AKL Kadani - Did we make a mistake?

[Worktoplay]

We are scheduled for 6 nights beginning Dec 2 at AKL Kadani. Boardwalk is our favorite however I guess all DVCer's want to visit during the Christmas season.

My concern is the food. We love to do the meal plan. We will be traveling with ages 2 thru adults including my teen who loves wings and burgers.
Can we eat there? I looked up all the menus between AKL and food did not look very interesting. Do we have to eat at the parks before we come home at night?

Anyone have an opinion?

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

If you are looking for burgers and wings, you won't find them at AKL. We just returned from from AKV, and we loved Sanaa....but it is Indian/African fusion. If you like Indian food, you're good. There is a burger, turkey sandwich, and a catch of the day on the menu but most is based on the theme. Boma is a fabulous buffet but it is not burgers and wings...though they had great ribs, chicken legs, and sirloin the night we were there. Jiko is the upscale restaurant at Jambo, so I imagine you would be out of luck there. We did not eat at Mara, the Jambo House quick-service restaurant, so I cannot speak to it.

So, if you are looking for traditional counter service food and nothing out of the norm, I would say that the food at AKL will not suit your needs.

 

[Worktoplay]

Can you walk to Boma from Kidani? I guess I feel food in general will be an effort at AKL. How about the Rain Forest Cafe, I know its not on the meal plan but is it walking distance from Kidani?

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

The resorts run a shuttle between the two front doors every 10 minutes. You can walk to Jambo, it's about 3/4 of a mile I would guess...we took the shuttle because both times I was in pumps. Rainforest is at the theme park and not walkable.

Food is not a hassle any more than any other resort. If you don't like what they're serving, then you have to trek elsewhere. Now, I understand with the Epcot resorts they're a little easier to get to but you still have to go.

We use WeGoShop so we have breakfast and cocktail hour snacks on hand. If you haven't used them before, perhaps you should consider using them to backfill your kitchen.

 

[Worktoplay]

That might be a good idea.

Any other time of the year wouldn't matter so much to me but I assume the parks close early the first week of December so to be back at the room with not many dining options. We always stay at the boardwalk so we are used to just walking downstairs. The teens are big sports fans so we love the ESPN Club. But....it wasn't available and I'm not going to let ruin a wonderful Disney trip! I just want to be prepared before we arrive.

 

[DebbieB]

Can you walk to Boma from Kidani? I guess I feel food in general will be an effort at AKL. How about the Rain Forest Cafe, I know its not on the meal plan but is it walking distance from Kidani?

Rainforest is at the Animal Kingdom park, you can't walk there from Jambo or Kidani. Boardwalk doesn't have a convenient counter service so you should be used to that.

 

[eporter66]

We love AKV, and Kidani is a great resort. It is a nice walk to Jambo, no real hassle that I can see. I have never looked at it from the perspective of food - so I guess you have a point that when you are at the Boardwalk you have some fairly easy and quick options. Jambo does have a quick service restaurant, but it is a little different, they have some flatbread pizza's, I do remember a chicken nuggets/strip meal for the kids, but I guess you have a point that you have very few options. We get a one bedroom and go shopping on our way in from the airport, so we always have some quick food options in our room. Not sure if you are getting a studio or have a bigger room? If you have a bigger room, you can have groceries delivered, and take care of it that way.

 

[Gelfling_Jen]

That might be a good idea.

Any other time of the year wouldn't matter so much to me but I assume the parks close early the first week of December so to be back at the room with not many dining options. We always stay at the boardwalk so we are used to just walking downstairs. The teens are big sports fans so we love the ESPN Club. But....it wasn't available and I'm not going to let ruin a wonderful Disney trip! I just want to be prepared before we arrive.

You could walk to or take a bus to the Mara...the counter service food court at Jambo. It has both African and American food, so yes they do have burgers, fries, chicken fingers, pizza, etc. It's open until 11:30pm so you shouldn't have a problem taking the bus there after you're done at the parks and grabbing a bite to eat.

 

[Worktoplay]

Thanks, that's great to know. My teens like really boring food and boys like to eat so I don't want to hear them complain. We won't have a car, but I think having some snacks and such delivered will work.

Do they have a convenience store like the other resorts for cereal, milk and most importantly...wine?

 

[Donald is #1]

Thanks, that's great to know. My teens like really boring food and boys like to eat so I don't want to hear them complain. We won't have a car, but I think having some snacks and such delivered will work.

