Review: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas–Jambo House, Page 3

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GRAND VILLAS AT JAMBO HOUSE

Grand Villas at Jambo House sleep 12.

They have three bedrooms (one with a king, and two with two queens) plus a sleeper sofa.

They also have a kitchen, dining room, living room, game room (with a pool table, not the card tables indicated in the floor plan), 3 large balconies, and 4 baths.

Note from the floor plan that two baths are private to bedrooms (the king bedroom, and one of the queen bedrooms) while two others are available to all.

Note also the two entry doors–one to the living room, and one to the queen bedroom area.

All Grand Villas are about twice the size of a Two-Bedroom Villa, while having only one more bedroom.

This makes them in effect 6 bays–a bay being about the size of a Studio.

So a way to think about the livability and design problem of a Grand Villa is that it adds one bedroom but three bays to the size of a Two-Bedroom. So what to do with the other two bays?

One part of the answer is consistent across all Grand Villas–at least one of the two extra bays is used to double the size of the shared kitchen/dining/living space compared to that of a Two-Bedroom Villa.

At first blush, this seems enough, as it doubles this space while adding only 50 percent more capacity.

But as noted on the prior page, the shared space in the Two Bedrooms is too small for their capacity. Just doubling it does not leave enough comfortable chairs in the living room space of Grand Villas for 12, nor in many cases enough room at the dining table for that number.

Most DVC Grand Villas are two-story spaces, and they resolve this issue by having the 6th bay, over the living room, combine a lofted space with a two-story ceiling over the living room.

See the Kidani Village Grand Villa floor plan to the right for an example.

In the lofted space you’ll find a second convertible couch and a TV.

This adds some needed living space, and provides the option for people to sleep in this space without disordering the living room by sleeping on its couch.

Moreover, the two-story ceiling in the living room enables two-story windows, and these add drama to the design.

Unlike at most DVC resorts, at Jambo House, Grand Villas are one story spaces. (BoardWalk Grand Villas are also one story spaces.)

Jambo House Grand Villas use the sixth bay as a game room.  This neither expands living room-style space nor provides an alternate sleeping spot.

With one exception, the layout of the one-story BoardWalk Grand Villas is much better.

(See image at right.)

In the BoardWalk Grand Villas the sixth bay is used to expand the living space.

However, BoardWalk Grand Villas have only three baths, and the master bath is the only one accessible to guests sleeping in the convertible sofa.

Jambo (and Kidani)’s 4 bath layouts are much more convenient.

Despite the fact that I am not keen on the use of the 6th bay as a game room, I still rank Jambo House Grand Villas as the number one option for first time family visitors.

This is partly because the Animal Kingdom Lodge itself is my highest-ranked resort with Grand Villas, and partly because for reasons noted on the first page of this review all things being equal the Jambo House Villas are to be preferred to those at Kidani Village.

And I don’t see the differences between the one and two story options as so material as to overcome Jambo House’s advantages in convenience and kid appeal.

That said, a family with a size or structure that means it will be using the sleeper sofa should carefully compare the Kidani Grand Villa floor plan with that of the Jambo House plan, and make its own call…

(To each of the capacity figures above, you can add one more kid under 3 at time of check in who sleeps in a crib.)

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