All Star Movies vs. Jambo House

mshanson3121

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 16, 2015
We are looking at 5 nights in September. We can stay in a standard room at All Star Movies for $660 or we can rent DVC points from David's for a value studio in Jambo House for $748.

My kids will be 9 & 12, and one in particular, is passionate about animals and conservation. On the other hand, both have seen photos of ASM and love the decor.

Which would you choose? What are the "perks" of Jambo? Are there any extra animal encounters etc?
 
Jambo. Sana’a is awesome, so being next door to there is always a perk to me (actually I stay in Kidani so Sana’a is in the same building).
I like that AK is all enclosed in one building (well technically two, but a van will bring you back and forth) so if it is raining it isn’t a pain to get to food or anything.
 
We are looking at 5 nights in September. We can stay in a standard room at All Star Movies for $660 or we can rent DVC points from David's for a value studio in Jambo House for $748.

My kids will be 9 & 12, and one in particular, is passionate about animals and conservation. On the other hand, both have seen photos of ASM and love the decor.

Which would you choose? What are the "perks" of Jambo? Are there any extra animal encounters etc?
You won't be renting points for five nights in September in a value studio because those go quickly at 11 months out. You are already at nine months out. You might be able to get a standard studio, but not a value.
 
I've stayed at both. Jambo House hands down!! Movies is fine, cute outside decor, but we hated the food court. DH says never again. I can't imagine staying there with our kids, it would feel very crowded to me. AKL is amazing and has great food options both at Jambo and next door at Kidani.

Both AKL buildings have activities - animal chats, fire with s'mores, etc. There's a big board with daily activities, and some of them are "bead activities", where you earn beads as you complete the activity so you can string them together.

My kids have actually never been with me while staying at AKL (a solo visit for me at Jambo, and a couples only trip with DH at Kidani), but they love the resort when we've been there to check out holiday decorations and for lunch at Sanaa.
 


I've never stayed at Jambo House, but after my 2 night stay in the Mighty Ducks, I say go to Jambo! I'm sure it's a much nicer place and worth the extra money.
 
I've stayed at both. Jambo House hands down!! Movies is fine, cute outside decor, but we hated the food court. DH says never again. I can't imagine staying there with our kids, it would feel very crowded to me. AKL is amazing and has great food options both at Jambo and next door at Kidani.

Both AKL buildings have activities - animal chats, fire with s'mores, etc. There's a big board with daily activities, and some of them are "bead activities", where you earn beads as you complete the activity so you can string them together.

My kids have actually never been with me while staying at AKL (a solo visit for me at Jambo, and a couples only trip with DH at Kidani), but they love the resort when we've been there to check out holiday decorations and for lunch at Sanaa.

What are the "animal chats"?
 


What are the "animal chats"?

At certain times of day, an animal specialist will be outside and give a talk about some of the animals on the savanna.

There are also cultural representatives who talk about their countries and culture, and one who teaches kids (or anyone who wants to, even adults!) how to play the drums. It seemed like there was always something going on!

You'd have to check the resort schedule for the month to know for sure what they have planned.

Here's the Daily Adventures board from our trip last New Year's Eve. This is the one from Kidani, but there's one at Jambo too.

One of my favorite things was the Daily Adventures board, posted outside of the Community Hall





 
Per your deleted question - Standard villas and value villas are two different booking categories at Jambo House. Kidani doesn't have value villas. The value villas tend to be about three feet shorter in depth and are a hard four for occupancy in the studio and one bedroom villa. They may be located all over Jambo House. Standard villas are usually pool view at JH. But some may be partial savanna view, like near the people pens and partly blocked by something. Value villas require fewer points than standard. Standard require fewer points than savanna.
 

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