AKL Kidani Questions

[dragitoff]

DW and I will be taking our 2 DD's (13 and 10) to WDW in May 2015. Not a big deal right? For us it is because we'll also be taking our 4 sons we're currently in the process of adopting to WDW for their first ever trip! They range in age from 3-8. We've booked a 2BR Savannah View Villa @ Kidani village. I've never done DVC, but I have stayed at AKL before. We had a savannah view room at Jambo house the first time we stayed there. Bus service seemed very slow for us during that trip. Is that always the case on AKL or did it just seem that way for us? I know travel time is a little longer due to location, but I was referring to the actual time between buses. We want to maximize times in the parks but really don't want to overdo it with the little ones. Our plan for our 4 day trip is to spend at least 2 days in the MK and 1 in AK. The other day is a travel day so we're not sure where we'll go that day. Either way I just didn't want to spend so much time waiting for buses.

Second question is how spacious do the rooms feel since the back wall is glass windows to the Savannah? We'll have 4 rowdy boys in that room for the limited time we're there.

Last question is how good is the pool at the resort? We went in January and didn't even think about the pool, but I know the kids will want to spend a few hours in the pool even if it's just on the afternoon we arrive.

 

[ontheuptick]

Congrats to your family! As a family with biological children and an adopted daughter from Ethiopia, it just makes me smile to read your post!

I would say be very flexible. I don't know when your 4 adopted children are coming home, but you will have quite the adjustment period at home. You'll learn a lot in that time - and you may decide that maximizing time in the parks isn't your goal #1. AKV is such a gorgeous place, I wouldn't be afraid of spending time from like 1:00-4:00 or 5:00 back at the resort in the pool and stuff - that's always what my kids enjoy the most.

I would also try to add some Epcot time in - even though your kids are young (as are mine), Epcot World showcase is still a favorite of our kids!

I can't give you great answers on the buses, although most people claim that they are great even though the resort is in a remote location.

 

[nuzmom]

Second question is how spacious do the rooms feel since the back wall is glass windows to the Savannah? We'll have 4 rowdy boys in that room for the limited time we're there.

Last question is how good is the pool at the resort? We went in January and didn't even think about the pool, but I know the kids will want to spend a few hours in the pool even if it's just on the afternoon we arrive.

Sorry, can't help with the busses, but maybe with the other 2 questions.
First, the rooms are, and feel, quite spacious. They should be fine with the amount of space. However, the "glass windows" are sliding glass doors that open to a balcony. I'm not sure I would totally trust 4 "rowdy" boys to not open the door and throw something over the balcony. AKL uses cameras to watch the balconies.

The pool is a lot of fun, especially for boys that age. The pool itself isn't large, but has a water that passes through "rocks". The pool area also has a play area with water cannons and "stuff". There's also a ping pong table by the pool area.

Congratulations on extending your family!

 

[ToddyLu]

Kidani is known for its awesome pool area. There is a nice slide and wonderful water paly area for little ones. Your 2 bedroom will also have three bathrooms so that is an extra plus. The sliding doors lock for safety and there are videos on the savannah for animal protection. You cannot bring baloons to AKL, well you can have a balloon, but it must be left at bellservices unitl your check out due to animals. The busses at Kidani to the parks have Kidani as a first stop and Jambo as a second. The DTD bus is opsite and starts at Jambo first. You can ride the shuttle van back ad forth or walk between the resorts. You can also hop on any park bus since the next stop is Jambo...incase you eat at Mara or Boma one morning, etc. Then just walk, shuttle or take the DTD bus if it is there to get back. We love the buses and on our trips they have been pretty spot on. Usually when there is a problem it is because a bus broke down or something.

Thre are plenty of lifegaurds and towels at the pool area and also a frefillable mug station. There is a small bar there as well and they offer a few menu items you can enjoy by the pool. There are movies shown every night by the pool and you will be given a listing at check in. You can pop popcorn in the room and bring it down to enjoy. Bring your drinks too as the bar closes at dusk and the movies start after dark.

 

[ToddyLu]

I beleive Kidani has been using a small tv posted at the bus stop that gives you approximate times on bus arrival. Awesome to know that ahead of time. Any bus ride may envolve a wait so that would be a great time to talk about what you just did or are going to do...teaches patience...even at 46 and 50 (DH).

 

[sophia315]

Here now - in my opinion room is very spacious and having a third bathroom is wonderful.

They do have a tv screen posting the approximate next bus arrival and it has been accurate. The ride from MK to AkL has taken us on average 15 minutes. Longest we waited for a bus so far has been 10 minutes or under (mostly under).

Pool area is top notch for the age group you have going.

Congratulations on your expanded family!

