BWV walk to bus stop vs Kidani - BWV wins

[PalVal]

We just returned from Kidani Village. The walk to the bus stop is twice as long as the last room at BWV to the bus stop and it took twice as long to get to the parks. It was a beautiful resort, but with the exception of going to Animal Kingdom Park, the bus ride to other parks took forever. Plus, if you had a savana view, they didn't bring the animals out until after 10:00 a.m. Don't expect to sit and enjoy breakfast watching the animals. Could be the time of year (second week in November) no crowds, but we won't be returning to this resort.

[DebbieB]

I've stayed at both, both have their benefits. The nice thing about Kidani is if you have a car, there are elevators closer to the far end that take you straight to the parking lot. BWV is a hike to the parking lot if you are at the far end. BWV is great for Epcot or DHS but if you are going to MK or AK, the bus stops at Swan, Dolphin and sometimes YC and BC. I didn't think the travel time from AKV was bad.

[shortypots]

I am truly hoping it is the time of year. We have a grand villa in April and would be very disappointed if we didn't see the animals in the morning.

[podsnel]

When i went on the Sunset Safari in the spring they told us that the reason there are no animals out in the morning is because that is when they have them all come "in" to the building to make sure they eat. They need to be sure all of them are eating at least once a day, and the morning makes the most sense since they are all hungry then. It's part of the animals' maintenance program.

[DebbieB]

Originally Posted by shortypots

I am truly hoping it is the time of year. We have a grand villa in April and would be very disappointed if we didn't see the animals in the morning.

I was there for 6 nights in June, we never saw animals in the morning. Our room was at the bottom of the "U" on the south side. We saw the most animals late in the afternoon. That's when the giraffe and zebras came down to our end to eat.

[Muhlenberg]

There were animals out in the morning when we were there in September. I tried taking pictures...they didn't come out too well because it wasn't daylight enough. I was out on the balcony every morning watching the animals. We were on the north end. Maybe there weren't as many animals as later in the day.

[movie77]

We were just there for a week. We had about a minute walk to the lobby and never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus all week. The only resort we found to be a ways out was Magic Kingdom.

[KAT4DISNEY]

I've forgotten the exact times the animals are taken off of the savanna for their checks and any special food they are given but you should have seen them in the early morning since it definitely isn't until 9am or 10am that they are taken out and should be back out by 11am or so. What wouldn't be surprising is that many of them congregate around the barn area ahead of time though.

[huey578]

Originally Posted by PalVal

We just returned from Kidani Village. The walk to the bus stop is twice as long as the last room at BWV to the bus stop and it took twice as long to get to the parks. It was a beautiful resort, but with the exception of going to Animal Kingdom Park, the bus ride to other parks took forever. Plus, if you had a savana view, they didn't bring the animals out until after 10:00 a.m. Don't expect to sit and enjoy breakfast watching the animals. Could be the time of year (second week in November) no crowds, but we won't be returning to this resort.

And your point is? Slow down and enjoy life

[Brave teacher]

This is what I love about DVC. What one person doesn't like is exactly what another is looking for.

We stayed at Kidani this past summer. We absolutely fell in love with the resort. I knew going in that the animals were taken in to eat in the morning. It hink it is aroung 7 AM. Despite that, my boys ate their pop tarts on the balcony in the morning, and there were always a few stray animals.

The buses were fantastic for us as well. The longest trip was to the MK obviously, but it took 15 minutes. Not horrible in my book. The ride to Epcot & DHS took 7-10 minutes every time.

Although you did not enjoy what had to be offered at Kidani, know that others feel differently. Sayiing this, I guess it's a good thing that this is our home resort.

[tjkraz]

We were there the last week of October and had animals out nearly round the clock. Those ankole cattle (?) with the big horns seemed to be camped under a tree right outside our balcony. (We were to the left of the lobby about 1/3 of the way down that wing.) I distinctly remember seeing those animals as dark shadows off the in the distance after dark.

And our kids had us up by 8-8:30am every day and I don't recall the savanna ever being vacant.

As for transportation, I found it to be pretty much on par with other destinations. Sometimes we waited 2 minutes for a bus--other times it was 15-20. That's about what Disney promises.

I'm not a big fan of Disney buses so we'll definitely have a rental car if we stay there again. Again service wasn't poor but waiting for those buses introduces a level of stress and uncertainty that I'd rather not have while on vacation. I know some folks enjoy leaving a car behind when they vacation but I'm the opposite. Would much rather be in control.

[MiaSRN62]

The walk to the bus stop is twice as long as the last room at BWV to the bus stop and it took twice as long to get to the parks.

We had a good amount of bus issues when we stayed at BWV. Often BWV shares with YC/BC/Swan........so we found the rides to the MK and AK to be quite long when you factored in the stopping at the other resorts. The year we stayed at BWV, we missed a full hour of EMH because the wait for the bus was so long and then the ride to the MK after picking up at another resort. It's also more of a hassle to have a car at BWV because of where the parking lot is/valet. We do alot of resort dining/shopping so we find we use the busses and our car pretty evenly. Parking is better at Kidani. True you can walk very easily to Epcot from BWV, but we found the walk to be about 20 min to DS and in the heat of the summer or in pouring rain etc that is hard. The boat, between the wait and the riding around to the other resorts to pick up guests, added time just as long as any bus from another resort would be. I just think it all evens out in the end with transportation from different resorts. Every resort has it's strengths and weaknesses.

As for the animals...while we never stayed at Kidani, we have at Jambo and animals were outside our balcony very early & very late----every day. In fact, we found there to be less animals during the afternoon/heat of the day.


Maria

[Hazzard101]

We were at Kidani in October 3-9 and the animals were not out in the early am hours. I remember being a little disappointed myself (we are owners and love our home) But there was more than enough time to enjoy the animals during our stay.

The bus stops were closed while we were there for remodeling.(they are adding awnings from the building to the bus stops) Why this wasn't done to begin with is a totally different topic for discussion.

The buses were picking up and dropping off in front of the lobby. This caused the buses to take a long time to load and unload. Only one bus could stop at one time so there were buses lined up waiting(usually there is a stop for every park so there is no waiting when they arrive.

When the buses were running from the stops the stay before that. The bus wait was usual and the ride to the parks were less than 20 min Max.

[PalVal]

We saw 4 buses for Magic Kingdom and 3 for downtown Disney before one showed up for Hollywood studios. We waited 45 minutes, and I also saw the buses backed up 4 deep at the bus stop. Like I said, the resort is beautiful and new, but BWVs win hands down for us. A previous poster asked me what my point was, and to slow down and enjoy life, so to answer what my point is...When I go to Disney I prefer to relax and enjoy life at the park not at the bus stop.

[MiaSRN62]

We saw 4 buses for Magic Kingdom and 3 for downtown Disney before one showed up for Hollywood studios. We waited 45 minutes,

I've never stayed at BCV so can't speak for that resort, but I've experienced the above bus issues at every single DVC and non DVC resort that I've stayed at in the past 15 years. In fact, the exact scenario you recount at Kidani, is what we had at BWV except it was the MK bus that neve showed up for like 40-45 min and it was EMH there. We were ticked.

Long bus waits and backups can happen anywhere. Glad BWV wins in your book---we had a less than favorable 4 night stay there. So I guess it all depends on each individual's experience.


Maria