Anyone 'underwhelmed' by the savannah view?

[Chester's Mum]

I hate that they do that...categorize the "people pen" area as Savanna View. They're really not....and animals seems to be scarce around those areas.

MOST of what I consider the "real" savanna view rooms, IMHO, are much better. We were there in January, in room 5525 (which is on Zebra trail, a bit more than 1/2 way down, facing Arusha savanna..the "center" one) and there were CONSTANTLY animals out there.

Sorry you had such a bad experience......maybe you'll give AKV another try (especially after Kidani is open) in the future and have better luck.

The stay was not a bad stay overall. The resort was lovely, the pool area very nice, and the staff kind and helpful, and we really enjoy Boma. One of my reasons for buying DVC is that I like to spend time on the balcony, I'm an early riser in a houseful of sleepy heads. I just regret paying more points for such a bad view. My BWV standard view for 20 less points and 1 more night was much more rewarding. If I do give the lodge another chance it will be in a standard view room, but thanks for your kind words.

 

[Coach81]

I am hoping that we see a few animals this coming May. My 6 year old is really looking forward to it!

 

[LisaS]

I hate that they do that...categorize the "people pen" area as Savanna View. They're really not....and animals seems to be scarce around those areas.

Given the design of Kidani Village, I'm thinking there won't be a need for any people pens there. So unlike Jambo House, maybe all of Kidani's Savanna View rooms will be pretty much equal in terms of the view.

 

[pilferk]

Given the design of Kidani Village, I'm thinking there won't be a need for any people pens there. So unlike Jambo House, maybe all of Kidani's Savanna View rooms will be pretty much equal in terms of the view.

I figure that to be the case, as well.

I just hate that they categorize the current "people pen" view rooms as Savannah view....for exactly the reason we see here. It's so off putting to "new" guests...and it's not fair, IMHO, to charge a "premium" for those rooms. I agree it'll be less of an issue once Kidani opens...since those rooms will make up a much smaller % (they're already a small %) of the SV room category for DVC members.

Those rooms started, when the lodge first opened, as standard view. They were seen by lots of people who paid for standard view rooms as an "upgrade" to savanna view, or a nice "Disney bonus" for what they were paying.

Disney caught on pretty quick though, and within months changed them over to savanna view rooms. Now we see (as evidenced above) exactly the opposite: People seeing these rooms as not worth the "view premium" (in points or dollars) Disney is charging. For the record, I think people are right and, IMHO, better for Disney to "pleasantly surprise" standard view guests than "royally disappoint) the Savanna view guests.

 

[Mr Man]

I was one of the early posters who was underwhelmed by the Savannah view.......still am, yet I keep going back.

I love the resort (visited it twice for meals on my last trip) & will be staying there on DVC points this August. DW wants to make an add-on at this resort in August. I will not argue. Can't wait to have first crack at the value category suites.

Viewing animals on the Savannah from my balcony is a small part of the AKL experience for us. Nice to have but I am ok with public viewing areas for now. I spend too much time at the Pool Bar and arcade anyways......

 

[dianeschlicht]

Given the design of Kidani Village, I'm thinking there won't be a need for any people pens there. So unlike Jambo House, maybe all of Kidani's Savanna View rooms will be pretty much equal in terms of the view.

I think there WILL be people pens. It is a whole new building, and thus will need whole new escape routes should that be necessary. Not all areas of the resort will have easy access to the small parking lot and lobby area, so I'm sure there will be people pens on the back side of the new savanna for Kidani. The whole reason for the people pens is access to the outdoors for units that would have no direct access without going through the animal areas. If there is an emergency or fire etc, they have to be able to empty the whole resort in a very short time...thus the people pens for the wings that have only savanna access.

When we did the sunset safari last month, the Sunset Savanna is where we saw the MOST animals, not the least. There were 3 giraffes, several Ankoli cattle, Zebra, Red River Hogs and Herons on that savanna, and because it was smaller than normal with the construction area restricting it, they seemed to be more clustered and available than on the larger Arusha and Uzima savannas.

 

[pilferk]

I think there WILL be people pens. It is a whole new building, and thus will need whole new escape routes should that be necessary. Not all areas of the resort will have easy access to the small parking lot and lobby area, so I'm sure there will be people pens on the back side of the new savanna for Kidani. The whole reason for the people pens is access to the outdoors for units that would have no direct access without going through the animal areas. If there is an emergency or fire etc, they have to be able to empty the whole resort in a very short time...thus the people pens for the wings that have only savanna access.

If you look at where the people pens are situated for Jambo House, they are on or near "wings" which don't have an "exterior", non-savannah side. Both sides are "encased" by animal habitat/savanna.

