Jessica, there's a sign in the laundry room. That says no shoes allowed in dryer under any circumstances.

Jessica

And I'm like, I literally had no idea. But what's interesting is that when I went to get the shoes that day, our dryer was open. So either someone stopped it, or it just was so well, you know how shoes are violent in there, then it opened it itself. But either way, the shoes were pretty dry. I'm so sorry, Disney. I didn't know. I didn't see the sign. Or they put the sign up after.

Tyler

Yeah. It wasn't a very big sign.

Jessica

I was the first one that did that. Yeah.

Tyler

Probably weren't the first one to do it that day.

Jessica

Oh, yeah.

Tyler

So I had actually brought some workout stuff.

Jessica

Me too.

Tyler

And I didn't do that.

Jessica

I always bring one packable outfit just in case that I can wear elsewhere, but it's about doing it at least once.

Tyler

I didn't do it even once this trip. You know what?

Jessica

It's vacation. But yeah, they have a fitness center. It's the Zaha Zahanadi Fitness Center, and they've got it all. Tread treadmills, bicycles. It's near the pool area again at Jabo House, too.

Tyler

Don't they have another one though called Survival of the Fittest? Or did I make that up?

Jessica

We might have said that would have been a way funnier name.

Tyler

Hold on. I feel like I remember that. Okay. Survival of the Fittest is the uh workout room at Kidani Village.

Jessica

Okay, so they have one too. See, I didn't even know that. All right, well, there we go.

Tyler

Okay. So it's got treadmills, bicycles, ellipticals, freeways, swing machines, all the things. Okay.

Jessica

That's awesome that they have them both. Wow.

Tyler

Yeah.

Jessica

Um, okay, so let's continue on with things to do because beyond you know the pools and stuff, there's so much. And we did utilize a decent amount of this, but there were still things that we just literally couldn't fit in, even with our resting time and stuff. We just couldn't fit it in.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

Jessica

The campfire. I think it is so cool that Disney still does this at all of the hotels. If you really think about how much has been taken away over the years and just changed, morphed, whatever. I love that they still do these little campfires with marshmallows. And it's like every single night at all of the hotels. I think that is so charming.

Tyler

I know. I love it.

Jessica

I do too. And there's every time we've ever done it, there's always people there. Like it's always, you know, people are utilizing it. So they do have that there and the medallion rubbings. They only do this at like 1:30 p.m. And so we never could time it right. But I remembered this from the last time. They will like, there's this big medallion on the floor of the Animal Kingdom. Okay, well, I only saw the one, but there probably is. Yes. Maybe you could probably do this all over the resort.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

Jessica

But there's this main one that a cast member will sit there and teach you how to like rub with, I don't even know what they were using, crayons or colored pencils or something, and paper on top of these etched, you know, patterns on the ground. And you could just get really cool rubbings from it. Yeah. And I remember doing that kind of stuff as a kid, and I always thought it was cool. So Gigi really wanted to do it. And it's right where you walk in. So I don't think it's appropriate to like just do it whenever you want because it literally is right in front of the front doors. But when they have a cast member there and there's people there, it's a little more.

Tyler

But yeah, it just I remember Ben and I, when we were probably, I don't know, eight, nine years old. Yeah. We would stay up till like three o'clock in the morning and we would just take our paper and our crayons and go all over the house and just different textures and so cute. I don't know what we just thought it was the coolest thing.

Jessica

Yeah. I love it. It is cool.

Tyler

Uh, movies under the stars, just like all the other resorts, so we don't really have to go into that. But again, but I love that they still do that. The arcade, Pumba's Fun and Games Arcade.

Jessica

Pumba! That was pretty good.

Tyler

I actually took the girls over to the arcade. It was so fun. We actually got there, and I want to say it was like, I don't know, I'm gonna make up a time, but like from 3 to 3:30, it was free play. So a cast member was there, just said, Hey, let me know what game you want to play, and it's free. So he just walked around with a barcode and scanned it, and then the girls could play it as much as they wanted for free. And then after that, we had to go get a card.

Jessica

That's cool. I didn't even know that.

