Animal Kingdom Lodge

We’ve posted photos and video for Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, Contemporary Resort and Fort Wilderness Resort to the photo gallery.

Links to the videos can be found here.

In the next few days we expect to see Disney begin asking more guests with reservations at the Animal Kingdom Lodge to move to other properties. Families with July and August reservations seem to be affected most (we’ve not heard anything about September).

Many families will be asked to move to Saratoga Springs, and there’s always the option of cancelling the trip and getting a full refund on deposits. It’s not clear whether any other resorts are available. We’ve also heard that Jiko and Boma may still be open during the summer.

We’ve gotten word that Animal Kingdom Lodge, for all intents and purposes, will be closed July 9th to September 1st, 2007, while Disney rennovates and adds rooms for the DVC villas.

Some room categories will remain operational, but most guests have been relocated to other resorts.

A new children’s program has opened at Animal Kingdom Lodge on Saturday from 1-4pm. “Bush Camp” will bring kids on a tour of the Lodge’s Savannah and culminate in a meet and greet with a Lion King character. Cost $70 plus tax.

The new Animal Kingdom Lodge DVC has been confirmed by the Disney company and begin construction work soon. It will constructed in two phases with the first involving the rennovation of some the existing rooms in the resort, followed by the second with a new wing of the resort. More details will follow as we learn more about the project.