gkrykewy
TTA PeopleMover Fan Club President
- Joined
- May 27, 2007
- Messages
- 1,752
We just finished our first night at Kidani, and while i wait for my wife to wake up, i thought i'd offer some impressions.
First, the negatives. They really did make some odd design decisions. I'll leave off the lack of a CS since you know that already.
(-) you have to walk out the front door and past the drop-off loop to reach the pool. The sidewalk is right alone the driveway, without even any landscaping. Very weird, and sort of breaks the theming.
(-) lonnnnnnnnng hallways. We are at the tip of the southern mouse ear, and we're literally equidistant to the jambo lobby and kidani lobby. This is a positive too- makes walking to Jambo pretty painless.
(-) The walk to jambo... it really does feel like an afterthought. They really need to enhance this with some additional theming.
(-) The stairwells. Don't use them. They are colored teal, red, and white, and it feels like you're instantly transported back to junior high. Think cinder blocks.
Now, the positives:
(+) The lobby and overlook areas are delightful. There is a lovely viewing platform to the right of the lobby with a row of outdoor wooden rocking chairs. Great!
(+) Staff have been very friendly. The front desk was very patient with finding us a 2nd floor room when we were disappointed with our initial 5th floor assignment.
(+) The pool, once you get there, is lovely, and comparable to the Jambo pool, which is my favorite at WDW. I hope that the work finishing up Pembe savanna will provide an opportunity to better connect the pool with the rooms. Lots of high quality fabric lounge chairs.
(+) The room -- a studio -- is terrific. Very similar to jambo, but with a nicer bathroom. The toilet has its own little side room. Beautiful animal tiles in the shower. Giant, wide metal shower head.
(+) And finally the star of the show- the savanna! In short, the new sunset savanna between kidani and jambo is just breathtaking. It's enormous, and you can see quite far. This means that you'll usually see multiple animals at different distances, and the animals have a ton of space to naturally move through. This is the savanna view concept at its full potential. Also, the ability to get a lower floor room is a huge bonus. At times, animals will literally be 30 feet away. Just an exceptional, almost meditative experience. vacation!
In short, despite some weird design quirks that will hopefully be partially mitigated over time, this is a great resort, and its high points are really high. A worthy partner for Jambo.
First, the negatives. They really did make some odd design decisions. I'll leave off the lack of a CS since you know that already.
(-) you have to walk out the front door and past the drop-off loop to reach the pool. The sidewalk is right alone the driveway, without even any landscaping. Very weird, and sort of breaks the theming.
(-) lonnnnnnnnng hallways. We are at the tip of the southern mouse ear, and we're literally equidistant to the jambo lobby and kidani lobby. This is a positive too- makes walking to Jambo pretty painless.
(-) The walk to jambo... it really does feel like an afterthought. They really need to enhance this with some additional theming.
(-) The stairwells. Don't use them. They are colored teal, red, and white, and it feels like you're instantly transported back to junior high. Think cinder blocks.
Now, the positives:
(+) The lobby and overlook areas are delightful. There is a lovely viewing platform to the right of the lobby with a row of outdoor wooden rocking chairs. Great!
(+) Staff have been very friendly. The front desk was very patient with finding us a 2nd floor room when we were disappointed with our initial 5th floor assignment.
(+) The pool, once you get there, is lovely, and comparable to the Jambo pool, which is my favorite at WDW. I hope that the work finishing up Pembe savanna will provide an opportunity to better connect the pool with the rooms. Lots of high quality fabric lounge chairs.
(+) The room -- a studio -- is terrific. Very similar to jambo, but with a nicer bathroom. The toilet has its own little side room. Beautiful animal tiles in the shower. Giant, wide metal shower head.
(+) And finally the star of the show- the savanna! In short, the new sunset savanna between kidani and jambo is just breathtaking. It's enormous, and you can see quite far. This means that you'll usually see multiple animals at different distances, and the animals have a ton of space to naturally move through. This is the savanna view concept at its full potential. Also, the ability to get a lower floor room is a huge bonus. At times, animals will literally be 30 feet away. Just an exceptional, almost meditative experience. vacation!
In short, despite some weird design quirks that will hopefully be partially mitigated over time, this is a great resort, and its high points are really high. A worthy partner for Jambo.
I am kinda disappointed after my stay in Kidani.
My thinking is if your going to Disney prepare to walk!!!