Do they have a convenience store like the other resorts for cereal, milk and most importantly...wine?

Yes the gift shop does have a small grocery area but it is very small. i.e. it is much smaller than the one at BWV. However, it does carry essentials.

 

[SLM]

They do have a convenience store-it sells beer and wine (we tried a very nice South African wine)-but if you use the grocery service (and with boys and teens it could save you $$$) they will also do the liquor run for you-we gave them our favorite brands and what we liked and it was much cheaper than purchasing at the resort store.
We loved AKV-my son in law is not an adventureous eater, but he found plenty of things he liked at Mara and loved the buffet at Boma. We walked from Kidani to Jambo alot when we stayed there (in August 2009-it was, of course 90 degrees!) and didn't mind the walk at all. It takes 5-10 minutes at the most.

 

[RachaelA]

DH and I are very picky simple eaters and we have had no problems finding stuff at the Mara to eat. Not a ton of choices, but enough to keep us happy. We have never eaten at Boma because the menu does not appeal to us at all and we really like Jiko (and eat there every trip).

 

[supersuperwendy]

When we stayed at Kidani we ordered food from Garden Grocer for breakfast stuff, snacks and drinks. We usually ate before we went out for the day and always ate something at the parks, another resort, or DTD before heading back to Kidani for the night. We did take the bus to Jambo from AK and had lunch at Mara. Then we walked back to Kidani which was super fast and went swimming. Everyone like Mara too.

 

[Kidanifan08]

Mara should meet the needs of the teens. Since you are there for 6 nights in December, you may not even get back to Kidani for dinner. You will want to spend an evening at HS for the Osborne lights. You should think about doing MVMCP at MK one night. The candlelight processional at Epcot is really worth checking out. So, that leave only 3 nights to eat at Kidani. Order Giordano's one night, and now your down to 2! You will love Kidani; if you have a savannah view, you may want to get back to the room in the early afternoon to watch the animals, since it gets dark early in December. We had a standard view when we were there in December last year. That was fine for us, since we were at the parks all day.

Have a great time!

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

If you have a car, there is a strip of restaurants, grocers, etc about 5 minutes from Kidani.

 

[jdmn2010]

The lack of quick serve dining at Kidani became a huge issue for us at our last stay. I never really thought about it before we booked there to stay. Then my child got sick and we were in the hotel a lot more than I planned and I discovered what a pain it was to be in a hotel without a quick serve option. It's true the walk to the Mara is about 10 minutes, but the walk from our room to the lobby of Kidani was also about 10 minutes, so now the walk was more like 20 minutes to get there. I found the shuttle to not be very dependable. Plus, if you just miss it and have to wait for it to circle around again, you might as well have walked. The food at Mara isn't bad, but it is a limited selection so I wouldn't plan on eating there regularly. I found that walking nearly 40 minutes round trip just to get my sick child some food was really difficult. I did buy groceries from the store at Kidani and made pasta in the room one night and even sucked it up and ordered expensive room service another night, but it would have been so much easier with a quick service option.

 

[utahkennedys]

I would say make sure you have a car. You can take any bus to Jambo but getting back to Kidani you can only take the DTD bus so after that happening once we just drove. Having said that, we didn't love Mara either....but then again after 35+ trips we are kind of "over" Disney food.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Can you walk to Boma from Kidani? I guess I feel food in general will be an effort at AKL. How about the Rain Forest Cafe, I know its not on the meal plan but is it walking distance from Kidani?

You can walk to Boma easily from Kidani, but the Rain Forrest Cafe is at the Park NOT the lodge.

 

[Mtnman44]

Of all the issues with WDW, finding places to eat has never been one of them for us, regardless of where we are staying. Plan meals in the parks, or DTD for most nights. It's an expensive vacation, who wants to head back the hotel room at 6pm everynight anyway?

 

[TravelingJen24]

I have to say that although we loved the resort and people there, the food was a bit hard for us. Room service was not very diverse and we ended up ordering pizza to be delivered one night. We ate at Mara one day and it was good, but from Kidani it was a bit of a hassle for a quick lunch. Just as a head's up. There is an item on the menu that sounds like a hamburger, but with a different type of bread. It really didn't appeal to our family, but when we finally did order it towards the end of the trip, it was very good. Basically still a hamburger with a twist.