Animal Kingdom Villas

[FARBRI]

WE JUST STAYED AT ANIMAL KINGDOM VILLAS IN A ONE BEDROOM. (WIFE AND 2 SONS 4 &2) IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE THE ROOM SEEMED BIGGER THEN THE OTHER DVC RESORTS AND THE VIEW WAS AWSOME. THEY SAY YOU MAY HEAR CONSTRUCTION SOUNDS, BUT WE DIDN'T HEAR A THING AND HARDLY EVEN NOTICED ANY CONSTRUCTION WORKERS.

WE JUST BOUGHT INTO THE DVC IN JAN OF 2006 AT SAROTAOGA SPRINGS. I ONLY WISHED I KNEW THAT THEY WERE OPENING THIS RESORT AND I WOULD HAVE HELD OFF. ( I AM NOT A BIG FAN OF SARATOGA:mad: )

THE ONLY DVC RESORT WE HAVE NOT STAYED AT YET IN DISNEY WORLD IN WILDERNESS LODGE WHICH WE ARE BOOKED TO STAY IN FEB.:cool1:

[jakenjess]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! We saw the model rooms last week when we were down, and I thought they looked much nicer in person than in the pictures I've seen posted. You'll LOVE the VWL!

[AKV707]

Glad to hear that you liked AKV. Can't wait to stay there!

[wildernessDad]

WE JUST BOUGHT INTO THE DVC IN JAN OF 2006 AT SAROTAOGA SPRINGS. I ONLY WISHED I KNEW THAT THEY WERE OPENING THIS RESORT AND I WOULD HAVE HELD OFF. ( I AM NOT A BIG FAN OF SARATOGA:mad: )

I haven't been to SSR yet, but it seems pretty nice to me. I like the fact that it's close to DTD, just a boat ride away. I think that the Adventurers Club is calling me. :laughing:

[byoung]

Thanks for reporting.

[Coach81]

Glad to hear you like AKV, we will be staying there for the first time in May of next year. I cannot wait to see my six year olds face when we get there

[Jaaron2]

We bought in this year to AKV:cool1: and cant wait to stay there:banana: Every time I read a thread like this it just makes me want to get there that much faster.

WE will actually be as SSR in 6 weeks and plan to check out AKV during our trip:banana:

[kespo]

glad you enjoyed AKV. My husband and I loved staying at AKL before we bought DVC. Like you, If we knew they were going to build AKV we would have held off from buying SSR. We did add on when the announced AKV, but would have loved to have all of our points at AKV.

Can't wait to stay in Jan...

[RLRDA]

WE JUST STAYED AT ANIMAL KINGDOM VILLAS IN A ONE BEDROOM. (WIFE AND 2 SONS 4 &2) IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE THE ROOM SEEMED BIGGER THEN THE OTHER DVC RESORTS AND THE VIEW WAS AWSOME. THEY SAY YOU MAY HEAR CONSTRUCTION SOUNDS, BUT WE DIDN'T HEAR A THING AND HARDLY EVEN NOTICED ANY CONSTRUCTION WORKERS.

WE JUST BOUGHT INTO THE DVC IN JAN OF 2006 AT SAROTAOGA SPRINGS. I ONLY WISHED I KNEW THAT THEY WERE OPENING THIS RESORT AND I WOULD HAVE HELD OFF. ( I AM NOT A BIG FAN OF SARATOGA:mad: )

THE ONLY DVC RESORT WE HAVE NOT STAYED AT YET IN DISNEY WORLD IN WILDERNESS LODGE WHICH WE ARE BOOKED TO STAY IN FEB.:cool1:

Well, it sounds like you "need" to do an AKV add-on!! We "needed" to do the same thing! It's such a great resort we wanted to be able to book at the 11 month window at least every other year or so.

We own at Saratoga, too. It's hard for me to say I like or don't like certain resorts. We like every DVC resort we've stayed at for different reasons. But AKV is such a fantastic DVC, for sure.

[twinmom108]

We were just there too. Oct 8-15. We stayed in a 1 bedroom for 4 days then switched over to a studio for 3 days. The tree tops blocked most of our view in the 1 bedroom, and there were hundreds of love bugs (some smashed) on the balcony. Although it seemed dark, we loved the room and decorations.

