We are here at Kidani in a 1BR overlooking the Pembe Savanna. We watch lots of antelope, some Okapi, and two crazy cranes who LOVE their keeper and chase her around on her golf cart. The keeper talked to us for quite some time as we watched her do feedings from our 3rd floor balcony.
We ate at Boma yesterday but stayed in before and after as it was raining most of the afternoon and evening. Looking a bit rainy again tonight. Oh well.
We are long time DVC members but never stayed at AKV until now. I am amazed and delighted at the size of the room, the two bathrooms, extra chair-bed. I was expecting a compact layout similar to BWV, GCV and SS.
I just wish it were not so far away - my bus trip to MK took 45 min and so did the trip from DD back to here this afternoon.
So far we LOVE
-room size
-extra fold out single bed (the 2 teenage girls were delighted) and still enough room to get around (BWV/SS/BCV always cramped by fold out bed)
-views of savanna and quiet outside!
-atmosphere
-pool
-parking under building - convenient to get stuff in/out and keeps car cool
-plenty of outlets for chargers
Neutral
- long walk to room with no upside such as a shorter walk to bus or Studios like at Boardwalk
Dislike
- Distance between Jambo and Kidani and waiting for transportation that is often full so you wait 2 vans (too long to walk for some)
-need full counter service at Kidani at lunchtime
- Need food that is not all curried up at Kidani
- 45 min transportation to MK and DD
We also went to the Sunset Mingle. It's not just for DVC, anyone can sign up. They made a big deal about squeezing us when we arrived Wednesday at 2pm to sign up.. but they actually had 2 groups. Ours was the smaller with about 30 people signed up but 20 showed up. They had WAY too much food for us but the food and drink were delightful and Holland, our host, was great.
Chiming in about bus from MK...
We awoke at 4 am to catch at 7 am flight to MCO.
Room ready at check in... Lovely!
Lunch at the Mara with Zebra Domes, followed by a swim, then back to our room to rest.
Headed to MK around 4:30pm. Waited a few minutes for a bus there. Toured the park at a fairly leisurely pace, then headed towards the entrance for the night parade.
Headed to bus after parade, wanting to avoid huge crowd leaving after the fireworks.
Waited 5 minutes for a bus, and it loaded to capacity.
Then we stood on the bus for ~30 minutes in the loading zone!
Finally new bus driver gets on bus. We wait another 10-15 minutes as she makes multiple adjustments to her seat, clipboards, etc (I was standing right in back of her).
Finally we pull out of the loading zone.
On the way back, I see that she continues to fool around with her computer, thus taking her eyes off the road and swerving in/out of her lane. I'm clearing my throat repeatedly to try to help her to refocus her attention, but hoping not to distract her any further.
Then I notice that she is heading for WWoS -- "Lady, I think that you're in the wrong lane!"
She misses the exit for AKL-AKV!
A few moments later, she gets on the loudspeaker and says "Due to traffic, we were diverted, so now I need to find a way to turn around and get us back on track."
(Traffic? No way!)
So we finally turn around in AoA, then head to AKL.
I took her bus/route info and plan to report her. She needs to get off the road!
That's my tale of bussing woe.
Otherwise loved AKL!
that MK ride can be a doozy. It's worst late at night when there's standing room only. I have yet to try Kidani, but love Jambo House, have stayed there 5 times. There is not the 2nd bathroom in the 1 BR at Jambo though. Was BCV before or still to come? I just booked a trip for next year, very excited about that.
