2nd LIVE REPORT......Live from Kidani Village....sad to leave BCV but....AKV is .....

[edk35]

GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG let me just say....our 2 br villa IS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!! The detailed decor is amazing. The view is spectacular. We are in room 7218 which is the 1st floor...same as lobby. The car garage is under us. I saw the model at SSR after we bought site unseen..but that model does not compare. I LOVE THE SET UP HERE. The livingroom/kitchen/dining area is very spacious. Much bigger than SSR, BWV and BCV. OKW is still bigger but this is a close 2nd as far as I am concerned. The master bathroom IS HUGE!!!! There is so much space/places to put stuff. I feel very comfy and at home here. We have the third bathroom which is also nice. The beds are high off the ground and our kids loved that. The attention to detail in how these were decorated is amazing. I love being in this villa. LOVE IT. I took so many pictures of the giraffes yesterday. I could do an album on them. We had zebras so close to our villa last night....I was up until almost 1:00 watching them.

Okay the Kidani Village pool is smaller than the Jambo House....but it does have the cool water play area for the small kids. They all seem to love that. My 10 year old and his friend Robert who is 11 spent a lot of time over there too. The gym is nice. My 15 year old worked out before dinner yesterday. The pool area is nice and has a poolside bar. NOW.....the only thing that I wish they had is a counter service area or even a place by the pool like Hurricane Hannahs. The only food you can get at the pool is a club sandwich, chicken caesar salad and maybe a kid's turkey sandwich. They have some fruit bowls and chips. SO....before my husband and I changed into our suits..we took a bus over to Mara and got the kids chicken nuggets and fries. After doing that....WE SAID HMMMMM WON'T DO THIS AGAIN. We got over there fast.....you just hop any of the 4 park buses that pull up. They go to Jambo before the park. SO that was fast. Then we got to Mara around 12:30 or so....PACKED PACKED. That took a while to order, box it up ourselves and then WAIT for a DTD bus to go back over to Kidani. We could have walked I guess but we waited about 15 or 20 min. for a bus to go back over. That is the only bus you can take to get back to the Kidani side.

We enjoyed the afternoon in the pool....they do some games and such..but nothing like SAB does. Our room was ready at 3:27 and that is when I walked up before anyone...and took a bunch of pictures. My first thoughts were WHY DIDN'T WE STAY HERE AT LEAST 3 NIGHTS..... PREFERABLY 4 nights on this trip. The views are amazing, the villa is amazing......love everything about it.

The gift shop is small not near as big as the other one at Jambo. They do have a soda machine to fill up the mugs and so does the pool bar. We do like the 2nd floor/lobby level. We are not far from the arcade and community hall. Oh and the door that goes out to the bus stops...is very close. So our location is PERFECT. I will always request NEAR LOBBY. It would not be fun to be in the outer areas over here and have to walk that far to the pool and lobby. This is perfect. I requested 2nd or 3rd floor near lobby. Very pleased with our location.

We stayed in last night and ordered pizza with our friends. We ordered from Flippers. Our car service guy had told us a few trips ago about Flippers and Bell Services also told me about it when they brought our luggage. I had asked about ordering pizza and he recommended Flippers. It was good and the prices were good. So we dined in and enjoyed the view and animals. Then we all walked down to the fire pit and talked to the cast member down there for quite a while. We spent a good hour or more watching the crazy giraffes. We learned a lot about them There is one male and 4 females. The youngest is 2 and he is 10. He would NOT leave that poor female alone. IT was funny watching those two.

As you look back at the restaurant and lobby from the fire pit.....it is really pretty. I love the design of the bldg. looking back at the lobby area. There are two nice viewing areas upstairs with rocking chairs. Then there is a nice comfy cozy indoor area with nice sofas/chairs and a fireplace. Very nice atmosphere. The younger boys spent a couple of hours at Community Hall and seem to enjoy that. When we got back.... I watched the animals off our balcony...which is very long. IT goes from the master bedroom, livingroom and 2nd bedroom. We have 4 chairs out there. I have thoroughly enjoyed this resort and my only regret..is that we didn't stay here longer. I feel sad about that. I would love to come here for at least 4 or 5 nights in the fall or winter. It seems that it would be a nice cozy place to stay when it is cooler/colder.


SO yes I like Kidani a lot...very happy we own here. Glad we added on points here. My daughter and I went to Boma's for breakfast this morning. That was our first time eating there. IT WAS VERY GOOD. The guys went to Typhoon Lagoon again. Now I am in the room right beside the sliding door at the desk in the master bedroom.... enjoying the view as I type this. I am headed to the pool soon to meet my friend and the girls. Tonight we are headed to DTD for dinner at T Rex. We have a 7:00 ressie.


So here is what I would have done differently:

I would have skipped the BLT presentation on arrival day. That would have given us more time to relax at Poly.....although after it was all said and done. I would have completely skipped Poly. If they ever add villas there...then I would try it again maybe. I feel like those two days were a blur. We rushed to check at Poly, then we headed to the BLT after a quick bite for lunch. Then that presentation ordeal with the tour and all took over 3 hours easy. Then we had dinner ressies. So we didn't get to our rooms that night until after 9. CRAZY!!! Then the next day we went to MK at park opening, pool in the afternoon and MK that night. We stayed until closing which was 11 and we checked out the next morning. The best part of POLY was the Ohana breakfast that morning. :

We would have split BCV and AKV only. We would have liked 6 nights at BCV and 4 here at AKV. That would have made it perfect. I think when you have a split you need to have at least have 4 days at the resort you are spending the least nights at. I loved our 8 nights at OKW last summmer and 6 at BCV. That was a nice split. We were ready for a new resort after OKW.

