Animal Kingdom Refurbishment 2025

[DisnEElove]

I thought they were staring on Kidani in January

Not heard it officially.

 

[winnieforme]

Not heard it officially.

oh, I see. thank you

 

[drusba]

Is there information someplace about what will be affected? With BCV not having a pool, and BLT also having renovations, we are mostly wanting to know about the Jambo pool. We are big pool people and usually do a split stay at these resorts.

As noted above, the Jambo pool had a major refurb in Fall 2018. The pools also once in a while have short shutdowns for some work although those usually occur in the early months of the year. The Jambo pool actually does not follow a
"DVC" schedule, as its refurbs are more controlled by the hotel side of the resort.

The Kidani refurb actually started with a pool refurb in 2022, followed by a lot of work on the on the outside of the building, and then roof replacement last year. Thus, the upcoming refurb will be for the rooms and floors inside.

What we do not know yet as far as the rooms go is which building will be done first. For the last room refurb, Jambo went first and then Kidani. That schedule was partially due to the fact that the Kidani building did not open until about 20 months after the Jambo DVC rooms were opened. What we also do not know is the order of doing rooms in a building for a refurb. For prior refurbs at Jambo, the value rooms were dome separately from the others, and the others were done one side of the building and then the other. For Kidani, only half of one floor was done at at time. I am hoping that this time DVC does not decide to follow the entirely disastrous BWV schedule that was used for the most recent refurb. Before that one, the rooms were done half a floor at a time, and when one floor was completely finished they moved to the next one. For the latest refurb, they basically shut down an entire half of the building (all floors) at one time and then afterwards did the same for the second half, an activity that basically caused the studios and 2BRs to fill quickly for the applicable times at 11-months out -- even the pool/garden view studios (and 2BRs) were often filling right at 8 a.m. at 11-months out. And the refurb of each half took much longer than anticipated, with the result that many who had reservations were moved to other resorts (such as Yacht Club).

 

[sndral]

@drusba do you happen to know or have an opinion on how long a full refurb. typically takes? I know the BWV debacle took way longer than expected, but once they begin work at AKV how long should we expect there to be construction related impacts?

 

[drusba]

@drusba do you happen to know or have an opinion on how long a full refurb. typically takes? I know the BWV debacle took way longer than expected, but once they begin work at AKV how long should we expect there to be construction related impacts?

The 2016 BWV refurb took close to a year. Jambo/Kidani took a total that was more than a year but I am not sure precisely how long. We were in a BWV room for a week during that 2016 refurb (room was not yet done). The refurb work was hardy noticeable because at the time we were in a boardwalk view room and the work being done was on the standard view side of the building on a floor different from the one we were on.

 

[DisnEElove]

The 2016 BWV refurb took close to a year. Jambo/Kidani took a total that was more than a year but I am not sure precisely how long. We were in a BWV room for a week during the refurb (room was not yet done). The refurb work was hardy noticeable because at the time we were in a boardwalk view room and the work being done was on the standard view side of the building on a floor different from the one we were on.

We were in a BWV room that faced the pool, and the scaffolding was not too far but it didn't bother us. Of course we weren't in the room super often though. Left by 10am each day and returned in the evening. Really looking forward to AKL updating because the carpets pose sinus infection risks for us. The hotel rooms are wonderful.

 

[winnieforme]

Since quarterly meetings are entirely new, I can’t even begin to guess!

any idea how to attend the meeting if you're not local?

 

[CarolynFH]

any idea how to attend the meeting if you're not local?

They’ve never streamed or even posted video of the previous annual meetings, so I doubt that they’ll do anything like that for these quarterly meetings - unless there’s something in the law that requires it. Hopefully we’ll see reports here and on other sites by people who do attend.

 

[winnieforme]

They’ve never streamed or even posted video of the previous annual meetings, so I doubt that they’ll do anything like that for these quarterly meetings - unless there’s something in the law that requires it. Hopefully we’ll see reports here and on other sites by people who do attend.

Thank you for the information. You're probably right, they won't do anything for remote access unless they have to. I do wonder why they don't stream.

 

[CarolynFH]

Thank you for the information. You're probably right, they won't do anything for remote access unless they have to. I do wonder why they don't stream.

Probably don’t want to pay for it - I think it would come out of our dues, though.

 

[winnieforme]

Probably don’t want to pay for it - I think it would come out of our dues, though.

yes, I didn't think of that...I don't want to pay for it

 

[DisnEElove]

What would you think about some of non-value studios getting 2 queens instead of the Murphy to diversify? 2 queens are desirable as well for many families.

 

[winnieforme]

What would you think about some of non-value studios getting 2 queens instead of the Murphy to diversify? 2 queens are desirable as well for many families.

so instead of the Murphy bed, like the GF flip?

 

[DisnEElove]

so instead of the Murphy bed, like the GF flip?

Yes.

 

[sndral]

What would you think about some of non-value studios getting 2 queens instead of the Murphy to diversify? 2 queens are desirable as well for many families.

I think all OKW studios have 2 queen beds as well. Personally, we book 2 br.s at Jambo which are lock offs & I prefer the sofa/bed or future Murphy sofa set up in the studio since we never use the sofa as a bed & having the extra floor space is lovely. AKV already has a lot of booking categories, not sure we need to add more to distinguish studios w/ or w/out 2 real beds, especially since the Murphy beds are so comfortable & families who don’t want to mess w/ putting the Murphy up/down daily can just leave it down for the duration of their stay.

 

[SnugglyDucklings]

I'm also looking for a May 2025 DVC at AKL! Thanks for the info,

 

[act1980]

Following along

 

[nlenguyen]

If anyone is going to the quarterly meeting, hoping some information will be announced about the AKV refurb. Wanting to see when it will start, hard to tell from the Website when most dates are still available

 

[winnieforme]

Any information from the meeting today? I may be a bit early

 

[dkbnyc]

I think the sofa beds are more comfortable to sit on, but no contest the murphy beds are better to sleep on.

I fear this will mean we'll lose the table and chairs like most other studio renovations, which will be sad.

I hate that they are removing tables and chairs. Replacing chairs with stools is not acceptable either