AKV Kidani 2 bdrm

[kendzee94]

I can tell you that you do NOT want the 2BR dedicated Sav. View of 7753. When we checked in at noon, we were so happy that our room was ready, until we saw how far we had to walk and how crappy our sav. view was. We just got back from 5 nights there. It was the worst sav. view ever...I actually called to verify that it was actually a sav. view and told them that I was not happy to being paying extra points for that room. We were on the Pembe Savanna- no giraffes or zebras! It was in the 6th of 9 "beads". It was a very far walk from the lobby. On the other hand, we also stayed in ( if think) 7604, which was the first room 2 BR (dedicated) sav view off the lobby. There were the giraffes and zebras there - the sunset savanna.

 

[franandaj]

We just returned a week ago from our stay in a dedicated 2 bdrm at Kidani. We were in room 7246 and the savannah view was just perfect. We had switched from the THV and every other night one of us was hit with some kind of stomach bug. It hit my DM the night we checked into Kidani and took her out for two days. Even though she did a lot of sleeping, she enjoyed watching the animals while the rest of us were out at the parks or exploring the resort.

Now I wouldn't recommend choosing the Savannah view in hopes that someone is stuck sick in the room! I also enjoyed the view, I would update my live dining review next to the balcony door, and each time a new and different animal showed up, I'd jump up and take pictures. Here are some of the shots that I got from the balcony.

We also had a resident Ostrich who never seemed to go in for the morning feeding and grooming. Animals on the Sunset Savannah are taken in back from 8:30-10:30AM, but you don't really see them even at around 7AM, evidently they know that they get their best food during their backstage experience so they are lining up to get in once the sun comes up. By 11AM we would see them all back out on the Savannah.

We had a car and several scooters, therefore we had no need to really go to the lobby so we requested a room near an elevator (carpets really drain the scooter batteries). We were very close to Jambo House and it was only a 5 minute walk over there. We really didn't have much need to go there since we had so much food in our villa. In five days, we ate three meals at TS restaurants while we were at Kidani, 3 CS meals (all in the parks) and all the breakfasts, 2 dinners and 2 lunches in the room. We didn't lament the lack of a CS restaurant.

If you plan on spending all your time in the parks, then points on a Savannah view would be wasted, but if you plan to be in the room between 11-5PM, then the Savannah view is nice. It's hard to see the animals after dark and you can go to the public areas, the guides have night vision binoculars that you can use while in the public area.

We really enjoyed our Savannah view and will probably go back again in a few years once we have stayed at a few more DVC resorts.

 

[bonrea]

Thanks franandaj, this helps greatly with our planning. Are there any counter service restaurants at AKV? Any at all? We will want to get something for breakfast or for lunch while at the pool on some days.

 

[christa112]

The counter service is located at Jambo House. If you are interested in a resort with TS I definately say book at Jambo.

Thanks franandaj, this helps greatly with our planning. Are there any counter service restaurants at AKV? Any at all? We will want to get something for breakfast or for lunch while at the pool on some days.

 

[rlovew]

Thanks franandaj, this helps greatly with our planning. Are there any counter service restaurants at AKV? Any at all? We will want to get something for breakfast or for lunch while at the pool on some days.

There is food available at the pool stand for lunch but I believe at Kindani the only options for breakfast are making something in your room, buying something from the store (to prepare in your room or donut like), or Sanaa for TS breakfast.

AT Jambo House for breakfast you can do Boma buffet or Mara CS.

 

[franandaj]

Our unit was very close to Jambo, the walk took five minutes, we timed it because of all the complaining I have heard about how difficult it is to get to a CS from Kidani. Now if you were staying on the other side of the resort, it could take 15 minutes to walk there.

One thing about Kidani over Jambo. The rooms at Jambo are all on the 5th & 6th floors (I think). The views from that high up are quite different than a 2nd, 3rd or 4th floor view which is all that they have at Kidani. Just something to think about.

 

[bonrea]

Thanks everyone for your pictures and information on our home resort. This will be our first visit to Kidani. When we check in; do we go to Jambo House first or just go to Kidani?

 

[Telcogirl]

Thanks everyone for your pictures and information on our home resort. This will be our first visit to Kidani. When we check in; do we go to Jambo House first or just go to Kidani?

You will check in at Kidani. If you are taking the Magical Express, it is a seperate stop at the resort. If you are driving, then just follow the signs.

 

[bonrea]

We loaned some extra points to some friends this past Memorial Day weekend and they said the Kidani Village is more than they would have ever expected. I was surprised to hear that the self park parking is in a garage under Kidani Village buildings. Since we as DVCers don’t get free valet parking anymore I will defiantly be taking advantage of this! Play slideshow

 

[franandaj]

Here's a few. I believe they were taken from the balcony of dedicated room 7238? Not sure. I requested close to the lobby and 2nd floor.

Those are great pictures. You are close to the 2 BR that we stayed in we were right near the elevator on the 2nd floor, but not so close to the lobby, but we were near that giraffe feeding station.

There are my old friends!! Aren't they beautiful?? Our favorites were the zebras. There was one who was particularly naughty, kicking up his heels at the other animals. He was chasing the other zebras, then got the giraffes all riled up and we got to see them gallop to get away from him! Then he went up to the antole cattle who just gave him a look like, "do you not see these horns? You've got to be kidding me." Then the zebra left him alone and scattered the ostriches in every direction. It was really entertaining. On another day there was the antelope who was bending forward to scratch the very back of his head on a bush. He scratch and scratched and tore up that bush/patch of wild grass. When he was done he stood up and walked around with a giant tuft of grass stuck on his horns like a football player with turf in his facemask. The kids will never forget our time on our balcony.

We watched that little rascal too, he was a mean one. The others would be eating and he would walk up and start kicking them and they would leave and he would eat all the food. Then once the giraffes had spilled their food on the ground he would go over and eat their food off the ground!

 

[ercrbc]

Where are the standard view 2BRs and studios located at Kidani? Are the standard view rooms close to parking and/or the pool? Is it true they are easier to get than the SV?

I am planning a trip with 2 other families for June 2011, I am really leaning toward trying to get a 2BR and a studio both standard view at Kidani.

We will have my family of 4 (kids age 2 and 5), a family of 5 (kids age 8, 5 and 3) and a family of 3 (kid age 4). I think Kidani would be a good choice with the extra bath, sleeper chair and bigger room. Will it be too tight with 9 in a 2BR? Will the standard view be terribly disappointing?

 

[rlovew]

The standard view will either be of the pool (not too many of them) or of the parking lot (well really more of the roadway and grassy areas across the road from the parking lot. As far as too tight- you need to figure out your sleeping arrangements to determine that- it would depend on how close I was to those families- if it was my parents, my brother who lives with us, my middle brother and wife, and us it would be easy for us to be together in a 2 bedroom on the other hand if it was us and my oldest brother and family even with only 6 I wouldn't put us in a 2 bedroom together.

 

[suzy021372]

Has anyone experienced the value 2 bedroom? I have not seen any details about those...

 

[bobbiwoz]

Has anyone experienced the value 2 bedroom? I have not seen any details about those...

They are only at Jambo and can have savannah, pool or parking lot view. They are smaller. They do not have a sleeper chair, so accomodate 8, and they have 2 baths. I know there wasn't much room between the door to the master bedroom and the bed itself. It's been awhile, but it seemed to me it was a very tight fit there, but other than that, the accomodations were fine. We had a pool view.

Bobbi