Tyler

Yeah, so the first 30 minutes or whatever, and I don't know how long he'd been there before we got there. Yeah. Um, but luckily, I was about to actually get the cards, and another dad stopped me. He said, Hold on, hold on, there's a cast member here um walking around you know doing free play right now. So I'm like, that is so cool. So if you ever see that, didn't even know that was an option.

Jessica

That's pretty cool.

Tyler

I feel like I remember them talking about doing free play when we were staying at uh Coronado Springs. And I don't know that we if we went over there or not, but I think they do that sometimes just in general.

SPEAKER_01

So that's really cool.

Tyler

Yeah, but they had obviously all the classic arcade games, the girls had so much fun playing there just for 45 minutes or whatever.

Jessica

Uh IB Jessica at basketball, which is by like three points, which is and you know what?

Tyler

We both did pretty good, which is not always the case.

Jessica

That's true.

Tyler

And then Simma's Activity Center. Um so actually, I took the girls in there. Down, did you ever end up walking in there?

Jessica

I peeked in a bit.

Tyler

Okay, so it's actually right across the the hallway from the laundry room.

Jessica

Again, all of this is right near the main pool. Everything is so close together.

Tyler

Now, hold on, before we go into this, I just like to take a quick moment here and say that every morning I would take our resort mugs and I would go get our coffee in the morning. Oh, and from where our room was, mind you, it's a big horseshoe. We were close-ish to the end of the horseshoe. Like three-quarters of the way down. I would walk all the way back to the main lobby, I'd go down the steps past Boma, I'd go out the door, I'd go past the pool, I'd go over to the Mara, I'd get our coffee, and then I'd reverse course. I'd go past the pool, I'd go up the stairs past Boma, past Victoria Falls, I'd go all the way back up to the lobby, cross the bridge, all the way back down to our room. Day six out of eight, I realized that right outside of our room there was an elevator, and that elevator took me directly down to the first floor where they had the laundry room and Simba's clubhouse, and right outside that door was the Mara.

Jessica

You guys, we were like literally right on top of it. It literally we had no idea. And we knew like there's gotta be a little bit more. Well, it makes sense because we we knew we were kind of near on top of it because of the way we backtracked and you know, but I was so mad.

Tyler

It was I was I think it was when I did laundry. I'm like, I I was like, I know there's gotta be a closer wake, just figuring out like looking at the building and the logistics, yeah. It was it was a two-minute walk versus an eight-minute walk. Anyway. Now we know that is all so Simba's Clubhouse. So this was interesting. So they had all kinds of cool stuff. So I think Simba's Clubhouse used to be kind of like Lilo's Clubhouse at the Polynesian, and they had a couple others where you could actually drop your kids off and they would do a babysitting service in the evening. Now it's just kind of an open clubhouse where they have like a community hall, like they have at uh Key West.

Jessica

Exactly.

Tyler

So they had actually when we went in, they were doing like tie-dye t-shirts, they were doing they do all kinds of crafts throughout the day. They have coloring stuff, they have toys, they have puzzles, games, movies, Legos, Legos, any kind of stuff, yeah. That you can just your kids can go in and play with. You can I don't I don't know, they've got all kinds of stuff. But what was interesting is actually on the back wall, they had all these windows and they were all covered up. And I was kind of looking through, and then I realized you could see through one little part of it. It was actually looking out over the exact savanna that our room looked out over. But they were all covered up. I'm like, why would they cover up the windows of Simba's clubhouse when they could all these kids could just be looking out on the animals right outside of it?

Jessica

It's very interesting. I wonder why it was like these, these, this. I mean, it sounds like it was really intentional.

Tyler

Yeah. I I don't know. That's just an interesting observation that I made when I was walking around in there.

Jessica

The other thing is the playground, the Hakuna Matata playground, also in that same pool area, not far from the flamingos. The kids played in it for a little while. They loved it. I mean, uh, playgrounds are a must if you have young kids. It's always so nice when there is one there. I wish it were more common outside of Disney in hotels to have just like a little playground, you know?

