Last Updated on November 4, 2022 by Suzy McCullough
We love to eat out. After living in France for 14 years eating out becomes a big part of you. Jamie at 4, I am sure, has eaten out more than most kids have by the time they reach 10. Because we love to eat out I did an awful lot of research into where to eat on our holiday to Florida. I didn’t want to get it wrong!
One restaurant that kept cropping up was Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge. It currently has 4.5 stars on Trip Advisor which is always worth a visit in our books. They serve breakfast (no reservation needed), lunch and dinner (reservations are recommended for both).
A Bit About Sanaa – How to get there – Where is it?
Sanaa is based at Kidani which is part of the Animal Kingdom Lodge resort hotel. Kidani is technically the smaller of the two hotel complexes however having visited them both I prefer Kidani. Not just because Sanaa is there but because I prefer the Savanna there.
If you are staying at another hotel in Walt Disney World you can take a complimentary bus from your hotel to Animal Kingdom Park and then another complimentary bus from Animal kingdom park over to Animal Kingdom Lodge and get off the bus at Kidani.
Also if you are staying at Jambo house there is a complimentary shuttle over to Kidani. They have a car park however I am not sure if restaurant reservations will be charged to park when they bring in their hotel car parking charges later in 2018.
Anyone can book a meal at Sanaa, Kidani. You don’t even need a Disney admission ticket. We booked by logging into My Disney Experience on the Disney World website. Sometimes the reservation times can be limited on the website or the App. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the restaurant is full as not all of the tables can be reserved in this way. Sometimes if you can’t get a reservation it is worth popping by on the day or ringing up to try and book.
On Arrival at Kidani
Allow a little time before your reservation to walk out to look at Kidani’s Savanna. We spotted quite a few animals when we walked out of their main doors. The view from the lookout is better than the view from within the restaurant.
Once you walk into the lobby walk forwards until you come to some stairs. Head on down there and there’s a door to the outside walkway. Sanaa is also down here.
Compare Hotel Prices and Reviews at Animal Kingdom Lodge
Our Lunch Review of Sanaa, Animal Kingdom Lodge
We had only just arrived in Florida the night before and we were all pretty tired. I had factored this into our day and we’d had a chilled morning over at Jambo House, where we were staying. We took the courtesy shuttle bus from Jambo House over to Kidani for our lunch.
This was very efficient and we arrived with plenty of time to do some animal watching. We’d also had a relatively large breakfast so we weren’t especially hungry for our lunch at Sanaa so sadly we didn’t manage the Indian-style bread service. Which I have to say looked amazing. This costs you $21 and you get around 5 different naan breads with numerous dips. I have heard of people just going to Sanaa for this and nothing else.
Sanaa is an African-themed restaurant, not just the menu but the décor as well. Although some of the dishes were more Asian (Indian) than African.
Now for a couple that has lived in France for 14 years, it was a little confusing reading a menu and seeing Entrée and a load of what we thought were expensive prices for a starter. After a little bit more reading we realised that Entrée in the USA actually means main course. Well, that was that figured out haha! Appetizers are the starters which to us means a small in-between course such as an amuse-bouche. Starters, sorry appetizers are priced from $9-15.
We had been advised to request a table by the window so luckily one was available for us. The view was nice however we felt it was a little restricted by pillars and such and it could have been set out a lot better. Not just table positions but the design of the room itself. Anyway, a bird made up for that later on (see below).
Children’s Menu at Sanaa
Jamie was given a large activity and a colouring sheet with crayons. This kept him very busy and very happy. A big difference between Disney World and Universal for us was just this. Every Disney restaurant that we ate at, even at Disney Springs, had colouring. At Universal, we ate at many restaurants and only one had activities for the kids. So thank you, Disney, it was appreciated.
The children’s menu at Sanaa is exceptionally good value for money.
Plus the menus were a much better option. For $11 he had a drink, naan bread cheese pizza and the most amazing brownie. They also had butter chicken or a cheeseburger for $12-13.00.
His dessert was incredible. I dread to think how many calories were in it. Luckily he didn’t manage much of it. It was basically the opportunity to be Picasso as the dessert was set out like a painting with 3 choices of coloured icing to paint on their brownie. He loved it. I think this dish may no longer be available at Saana.
The menu with 2 courses and a drink is also available in the evening for Kids.
Mains at Sanaa
Main meals (Entrees) start at $20 for a Burger, other dishes are priced from $21-32. We both went for a Potjie-inspired dish at $31. You get one curry dish and then you can choose one side dish.
I could not resist ordering a Butter chicken and Mark went for the Goan Seafood curry. I preferred my dish by a long way. It is their most popular dish after all. Mark loved the Paneer Tikka that he had to accompany his and I had an Aloo Masala which was very tasty.
At the end of our meal, a beautiful bird (sorry I’ve no idea what it was) decided to come and stand by our window. Jamie was so happy about this and spent a huge amount of time at the window talking to it. It was a lovely way to finish off a very tasty meal. Would I recommend Sanaa? Absolutely. It is on the slightly higher price bracket for eating at Disney, however, the quality of the food and the ambience matched that.
Please head over here to read our review of Animal Kingdom Lodge – Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge Review, Club Level and you may also be interested in Savanna View at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Is it Worth the Extra?
