AKV Construction - Jan 25, 2008

[LisaS]

DH and I stopped by AKV on Friday Jan 25, 2008 to see how the construction was coming along. Here are a few photos. Our general impression is that things are really moving along! Also it does look like the end of Kidani closest to Jambo House will be only one villa deep, meaning that the first few building segments on that end will be all Savanna View villas. That helps to explain the high number (80%) of Savanna View villas they are advertising. Note that this differs from the construction drawing they published last year which shows all of Kidani Village as two villas deep. I apologize for not remembering who first suggested that that was the case (pilferk?) but based on what I saw, I agree!

Related to this is that those things that looked like cage bars are actually wall studs. The construction workers are attaching plywood to them and then covering that with vapor barriers so they are outside walls.

Most of these photos were taken from the AKL employee parking lot. The others were taken from the Lodge building.


Kidani Village, viewed from the construction entrance. This is the end of the building closest to the Lodge. Notice that plywood and what looks like a vapor barrier are going up! The are close to putting the "skin" on this end of the building!

These are the "cage bars" mentioned earlier. We puzzled over these previously but it's clear now that they are wall studs. I believe these sections of Kidani are only one villa deep so these wall studs will enclose the hallway that runs past the entrance doors to those villas. I expect they will put windows into those areas that have plastic sheeting instead of wall studs:

Here is a different section where you can see they are putting up the plywood over the wall studs. You can also see the beams in place to support the walkway between hallways of the two building segments.

This is the section of the building closest to the Lodge. It looks like they are putting the vapor barrier up over the plywood:

This photo shows the end of the first section that is two-villas deep. Note the opening in the side of the building so that the hallway through the middle of that building can be connected to the hallway that runs along this side of the one-villa-deep section in the middle of the photo:

Kidani Village construction viewed from AKL's Sunset Overlook:

Kidani Village construction viewed from an AKL fire escape:

 

[Claire L]

Oh great pictures and description

Thanks for taking the time Lisa

Claire

 

[junior27]

Cool pictures, thank you.

 

[paulh]

great photos,just hope ther screwing the panals on not nailling(am in construction)as you say metal studs are like dry linning then the fix a vapor barrier on,then a light mesh then stuco over the top or can fix fiberglass board over carnt rember what ouside of akl looks like .inside isulated then plaster board then taped and jointed
Paul

 

[bobbiwoz]

Thank you for the photos! Was the giraffe in the Sunset savannah? Every time I see photos I wish I were there.

Bobbi

 

[LisaS]

great photos,just hope ther screwing the panals on not nailling(am in construction)as you say metal studs are like dry linning then the fix a vapor barrier on,then a light mesh then stuco over the top or can fix fiberglass board over carnt rember what ouside of akl looks like .inside isulated then plaster board then taped and jointed
Paul

Thanks for the comments. I wasn't paying attention to how they were putting up the plywood so I just asked my DH. He said that they were definitely not nailing it. He says they were either screwing it or bolting it.

I just went back and edited my original post. I don't want anyone to be worrying about the quality of the construction at AKV! Thanks for pointing this out.

 

[sajetto]

Thanks for the photos Lisa! By that last picture I can tell that they are really moving along. Seems to me like they likely would finish before 2009.

 

[lisareniff]

This made me go do a search for the permit plans. I was curious about those one sided villa buildings. It looks like they were in the plan.

This was posted by grimgrinnin last january (AK Villas Schematics Thread

 

[AKV707]

Thanks for those photos Lisa! You are an unlimited source of AKV knowledge. ANyone have a guess, based on what we see in these photos, when the first phase might open? I have heard possibly as early as this December.

 

[LisaS]

This made me go do a search for the permit plans. I was curious about those one sided villa buildings. It looks like they were in the plan.

I remember that plan but I cannot relate it to what I saw. The three building segments closest to the Lodge appear to be one-villa wide. On the plan, starting from the end of the building it would be the unmarked first segment, the segment with the word "SOUTH" on it and the segment with the word "ROOF" on it. The segment beyond that is two villas wide but on the plan they all appear to be the same width.

 

[lisareniff]

Where there three segments that were one sided? Oh, then it doesn't work for me either. I was thinking it was that half segment and the full sized one next to it were one sided. Maybe I was doing some suggestive reading with that as well now I'm looking closer. The segments starting with South look all the same to me and thought were two sided. So I guess these plans aren't tell us much.

 

[LisaS]

Was the giraffe in the Sunset savannah?

Yes. There were two giraffes, a zebra and a few other animals out on the Sunset Savanna while we were taking our photos.

 

[LisaS]

Where there three segments that were one sided? Oh, then it doesn't work for me either. I was thinking it was that half segment and the full sized one next to it were one sided. Maybe I was doing some suggestive reading with that as well now I'm looking closer. The segments starting with South look all the same to me and thought were two sided. So I guess these plans aren't tell us much.

Yes there were three segments that appear to be only one villa wide. It seemed to me that if those three segments on the end were two villas deep the parking lot side would have had a terrible view -- nothing but the AKL employee parking lot as far as the eye can see! Based on the construction drawing, because of the way the building curves the view on the parking lot side gets better by the 4th building segment because you will be looking at the grounds of the AKV building and not the AKL employee lot.

Also the shape of the end of the building looks different from both the plan and the construction drawing so it looks like they've made a few changes. We need to find some updated plans!

 

[spiceycat]

LisaS - wonderful! really love your comments.

 

[RLRDA]

Thanks for keeping us up to date, LisaS! Great pictures!

 

[3DisneyKids]

Thanks Lisa!

 

[tomandrobin]

Does anyone know how many of the buildings are under construction?

Has anyone gotten any pictures of the lobby?

 

[wildernessDad]

Great pictures! Did you detect any building going on of the pool/play area?

 

[pilferk]

LisaS,

I don't think I was the FIRST to suggest it....we had some earlier photos by Webmaster Doc that seemed to indicate it, and there was some discussion there, too. But I did notice it, and commented on it, in the photos I took back in early january...and discussion proceeded in earnest in that thread.

I thought it was odd, then, and didn't quite believe what I was seeing. From your report, it looks like we "saw" the same thing. I had a hard time, too, reconciling the plans I'd seen with the actual buildings I saw taking shape.

 

[LisaS]

Great pictures! Did you detect any building going on of the pool/play area?

Unfortunately we couldn't see that area at all from any of the spots we used to take photos. From the AKL employee lot you can only see the first five building segments and from Jambo House you can only see the savanna side of the building.