This was our third stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in the past year, and it is definitely our favorite of the DVC resorts. This particular trip was with my husband and our two daughters, ages 7 and 11, for the Expedition Everest race weekend.
The only room available with our DVC points was a savannah view deluxe studio. We definitely prefer one bedroom villas, and have stayed in a value one bedroom on previous trips. But being at AKL was more important to us, since the race was at Animal Kingdom park, so we booked the studio. The room was adequate, with a queen size bed and a sofa bed. There's not a lot of extra space when you have 4 people in the room, but the view makes it worth it.
In the morning after our first night, I was trying to buy a croissant in the gift shop for my daughter, and my Magic Band didn't work. I had used it the night before at Epcot, so I knew it wasn't the band and went to the front desk to check it out. The CM looked up our reservation and said, "Oh, it looks like I need to re-scan your credit card since the reservation was cancelled and re-booked." I hadn't done anything of the sort since the night before, so she looked into it a little more and realized that they had overbooked the deluxe studio rooms and were moving us to a one bedroom "if we wanted it."
Of course we did, and it might have ruined us from booking the value one bedroom (that are smaller) in the future. The room was huge, with two full bathrooms, a king size bed, and of course, an amazing view.
The pools at both Kidani Village and Jambo House are spectacular. My kids love the waterslides and the poolside games. They also like the Community Hall, and I do too, because they can sit inside and color or watch a movie, while I sit outside on the balcony and watch the animals! We only ate at the quick-service restaurant on this particular trip, but the dining options are also fantastic.
The only possible downside to this resort is location - it's a long way from everything except Animal Kingdom, and it also can be quite a hike from the lobby or parking lot to some of the rooms.
As I've already said, this is our favorite Disney resort, and this trip didn't disappoint.