When we switched to the studio I was afraid it might be a let down after staying in the 1 bedroom. The room was fantastic.:thumbsup2 It was located closer towards the lobby and had a wonderful view. From our balcony we could see giraffes, zebras, a gazelle (that chased one of the zebras), several diff types of oxen and birds. Also there were no love bugs - none the whole time we were in the studio. Made me wonder why we had so many in the other room which was in the same wing further down the hallway. :confused3

We are absolutely happy that we did an addon at AKV it is a great resort. We did take a small excursion to our first Home Resort - VWL. As great as AKV is, VWL is still our favorite and you're going to love staying there.:cool1:

[darby74]

Thanks for the enthusiastic post. We're going to be staying at the AKVs in 8 days and are looking forward to daughter's reaction to the zebras and giraffes (her favorite animals). I stayed at the hotel during a business trip in May and didn't find the construction bothersome then (I was out early and back late though). I'll be sure to post a report once we're back.

[alldiz]

So glad you loved AKV....I can't wait to stay there...

BTW....your gonna loooove WL:goodvibes
Kerri

[justjudy]

Glad to hear you enjoyed your stay at AKV. We were there in September and loved it as well.

[3DisneyKids]

SSR and AKV are our two homes...they are very different from each other and we love them both!

Like you, we were bowled over by AKV! However, I would not want to stay there on every trip...which is why DVC is so awesome! :goodvibes

[dvc4me27]

Does anyone know if it is harder to book a studio then a 1 or 2 bedroom? I've stayed at 2 br's at SSR and had no booking problems in the past. I thought that going in October/earlier November wouldn't be an issue, but I was wrong. I know that waiting until AKL was open for booking might be an issue and when I couldn't get a whole week there I was disappointed but understanding. So then I tried to get a whole week at any DVC resort at the WDW and couldn't get booked anywhere for all Oct/early Nov. I wound up splitting time between AKL and SSR. I've only been a DVC member for a short time. Am I always going to have to book at SSR 11 months out and then change try to change my reservation several months later when I can book at other DVC resorts?

[AKV707]

I am new to DVC as well, but from what I have learned here, it depends on the time of year. I was able to get a studio at OKW for food and wine only a few months out. I booked a 1 br at AKV for next summer at 11 months out. I think that with AKV beiing new, a limited number of villas available and developer points in abundance, AKV is tough to get right now.

[Lauralei]

I own at SSR and understand what you mean by you're not that thrilled with it. It is beautiful but unless you get a GOOD view of DTD there's not much to it. In 2/2006 I wanted "a room with a view" and I was stuck in a room all the way on the other end closer to the West Side. I also got a ground floor which didn't help. This resort depends more than any other on getting a room with a view that you really want. Otherwise its nice but ordinary. I could have stayed offsite in a similar place. :scared:
Last year (2/07) we stayed at WLVillas. I LOVED IT! This time I asked for a ground floor room as close to the lobby as possible. And I got the closest ground floor room. It's really weird though because when we were checking in they wanted to give us a room on the 4th floor and we didn't want it. Then about 1 minute later they had this room, so I don't see why they didn't give it to us in the 1st place. Anyway, the closeness to MK is great. It's nice to ride the boats, the Electric Water Pageant (which I've never seen before) was great, you can walk to FW (my 7 yr old was with me and he had no problem). This really is a favorite of mine!:love::thumbsup2 :love:
This Feb. 08 we are staying at AKVillas, and I am looking forward to it. Glad to hear its so nice. We stayed at AKL with a SV in 2/04 and really liked it. (My DH the most and thats important ).:goodvibes
I have a question. Does anyone know if you can upgrade on check-in? I have a SV room but if they have a Concierge SV available I'd like it. Can you do that? I didn't want to book a Concierge because you can't guarantee a SV and that's what was most important to us. If anyone knows if I can upgrade at check-in or not, please let me know--thanks:thumbsup2
and once again I :love: LOVED:love: WLVillas!:goodvibes

[RLRDA]

I am new to DVC as well, but from what I have learned here, it depends on the time of year. I was able to get a studio at OKW for food and wine only a few months out. I booked a 1 br at AKV for next summer at 11 months out. I think that with AKV beiing new, a limited number of villas available and developer points in abundance, AKV is tough to get right now.

