AKV... are the points worth the view??

[CarolA]

It's the only reason I bought there... the view. I would be so unhappy looking at the 'parking lot' or pool when I could be looking at Giraffes!

So the points are worth it IMHO!

 

[delilah]

We have stayed at AKL and AKV many times, and have always stayed in a Savanna room. I have never been disappointed with our view. Sometimes it is better than others, but, that happens. Even when there was construction, and other people got rebates because of construction, we weren't disappointed with the animals we saw at our room. Last spring, during construction, we saw a family of zebras who played outside of our window at Jambo house. We watched them every day, and I have video of the babies (two) playing in the water outside our room. I know that my brother was given a rebate during our stay (which was interesting, because he stayed on my points in a room across the hall from mine). I also learned by accident that the room next door also got rebate of about $300; I am not sure how Disney determined who got a rebate, but, I guess we are easy to please. (We were in a 1 bedroom unit, and the room next door was a studio that would have connected to ours. Disney left their bill on our door by mistake, and I opened it. I guess they were more vocal and displeased about the construction. We were out of our room from about 8am until 11pm each day, and construction didn't bother us). Our only problem with a savanna room is that we have trouble leaving the room to do things during the day, the animals are such enjoyable entertainment.

This past June, we stayed in a studio at Kidani. I loved it. It suited what we like to do perfectly. It was Savanna view. It was close to the end by the pool and exercise room, so my routine was to get up early to exercise, then, come back to watch animals while everyone was showering and eating breakfast. We eat breakfast in the room, which is coffee, English muffins and fruit that we pick up at a grocery. We have no need for CS at the resort, because we eat other meals out at the parks. The exercise room is accessible 24hrs with a room key, which is great. I remember that the exercise room at Jambo used to close about 8pm, which meant we couldn't exercise in the evening. I am not sure is that has changed.

I would be OK with a standard view room, but, I prefer the savanna room, which is worth the points for what we like to do at the resort. I can't say that I prefer the room lay out at Jambo or Kidani better. Both are very nice, and very adequate for our needs.

 

[dgaston]

For bgsnmky:
I would suggest the Standard View in Kidani. Reasons: extra bathroom and pool, garden or parking lot view. Standard at Jambo guarantees pool view, but only two bathrooms in the lock-off 2 br. At Kidani, you have a choice of lock-off or dedicated 2 br.

The Value 2 br are only at Jambo, will have 2 baths in lock-off configuration, but are 3 feet shorter for the length of the whole villa. And the balcony is smaller too. Given the size of your party, I think you will enjoy the extra space.

 

[shortypots]

We personally bought AKV for the SV views, but I will admit, if we have a party where we are getting a couple of 2bds, I wouldn't be opposed to making one of those a standard, and asking for the other to be SV and across the hall (of course putting other folks in that room! )

 

[quirty30]

Interesting thread. We too are BLT owners visiting next May. It is DD's 9th birthday and she really wants to stay at AKL. In the interim, I went ahead and booked a 1BR MK view at BLT, but will check AKL for availability at the 7 month mark. It's mid May, so I have high hopes that we will find something there. As it is her birthday and she loves animals, we will definitely go for a savannah view.

As for rooms/villas with a view in general, I have a theory. I think the optimal stay for splurging on a great view is a shorter stay, like a 2 or 3 day weekend (which is the case for the visit mentioned above.) We recently spent a week at the BC in a deluxe room (booked before I bought into DVC.)
Now the deluxe room automatically includes a water view and it was very nice, but in the long run, I didn't spend enough time sitting out on the balcony staring at the view. But it was a nice perk. Thinking about that MK view unit we currently have booked at BLT, of the 3 nights we are staying, we might only be in the room one night to see Wishes. Again, being a special occasion and all, if we can't get AKL at 7 months, I'll keep the MK view as a special treat for DD.

The exception to my theory would be a resort destination vacation, i.e. a week at AKV with little or no theme park visits. I wouldn't mind splurging on the points for a week long stay if I knew the trip was going to be resort focused and that we'd be spending a significant amount of time on the balcony relaxing and looking for animals.