Tyler

Yeah. And you know what? Speaking of younger kids, I saw a bunch of older kids, like teenagers and stuff like that. There's a big fireplace in the middle of the lobby of Animal Kingdom Lodge. Every time we would walk by, there was like a gaggle of teenagers like sitting around it. Like they weren't causing a ruckus, they were just sitting there talking, and like that's kind of a they had a nice little place to go sit and chat. So if you have older kids, yeah, they at least this group of kids seem to enjoy it. So pretty. So quickly, transportation, all buses. Moving on. Next next topic. There's I mean, that's really it. There's nothing. Do you have anything to add?

Jessica

No, I don't. It really it's just all buses, and that stinks. And you're just farther from things. That's what has always stopped us in the I mean, for all of these years. That is what has always stopped us, is it's not always the price, because again, you can find good deals. It's just that you feel so far away from some of the stuff.

Tyler

Which Animal Kingdom is uh close to some things. I mean, it's close to the thing.

Jessica

It's close to Animal Kingdom, and which means it's also not terribly far from Hollywood Studios. But like for us, the main parks we're going to most often is Magic Kingdom, of course, and Epcot. But again, that's reflected in the price. So, you know, it's it's just one of those things that's a trade-off. But I'm so glad we did it because in the end, the busing was not a big deal. It just wasn't. And I just think the whole experience of the hotel with the animals and the great food and all of that was so it totally offset any inconvenience that doing the bus and breaking down the stroller and all that.

Tyler

Well,

Transportation Tradeoffs And Final Thoughts

Tyler

and part of it is now we're at an age now where our girls like we had a small little travel stroller and that's all we brought. So yeah, it's in the past, we have what I call the beast, which sometimes we had two seats on it. I mean, it's a huge stroller. That is a much different conversation to be every single time breaking that giant thing down, carrying that off and on. This was a very small little travel stroller. But so many of the other resorts that we stay at, two of the four parks we can get to without breaking the stroller down. So if you're on the Skyliner, you can get to Hollywood Studios in Epcot without breaking the stroller down. And then if you're staying on a monorail one, you can get to Magic Kingdom in Epcot without breaking it down. So I'm like, we have to break it down half the time at a bunch of different resorts, which makes it a lot easier. So that's kind of always something we weigh in. But at this point in our lives, we have one small stroller, so that made it really easy. So just something to think about.

Jessica

Yeah. So let's just talk pros and cons to kind of wrap this up here. I'm gonna start with what I think is the biggest pro. And I didn't know this until I thought about it about halfway through the trip. It's one of the only hotels where everything's connected. I mean, other than short of going from Jumbo House to Kitani Village, but like everything's connected. You're not going to outer buildings and all that. You never have to go outside. You can literally go from your room, walk to the lobby, walk to the Mara, walk to the laundry, walk to the I mean, walk to the restaurants and never have to go outside. Whereas I was trying to think through Grand Floridian, there's outer buildings, contemporary. Um, and obviously you can have the internal, right?

Tyler

Because that's always a big difference between the deluxe resorts and the moderate and value. Sure, is that the outward facing area? Well, but it's the outward facing doors. Sure. You know, in the deluxe resorts, you have like an inner hallway, right? And the doors face the inner hallway versus moderates and values, it's outward facing doors. So like a kind of like a motel versus a hotel, I always say. Um but they but you're right. I was trying to think through in my head, all

Pros & Cons

Tyler

of the uh boardwalk, boardwalk area, they don't have um that's all internal.

Jessica

Except for you have to go outside to get to their quick service. Don't get me started.

Tyler

Oh, that's true. But like I'm sorry, yacht and that area, yacht club, beach club, boardwalk.

Jessica

That's true.

Tyler

But yeah, Grand Floridian, you'd have to go out depending on which.

Jessica

Contemporary has outer buildings. Does the Riviera is all connected? Riviera is a good one. So that's another one. So I guess it's not alone, but I do think that does make a big difference in that kind of cohesive resort feeling where it all just feels I I can't think of the word for it. But anyway, I really like that. I really, really like that.