You're probably also going to see higher demand for 1BRs at AKV b/c they accomodate 5 instead of the usual 4 people.

[rigsby25]

Did anyone who has stayed in the 1br at AKV sleep in the chair/bed? Was it comfortable?

[drakester]

I too would love to know the answer to this question.:rolleyes1

[kimberh]

So glad to hear you had a great stay. This is our favorite hotel, so we were equally excited when AKV's became available. Our first DVC stay is May in Concierge and I have never been so excited over a stay!:cool1:

[RLRDA]

Did anyone who has stayed in the 1br at AKV sleep in the chair/bed? Was it comfortable?

When we stayed in a 1BR our 10 year old son slept in the chair bed and he said it was comfortable. As time goes on I'm sure it'll seem too small for him and we'll have our youngest sleep on it.

[twinmom108]

Did anyone who has stayed in the 1br at AKV sleep in the chair/bed? Was it comfortable?

My DS (15) slept on the chair bed for 4 nights. He said he absolutely loved it.

[disneymom8589]

Every time I hear another great AKV report I get more excited for our trip this spring (and glad we did the add-on!) :cloud9:

[twinmom108]

Every time I hear another great AKV report I get more excited for our trip this spring (and glad we did the add-on!) :cloud9:

I bet that once you are at AKV this spring you"ll be even more glad you added on there. On the down side there aren't alot of places to go for a good walk at AKV. I think that once Kidani Village is finished there will probably be several long walkways.

Another reason we're glad we added on there is that we are a family of 5 (with 3 teens) and we won't have to get a 2 bedroom which was way more room than we needed. On our recent trip I went over to SSR to preview the new 1 BDRM for AKV at Kidani Village. Those will have the extra bathroom which will be great for us! I also can't wait to see how the waterpark turns out at Kidani Village. I think my teen DS's will love it. If Kidani Village is completed by spring 2009 then we will plan to go there Summer 2009.

[AKV707]

That is the only drwaback that I see for us at AKV. I agree that when Kidani opens, we can take walks on the path between Kidani and Jambo. Can't wait for July 2008, our first trip there!

[keating]

We just returned from a trip to the new Animal Kingdom Villas. Though our room was nice.....just a word to the wise.....if you plan on using the sleeper sofa, check it out right when you check in and don't wait until the evening to find out it won't pull out. We waited for two hours while person after person from housekeeping and engineering would come to the room and try and figure it out. Long story short....after giving the Manager a piece of my mind he finally moved us to a new room. We went from a Savannah view to a view of the bushes. Now I can say we tried the Animal Kingdom Villas....been there....done that......I'll stay with the Villas at Wilderness Lodge thanks. :confused3

[kimberh]

We just returned from a trip to the new Animal Kingdom Villas. Though our room was nice.....just a word to the wise.....if you plan on using the sleeper sofa, check it out right when you check in and don't wait until the evening to find out it won't pull out. We waited for two hours while person after person from housekeeping and engineering would come to the room and try and figure it out. Long story short....after giving the Manager a piece of my mind he finally moved us to a new room. We went from a Savannah view to a view of the bushes. Now I can say we tried the Animal Kingdom Villas....been there....done that......I'll stay with the Villas at Wilderness Lodge thanks. :confused3

What did the manager or maintenance say the problem was? I have family that are DVC owners, they have just returned... just Sat they were telling me how comfortable the Sleeper sofa was. Sorry your stay wasn't what you were hoping for.

[twinmom108]

just a word to the wise.....if you plan on using the sleeper sofa, check it out right when you check in and don't wait until the evening to find out it won't pull out. We waited for two hours while person after person from housekeeping and engineering would come to the room and try and figure it out. :confused3

We had a similar situation. When we switched from a 1 bdrm to a studio we had to use the pull out sofa too. After checking out of our 1 bdrm we went to Epcot for the day. We got back to AKV around 11:00 pm found out what our room # was, and just wanted to crawl right into bed because we were so tired. My (15 YO) DS tried to open the pull out sofa and couldn't. I tried to help him but I have some physical limitations that makes that hard to do so. After about 15 minutes we called the front desk and they said they'd send someone up right away. After 20 minutes no one came so my son tried to open the sofa again. About 10 minutes later he finally got it open. Someone finally did come but it was more than an hour after we called for help.