 

[dragitoff]

Congrats to your family! As a family with biological children and an adopted daughter from Ethiopia, it just makes me smile to read your post!

I would say be very flexible. I don't know when your 4 adopted children are coming home, but you will have quite the adjustment period at home. You'll learn a lot in that time - and you may decide that maximizing time in the parks isn't your goal #1. AKV is such a gorgeous place, I wouldn't be afraid of spending time from like 1:00-4:00 or 5:00 back at the resort in the pool and stuff - that's always what my kids enjoy the most.

I would also try to add some Epcot time in - even though your kids are young (as are mine), Epcot World showcase is still a favorite of our kids!

I can't give you great answers on the buses, although most people claim that they are great even though the resort is in a remote location.

We have been having respite visits with our kids (they are in the DFCS system in foster care) and they will start regular transitional visits early next year. They may be full time with us by the time of our trip or still transitioning. Either way the trip is approved regardless and we're wanting to just enjoy the bonding time with the kids. We've gone to WDW with our bio children every year except this year (due to the pending adoption and uncertainty of scheduling, etc..) so going to the parks will be more for the kids than for DW and I. With that in mind, we plan to take it as easy as necessary, but with 4 young boys, I'm not expecting them to want much downtime. Lol.

 

[magicaldisney]

Last week the buses were great. We never waited longer than 10 minutes for a bus to a park or coming back from a park. As for drive time to a park, the negative remarks about it taking more time is very overrated. Other resorts share buses with more than just their resort, or have many bus stops within their resort, where Kidani and Jambo are the only stops, so the time to get to a park is all relative. Kidani is the first bus stop which will make it very nice with all the people you will have to load on the bus.

 

[dragitoff]

Thanks for all the info on the buses. I feel much better knowing that. There were times we waited at the bus stop for almost half an hour before and the whole "not knowing" when the bus would arrive was the worst. I could see having the screens telling you that as almost like a countdown to build the excitement.

 

[dragitoff]

Last week the buses were great. We never waited longer than 10 minutes for a bus to a park or coming back from a park. As for drive time to a park, the negative remarks about it taking more time is very overrated. Other resorts share buses with more than just their resort, or have many bus stops within their resort, where Kidani and Jambo are the only stops, so the time to get to a park is all relative. Kidani is the first bus stop which will make it very nice with all the people you will have to load on the bus.

So true. As much as we've gone, I can't believe I didn't think about getting on the bus first since we'll need seating for 8 now vs. 4! Well, at least seating for the little ones, especially with the stroller loading since the youngest will be 3 at the time of our trip.

 

[magicaldisney]

especially with the stroller loading

Even more reason to be first on the bus!

 

[drusba]

The 2BRs at Kidani are very large, just under 1200 sq ft, with three bathrooms. We are not enamored with any of the buses at WDW but have found that AKL is better than the rest, with only two internal stops, no sharing with another resort, and, in our experience, fewer delays and problems than any of the others. The pool is also very good with its long slide and elaborate water play area for kids. It also has ideal under building parking, and with elevators along the wings, you can park fairly close to your room no matter where your room is.

Issues to be aware of:

Kidani has two savannas, Sunset which is large and 80% of the savanna view rooms overlook it, and Pembe, which is a small savanna to the northwest/north side of the building. Sunset has giraffes and Pembe does not; it instead has a quite small cousin of the giraffe called an okapi. If you want to see giraffes, you should make a request for Sunset savanna view

The rooms are all darkly colored. That combined with the lousy energy efficient lights mandated by Act of Congress (only Congress can make things worse and call it progress), makes the rooms seem somewhat dimly lighted and it can be a little annoying when trying to read or use the bathroom mirror.

Kidani has a smaller lobby and store than Jambo and only one restaurant, Sanaa, which is table service and open only for lunch and dinner; it is a very good restaurant. Jambo has three reastaurants, including a buffet and a counter service open for breakfast, and you can use them, but trip is not short if you walk (about 1/2 mile front door to front door). They do have a shuttle you can take to other building or you can use the buses.

Kidani has two very long wings, north and south, running from the lobby (the front of the lobby faces west). Walks from room to lobby, bus stop, store, restaurant, and pool can be extreme if you are in rooms far from the lobby. How extreme: it can be more than 5 minutes at adult pace and 8 or more minutes with small children to get from the bus stop or lobby to your room. The wings are a lot longer than the Jambo building. We stayed at Kidani several times and know that there are many who get rooms near the end of the wings who actually use their cars to go to the store or the lobby.

