Welcome to our latest roundup of What’s New at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge!

We have a bunch of menu changes and merchandise updates to tell you about, so let’s get started!

Animal Kingdom Lodge Food Update

The Mara

Jambo House’s quick-service restaurant, The Mara, has updated its menu with Disney’s new plant-based logos and new vegetarian items. Safari Bobotie, a meat-free egg and sausage dish with savory mushrooms, onion and spinach served with Chakalaka sauce is now available for breakfast along with Breakfast Quinoa and Steel-cut Oatmeal.

Meanwhile, we saw The Mara’s grab and go cooler was stocked with many meat-free offerings as well including a Plant-based Vegetable Wrap for $9.99.

There was also a similar Chickpea Salad Wrap for $9.99. Even folks who aren’t vegetarians can enjoy these tasty veggie wraps as a light meal or snack!

To accompany the wraps, we saw several vegetarian sides including Cauliflower Salad for $3.99…

…and Chickpea Salad for $3.99.

And we can’t forget one of our favorite sides — Tabbouleh Salad for $3.99!

We also saw two Dairy-free Yogurts were available for $3.19 including peach…

…and vanilla bean! Grab some fresh fruit to go with ’em, and you’ve got yourself a nice, healthy snack!

Read more about Disney’s plant-based and vegetarian menu initiative here!

Sanaa

Hopping over to Kidani Village, we saw Sanaa’s menu had also been updated with plant-based items.

Vegetarian appetizer options at Sanaa include potato and pea Samosas with tamarind mango chutney and a Salad Sampler made with black-eyed peas, watermelon, pickled fennel, and beets.

Main course vegetarian offerings include your choice of “Harvest” Potjie-inspired curries. You can select either Chickpea Wat, Aloo Masala, Lentil Dhal, or Cilantro-Coconut Vegetables. All are served up hot over scented basmati rice.

During our trip to Animal Kingdom Lodge Jiko — The Cooking Place and Boma hadn’t updated their menus yet with plant-based signs, but we’ll keep you posted as soon as they do!

Animal Kingdom Lodge Construction Update

Jambo House

While strolling around Animal Kingdom Lodge we noticed some workers on cherry pickers just outside of a few of the resort rooms. To us, it didn’t appear to be any sort of construction — just a freshening up of Jambo House’s paint job.

Kidani Village

Meanwhile, over at Kidani Village, major construction was happening just outside of the lobby in the animal viewing area. We could see several workers climbing on the massive scaffolding structures. Surprisingly, some animals were still nearby and visible even with all the commotion.

It appears some of the Animal Kingdom Lodge’s feathery residents were a little curious about all the noise and excitement going on!

Once they saw what they needed to see, they didn’t seem too interested or bothered by all the clambering sounds of construction.

Animal Kingdom Merchandise Update

Zawadi Marketplace

Next, we headed over to Zawadi Marketplace where we saw this impressive selection of Halloween merchandise! 

The store was nicely decorated for the spooky season with the displays brimming with Mickey and Minnie Halloween plush dolls for $15 and other home accessories!

How cute is this embroidered Kitchen Towel Set featuring Mickey and Minnie! Usually, we can justify buying these types of souvenirs for ourselves — I mean, who doesn’t need more kitchen towels? Plus they’re on sale — only $15 for a limited time!

We also spotted these adorable Halloween Villian Aprons for $25.

We love the bright fuchsia pink and black combo! We can’t wait to throw it on and bake up some Halloween goodies!

Johari Treasures

Over at Kidani Village, we stopped by Johari Treasures to see what new Disney Vacation Club swag we could snag! We spotted this new DVC Beach Towel for $29.99 with a very relaxed-looking Mickey!

As well as these new Disney Vacation Member Tote Bags for $44.99, perfect for throwing our beach towel in!

Johari Treasures is full of surprises! We saw this basket of Special Limited Edition Pins for $17.99! Some featured Winnie the Pooh and friends while the other was a Magic of Honor Kilimanjaro Safari pin! SO COOL!

While we were there, Johari Treasures was offering a special promotion — you could buy a Lion King Tumbler with any purchase for only $10! Sign us up!

Some of our favorite Animal Kingdom Lodge offerings are the unique, hand-carved wooden animals they carry. Johari Treasures has a wide selection of such creatures including these too-cute-for-words Meerkats for $44.99. 

Animal Kingdom Lodge Entertainment Update

We were lucky enough to catch Celebrate Africa Day events during our most recent trip to Animal Kingdom Lodge! There were many cultural ambassadors present as well as four stations set up for you to visit and learn about African culture, languages, flags, foods, agriculture, and more!

There was even singing and dancing — such a fun experience to participate in! Plus there was gorgeous beadwork jewelry on display…

…and face painting which was very popular with the kids and young adults! Isn’t she such stunning beauty?!

We’re working on a full story of our Celebrate Africa Day experience, so check back for more information on this special event soon!

Kidani Village 

Over at Kidani Village, there was an advertisement for their African-inspired Kidani Art Tour in their lobby.

Well folks, that’s all for this installment of What’s New in Animal Kingdom Lodge –until next time!

Have you ever been to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge? If so, let us know about your experience in the comments below!