So after our pleasant, relaxing morning, we packed up enough stuff for our one night at AKV, kissed the doggies good bye and headed up the road to Disney World. Grandma and Grandpa followed in their car as they would be heading back to their house for the night.
We had never been to either of the Animal Kingdom Lodge properties before and I wasn't sure what to expect. For some reason, the concept of the resort never appealed to me. I have no idea why. Maybe I wasn't sure that Disney could mix the wilds of Africa with a resort hotel.
WRONG.
They did an amazing job with both of these places. I don't know why I would ever doubt Disney.
The resort is lush, clean and offers views like these:
We arrived a bit after lunch time and got checked in. Instead of heading straight for the food, we walked around a bit. Hunger soon took over and we got on a bus to go over to Jambo House. That would be my biggest drawback of Kidani Village - no counter service
The walk to Jambo House didn't look to bad, but with the kids and grandparents, we opted for the 3 minute bus ride.
We quickly found The Mara counter service restaurant. The kids got chicken nuggets, Grandpa got a burger and Bambi and I each got a Turkey Ciabatta sandwich. (Grandma wasn't very hungry and just "helped" the kids with some of their fries)
I wish I had taken pictures of the turkey sandwiches. For $8, you got a very large and very tasty sandwich. You could get fries or couscous. I was feeling adventurous and got the couscous. I told the lady taking our order that I was pretty hungry and that I was wondering if only two cous-es would be enough. My notes say this is when Bambi rolled her eyes and walked away, but that can't be right. Can it?
Anyway, with food in our bellies, we headed outside and right into the restrooms to change into our swim suits. And then:
Too tell you the truth, I wasn't overly impressed with the pool at Jambo House. It was nice, the slide was decent, and it was certainly large, but I wasn't blown over by it. Maybe because our last two stays were at the Beach Club Villas and Storm Along Bay spoiled us?
After an hour or so in the pool and on the slide, we decided to explore a bit more. We walked around the Savannah viewing area at Jambo House for a bit, then caught the bus back to Kidani Village.
Grandpa and I left the women and children so we could meet Bambi's brother, Bill, over at Disney's Lake Buena Vista golf course. We waited until after 3, when the rates got (ever so slightly) cheaper. Still much more than I would usually pay for golf, but it is vacation, right? I just wish I had remembered the camera. This is a beautiful course, winding around Saratoga Springs and Old Key West resorts. Some of the villas are just a few feet off of the fairways - a fact that we readily exploited by peppering them with golf balls. #7 even has an island green, which Grandpa was actually able to reach by skipping his ball off the water. Show off.
Meanwhile, back at AKV Bambi, Grandma and the kids were exploring our resort and swimming in that pool. It has much more to offer and the kids had a great time. There is no photographic proof of this, as the battery in the waterproof camera died shortly after getting back to Kinadi. They on their way over to look at more animals, they stopped into the community room to make sun catchers.
Madison decided to sit in on a drum session.
And finally, sunset from our balcony. We had a standard view room which over looked the lobby drive up area and the bus stop. We'll splurge for a Savannah view when we come back in December.
Meanwhile, back at the golf course: We got through 12 holes before we had to call it due to darkness - and hunger. We debated at bit and didn't want to do Mara again, so we decided to pick up the folks back at AKV and eat at Cornado Springs since is had a nice variety of food and was close.
I'm pretty bad at food porn. Mostly because by the time we get around to finding some food, I'm to hungry to dig out the camera.
After dinner, we bid the grandparents and Bill adieu and retired to our studio room. Both kids wanted to sleep with mommy, which was fine with me - I got a bed to myself. Unfortunately, it was a pull out couch. The pull outs at Saratoga Springs and Beach Club were nice, but this one as not comfortable at all. I did eventually drift off to sleep, with visions of tomorrow's visit to Magic Kingdom dancing in my head!
That's great. Did you leave out the part where your wife starts throwing blunt objects at him?
Hmmm, perhaps I shall send him in to do my dirty work more often. 
Reminds me of our car rides down to Florida with the dog and the kids.