Tyler

Obviously, the animals, you can't beat that. I mean, I've I've said this 10,000 times now, but there is nothing better than sitting out on your balcony with a cup of coffee looking at a giraffe.

Jessica

I think that is that is the coolest thing in the world. Yeah. It's just so unique.

Tyler

And the reality is for 99% of people, this is as close as we're gonna get to going and going to an African safari and being able to do something like that in our lives. Like, this is pretty much the only opportunity you're gonna have to do something like this. So take advantage of it.

Jessica

Yeah, it is definitely unique. And another big pro is that they have so many good food options. There's not a stinker in the bunch. And by the way, at the Mara, the quick service, I don't think we really talked about it. The food there was really good. We got like a specialty flatbread that was super good. The kids loved their cheese flatbread. Um, of course, good kids' food options, but they also had these like protein bowls with like chicken and like kind of like a healthier option, but that was really, really tasty.

Tyler

Mine was very good.

Jessica

I think, did I end up getting mine twice or did maybe just once?

Tyler

I don't remember. Yours I would have gotten it. Mine was great. I don't remember which one, what the difference was, but they were very good. But my breakfast bowl was really good too. Yeah. Yeah.

Jessica

So very good quick service. But then obviously the other restaurants are so amazing.

Tyler

So yeah, I think the only con, transportation.

Jessica

I think so too.

Tyler

That's all I can think of.

Jessica

I know. I was trying to rack my brain, like, what else would I say would be a negative that someone should know before they go? It really is just that it's all buses, which again is not real, not really a con. You're still getting free transportation straight to a Disney park and back. It's not like it actually matters, but just something to keep in mind. And I think most people without a stroller don't care. It's really just us.

Tyler

Yeah, that's true.

Jessica

So there you go.

Tyler

Anything else?

Jessica

I don't think so. Like we said, um, just to kind of update you on the trip and how it went. I mean, you'll get to see in the vlogs, but it it went so well. I mean, the weather was generally pretty good. We had a few rainy days, you'll see. Um, but we got to have some good swimming time. I wanted a little more swimming time.

Tyler

But when you go in the spring, I wanted more of everything, but it's just I mean, I know.

Jessica

We we thought about adding on a day or two, you guys, and we were close. I mean, we were looking at flights, but it was spring break time and the cost to change, even just change the flight. Because we're like, we'll just do like two nights at where did we find uh Caribbean Beach, maybe it's pretty inexpensive. We're like, we'll just switch over there anyway.

Tyler

We didn't end up doing it, but the flights went up insanely.

Jessica

Yeah, it just wasn't gonna be worth it.

Tyler

I think there's gonna end up being like nine vlogs from this trip, if I counted correctly. So there's gonna be a lot coming out soon. So it'll be fun. Yeah, lots of good stuff coming out. But there's you know what's amazing? I was actually just re-watching the vlog that, or I'm sorry, the podcast that came out before we left of our trip plans. There's so much that we didn't get to do, and that's the thing about Disney. There's so much to do. And I mean, obviously, with our kids and everything, there's just certain things

Trip Wrap Up

Tyler

that we weren't able to do. We weren't able to stay late. The we went we could have. Well, well, but two different nights we were gonna do the the new nighttime parade in Magic Kingdom. Starlight canceled.

Jessica

Yeah, and we did stay late. That was the hardest. That was a rough night. Not for us, it was rough in that we were all four so sad because we had there were two showings of Starlight. One was I'm gonna say 8:30 and 10:30, whatever. And I I don't know if the 8:30 went on. I think it didn't. I think I thought, oh, well, I think the storm and rain had passed. We had parked, by the way, our stroller. This is genius, because we were like, where is it covered? We didn't have our rain cover because that's the whole thing. But anyway, so we were like, let's go park it under where uh Stitch's Great Escape is in Tomorrowland. Yep, it's totally covered. So we parked it there and just left it and walked around the park. And I was like, it stayed dry during all the rain. So anyway, we were doing different rides, but yeah, we were staying late intentionally to do Starlight. The kids were so tired, we were so tired, but they were so they were wearing their little glowing dresses because it was Felicity's birthday. They were excited, and about what, 10 minutes before the parade, I'm seeing them peel up the tape that they put on the ground for the parade, and I'm like, oh no. So I asked the cast member, she's like, Yeah, they canceled it because of storms.