Other than those things.....the rest has been fine. I think we are all starting to enjoy "other things" now. We don't feel the need to do parks all the time. I could see us coming for a 8 or 10 day trip and only doing the parks 3 or 4 days. The guys love the water parks too. My oldest son is burning out fast on Disney and he did go off and do his own thing a few times while at BCV. He would go to the gym, or the pool and leave us at EC. He really loves the water parks more now.

That is it for now..........ENJOY!!!!!

[spiceycat]

thanks


have not stayed in Kidani - but definitely love Jambo.l

[bookwormde]

We only had 2 nights at Kidani on our last visit and I wish we had done more also. The size of the master bath is really outrageous. If you are on the pool side of the lobby (I am guessing you are by your room number), do not forget to find the shortcut to the pool by going down the elevator to the garage and walk about 80’ to the back gate (remember your room key to open the gate).

bookwormde

[ACDSNY]

This is great to hear! A little over 3 months and we'll see for ourselves, we'll have a dedicated 2 bdrm savanna view.

[Muhlenberg]

Wow!!!! You made me really excited for our trip in September! Not that I wasn't excited before....it sounds amazing!!! I can't wait!!! We have a 1 BR reserved.

[JasonDVC]

Glad to hear you are enjoying Kidani. Keep the TR coming.

We'll be making our first trip there in April. Looking forward to it!

[movie77]

Originally Posted by ACDSNY

This is great to hear! A little over 3 months and we'll see for ourselves, we'll have a dedicated 2 bdrm savanna view.

We're there 11/7 - 11/14

[bobbiwoz]

I'm glad you're enjoying Kidai so much! Have a great remainder to your vacation.

Bobbi

[edk35]

Hi again. I sure didn't know about that short cut. We have been walking to the pool right out the front lobby. It doesn't seem too far to me at all really. Going to SAB was longer. Thanks for that tidbit though.


Kidani is amazing. I don't think I will ever stay in a NON Savanna villa. This really spoils you. My 18 year old daughter said "mom how can you not want to just live in this bathroom" talking about the master bathroom. She also loves the waterfall shower head in her bathroom too. The guys stayed at Typhoon Lagoon until 3:00. They had fun and the rest of us hung at the Kidani pool. We are all headed to DTD for the last time. My guys have not been there this trip.....which is surprising. When we stay at OKW and SSR we are always there. Dinner with T'Rex and friends and a little last minute shopping and then we plan to hang out at the viewing areas/fire pit when we get back. I will miss this place. I truly find it relaxing and calming. It is a great for your soul resort. I am always sad when our trips end!!!

[toniosmom]

We are going to be there in March in a 2BR dedicated Savannah view as well. I also asked for close to lobby. Thanks for posting. I can't wait!!!

[SLM]

Glad you're having such a great trip! Thanks for the location tip (1st or 2nd floor, near the lobby)-we check in August 7. Did you make your request when you checked in or before? I can't remember the CM asking when I made the reservation if we had a preference. Enjoy the rest of your stay!

[Mr_Potts]

4th of July week we did the same thing. 4 nights at BCV followed by 5 nights in a 2 bedroom savannah view at Kidani. We fell in love with our room instantly. The huge proportions of the rooms, the big sliding glass doors in every room, the third bathroom, little details like the giraffe legs on the dining table...we never wanted to leave! We exercised in Survival of the Fittest almost every day and then loved walking through the kids play area by the pool and getting soaked by the buckets of water afterwards. The pool is so refreshing and I love the expression on peoples' faces when they get sprayed by the motion activated masks! Enjoy yourself and please post more about your trip! Say hi to the zebras and giraffes from their old friends in 7320!

[ACDSNY]

Originally Posted by movie77

We're there 11/7 - 11/14

Have a magical trip. Hopefully we'll have lots of animals to watch. AKV will be our relaxing part of our trip (only 6 adults), then on 11/15 we'll have 22 of us on the Wonder cruise.

[edk35]

Originally Posted by movie77

We're there 11/7 - 11/14

What a great time of year to visit Kidani. I think coming here in Nov. Dec. Jan would be great. It is so warm and cozy here. That is the feeling I get. I love it here. I would love to be here in the fall or winter.

[edk35]

[quote=Mr_Potts;32935594]4th of July week we did the same thing. 4 nights at BCV followed by 5 nights in a 2 bedroom savannah view at Kidani. We fell in love with our room instantly. The huge proportions of the rooms, the big sliding glass doors in every room, the third bathroom, little details like the giraffe legs on the dining table...we never wanted to leave! We exercised in Survival of the Fittest almost every day and then loved walking through the kids play area by the pool and getting soaked by the buckets of water afterwards. The pool is so refreshing and I love the expression on peoples' faces when they get sprayed by the motion activated masks! Enjoy yourself and please post more about your trip! Say hi to the zebras and giraffes from their old friends in 7320![/QUOTE


Hey you weren't the one that jumped their balcony and ran through the savanna were you??? The cast member that was checking us in was letting us know not to feed the animals, drop things from our balcony and stuff like that. Well I asked if anyone had ever tried to jump from their balcony and run around the savanna. Apparently someone did on or around the 4th of July.

I am sure it was not a Dis board member. We love it here too. I love the zebras and the giraffes...although today we never did see the giraffes. The zebras were right outside our balcony a lot this afternoon and evening.