Deluxe Studio at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge (Jambo House)

Staying in a deluxe studio at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge provides a few upgrades and amenities that you won’t find in standard guest rooms. Deluxe studios are only available at Disney Vacation Club Resorts.

At Animal Kingdom Lodge, there are two separate Disney Vacation Clubs, Jambo House and Kidani Village.

For the sake of this review, we’ll preview the deluxe studio room at Jambo House. This portion of the DVC Resort is located in the main lodge. Jambo House is divided into various room categories, including these deluxe studios.

For reference, Kidani Village is a separate building on the property. Although at Kidani, all the rooms are deluxe villas, there are no standard guest rooms.

Additionally, when it comes to choosing rooms at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, the choices get complicated. Is staying in a standard room going to be enough? Is it worth the cost to upgrade to a savanna view room or a deluxe studio?

Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of the few resorts where we recommend a room view upgrade. The savanna view rooms are hard to top.

It’s a surreal feeling to be able to wake up to animals in your backyard every morning. And you probably don’t want to end your vacation wishing you had spent the extra money for a room upgrade.

However, if you have a park-packed schedule that will leave little time to enjoy the room view during your stay, you still might want to consider the deluxe studio.

Regardless, a stay at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of the most relaxing places to spend your vacation. There’s a reason it tops our list of best deluxe resorts at Disney World.

Deluxe Studio at Jambo House

The deluxe studios at Jambo house have several different view choices. They are as follows:

Savanna View
Pool View
Standard View

We will take a look at a pool view room along with some positives and a few negatives regarding the view. For reference, the main differences between the Disney World Villa Resort rooms and standard guest rooms are the amenities offered.

Related: Disney World Villa Resorts

At the minimum, a deluxe studio will have a small kitchenette. Villa rooms generally come in the following room types:

Deluxe Studio
1 Bedroom
2 Bedroom
3 Bedroom Grand Villa

Our Animal Kingdom Lodge deluxe studio came with a queen-size bed and a sleeper sofa with a queen bed. Two tables make up a coffee table in front of the sofa sleeper. Both roll out of the way to have space for the sleeper.

Additionally, an armoire provides storage, along with a dresser that houses several charging ports at the top.

In the corner, you will find a table with two chairs.

At the time of this stay, this studio had yet to be updated with the newer flooring.

The deluxe studio rooms at Animal Kingdom Lodge all have a balcony. Every room I’ve stayed at, including standard view, has had one. (Balconies are a great place to apply sunscreen in the morning before heading out to the parks.)

Here is the view of the feature pool from my balcony. I am a pool person, so I did enjoy this view. There might be a bit of a drawback here for some, though.

Related: Best Pools at Disney World

During the day, there are quite a few poolside activities for guests. These poolside activities include cast members playing loud music, Disney trivia, and an event coordinator talking on a microphone.

Therefore, if you’re looking for midday peace or need a nap, you might not want to consider this upgrade. I was in my room working one afternoon and was a little surprised at how loud it was with the door shut.

Additionally, the room had a partial Arusha Savanna view. You can see the flamingos behind the pool area if you look closely below. Occasionally, I could catch a glimpse of a giraffe in the evening.

Back inside, you’ll see that a deluxe studio has a small kitchenette. A cupboard on top provides storage for a few mugs, glasses, and plates. In addition, there is a microwave, sink, and coffee maker.

The bottom cabinets had a nice place to tuck away recycle and trash. To the right is a larger than a standard refrigerator with a separate freezer area.

The coffee makers are standard in the villas, so bring along your preferred coffee if you like. However, Joffrey’s coffee is complimentary.

Our deluxe studio kitchenette had a nice prep area. You’ll find a sink, sponge, towel, and dish soap. If you purchase a refillable mug, this is an excellent place to clean them up.

I took a picture of the fridge inside and wanted to note that a studio’s fridge holds more than a standard one does.

The foyer closet provides even more storage space. You will also find the iron, ironing board, and hairdryer tucked inside.

There is a guest bath with a separate vanity area. This one came with a shower and tub combination.

The bath area had a ledge to place personal items over the vanity area.

The bath surround is tile and has a plastic shower curtain. That was a bit of a complaint. I didn’t feel like this curtain was dirty, but I don’t care for shower curtains, in general. I think a solid surface is more guest-friendly.

My main issue with the deluxe studio was the pull-out sofa bed. You will find these in most studios across the Walt Disney World Resort.

For a few days, they are probably fine, but I don’t think they are suitable for an extended stay. I recently had to sleep on one for a week at the Beach Club Villas. It was uncomfortable.

If you are leaning toward a villa resort, you might want to consider Riviera Resort which offers a deluxe studio. Their studio room has a traditional bed that pulls down from the wall. This type of bed is much preferred over the sofa bed.

Related: Disney’s Riviera Resort Review

The sofa bed is probably not a big deal for a three to four-night stay. Anything longer, though, I probably wouldn’t reserve this room if you have to use the couch bed.

If you are looking at deluxe studio villas for comparison, you might want to check out these reviews of the Grand Floridian Villas and Disney’s Boardwalk Villas. And we’ve stayed at the Copper Creek Villas.

Additionally, there’s a review of Bay Lake Tower, which is connected to Disney’s Contemporary Resort. That room is within walking distance to Magic Kingdom and is part of the Magic Kingdom Resorts Area. Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of the layout.

Final Thoughts on the Jambo House Deluxe Studio

For those considering a deluxe studio at Jambo House, I want to add a few thoughts on selecting the room that works best for you. I do not do this for every resort, but I think it’s appropriate given so many choices.

First and foremost, I suggest looking at accommodations within your budget. And then I would take into consideration how much time you’ll spend in the room.

I would reserve a deluxe studio room with a savanna view for a party of one or two. It’s nice to have the extra amenities with this room, like the kitchenette area.

These extra amenities might help save the cost of a few meals during your vacation. And it’s a plus to have the ability to prepare small meals in the room.

You’ll be able to prepare simple breakfasts in the morning and reheat any leftovers you bring back to the room. But, of course, you’ll want to keep that sofa bed in mind if you have a larger family.

Overall, the savanna view is worth the upgrade if you can make it work with your budget. There are not many places you can stay that provide these views.

With that being said, for those who are budget conscientious, don’t let reserving a standard view keep you from staying here. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge offers a large number of public viewing areas for guests to sit and take in the views of the savanna.

All of our articles for the Animal Kingdom Lodge are available here. Or you might enjoy one of the following:

Make sure to visit our complete list of Walt Disney World Resort reviews if you are trying to pick out a hotel for your next vacation.

Make sure to leave me a comment below with your thoughts. Have you stayed at a deluxe studio at Animal Kingdom Lodge before? Is this one of the room types you are considering, and if so, why?