Bay Lake Tower or Kidani thoughts please

[melissasmithpackett]

Hi. Me, my 22 yr old and 74 year old mom are going in late Jan/early Feb. Mom has early Alzheimers. DD and I usually go to the parks open to close. That being said this trip we will spend 6 days in the park open to about 6pm. One break day in the hotel. I think my mom would love the savanna view at AKL but with early sunsets in winter I am worried. She would probably like the lake view at BLT especially the floating parade. We will be staying in a studio. What are your thoughts of these resorts in winter? Thanks

 

[CarolynFH]

Well, my first thoughts are that a savanna view at AKL is a view of the savanna (although animals aren't always visible), while some "lake view" rooms at BLT inside the "C" are actually views across the courtyard and into another room. If your mom is going to spend time sitting on a balcony, I think the view from AKL would be more consistently interesting. Another thing is that BLT studios are notoriously tiny and crowded. Is your mom going to the parks with you each day?

 

[melissasmithpackett]

Yes my mom will be going to the parks with us. She does love to sit on the balcony to relax. We went to the mountains last month and she sat outside on the balcony every day for hours and loved it. I know she would love to see the animals but I am worried about how early it gets dark.

 

[CarolynFH]

Yes my mom will be going to the parks with us. She does love to sit on the balcony to relax. We went to the mountains last month and she sat outside on the balcony every day for hours and loved it. I know she would love to see the animals but I am worried about how early it gets dark.

Yes, that will be an issue that time of year. The AKL savannas aren't lighted at night. From a BLT balcony she might be able to see activity at night or might not, depending on which direction it faces. We had a BLT one bedroom lake view once that was on the outside of the C, and the living room balcony looked across the woods toward the ferry marina (which you couldn't really see) while the bedroom balcony looked toward Space Mountain!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Three adults in one BLT studio will be very tight.

 

[supersnoop]

Three adults in any studio will be very tight. Someone is sharing a bed and someone is sleeping on the pull-out couch.

 

[PalmettoPath]

Hi. Me, my 22 yr old and 74 year old mom are going in late Jan/early Feb. Mom has early Alzheimers. DD and I usually go to the parks open to close. That being said this trip we will spend 6 days in the park open to about 6pm. One break day in the hotel. I think my mom would love the savanna view at AKL but with early sunsets in winter I am worried. She would probably like the lake view at BLT especially the floating parade. We will be staying in a studio. What are your thoughts of these resorts in winter? Thanks

As others noted, the BLT studios are small (possibly the smallest of any DVC villas). We stay in them with two adults and a 13-year-old. It's a little tight, but not a closet either. As far as the lake views go, I quite like them. Be sure to add a room request -- at least a general direction. BLT is pretty big, so the odds are in your favor that you will get the view that you request (there are a lot of floors for each view area, which is good). BLT is one of our three home resorts, so we stay there at least once a year since it opened. We've had 100% success rate from the perspective of getting the view that we want (I also request a floor and unit). I like the view straight out over the pool as well. In the dead center of that view you are looking straight out over the pool and into Bay Lake. There are studios side-by-side there. So if you do decide to go BLT, I would request either the view on the outer curve overlooking the Contemporary Pools and marina, or the view straight out overlooking Bay Cove Pool. Request "highest floor possible" for the best view potential. Just my two cents.

BLT also has Magic Kingdom proximity going for it. The other tip I would add is if you do go Kidani Village, be sure to request a room closer to the lobby area. I don't like the layout there because rooms at the very far end of those floor are a *long* walk from the lobby area.

I've attached a couple of random photos of studio views we have had from those two areas, just as an FYI.

 

[MBTigger]

My AKV stay in Jan 2019 convinced me to buy into DVC. It is so unique that I find it hard to recommend BLT, even if BLT is more convenient for travel to the parks.

 

[RanDIZ]

I own AKV and stay in Dec. The lobbies in both Kidani and Jambo are amazing! The savanna’s are nice and relaxing. Restaurants at AKV arguably the best on property. If you’re only going to AK once and MK 2 or more days, BLT would actually make more sense for location reasons.

Kidani lobby
Jambo lobby
Kidani Sunset Savanna 5pm

 

[EZMoney]

Hi. Me, my 22 yr old and 74 year old mom are going in late Jan/early Feb. Mom has early Alzheimers. DD and I usually go to the parks open to close. That being said this trip we will spend 6 days in the park open to about 6pm. One break day in the hotel. I think my mom would love the savanna view at AKL but with early sunsets in winter I am worried. She would probably like the lake view at BLT especially the floating parade. We will be staying in a studio. What are your thoughts of these resorts in winter? Thanks

If you are going to MK multiple days, the convenience of BLT is worth it. Also, monorail to TTC and Epcot is easy.

Some studios do have more space and some have multiple bathrooms like Poly. OKW studios have two beds instead of a pull out bed and quite nice views of golf course or river.

I like AKL as well, but I prefer the convenience of MK resorts since my kids are younger.

 

[PalmettoPath]

My AKV stay in Jan 2019 convinced me to buy into DVC. It is so unique that I find it hard to recommend BLT, even if BLT is more convenient for travel to the parks.

It is a beautiful resort, but it's so isolated and poorly laid out (among other issues we've had there) that we will never stay there again -- and it is one of our three home resorts (I wish I could swap those points for another resort, lol). So we use our AKV points as our extra points for other places at the 7-month window. We do like to visit from time to time, but it is definitely our least favorite of any Walt Disney World DVC property by far.

 

[drusba]

Be aware that the Kidani pool will be closed for refurb Jan to April 2022, and thus if you want a pool, BLT would be the better choice.

 

[badiggio]

Though the resort is great,the buses were always packed.We were lucky and stayed at Kidani ,as it was the first pickup.The bus was usually full by the time we hit Jambo.
Paid for savannah,once.It was enough, and couldn't justify the extra expense for what was delivered.
BLT or better yet imo,WL,where the nice boat ride will take you all right to the entrance.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

I would opt for AKV value 1 bedroom if you can get it instead of the studio room. Many of the value rooms in Jambo have a view of the savannah. They are value because they are a bit smaller than the other rooms