The #Jambogate Saga: What’s Going on With Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House?

With the recent news of Animal Kingdom Lodge-Jambo House not reopening with the rest of the DVC Resorts, many members have been scrambling to change their plans or decide what to do. Many of us took the list of DVC Resorts listing Kidani Village as opening with Jambo House noticeably absent as all the proof we needed. Others were told by member services that it would not open June 22 with no known date of when it will open.

However, around 11 am today-Wednesday, June 10th, it started getting noticed by members that Jambo House reservations were back up on the DVC reservation site with lots of openings starting June 22 and onward including lots of value studios and even club level. This goes in contrast to Disney’s announcement of club level being unavailable during the initial reopening timeframe.

So what is going on with Jambo House or as comically coined by DVC Fan Member, Jason Herbert, #Jambogate? Is this a glitch in the system? It wouldn’t be the first time we have seen odd glitches. Is Jambo House opening up after all? We did get word this morning that Major League Soccer is most likely heading to Disney’s Swan & Dolphin Resort. We still are speculating about the NBA’s accommodations. This is all very mysterious with DVC’s lack of communication and silence on the matter glaringly disappointing leaving DVC members with nothing but guesses.

I decided, along with several other DVC Fan members, to contact member services. After a long 45 minute wait to see who could get through first (with some pretty decent Disney hold music), we received a variety of responses. Member Kathleen Renee was told by a member service agent that it “was not a glitch.” Member Ashley Bahr said ” my CM on the phone said basically the same info as always, they don’t exactly have an opening date, they are currently canceling reservations there up to July 4. However, the only difference in the last week is now you are now able to book unlike before.” My very kind and helpful agent told me that the resort wasn’t opening originally because of it being mixed-use with DVC and hotel and that Disney was not going to open the hotel at that time. She then put me on hold to get more information. While jamming out to “Let It Go” on hold, I decided to book a value studio in August (just in case we get lucky and our Aug. 3 cruise does set sail). She came back on and I let her know I was now booked at Jambo House. With a reservation at stake, she decided to keep digging so back on hold I went. Somewhere around Rapunzel singing about when she would be able to get out into the world again (I feel you, Rapunzel), my agent returned after an additional 25 minutes on hold and said that she “got clarification that anything booked after the 10th of July is good for right now and anything before will most likely get moved.” Although she did also say they still didn’t have a reopening date.

A lot of the answers we are getting still seem to not give us much information on what is going on. We had members being told yesterday it wouldn’t be open until late August, others being told July, and then today we have the reservations back up in starting in June. It doesn’t make sense to me that they would open up reservations if they would need to then find other resort openings to move them too. Let us know in the comments what you think about this very odd #Jambogate situation!

Stay tuned to DVC Fan, the DVC Fan Facebook Group, and The DIS for more information as it becomes available.