2bed kidnai or 2bed at Jambo after refurb

[disneypls]

Hi
I’m hoping to book for July next year. Not a savanna view ( not enough points)
I know the refurb would have started and maybe finished at Kidnai.
So knowing this would you choose kidnai or Jambo.
Coming with teens
Thanks

 

[Mirabell Rose]

Kindai. 2 br has 3 bathrooms. When I had teens they took forever in the bathroom.

 

[sndral]

It’s spelled Kidani. For standard view I prefer Jambo because many of the standard aka resort view villas have views of a savanna while very few of the Kidani villas do, however, Kidani is bigger & the refurb there should be done by next July & the villas are bigger as well - the 1 br.s have 2 bathrooms & the 2 br.s have 3. If the refurb. goes as scheduled, then by next July they’ll be working on Jambo. W/ the construction schedule I’d likely settle for Kidani for next summer & just accept that I’d likely not be looking at a savanna from my villa .

 

[drusba]

The 2BRs at Kidani are better rooms than the ones at Jambo even when not refurbed -- about 100 sg ft larger than Jambo, 3 bathrooms, seperate shower and tub in the master bathroom, more closet space . If standard (now called Resort) view, you can make a non-guaranteed request for a room near the Pumba elevator, which sits between two building units on the north wing, and all of the rooms on one side of those two building units are Resort view but actually have a direct Pembe savanna view. Kidani has only one restaurant, Sanaa, a table-service restaurant, which is very good.

All the 2BRs at Jambo are lock-offs, a combined studio and 1BR. Nice rooms but if you have older people or others with any leg problems, the master bath in the 1BR side has a combined tub/shower with a high step-over to get into the tub which can be an issue for some. Jambo has three restaurants, Jiko, a very good but expensive table service restaurant, Boma, one of the best buffet restaurants at WDW, and Mara, a quick service which has lots of seating, inside and then outside in the shade near the entrance to the pool. Its lobby is also larger than Kidani's and its store is significantly larger. More than half the standard view rooms at Jambo have savanna view, the rest pool view. If you take Jambo,request a room on the Kudo Trail side of the building as all resort view rooms on that side have a savanna view.

The Jambo pool is larger than Kidani and has better shaded ares, but Kidani has the much longer slide into the pool. The Jambo building can have very long walks from lobby to end rooms ... but ... Kidani is one of the longest single hotel-like buildings in the world (and by world I mean on earth not just WDW) and the walk to end rooms can be significantly longer than at Jambo. Parking at Jambo is in a large lot across a street from the front of the buidlng and distance from parking lot to lobby can be fairly short to very long, just depending on where you can find a parking space. Kidani parking is on the ground floor that runs under the building and you can usually find a parking space not far from one of the three elevators spread out along each wing that is near your room.

Since you will be seeking standard view, apparently at 7-months out, the decision may actually just come down to which building has an open room. Standard view rooms fill faster than savanna view rooms and can often not be available when savanna view are at 7-months out, and that happens more so at Jambo than Kidani. July, after July 6, is a fairly low DVC room demand time but there can still be an issue getting standard view, particularly at Jambo.