With Kidani, I don't believe there are any such wings....MAYBE the very tip of the wing nearest the pool, where the "new" DVC exclusive savanna is.

Otherwise, they all have at least one side "open" to the parking lots, pool, or common areas.

I'm not sure that means anything, one way or the other, but it's why I suspect they won't have any (or at least, many) "people pens".

We'll have to wait and see, I guess.

 

[LisaS]

If you look at where the people pens are situated for Jambo House, they are on or near "wings" which don't have an "exterior", non-savannah side. Both sides are "encased" by animal habitat/savanna.

With Kidani, I don't believe there are any such wings....MAYBE the very tip of the wing nearest the pool, where the "new" DVC exclusive savanna is.

Otherwise, they all have at least one side "open" to the parking lots, pool, or common areas.

I'm not sure that means anything, one way or the other, but it's why I suspect they won't have any (or at least, many) "people pens".

We'll have to wait and see, I guess.

I just took another look at the drawing of Kidani and it looks like about 1/4 of the building (the building segments just past the pool area) would need a people pen or two. But the rest of the building has parking lot or the pool area on one side. So maybe a couple of people pens will be required for that top part of the building. Oh well! Wishful thinking I guess.

 

[PinkTink63]

I figure that to be the case, as well.

I just hate that they categorize the current "people pen" view rooms as Savannah view....for exactly the reason we see here. It's so off putting to "new" guests...and it's not fair, IMHO, to charge a "premium" for those rooms. I agree it'll be less of an issue once Kidani opens...since those rooms will make up a much smaller % (they're already a small %) of the SV room category for DVC members.

Those rooms started, when the lodge first opened, as standard view. They were seen by lots of people who paid for standard view rooms as an "upgrade" to savanna view, or a nice "Disney bonus" for what they were paying.

Disney caught on pretty quick though, and within months changed them over to savanna view rooms. Now we see (as evidenced above) exactly the opposite: People seeing these rooms as not worth the "view premium" (in points or dollars) Disney is charging. For the record, I think people are right and, IMHO, better for Disney to "pleasantly surprise" standard view guests than "royally disappoint) the Savanna view guests.

Thanks for the "heads up" on this info, because Aug. will be our first stay at AK and I will be really disappointed to receive one of those rooms! We have been dying to stay there for years, but couldn't until now because of DVC! I splurged on the points for SV, because we do want to enjoy it and relax for a couple of days.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I just took another look at the drawing of Kidani and it looks like about 1/4 of the building (the building segments just past the pool area) would need a people pen or two. But the rest of the building has parking lot or the pool area on one side. So maybe a couple of people pens will be required for that top part of the building. Oh well! Wishful thinking I guess.

That area is exactly where I was thinking of when I made that post, Lisa.

 

[pilferk]

I just took another look at the drawing of Kidani and it looks like about 1/4 of the building (the building segments just past the pool area) would need a people pen or two. But the rest of the building has parking lot or the pool area on one side. So maybe a couple of people pens will be required for that top part of the building. Oh well! Wishful thinking I guess.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought...just the "tip" of that end of the resort past the pool might need one.

So, at the very least, there should be a lot fewer of them...

 

[popstar7867]

Hi Everyone! I want to try to get the best view possible of the Savannah at Jambo house when I vacation there for the first time in December! Does anyone know if you can request a view over a certain savannah and if so, which one offers the best view of the animals?

 

[DVC Mike]

Hi Everyone! I want to try to get the best view possible of the Savannah at Jambo house when I vacation there for the first time in December! Does anyone know if you can request a view over a certain savannah and if so, which one offers the best view of the animals?

My personal favorite is the Arusha savanna. The Uzima savanna is nice. I would try to avoid the Sunset savanna until Spring 2009 due to the construction of Kidani Village.

 

[keishashadow]

Anybody have pics from their balcony located in Ostrich Trail area?

As we wait for next resort/addon , we continually find ourselves point-shy and were shocked to be able to book AKV Value Studio for substantially less points than WLV in October over the pricey weekend.

While I gather the rooms will be smaller, & potential for parking lot or pool view; I'm still looking forward to finally seeing for ourselves how great it is.

We're happy with the parking lot view @ the BWV, honestly; it's always so hot & humid when we visit, we rarely spend much time on the balcony in the 1st place. Even though we haven't been DVC for long, it's nice to shake things up a bit to keep it fresh imo.

 

[disneymom8589]

We are just returning from our 1st AKV stay in a 1-bdrm. SV room. We had a wonderful experience regarding viewing animals from our balcony. There were always plenty of animals out and about. Early in the morning the animals are off the savannah while the CMs work out there (or so we were told.) Every night we had animals sleeping directly below our balcony. It was fantastic!