Thus, you may want to consider some kind of request that could get you closer to the lobby. I recommend against asking for "close to the lobby." Everyone who has stayed there once now knows the hazard and as a result everyone and their brother requests close to lobby with the result than many do not get the request. Also, as to location requests, their default position if they cannot give you a location request is to just give you any room available with no attempt to get something near your location request. That has resulted in many who request close to lobby ending up at the end of the wings.

Alternative requests that might work are: (a) "close to the Timon elevator" which would put you on the south wing fairly near the lobby with a very short walk to the bus station; (b) "close to community hall" might accomplish the same thing as close to the Timon elevator; (c) "close to the Rafiki elevator" or "close to the pool"; the Rafiki elevator puts you on the north wing a little distance from the lobby but gives you the shortest possible walk to the pool

 

[cindyzig]

We stayed at Kidani for a week in October with a very active almost 7 year old boy. I can't speak to the 2 bedroom villa, but our 1 bedroom had plenty of space for myself, my husband, my father-in-law, and my son.

On a side note, my son was adopted when tiny from Africa, and he bonded with many of the African cast members. They let him play the drum and greeted him by name each day and taught him all kinds of things about African culture. That was a huge highlight of his trip. Congratulations on your upcoming adoptions!

Be careful with the view as others have stated. We requested Sunset Savannah, and they put us in the room overlooking the okapi in stead of looking at giraffes. They said there was no record of the request, but they finally agreed to move us the next day. We had plans to attend the evening Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom the following day, but they told us we would have to leave the room until perhaps 4 pm. If you are visiting the park during the day, that is not a big deal, but if you have no where to go and need to get some work done in the afternoon, it was a big inconvenience. Have speaking with several managers, we were finally able to get it resolved, and they let us stay in our room with a priority cleaning and moved us by 2 pm to the new room with an incredible view. We also lost wifi that night for most of the evening which caused some big issues with some work related things. After all was said and done, they comped us a room service meal and put us in the right room and the wifi came back early that morning with no other issues. We did have the cleaning crew argue with us about being able to stay until new room was ready, and when we gave them the manager's name, they said they had no idea who that was. They literally tried to come in the room the day we were moving at least 3 separate times, and entered one time even with the do not disturb sign out.

The great news is that we had a very enjoyable rest of the week! The pool was so much fun for our son. The slide was his favorite, and there were pool parties several times each day. He visited the pool everyday we were there. I think your group will really enjoy it. We ate a few times at the pool bar, and the food was not too expensive and good. We also took a shuttle over to Jamba House several nights for quick food at decent prices. We ate once at Sanaa, and I think it might be great for some, but others might not appreciate the African and Indian food choices. We really enjoyed it there, and I spent so much time on the balcony enjoying the giraffes and zebras in between park hopping.

Bus service was good, and we really liked the screens telling us when to expect each bus. It was usually right on target. We liked that Kidani boarded before Jamba because it helped us to get seats easily. We also liked being dropped off first before Jamba. It's the little things that count.

Have fun!

 

[HulaMinnie]

I will say that I love Kidani and AKL overall as a resort. We've stayed in Jambo once and Kidani once this past September. Kidani had nicer rooms (very spacious) and an awesome pool and a great splash pad area for our 2 year old. However, there were a few cons. The first couple days there, we had no problems with buses, but as our trip progressed the wait times for buses got worse. We waited 20-30 minutes for a bus numerous times and would watch the estimated bus arrival times get later and later while we waited. Frustrating, but hopefully that's not typical, as others have had no issues waiting for buses. Also, our room was great, but was a very, very long walk from the lobby. I would definitely request rooms closer and you'll be fine. Lastly, there is no cafeteria in Kidani. Not a huge deal depending on how your family usually handles meals during vacation. You can wait for a shuttle or walk to Jambo for their cafeteria or order room service or from the Kidani pool bar. We found it a hassle at times, but if you grocery shop, you may have no issues. Just things to keep in mind with lots of kids. All of that being said, I love AKL and it's very exciting for children. Check out the observation balcony off of the Kidani lobby and at night, they'll give you night-vision glasses to watch the animals. There are a lot of fun activities for everyone and we had awesome cast members while we stayed there.

 

[juliejknight]

We are 15 days out and so excited. First time at a DVC property. Has anyone used Garden Grocer to stock the kitchen? Thanks!

 

[HSmith23]

We are 15 days out and so excited. First time at a DVC property. Has anyone used Garden Grocer to stock the kitchen? Thanks!

Yes, we have used Garden Grocer. It was well worth the delivery fee!

 

[amym2]

Yes, we used Garden Grocer in Oct for our AKV stay, and it was great! We requested delivery between 5 and 6pm, and our food was already there when we checked around 4. When bell services brought up our luggage, they brought up the good as well. Our order was filled just as requested.