Sofa instructions say there is a leather strap that needs to be pulled to open up the sofa. It is not leather but fabric. My literal DS kept complaining that there was no leather strap. LOL:rotfl: The fabric strap was still very difficult to pull to get the bed out. - I couldn't do it. As I said my DS finally got it out but it took some time and alot of braun - maybe because they are so new? Minor inconvenience I wouldn't let it stop me from staying there again. 2008 it will be VWL and back to AKV in 2009 - Kidani Village here we come! :cool1:

[tomandrobin]

Does anyone know if it is harder to book a studio then a 1 or 2 bedroom? I've stayed at 2 br's at SSR and had no booking problems in the past. I thought that going in October/earlier November wouldn't be an issue, but I was wrong. I know that waiting until AKL was open for booking might be an issue and when I couldn't get a whole week there I was disappointed but understanding. So then I tried to get a whole week at any DVC resort at the WDW and couldn't get booked anywhere for all Oct/early Nov. I wound up splitting time between AKL and SSR. I've only been a DVC member for a short time. Am I always going to have to book at SSR 11 months out and then change try to change my reservation several months later when I can book at other DVC resorts?

Don't be mislead by the season types for DVC. Fall is a very high demand time. Points are cheap and DVC members flock to the parks at that time of year. We have booked a room with less then a weeks notice in the past year, and yet other times needed to waitlist at 1 day past the 11 month mark.

For certain times of the year, unit location and unit types, yes you will need book 11 months out.

[Jamie Curci]

We own at BWV and want to try AKV in early December of 2008. With all that I've just read, what are my chances of getting a 5-night studio with a short 7-month window?

Has anyone ever traded points to provide an 11-month window to both sides (if that makes sense)?

[twinmom108]

We own at BWV and want to try AKV in early December of 2008. With all that I've just read, what are my chances of getting a 5-night studio with a short 7-month window?

Has anyone ever traded points to provide an 11-month window to both sides (if that makes sense)?

I own at VWL & AKV and rent out very occasionally. I like to stay at BWV and usually need to rent in order to stay there.

Your chances for booking at 7 months out will probably be better after Kidani Village is opened, Disney is hoping for Spring 2009 because there will be more units available. I'm sure people do trade and probably post on the DVC Rent/Transfer board. Only one transfer is allowed per account per year so either both parties would have to either make the reservation for each other, or one party could transfer points into the other's account and that party could make a reservation for the one who transferred points to their account. Does that make sense?

[pilferk]

We own at BWV and want to try AKV in early December of 2008. With all that I've just read, what are my chances of getting a 5-night studio with a short 7-month window?

Has anyone ever traded points to provide an 11-month window to both sides (if that makes sense)?

Depends on the view/category you want.

So far, those trying to book at the 7 month window have had lots of success with savannah and standard view studios. Not so much with concierge or value studios.

The Jambo conversion piece will be finished by the end of January, according to the DVC FAQ...which means about 1/3 of AKV's units will be on-line. Your chances will, as the previous poster said, probably get BETTER once Kidani comes on line, but I'd bet you've got pretty good odds, provided you're not super picky about view type, at the 7 month window.

[Jamie Curci]

This is definitely helpful, so thank you! We would be looking for a Savanna view and it sounds like a good percentage of the rooms are classified as such.

I still feel like a newbie with respect to point transfers, etc. Since I still have until the end of the December before the 11-month window even comes up, I'll have time to do more research!

[calif disney 1]

Can you please tell me how the pool area is, and if there is anything for young teens to do, while at AKV. We are going in June. Have stayed at BCV, and loved it and all the stuff that comes along with the Boardwalk atmosphere...thanks

[spiceycat]

the pool is very, very nice.

didn't do the slide - but definitely had a nice swim!

the pool is big. but when we were there (this Sept) it was very, very uncrowded.

about 10 people tops in this pool. I would think 100 might be 200 could easily fit.

my niece and her boyfriend came to swim - yea right. I think she spend 5 minutes in the pool. She sun bathed and they walked around and look at the animals.