What are those structures at Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House?

[Brandis]

Every time I look at a satellite image of AKL Jambo House on Google Maps or see a balcony photo with those corral like structures in the savanna, I wonder what their use is. At first I thought their are like emergency assembly points, since in some areas of the hotel, if you use an emergency exit, there is no other place to get away from the building than the savanna and they probably wouldn't want guest stumbling around there with the animals. So the guests could evacuate to those fenced in areas outside of the hotel. But then, when I looked at Kidani Village, there are also parts of the building which are enclosed by savanna on all sides and there are no such corrals. So my guess is probably wrong. Any idea what those areas are used for? (Circled in red for better visibility)

 

[NicoleLarson]

Yes, those are the "people pens" for exactly what you are describing. Kidani doesn't have them because it has an underground parking garage (that opens to the outside) that runs the entire length of the resort. Just FYI the rooms above those people pens are called standard view. So it is possible to get a great Savanna view and only pay for a standard.

 

[Brandis]

Thanks! Didn't think of the underground garage at Kidani. Also didn't realize that the underground garage goes all the way to the end of the building on the left side.

 

[Brandis]

On a related note, the artificial pond behind Pandora at Disney's Animal Kingdom seems to have the form of a guitar. Is there a story behind that or was this just some inside joke by the imagineers. I once tweeted Joe Rohde about it but he didn't react to it. Fun fact, by the way: On the left of the big white building is a huge cell phone antenna (circled in red), disguised as a tree, because it is visible from some guest areas and would spoil the illusion of being in a place far away If you turn Google Maps into 3D mode and tilt the landscape horizontally, you can see how high that tower is compared to the real trees behind it.