Animal Kingdom Lodge - Very Cool!

[who's ur daddy?]

Just came back from a stay at the DVC AKL Villas at Jambo House. Love it!

It was a split stay - first at Beach Club Villas - very nice too. But I think the wife and I agreed that AKL was great. The theming was awesome and the decor was quite grand. Only downside was that the waterslide at the main pool was really short! Saratoga's slide was much more fun for the kids. The Beach Club Pools were great, but for some reason, it didn't feel enough like "home" for us.

If you guys get a chance to stay at AKL, do it! Wonderful.

 

[dvcdisney]

We are DVC members and AKV is one of our home resorts and we absolutely love it. This past August we stayed at the Kidani Village and it was great. It has the same theming as the Jambo house, but I find the pool and waterpark a little better.

AKL was one of the reasons why we bought into DVC. Ironically, when we joined/purchased about 8 years ago, AKV wasn't even built yet. But staying there had convinced us.

Since then, we've stayed there a number of times and have enjoyed it. But our favourite is still BCV - location, SALB and the beautiful resort.

 

[Louiepipbgeeco]

Sounds great. I have stayed at Jambo and loved it. Cannot wait to go home for the first time to Kidani this summer. Reading reports like this always makes me glad I chose AKV for a home resort.

 

[mousy_in_canada]

We were thinking of doing a split stay there and with VWL on our next trip. Good to know they are nice! Is there a way to make sure you are staying in the new building or is it luck of the draw?

 

[dvcdisney]

We were thinking of doing a split stay there and with VWL on our next trip. Good to know they are nice! Is there a way to make sure you are staying in the new building or is it luck of the draw?

Yes. When you book, you have to be specific and ask for the Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village. The lobby is not as large as the Jambo house, but it is absolutely gorgeous when you walk in. At the end of the lobby, there is a GRAND window where you can see quite a bit. If you go down the stairs, Sanaa (new restaurant) is right there or you can walk out to the outdoor viewing area. There's also a little library on the lobby floor just off the hallway beside the shop. It also has great viewing areas. And there is always someone there that would love to discuss the resort and theme. It is truly an experience.

There are only a couple of things that I wished they had, a good counter service restaurant for quick breakfasts etc and a larger shop. But, this was not a big deal since the Jambo house is only a short walk away. We always end up at Mara for breakfast or snacks. If we plan on staying at the resort for the day, we go to Mara and have lunch as well and then go back to Kidani for the pool. I also found it less busy in the common areas than the Jambo house.

 

[mousy_in_canada]

Thanks, I was wondering how to make sure I got that one.. The rooms are a bit larger as well aren't they? Is the layout different than the existing building?

 

[dvcdisney]

Thanks, I was wondering how to make sure I got that one.. The rooms are a bit larger as well aren't they? Is the layout different than the existing building?

Yes, generally the overall size of the comparable rooms at the Kidani Village Villas are a bit larger than the Jambo House Villas. Also, if you choose one of the bigger villas (1 bedroom and larger), there is an extra bathroom. Further, there are no value rooms in the Kidani village, just standard and savannah views.

The layout is different from the Jambo Villas room because these are renovated rooms that existed as a regular studio room. Therefore, they had to work with the spacing they had. But it's still nice.

 

[momtoamulan]

of Coronado Springs...but, I didn't want to pay anymore money..lol.

DH will only spend soo much (he isn't a disney fan like me!)...have to work on him!

excited to be going for my bday in December
DH not thrilled....lol.
our beautiful 6 year old!

 

[who's ur daddy?]

Yes. When you book, you have to be specific and ask for the Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village. The lobby is not as large as the Jambo house, but it is absolutely gorgeous when you walk in. At the end of the lobby, there is a GRAND window where you can see quite a bit. If you go down the stairs, Sanaa (new restaurant) is right there or you can walk out to the outdoor viewing area. There's also a little library on the lobby floor just off the hallway beside the shop. It also has great viewing areas. And there is always someone there that would love to discuss the resort and theme. It is truly an experience.

There are only a couple of things that I wished they had, a good counter service restaurant for quick breakfasts etc and a larger shop. But, this was not a big deal since the Jambo house is only a short walk away. We always end up at Mara for breakfast or snacks. If we plan on staying at the resort for the day, we go to Mara and have lunch as well and then go back to Kidani for the pool. I also found it less busy in the common areas than the Jambo house.

So, would you request Kidani Village over Jambo House all the time? The Mara was great - nice and convenient to fill up the refillable mugs. I should have spent 10 minutes to walk around Kidani - darn.

On the map (never had the time to go visit Kidani's pool), the Kidani slide seemed to have a few more twists and turns than the short slide at Jambo House...

 

[who's ur daddy?]

of Coronado Springs...but, I didn't want to pay anymore money..lol.

DH will only spend soo much (he isn't a disney fan like me!)...have to work on him!

excited to be going for my bday in December
DH not thrilled....lol.
our beautiful 6 year old!

Any Disney is better than no Disney. You can rub it in in December when the rest of us are stuck here in Canada with -10 weather and slushy mush on the ground...

 

[dvcdisney]

So, would you request Kidani Village over Jambo House all the time? The Mara was great - nice and convenient to fill up the refillable mugs. I should have spent 10 minutes to walk around Kidani - darn.

