Tell me Kidani Village is Wonderful!!!

[eporter66]

The savanna is the only reason to stay at AKV/AKL. I can't imagine booking anything else.

We are leaving for AKV one week from today

This will be our first stay at the resort, and to save points we booked a standard room. I can certainly understand how great a preferred view must be, getting up in the morning and seeing the animals out is great from the balcony.

But, at this time, we really wanted to stay at the resort and not spend the extra points as we had to borrow from next year to get the 1 bedroom. We also have a DD who is 5, and she will be up at the crack of dawn to get going. Honestly - the only time we will be in our room is at night. We will be up walking the resort in the morning before going to the parks.

So for now - I think the standard will be fine. If I had the extra points, I am sure I probably would have gone with a preferred view - but I think we will see everything we could want!

Great to read all the positive reviews...we cant wait, hope we can avoid addonitis if everything is as great as you all describe!

 

[Weezyreid]

I have to agree about the level of customer service by staff members there. We are really really hoping the same staff is there as there was in May 09. We had a fab trip..they went above and beyond. Got us new ADR's for Chef Mickey's after we missed our first one, got us to Chef Mickeys on time by driving us there because the safe in our room malfunctioned, and my son was spoiled rotten in stickers, pins and even a stuffed AK mickey by the concierge desk there. AMAZING..and I agree I want to live there. We keep saying okay next time maybe we will go somewhere else..but nope...once you go to AKL Kidani you can't go anywhere else!

 

[Sammy]

Annie:

Thanks for the reply. We are planning a trip with extended family, 8 in all, so we will be using a lot of our points for a 2-bedroom. The plan is to spend a good deal of time in the parks this trip, so I was wondering if splurging on the savannah really would be worth it. It would be fabulous to sit on the balcony and have morning coffee with the animals, but for this particular circumstance, is it worth almost 90 more points? I'm thinking there are plenty of areas to view the animals and I'll just be happy being at such a beautiful resort with my family.

 

[jmatias]

Our family LOVED our stay at Kidani this past June.

Beautiful rooms, great CMs, loved Sanaa, pool was great, and the kids had the best time at Community Hall.

We've stayed at OKW, SSR, BCV, BWV, VWL, and AKV is their favorite for now

 

[edk35]

We stayed there for 2 nights in a savanna view 2br Kidani side and LOVED IT. OMG everything was absolutely perfect. I wish we could have stayed there longer. All 5 of us said we could go there for 4 or 5 nights and never go into a park.

 

[ajf1007]

I completely agree with Annie! My DH and I just got back from 7 nights at Kidani and it was amazing....even with a standard view. Considering the amount of time you spend on your balcony (between the pool, parks and sleep) and the considerable amounts of viewing locations, it completely made sense to save the points and get the standard view - for us anyway. With the standard view we were also closer to the lobby and elevators and didn't have a long walk at the end of a tiring day to our room. With regard to the room, staff and overall experience, it really was top notch. Everyone was just amazing, helpful and courteous. The room was very clean too.

We walked by the DVC booth everyday, a couple of times a day and they greeted us each time, but didn't stop us or anything like that. I did stop however and had a discussion regarding adding on points, etc (while my DH was having a heart attack ) but there was no pressure or anything like that.

The pool was just amazing, spent a couple of hours each morning there - there is also an animal viewing area located right behind the cabana. The slide was so much fun and much larger and exciting than the one at Jambo.

Overall, our trip was just great and as I saw in a couple of other posts, living there would be completely amazing! With all of the hubbub and things to do, it was the most fun and relaxing vacation we've had in awhile.

Now I'm just hoping that we can get a 1-bedroom at VGC next September or October. We'll be back at our home AKV in 2012 with our whole family for my niece's 1st trip to WDW - 3 studios! More privacy if everyone has their own pad.

Even though we just got back 2 weeks ago, I am dreaming and missing it like it was a year ago!

 

[Weezyreid]

I think that considering a lot of your time will be spent in the park, I would go for the standard view. there is a really nice balcony off the library that has wonderful seating area to view the whole outdoor area. Great place to watch a lightning storm as well We are really looking forward to the whole hotel actually..not just the animals. The library is a great spot to relax and hardly anyone in it, the porch, the fire, the pool and splash area.
Anyone know how old the kids have to be for the kid club activities? Is it 3 or 4?
Louise

 

[Anal Annie]

I completely agree with Annie! My DH and I just got back from 7 nights at Kidani and it was amazing....even with a standard view. Considering the amount of time you spend on your balcony (between the pool, parks and sleep) and the considerable amounts of viewing locations, it completely made sense to save the points and get the standard view - for us anyway. With the standard view we were also closer to the lobby and elevators and didn't have a long walk at the end of a tiring day to our room. With regard to the room, staff and overall experience, it really was top notch. Everyone was just amazing, helpful and courteous. The room was very clean too.

