Vacations Blog

Animal Kingdom Lodge at Walt Disney World

Despite being a New Englander, I hate winter. I hate snow. I hate cold. My personal list of great things to do in New England during the months of January and February is short—stay inside or get outta Dodge (Yeah, I know Dodge is out west, but you get the idea.)

This winter—for the third time in the past four years—my wife, daughter and I flew south to Florida for a week of winter. With snow coming every weekend and the average temperature around two degrees, we kind of prefer to be where people think an overnight low of 40 is the next ice age.

Lobby of the Animal Kingdom Lodge

My family and I are huge Disneyphiles and started our vacation at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge at Walt Disney World. Like most of Disney’s deluxe resorts, the Animal Kingdom Lodge could be a vacation destination itself. It was built in 2001 as a companion resort to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park.  The six-story building was modeled on African architecture with a semi-circular design, thatched and woven ceilings, and large support beams. Inside, the lobby is huge and includes rich African colors, real African artifacts, and a large mud fireplace with hand-carved chairs surrounding it. We arrived on Christmas night and also saw a four-story Christmas tree. Another great attraction in all of Disney’s luxury resorts is a kids’ seating area with kid-sized chairs and tables around a TV showing classic Disney cartoons—and each kids area is also specially designed to match the theme of the lodge.

Seating around the mud fireplace in the lobby

As beautiful as the building is, the real attraction is the 33-acre wildlife preserve that the lodge is built on. Just outside of the lobby, rock formations lead to savannas and thousands of indigenous African grasses, shrubs and trees. On the savannas, about three dozen different types of animals roam freely. You’ll see ones we all know—like zebras and giraffes. And there are some animals that are less common but that most people have heard of—like impalas, gazelles and wildebeests. But many of the animals are things you’ve never known about (at least I never did)—like Ankole cattle, blesboks, eland and kudu. There are birds too—like cranes, flamingoes, ostriches and storks. Notably absent is the king of the beasts—the lion—for the obvious reason I suppose that it might eat the rest of the population of the savanna. That and there might be some complaints. (Look, kids! Simba is eating Timon and Pumba.)

Giraffes

One of the coolest features of the Animal Kingdom Lodge is that you don’t even have to go outside to see the animals. There are windowed hallways in the lodge that provide views, but there are also balconies in some rooms that look right over the savannas. Before we got there, I was kind of afraid of a giraffe or something sticking its head into our room and eating me during the night. (Closed windows and the fact that an animal is a plant-eater don’t play into my freakish imagination.) In reality, the animals can’t get that close anyway and probably wouldn’t want to. They do get close enough for some fantastic photos though.

Ankole cattle

Aside from animal-watching, there are a few other things to do at the lodge. Themed-activities for kids are scheduled throughout the day. Restaurants and lounges include the African-themed Jiko with a wood burning stove, the African buffet Boma, and Victoria Falls lounge. There’s also a quick-service restaurant with a mix of African-themed choices and the usual burgers, pizza and chicken nuggets on a Mickey plate for the kids. There’s a small health and fitness center, but I didn’t use it (hey, I was on vacation) and an arcade and child care center.

Zebras

The hotel pool, I thought, was kind of small and boring for a luxury Disney resort, but I hear they’re adding another one plus another restaurant when they build Disney Vacation Club villas there. The distance is also a bit far to Disney parks other than Animal Kingdom, but the free transportation for staying at a Disney resort is a bonus. I won’t even attempt to list rates for staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge since Disney bases rates on charts and schedules that even Einstein might take a while to figure out.

Overall I thought Animal Kingdom Lodge was a pretty cool resort. I’d go back, but there are so many other great choices at Disney World that it might be a while before we stay at this one again. Still, we missed a lot of things to do at this resort because we only stayed two nights. Coming up next: where we went on day three of our winter vacation.

Very Merry Christmas Party at Disney!

Sure, the holidays are for family and traveling back to your hometown.  It’s just not Christmas without 13 cousins sharing a bedroom and unspoken tension as the in-laws analyze your gift wrapping abilities.  Right?

It’s no wonder that Disney World is attracting more and more visitors throughout the holiday season.

Many families (including mine) are choosing to use their precious vacation days and time off school to enjoy the warm weather and the enchantment of Disney World.  After all, if Christmas is the season for magic – nobody does magic better than the Walt Disney World Resort!

While Orlando’s largest theme park promises a once in a lifetime experience year round, Disney truly pulls out all the stops for the winter holidays.  You’ll enjoy attractions and sights that are only available for visitors in November and December.

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party – this Magic Kingdom event is not available during regular park hours.  It’s a special evening event on select nights in November and December.

Christmas Lights On The Cinderella Castle

In addition to most of the rides being fully functional, party attendees can also enjoy the evening Christmas parade.  Of course, the biggest difference between this and the usual Magic Kingdom evening parade that is included with regular park admission is that all of the characters and floats are themed in holiday garb.  What you can’t get any other night is free hot chocolate and cookies!

Personally, I think the best thing about Christmas at the Magic Kingdom is the Cinderella Castle glittering with holiday lights.  It’s a constant reminder that I need to convince my husband to buy more icicle lights next year.

Epcot’s Candlelight Processional at the American Gardens Theatre – easily the most faith based of all the Disney Celebrations, this nightly event takes the Christmas concert to a whole new level.  It boasts a 50-piece orchestra and a mass choir of amateur vocalists, just like at home (if your home happens to have a world renowned orchestra).  And of course, the biblical Christmas story is read aloud – by celebrity narrators like Neil Patrick Harris.

If you’re planning to attend one of these shows, prepare to get in line early.  My family arrived an hour before one performance and were the very last people allowed in for that showing.

Why would anyone spend Christmas at Disney?

The Osborne Family Spectacle Of Dancing Lights at Hollywood Studios – this is the most underrated Christmas destination as far as I’m concerned.  What Disney’s web site unenthusiastically describes as holiday light display is the physical personification of the Christmas Spirit.

Based on the free light display an Arkansas man once hosted in his own neighborhood before neighbors sued to have it removed, the Spectacle Of Dancing Lights features an illumination spanning nearly three city blocks and requiring over 20,000 man hours to assemble.  Holiday music keeps time for the blinking displays as crowds of people do nothing more than stand and stare.

But what truly makes this a must-see is the snow.  Several snow machines set loose a swirling snow storm on the city “streets” that is so realistic you’ll see children and adults alike trying to catch flakes on their tongues.  They’ll soon discover the snow is made from soap.

Standing between the two story buildings covered in pulsing lights, listening to the notes of holiday classics and watching the snow fall around you in Florida is, I’m convinced, the closest one can come to knowing what it feels like to be inside a Christmas movie.

Oh, yeah.  Animal Kingdom offers a Jingle Jungle Parade, too.

All pictures taken by Britt Reints.