Tyler

I'm like, so we still have not seen the new nighttime parade.

Jessica

No, we saw it in Disneyland, their version, which is, I think, pretty darn similar.

Tyler

I also awesome. I also did not get my corn dickle.

Jessica

You did not get your corn dickle, and I didn't get my um the ice cream brioche glace, whatever sandwich at Artisan, whatever in France.

Tyler

We did get a lot of the snacks we talked about, though.

Jessica

We did.

Tyler

But those are the two I was probably most excited about, and we didn't get either one of them.

Jessica

But you know what? One of the star snacks was was the you know what we didn't get this trip? Egg rolls, spring rolls, whatever. But we spent star, that cheesecake brown or the cookie dough brownie ice cream sandwich.

Tyler

Oh, an Animal Kingdom. Yeah. Although that one deserves the hype.

Jessica

That was my mouth is watering just thinking about that thing.

Tyler

You and I split one, and that was still plenty of things. It was plenty to see.

Jessica

And the girls split one too, and I don't even think they're neither one of them finished it. I thought about finishing off theirs, and I was like looking at the bones of what was left. I'm like, I don't think so. It was so good. That one, if you're looking for it, is right across from the Starbucks creature comforts in Animal Kingdom. Like it's just a kiosk right across. There was a line. And what's funny is I was waiting the line, and it wasn't too long, but probably longer than what that little stand is used to having. And uh one of the cast members came out and was like, Is anyone just here for the ice cream sandwich thing? I'm like, Oh, and it was everyone.

Tyler

Yeah. Anyway, so yeah, you but you got it really fast because she just had them like ready right now.

Jessica

She's like bling bling bling.

Tyler

Yeah.

Jessica

And it was a snack credit. That's a great use of the snap credit.

Tyler

Yeah, it is, 100%.

Jessica

Anyway, all right. Well, I guess we can hang up the phone now.

Tyler

All right. No, you hang up first.

Jessica

No, you.

Tyler

No, you.

Jessica

Okay.

Tyler

All right, bye. All right, we'll see you guys soon. I hope you guys enjoy the vlogs. I don't know when this comes out versus that, but I maybe soon. If if the vlogs have not come out yet, they will be coming out very soon.

Jessica

And in the meantime, go watch our old vlogs. It really does help us out. We appreciate it. Commenting on them, liking them. You know, we're we're trying to kind of rebuild from scratch what we had built for so many years. And so it it helps us out. If you've got a Disney loving friend, share our channel with them.

Tyler

Now, I've heard I don't know if this is true on YouTube, but we actually saw Phil Rosenthal came to town, and uh, he's the guy who does Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix, which is one of my all-time favorite shows. He co-created Everybody Loves Raymond. Um, anyway.

Jessica

All around lovable guy. All around lovable guy.

Tyler

Yes. Uh, we saw him in Indianapolis, he came on tour, and he was talking about, and again, this was a Netflix, but I have to assume it's probably a similar algorithm on YouTube.

Jessica

Maybe.

Tyler

He said, What Netflix kind of looks at is two things is how long somebody watches something and if they go to the next episode. So he's like, that's how they decide what gets renewed on Netflix. So he's like, anytime it asks, you know, or it lets you go keep going to the next episode, he's like, please always let it go to the next episode because that's the metric they look at to see if they're going to renew on the thing, which actually he's moving to YouTube next year, which is fascinating. He's like a legit TV show and he's moving to YouTube from Netflix. Anyway, different story for different. Yeah, but he was like, now, if you could just go home and turn on my show and just leave it on in the background.

Jessica

Love him.

Tyler

He's like, that would be great. That would help me a lot.

Jessica

So anyway, sounded a lot like him, actually.

Tyler

I watch him a lot. Anyway, all right, that's all. Turn on our vlogs and leave them on in the background. That would be great. Help us a lot. All right, we'll see you guys later. Bye, friends.