Walt Disney World has added new refurbishment projects at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge to its calendar, covering both Kidani Village and Jambo House. The freshest addition involves Kidani Village's lobby and surrounding common areas, with work scheduled to begin August 17, 2026, and wrap up in early November — just ahead of the busy Veterans Day holiday stretch.
The project will unfold in phases, each bringing different closures. From August 17 through October 9, the main lobby and primary entrance will be shuttered, with check-in temporarily relocated to the Palace Library. Johari Treasures gift shop closes for the first two weeks of that stretch. Later phases will affect lobby corridors, Community Hall, the Safari So Good Arcade, the laundry room, restrooms, and the outdoor terrace observation deck at various points through November 6.
The exact nature of the work hasn't been disclosed, but the scope — closing the primary entrance and phasing through nearly every area radiating from the lobby — suggests something more substantial than a typical check-in kiosk update. One possibility floated is an underlying infrastructure issue, given how quickly the project appeared on the refurbishment calendar.
This lobby work is separate from an ongoing multi-year room refurbishment already underway across the resort. Kidani Village guest rooms were being redone from October 2025 through May 2026, with Jambo House rooms to follow through January 2027. Both buildings are receiving their first hard goods renovation — full replacement of furniture, flooring, and fixtures — since the Animal Kingdom Villas originally opened between 2007 and 2009, making these among the longest-overdue room refreshes at any Walt Disney World resort.
Guests with stays at Kidani Village between mid-August and early November 2026 should expect noise and altered access to common areas during daytime hours. This story was originally reported by Disney Tourist Blog.
