A few animal kingdom villas questions

[dalto]

I am planning to book a 1 bedroom villa at the animal kingdoms in November for the first part of a split stay.

I have been doing a bunch of research and it seems there are various pros and cons between the jambo house and the kidani village.

I still have a couple of questions that I have not been able to find answers anywhere on. If someone with experience could help me I would really appreciate it.

1 - Is there a difference between the views of the animals you will see from the Kidani and the jambo?
2 - Since the Villas in the jambo house are all on the 5th floor or higher does that prevent you from getting a good view of the animals?
3 - I understand that the parking at the kidani is under the hotel. Do you still have to walk to the lobby or are there elevators from the parking garage straight up into the hotel?
4 - I have read that it is a long walk from the kidani to the main lodge. Is it easier to drive if you have a car?

Thanks in advance and sorry for all the questions!

 

[JenSop]

I've stayed four times in villas at Jambo, but have walked over to Kidani plenty of times. It's about a ten minute walk.

We've never felt like our view was lacking from the 5th floor at Jambo, however, staying at Kidani would give you the possibility of a lower floor.

Most of the savanna views at Kidani are going to be of the Sunset Savanna. We had Sunset Savanna on one of our Jambo House stays and really liked it.

 

[simba20]

I am planning to book a 1 bedroom villa at the animal kingdoms in November for the first part of a split stay.

I have been doing a bunch of research and it seems there are various pros and cons between the jambo house and the kidani village.

I still have a couple of questions that I have not been able to find answers anywhere on. If someone with experience could help me I would really appreciate it.

1 - Is there a difference between the views of the animals you will see from the Kidani and the jambo?
2 - Since the Villas in the jambo house are all on the 5th floor or higher does that prevent you from getting a good view of the animals?
3 - I understand that the parking at the kidani is under the hotel. Do you still have to walk to the lobby or are there elevators from the parking garage straight up into the hotel?
4 - I have read that it is a long walk from the kidani to the main lodge. Is it easier to drive if you have a car?

Thanks in advance and sorry for all the questions!

We've stayed at Kidani 3 times, however I can only answer questions 3&4
3 -- Yes there are elevators that take you up to the lobby and to your floor.

4 -- You have several options for getting over to Jambo
a) Walk
b) Hop on any park bus. The park busses come to Kidani first them stop at Jambo. To return to Kidani, you then use the Downtown Disney bus
c) shuttle van -- we were there in April and they were running a shuttle van back and forth. Don't know how long this will continue.
d) drive

 

[RocketEAR99]

c) shuttle van -- we were there in April and they were running a shuttle van back and forth. Don't know how long this will continue.

Yeah, I've stayed there twice. No shuttle van either time. But the last time was back in January, so maybe it's a new thing? It's not a bad idea.

 

[cvjw]

I've stayed at both, and will answer #1 and #2 - from our views at Jambo House 5th floor, savannah view room. We were on the Arusha Savannah at JH, 5th floor, directly across from the lobby, backed up to the Sunset Savannah. We hardly saw any animals at all on the Arusha Savannah. We walked past the viewing area to the Sunset savannah everyday going to our room, and it was covered with animals. I would request Sunset Savannah at JH. I did think that being on the 5th floor hampered our ability to see the animals at JH - maybe that is because the savannah seems much smaller on Arusha than it is on the Sunset savannah. We also had a 5th floor villa at KV, and felt that we could see the animals fine from our room, there just weren't many animals to be seen where our room was.

 

[momtoejanda]

I am planning to book a 1 bedroom villa at the animal kingdoms in November for the first part of a split stay.

I have been doing a bunch of research and it seems there are various pros and cons between the jambo house and the kidani village.

I still have a couple of questions that I have not been able to find answers anywhere on. If someone with experience could help me I would really appreciate it.

1 - Is there a difference between the views of the animals you will see from the Kidani and the jambo?
2 - Since the Villas in the jambo house are all on the 5th floor or higher does that prevent you from getting a good view of the animals?
3 - I understand that the parking at the kidani is under the hotel. Do you still have to walk to the lobby or are there elevators from the parking garage straight up into the hotel?
4 - I have read that it is a long walk from the kidani to the main lodge. Is it easier to drive if you have a car?

Thanks in advance and sorry for all the questions!

1. Cant speak for jambo but at Kidani last fall we saw no animals from our balcony. We didnt spend time out there but my kids checked every morning before we left and every evening when we got back and saw nothing. I was told that because it was "new" the animals were less adventurous. I dont think I believe that but I will throw it out there.
2. I dont think that the height would make the difference
3. didnt park...sorry
4. It isnt far but one evening we wanted a few snacks..my DH took a cab from one side to the other to save time.

Kidani (and Jambo) are beautiful. The rooms were spacious and clean. We loved the 1 bdrm with 2 bathrooms. #1 may sound like we didnt enjoy ourselves but we really did. I just dont know that I would pay the extra for the savannah view again.

 

[pas130]

One of the pros of Kidani over Jambo is the parking. You park under the building (when you check in the CM will show you on the map which section is closest to your villa) and then take the parking elevators straight up to your floor instead of having to walk all the way from the lobby. We found it easy to park there as compared to Jambo where we were far down the hill in the self park lot, and our suite was a hike from the lobby. Don't get me wrong I loved both places And there's MANY animal viewing areas while you walk the halls We were there in Aug 2010 and there was a shuttle between resorts, and a walking path (but it seems like quite a distance to walk)

 

[jdmn2010]

I stayed at Kidani in January and there was a shuttle to and from Jambo. The good thing about it was that you could put your stroller in the back without having to close it. The bad thing was that it was unpredictable when it would be there and one time the shuttle van drove right by me when I was waiting and I had to wait until she drove back around. We did walk sometimes and it was about a 10 minute walk, which wouldn't have been bad except that my room in Kidani was at the near end of the hallway so it was a 10 minute walk just to get to the lobby of the hotel and then another 10 minutes to get to Jambo. After all the walking in the parks, we were tired already. Our view was terrific...tons of animals day and night. The one thing I didn't count on though was my son getting sick and having to spend more time than expected at the hotel with no quick serve restaurant to feed him. All of a sudden, the 20 minute walk from hotel room to Jambo for food with a sick kid became a very long trip.

 

[LilGMom]

We've never had a Savannah view but I can comment on questions 3 & 4.
#3 - The under the building parking at Kidani is wonderful. There are different sections (Timon, Zazu, Pumbaa, & Rafiki) and you'll be told when you check-in which section you should park in. Each parking section will put you close to a section of rooms so you don't have to walk through the lobby to get to your room or ever if you don't want.

#4 - The time it takes to walk to Jamob can vary depending on where your room is. If you are closer to the pool and lobby it'll be closer to ten minutes if you are closer to tennis courts and Jambo it'll be closer to seven minutes. It isn't a bad walk since there is a sidewalk the entire way and it is a good time for kids to hunt for lizards and other wildlife.

You'll love having two full bathrooms in a Kidani one bedroom and the tub is . I'm 5'10" and was able to completely lay down in the tub and not have to bend my legs to be fully submerged while my head was on a bath pillow. that tub!!!

 

[Pakey]

Our walk from lobby to lobby was 7 minutes each time.

 

[dalto]

Thanks everyone!

I appreciate the feedback.