We walked by the DVC booth everyday, a couple of times a day and they greeted us each time, but didn't stop us or anything like that. I did stop however and had a discussion regarding adding on points, etc (while my DH was having a heart attack ) but there was no pressure or anything like that.

The pool was just amazing, spent a couple of hours each morning there - there is also an animal viewing area located right behind the cabana. The slide was so much fun and much larger and exciting than the one at Jambo.

Overall, our trip was just great and as I saw in a couple of other posts, living there would be completely amazing! With all of the hubbub and things to do, it was the most fun and relaxing vacation we've had in awhile.

Now I'm just hoping that we can get a 1-bedroom at VGC next September or October. We'll be back at our home AKV in 2012 with our whole family for my niece's 1st trip to WDW - 3 studios! More privacy if everyone has their own pad.

Even though we just got back 2 weeks ago, I am dreaming and missing it like it was a year ago!

Whew! Glad to hear I'm not the only point miser out there!! We know from past trips that we spend all of maybe 15 minutes a day out on those balconies. We get up, make the coffee, step outside to check the weather & we head out. Then when we come back to the room it's either because it's pouring down rain & we just want to be dry or we're getting ready to go to the pool. Often, I will leave the pool to go back & take the first shower & just leave DS & DH at the pool. They give me a 20-30 min. headstart & then they come up to shower. Then we head out for dinner & more park time. If there are evening EMH's we often do those too - so we come in at like 1:00 am just to do it all over again.

The one & only time we broke this pattern was on our August trip that we just had. We had an early flight down so we were AT BCV by like 10:30 or 11:00. The room wasn't ready (didn't expect it to be) so we just left our stuff with Bell Services & went out to HS. We came back around 5:00 maybe, put our stuff in the room and then went straight out to MK 'cuz we had dinner ressies at Tony's for like 7:20 or something. There were also EMH's there that night so we stayed out late after we ate. We decided to spend the next day relaxing all day at SAB. That was a first for us to just sleep in, chill & take our time to enjoy the resort. A good part of that was due to the fact that DS loved SAB. But we still weren't really in the villa. After the pool we cleaned up went out to AK (evening EMH's). So, really, we were there for 7 nights and the rest of the week was all run, run, run.

(PS) It would not be hard to top the slide at the Jambo pool - that thing is pretty pathetic!!

 

[Mouser76]

We really enjoyed our stay at Kidani. It has a nice quiet, comfortable aura. We also really enjoyed the Sanaa Lounge. It also has a nice, secluded sort of atmosphere.

My husband and I just left Jambo House, and while riding the bus yesterday we noticed they are building shelters over the bus stop. This was definitely something we saw as a shortcoming during our visit. For the time being the buses are pulling up near the lobby area, which kind of causes a back up, but in the long run the shelters will be a nice addition.

 

[SnowWhite2]

We just got back from our first AKV visit (10/4 - 10/10). The theme of this visit was maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. The light over the eating table didn't work when we arrived. Called maintenance. Said they would be right there. An hour later they showed up. That night, a loud rumbling noise from the master bathroom - all night long. Called maintenance in the morning. Fixed when we returned from the park. That night, went into the hall bath and the fan didn't work. Ugh...enough with maintenance this trip. Just left it.

Besides all of these maintenance issues, it was nice to sit on the balcony and watch the animals. Since it was so hot, we were back in the room more than expected. If I was a person who spent all day in the park, I would not spend the money on the savana view. There are viewing areas within the resort. So if you are "point challenged", don't worry about booking a regular view room.

 

[HsvTeacher]

We just got back from a week-long (October 3-10) stay at AKV Kidani, and we loved every minute of it! We requested a studio that was close to the lobby on the second floor, and it was very convenient for us. It was very quiet, with the exception of a screaming baby next door, but that only lasted about 15 minutes and was worse the closer we got to the lock-off door.

The room looked brand new and had no visible wear and tear. Everything worked perfectly, even the air conditioner. (We had trouble with it on a one night stay at the end of May.) We loved the pool and visited it at least once a day. The whirlpool was a great way to end the day, too.

We were really happy to see that they were adding a covered walkway to the bus stops! We also used the laundry facilities since we were in a studio and were pleased to never have to wait. Although we don't have kids, we also checked out the community hall and arcades. They were really nice!

Our only complaint was the lack of counter service. My DH went over to Mara just about each morning to get breakfast. He commented that it would have been nice to be able to get it at our own resort, especially on the mornings he brought it back to me.

We're really happy with our purchase of AKV and can't wait to visit again!

 

[twinklebug]

We were really happy to see that they were adding a covered walkway to the bus stops!

See, they do listen to us.

 

[adminjedi]

Savanna View.
There is nothing like it in the world....except in Africa, and that would cost a lot more than 4 pts a night!