On the map (never had the time to go visit Kidani's pool), the Kidani slide seemed to have a few more twists and turns than the short slide at Jambo House...

I wouldn't necessarily say I would choose Kidani over Jambo. I think it depends on what I want. As a DVC member, I can save points by staying at a 1 bedroom Value room in the Jambo house. And since the Villas are only on the 5th and 6th floors, I will not have to worry about being on lower floors (I prefer higher or top floors). Also, the 1 bedroom value room is big enough for my family of four. I do like the fact that Mara is onsite.

But....I do prefer the feeling of Kidani....seemed less busy in the lobby. It is still very new. The pool, as you mentioned, has a great slide which is a hit for my family. They have a little waterpark type area for children that's great for hot days. I don't mind the pool at the Jambo House, but I would prefer the Kidani. The great thing is that you can stay at either of these and go to either of the pool. I think some people say it's a bit of a walk, but it wasn't too bad for us. Mind you, the pool is a bit farther, but not much. I think it's worth the walk over.

Like I said, it does depend on what you're looking for. We stopped getting the refillable mugs a long time ago. We used to buy them for souvenirs but found that we don't use them at all. But if we did, it would be a great plus to have this convenience. I do think that eventually Kidani will offer a good CS restaurants. There is quite a few complaints about it already from the DVC community. So, I'm thinking it's a matter of time.

 

[xipetotec]

Just came back from a stay at the DVC AKL Villas at Jambo House. Love it!

It was a split stay - first at Beach Club Villas - very nice too. But I think the wife and I agreed that AKL was great. The theming was awesome and the decor was quite grand. Only downside was that the waterslide at the main pool was really short! Saratoga's slide was much more fun for the kids. The Beach Club Pools were great, but for some reason, it didn't feel enough like "home" for us.

If you guys get a chance to stay at AKL, do it! Wonderful.

We are BCV Home resort owners, but took a couple of days away from "home" in 2008 to stay here, and I agree I love the resort. and the restaurants here are fantastic! The only complaint I have is how far it is from everything ( well, except DAK of course ), but that did not take away from how great this place was.

 

[dvcdisney]

We are BCV Home resort owners, but took a couple of days away from "home" in 2008 to stay here, and I agree I love the resort. and the restaurants here are fantastic! The only complaint I have is how far it is from everything ( well, except DAK of course ), but that did not take away from how great this place was.

We are also BCV home resort owners! Actually, even though the other resorts are great, and we have 2 other home resorts, BCV is our favourite.

And it is great to have the option of staying at other resorts.

I agree about AKV, it is farther from the other parks. I wish there was a path for us to walk to AK. The bus ride seems useless when we can just walk. We love the idea that BCV is within walking distance to Epcot and HS. No matter how tired we are at the end of the day, we would still prefer to walk back to the resort than wait and battle the bus back at closing. We don't usually rent a car if we are not visiting outside Disney which is most of the time.

 

[dvcdisney]

Any Disney is better than no Disney.

 

[who's ur daddy?]

Just to clarify, I thing BCV has quite a bit of awesomeness itself. I mean the waterplay area is just nuts crazy big. Who needs the Disney waterparks lol! Plus that little sand area! Our kids played in that area for hours. We decided that we didn't need to go to Clearwater Beach because they had so much fun in the sand already.

So, I'd rank them in my order in terms of favourites as:

1. AKL
2. BCV
3. Saratoga
4. BWV

Really want to try OKW. Just seems so relaxed and comfortable when we walked through it...

 

[dvcdisney]

Just to clarify, I thing BCV has quite a bit of awesomeness itself. I mean the waterplay area is just nuts crazy big. Who needs the Disney waterparks lol! Plus that little sand area! Our kids played in that area for hours. We decided that we didn't need to go to Clearwater Beach because they had so much fun in the sand already.

So, I'd rank them in my order in terms of favourites as:

1. AKL
2. BCV
3. Saratoga
4. BWV

Really want to try OKW. Just seems so relaxed and comfortable when we walked through it...

Yes, definitely. I'm not really a pool person but my family loves SAB. They've spend hours at the pool. This past August, I told them that we would only be going to Typhoon Lagoon once since there was SAB, and they were absolutely fine with it!

We tend to generally stay at our favourite resorts so we haven't tried all the DVC resorts yet. Here's our list of favourites based on where we've stayed:

1 BCV
2 AKV-Kidani
3 VWL
4 AKV - Jambo
5 BWV
6 OKW

We will be staying at BLT for the first time this March coming up. I'm hoping we will love it.

We have not stayed at Vero, HH or SSR. We are not really interested in them at this point, maybe later on.

We are planning to try and stay at the VGC and the one is Hawaii in the next few years. I say trying because I'm not sure how easy it will be to book if it's not our home resort. My husband on the other hand wants to buy into the Hawaii one. I figured, the next add on I do will be a DVC resort at the Polynesian (if that ever happens) - my wish for the next DVC resort.

 

[RookieMouse]

We are headed for our first DVC stay next week. It will also be a split stay, one night at AKV Kidani followed by 3 nights at BLT (our home resort). We are so looking forward to it.


John