Thanks for all the input - this was quite an informative thread, and will be quite helpful when I call in a few months to see what our options are at AKV.

 

[hakepb]

A majority of AKV rooms are savannah view (I think upwards of 80% of Kidani will be Savannah View?), so I think you have a good chance to move at 7 months (and may have a harder time getting AKV Standard, and near impossible to get one of the very few AKV value rooms at 7 months)

BLT (MK View) and BWV (Boardwalk view) have a much smaller minority percentage of "view" rooms, and are usually difficult to get at 7 months...

I guess view depends on how you use the room. IMHO One of the great hidden DVC perks has been sipping coffee on my private balcony each morning, and taking more relaxed vacations with an afternoon nap (with a little more balcony time)... although, I do not think there is any DVC view so repulsive I would never sit on the balcony...

 

[supersuperwendy]

We are in the "saving points" category. We are booked for May 2010 and we are brining my best friend and her kids. I booked a one bedroom standard view for them and a two bedroom standard view for us at Kidani. When we bought last year we picked AKV because we liked the incentives and price over BLT and I really like the variety of the point chart. We grew up going to the safari at six flags in NJ so really zibras and giraffes aren't what sold us on the property. I like the option of concierge the most! We decided to save on points because my husband and I want to celebrate our anniversary next October and stay concierge!!! Plus..my kids are super excited about the kidani pool area!

(We have 320 points to use)

standard view: dream season 5 nights
one bedroom - 125 points
two bedroom - 155 points

Total - 280 points! 40 points leftover
----------------------------------------------------------
if we went with savannah views - 145 +195 = 340 points --> borrowing would be necessary

 

[florep1]

We stayed at a savanna view for a week last week and to us, it was worth it considering AKV is one of those resorts that we probably won't go back to year after year. We felt totally immersed in the theming. In retrospect, we didn't spend that much time out on the balcony. It was too hot. I tried to have coffee out there one morning and I didn't last. Yup, I'm a wimp, I like my AC. We enjoyed the view from the climate controlled living room.

 

[TK Brown]

We have done a SV room and a standard (pool) view room. We were happy with both, but our DS4 was amazed that the animals were right out our window. Sent several pics to my mom and she was simply amazed. If it was just me and DW, we would probably go for the lowest points room. But with DS, im sure we would "upgrade" to SV. His comments were priceless. Made it all worth it IMHO.

 

[poggs]

If you get a proper savannah view room then yes its worth it.

The problem, especially with Jambo house, is that a significant minority of the Savannah view rooms are not good. In fact they are rotten.

Namely those classed as the mud pit view rooms.

On our only visit to the jambo house wee got a mud pit view room. The view stunk! All we had was a fenced in mud circle with no animals remotely near. total waste of points

I will never pay to stay at the Jambo house in Savannah again. The chance of getting a mud pit view for the price of a Savannah view is just far too high to make it worthwhile.

Don't know about Kidani though.

 

[quirty30]

If you get a proper savannah view room then yes its worth it.

The problem, especially with Jambo house, is that a significant minority of the Savannah view rooms are not good. In fact they are rotten.

Namely those classed as the mud pit view rooms.

On our only visit to the jambo house wee got a mud pit view room. The view stunk! All we had was a fenced in mud circle with no animals remotely near. total waste of points

I will never pay to stay at the Jambo house in Savannah again. The chance of getting a mud pit view for the price of a Savannah view is just far too high to make it worthwhile.

Don't know about Kidani though.

Mud pit view room, huh? Sorry to hear this happened to you, but thanks for the heads up. Perhaps we will stay away from SV rooms at Jambo House.

 

[pickles]

I like the pool view at Jambo. I can live without savanna...there are so many spots all over both resorts for seeing animals..save your points and stay an extra day..now that IS worth it!!

 

[florep1]

BTW while we were in our savanna view room way out in the Zazu section, we noticed several areas in the hallway that could be used as viewing areas for the savanna for those in the standard view rooms but they did not have any chairs available. I'm wondering if they'll add these later on as it is a fairly new resort, but it would be a waste not to utilize these areas as lounging/reading nooks.