AKL a good choice?

[writersblock]

Been to WDW before and stayed at AKL Jambo (normal room, got a partial Savannah view with careful selection). LOVED it. We want to rent DVC points and do a split stay this time. We are sold on Poly for one week and we’re thinking studio Savannah at Jambo for the other. There’s just the two of us. Looking at the info, it’s not been updated in years. Will we find it a bit rubbish compared to the newly refurbed standard room we stayed in last time? We adore the resort but I’m wondering if we should just keep standard room for the other week. Keep going back and forth. There’s no way we want to skip AKL entirely. Maybe we should be doing a three stay split. But maybe that’s too much over two weeks. Decisions!

 

[RoseGold]

It was refurbished in 2016. I guess it depends on what you mean by rubbish?

DVC rooms don’t have the same standards as cash rooms generally speaking: no nespresso, no bathrobes, fold out couches instead of two beds. They’re a different product. I’ve stayed in kidani three times since COVID, and I couldn’t find a single flaw of maintenance.

I would find it difficult to spend thousands of dollars more because the room was updated a couple years later.

 

[drusba]

Ditto to the above^ The rooms were redone in 2016 and were closed for several months in 2020. Next refurbishment is supposed to be 2023. Possibly, the room you would get may be a tad worn but likely still be OK.

A different issue is whether you should get the more point expensive savanna view rather than standard view, which your post indicates is an issue. Savanna view guarantees savanna view. However, be aware that more than half the standard view rooms at Jambo actually have savanna view (all the rest have pool view). You cannot request "savanna" view with a standard, but you could ask the renting member to make a non-guaranteed request through Member Services for a room on the Kudo Trail side of the building. All standard views on that side have savanna view. (Note if that request is made, you must avoid the page for doing any room location request during online check-in, as making any request there would wipe out the request through MS.)