Detailed Kidani impressions from a Jambo connoisseur

[gkrykewy]

We just finished our first night at Kidani, and while i wait for my wife to wake up, i thought i'd offer some impressions.

First, the negatives. They really did make some odd design decisions. I'll leave off the lack of a CS since you know that already.

(-) you have to walk out the front door and past the drop-off loop to reach the pool. The sidewalk is right alone the driveway, without even any landscaping. Very weird, and sort of breaks the theming.

(-) lonnnnnnnnng hallways. We are at the tip of the southern mouse ear, and we're literally equidistant to the jambo lobby and kidani lobby. This is a positive too- makes walking to Jambo pretty painless.

(-) The walk to jambo... it really does feel like an afterthought. They really need to enhance this with some additional theming.

(-) The stairwells. Don't use them. They are colored teal, red, and white, and it feels like you're instantly transported back to junior high. Think cinder blocks.

Now, the positives:

(+) The lobby and overlook areas are delightful. There is a lovely viewing platform to the right of the lobby with a row of outdoor wooden rocking chairs. Great!

(+) Staff have been very friendly. The front desk was very patient with finding us a 2nd floor room when we were disappointed with our initial 5th floor assignment.

(+) The pool, once you get there, is lovely, and comparable to the Jambo pool, which is my favorite at WDW. I hope that the work finishing up Pembe savanna will provide an opportunity to better connect the pool with the rooms. Lots of high quality fabric lounge chairs.

(+) The room -- a studio -- is terrific. Very similar to jambo, but with a nicer bathroom. The toilet has its own little side room. Beautiful animal tiles in the shower. Giant, wide metal shower head.

(+) And finally the star of the show- the savanna! In short, the new sunset savanna between kidani and jambo is just breathtaking. It's enormous, and you can see quite far. This means that you'll usually see multiple animals at different distances, and the animals have a ton of space to naturally move through. This is the savanna view concept at its full potential. Also, the ability to get a lower floor room is a huge bonus. At times, animals will literally be 30 feet away. Just an exceptional, almost meditative experience. vacation!

In short, despite some weird design quirks that will hopefully be partially mitigated over time, this is a great resort, and its high points are really high. A worthy partner for Jambo.

[gkrykewy]

Sorry about the typos - I typed that on my phone

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks for the report! I agree that there are some asthetic shortfalls on the exterior and parking side of Kidani, and I also agree that the long hallways are TOO long, but I feel that way about Jambo House too. I can't wait to stay in a sunset savanna room at Kidani!

[DebbieB]

One thing about the hallways, if you have a car you can park and go straight up to the rooms without going through the lobby. We were close to the Zazu elevator in June, very convenient.

[michellev]

We thought it odd that you had to go through the lobby to get to the pool as well. I hope they fix that.

Also, we used a stairwell on the Jambo side to try to get out to the Jambo path and ended up walking through a loading area. CM's were very unhappy with us, but there were no signs or anything to let us know we were entering a restricted area. Oops.

[dianeschlicht]

Originally Posted by michellev

We thought it odd that you had to go through the lobby to get to the pool as well. I hope they fix that.

Also, we used a stairwell on the Jambo side to try to get out to the Jambo path and ended up walking through a loading area. CM's were very unhappy with us, but there were no signs or anything to let us know we were entering a restricted area. Oops.

Yes, we had the same problem when we visited Kidani last May. It was not well marked as to WHERE the real exit was.

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

Originally Posted by DebbieB

One thing about the hallways, if you have a car you can park and go straight up to the rooms without going through the lobby. We were close to the Zazu elevator in June, very convenient.

Very good point. That was our experience as well. I was able to park underground near the Timon elevator every day and it made the trip back to our room very short. To me the rooms are the biggest positive about Kidani. The second bathroom in a 1br was great to have. And the rooms just felt bigger to me anyway.

[cogero]

thanks for your input. We are staying there in November and are very excited about our trip home. I found some of our walking in the beach club (not the villas) long so that isn't a big thing to me

[gkrykewy]

One thing I'll add is that while the shower head looks very impressive, the water pressure is weak.

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

Originally Posted by gkrykewy

One thing I'll add is that while the shower head looks very impressive, the water pressure is weak.

Now that you mention it, we had the same issue with water pressure in the shower.

[TLPL]

Originally Posted by DebbieB

One thing about the hallways, if you have a car you can park and go straight up to the rooms without going through the lobby. We were close to the Zazu elevator in June, very convenient.

The problem with that is the covered parking is ..it is unthemed, and the stairways are unthemed, the path to Jambo House is unthemed and go thru the back stage loading dock area too. I use all three things alot because they are so convenient, but it just "break the theme". In Jambo house, you can take the stairs, or go to the pool area and to the bus stop ..all has theme. But at Kidani, you notice all the black PVC pipes, grey cinder blocks, bare concrete walls. I am kinda disappointed after my stay in Kidani.

[Bill K]

I remember the days when people complained about the long hallways @ BWV! My thinking is if your going to Disney prepare to walk!!!

[PHILCT]

I stayed at Kidani Village shortly after it opened in May of this year.

I loved our room, the interior, the chance to actually see more animals from our room and the lounges off of the main lobby.

I really didn't love the look of the exterior, the parking lot, the walk to the pool. I kind of missed the look of the Jambo house exterior a lot.

I wondered about the need to have an upscale restaurant at this site, while having no food court/counter services. If I had a choice I would rather have gotten on a Disney Bus and headed to the Jambo house for either JIKOS or BOMAS, but to have a local counter service at the Kidani Village.

From an exterior view, I thought this offered the least of the WOW factors of all the DVC timeshares. However the interior and the rooms were quite nice.
I guess I don't really like the parking lot look of the Kidani Village Exterior.
I felt like I was in a moderate resort not a deluxe resort, when I looked at the outside front of the complex while waiting for the Disney Bus to take us elsewhere.

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

Originally Posted by TLPL

The problem with that is the covered parking is ..it is unthemed, and the stairways are unthemed, the path to Jambo House is unthemed and go thru the back stage loading dock area too. I use all three things alot because they are so convenient, but it just "break the theme". In Jambo house, you can take the stairs, or go to the pool area and to the bus stop ..all has theme. But at Kidani, you notice all the black PVC pipes, grey cinder blocks, bare concrete walls. I am kinda disappointed after my stay in Kidani.

Honestly, I've been in many Las Vegas hotels that were highly themed but I never saw any theming in any of the parking garages or the stairwells for any of those properties. For me, its simply a place to park your car. Once you get in the building everywhere I turned the place was themed to the hilt. And those long hallways are filled with an incredible variety of African artwork which I really appreciate.

[TLPL]

Originally Posted by Robo-Daddy 3000

Honestly, I've been in many Las Vegas hotels that were highly themed but I never saw any theming in any of the parking garages or the stairwells for any of those properties. For me, its simply a place to park your car. Once you get in the building everywhere I turned the place was themed to the hilt. And those long hallways are filled with an incredible variety of African artwork which I really appreciate.

That is true in the case of Jambo House, but at Kidani not everything is within the building, I mean.. I had to kept going in and out of the themed area to get to places I needed to go.. the pool, the CS (Mira), the Buffet (Boma), the Spa, the parking... I love to take the stairs, in Jambo, I alway take the stairs next to the Photopass booth to go up one floor, cross to the hallway and to the other side of the lobby and go up the 5th floor that way. It is decorated, air con with wallpaper and lighting. But at Kidani there is no way to go upstair except the fire escape stairs. You have to get wet to get to the bus stop when it rain. I just think Jambo house is more completed themed.