The Pools at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge has two of the most serene pools around! However, anyone planning a stay here will need to know that the pools at the Animal Kingdom Lodge are a little different from the other Disney World Resorts.

In this article, we’ll look at the setup for the pools at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort. For reference, the resort is divided into two separate hotels.

The first is Jambo House, which is the main building and home to the Uzima Springs Pool. The second is Kidani Village, a separate Disney Vacation Club Resort with its own pool, the Samawati Springs Pool.

Below is the Uzima Springs Pool, which faces the Uzima Savanna at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. This pool is the larger of the two pools between the resorts that make up the property.

Here are a few facts about the Uzima Springs Pool at Jambo House:

11,000 square feet in size
234,980 galloon pool
Has a 67′ water slide
Zero-Entry
Has a lounge and bar
2 whirlpool hot tubs available
1 small kiddie pool

As I mentioned above, the pool situation at Animal Kingdom Lodge is slightly different from the other resorts. That’s because most of the resort’s property is made up of savannas, which are home to African animals.

Therefore, Animal Kingdom Lodge doesn’t have any quiet or leisure pools like the other resorts at Walt Disney World. However, the feature pools at both resorts more than make up for it.

Seriously, where else can you take a swim, hop out of the pool, and walk a couple of feet away to see a giraffe hanging out? I’m not for sure either.

Anyway, the feature pool at Animal Kingdom Lodge is tremendous in size. And the setting is serene and peaceful, with all of the tropical plantings surrounding the area.

Here is the waterslide at the Uzima Springs Pool.

And here’s a photo of the platform you or your child must climb to access it. This one has a mild amount of steps with a break about halfway up.

And the picture below shows the bulk of the curve on the way back down.

Most children won’t be afraid to tackle this slide since it’s not high up.

Below is a view from the opposite side where the slide drops out into the pool. A lifeguard is positioned nearby. Additionally, there’s plenty of room for parents to wait on their children at the bottom.

I took this photo so you could see the depth of the pool where the waterslide comes out is 3′ and 5″ (3 feet and 5 inches).

Tropical landscaping surrounds the pool area.

And here is Uzima Springs running from the pool area out toward the savanna.

My favorite part of the whole area is the private whirlpool spas. They are both separate from the pool area and fenced off privately. I like this area so much because it’s rarely crowded.

You do kind of have to look for them.

Life jackets are available at the pools for children. There is no charge to use them.

Additionally, the Animal Kingdom Lodge pool has a small kiddie pool. This kiddie pool is in an enclosed area separate from the main pool. There is plenty of seating inside the fenced space.

If you can’t tell, the pool is extremely shallow. I stepped in one day, and it just barely covered my ankle. The water’s temperature was relatively warm given the shallow depth.

The Uzima Springs Pool Bar sits on the outskirts of the pool. Anyone visiting the resort can access the pool bar, whether you’re staying there or not.

Here is a photo of the menu.

The Lava Smoothie is one of their popular non-alcoholic beverages. It’s been a while since I tried the smoothie.

I remember it to be refreshing but on the sweet side of things.

Guests of both Jambo House and Kidani Village can use either of the resort pools. However, there is a bit of a trek between them.

Before we wrap things up, I wanted to go over a few facts about the Samawati Springs Pool on the Kidani Village side of the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Here are the most important details:

4700 square foot pool area
118,138 gallon pool
128′ water slide
Zero-depth entry on one side
Has a lounge and bar
Has Uwanja Camp (a water playground

The Samwati Springs Pool is under refurbishment between January 2022–April 2022. It will be closed during this time. Updates will be available here on Disney’s site.

Guests of the Kidani Village will have to use the Uzima Springs Pool during the refurbishment.

Since I originally wrote this article, we’ve revisited the resort and provided a separate article covering the Samawati Springs Pool at Kidani Village. The pool area is tremendous and offers a fantastic waterslide plus three different water play areas for children.

In addition, if you’re family plans to utilize the pool several times during your vacation, you might like to check out our guide to the best pools at Disney.

Related: Best Pools at Disney World

For more information, all of our articles for Animal Kingdom Lodge are listed here. Or you might enjoy one of the following:

Or you might enjoy some of our best of the best articles that include this resort:

In the comments: What are your thoughts on the pools at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge? Do you consider the pool when planning your vacation?

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