Did anyone NOT like having a savannah view room?

[cvjw]

We always use the points for a savannah view when staying at AKV. Some of our views have been much better than others. The only time that I would be upset over using the extra points for the savannah view is if our villa were located on the Pembe savannah. There are no zebras or giraffes on the Pembe savannah, and you can see the big fence at the end of the savannah. Pembe savannah doesn't equal the Sunset savannah, in our opinion.

 

[Kidanifan08]

We are going in just over 2 weeks,with a standard 1 bedroom at Kidani for three days, and a studio standard for 5 days at Jambo. do you think requesting a pool view by the Pembe Savanna would be a wise request?

I think it would be a great request! I am not sure the success rate with that particular request, but it doesn't hurt to ask. There may be some other "pool view" rooms along that stretch that may not have a great view of the Pembe savanna. I think we were in room 7736. The building was definitely 77 on the 3rd floor.

Have a great trip!!

 

[LisaS]

Are there lights on the savannah at night? I don't think I've ever had a room where you look out onto complete darkness at night. That might be weird.

Yes there are lights all around the roof edge that illuminate the savanna at night. Here is a photo I took a few weeks ago. It was taken with my little point and shoot camera which does not do well in low light but it will give you an idea of the lighting they provide on the savanna at night. If you look closely you might be able to see a couple of zebra grazing. They don't show up well in the photo now that I've re-sized it but are easy to see in the full-size version and were quite easy to see from our balcony. The zebras slept in this area for a few hours each evening, getting up again at 11pm when the food truck came around.

The savanna was a bit brighter than usual due to the "super moon" that night:

 

[amypetecar]

I actually prefer the standard view rooms with a view of the pool. All close by the elevator and some of the people at the pool look better than the animals.

Yes.... but some of the of the people at the pool look like the animals..... just sayin'

 

[ovalhead96]

I think it would be a great request! I am not sure the success rate with that particular request, but it doesn't hurt to ask. There may be some other "pool view" rooms along that stretch that may not have a great view of the Pembe savanna. I think we were in room 7736. The building was definitely 77 on the 3rd floor.

Have a great trip!!

Thanks for your help it is our first full dvc trip as owners

 

[marx]

Did anyone have a savannah view room and end up wishing they hadn't used up points on it? What was unimpressive? Where was your room (which building/which savannah)? What time of year did you go? If you wouldn't book a savannah view room again, would you bother to stay at AKV?

Thanks for any input. I hear so many rave reviews but I'm sure there's a flip side to consider.

We enjoy savannah view rooms, but now opt for value rooms, so take what we get

That said, we have had savannah rooms at Kidani about as far from the lobby as you can get (in the middle of the arc) and have found that the animals only spend a limited amount of time in that area. There seems to be more animals towards the lobby area.

 

[DougEMG]

My 16 year old daughter loved it and jumping up and down on the balcony like a little kid. We were there in Dec and there was always a lot of animals to see. Will definitely stay there again.

 

[dbs1228]

We were there only 1 night and I need more!!! I am a balcony dweller so savanna view is sooooo worth the points, thats just me.

 

[kristenrice]

I have stayed in value, standard and savanna view rooms at AKV, in both Jambo and Kidani. Here's my thoughts...

...the Value cartegory at Jambo is awesome! What a point-saver! Here was our view...

(The rooms in the top of the picture are the SAVANNA VIEW rooms...3-feet longer than our room...same view...12 points more PER NIGHT!)

...The savanna view was great, but a word of caution: It can be VERY hard to get your kids to come off the balcony to eat/sleep/bathe/swim/go to the park. On our first savanna-view stay (6 nights at Jambo), I had to drag the kids to the park.

...The standard view at Kidani is second on my list, behind value, for favorite rooms. Yes, it looked at the parking lot, but with all of the landscaping, our eyes were drawn out, not down, so it was a very nice view of the horizon.

To stretch our 100 points, I split our 5-night stays into 2 and 3 night reservations. We start in a studio and then move to a 1BR. If we get the 1BR value, then we do a studio savanna. If we get a 1BR standard, then we do a value studio and hope for a savanna. If we find ourselves with extra points (i.e. when spring break isn't in premiere season), then we might do savanna studio and a standard 1BR. I don't think we will ever do a 1BR with a savanna view. It's just too many points for me to justify.

 

[Chim Chiminy]

We loved our savannah view studio at Kidani, but did not care for the two we had at Jambo House. I think it is a bit of a gamble, and depends on expectation I suppose.

Our Jambo house view overlooked a fenced in area with a large amount of dirt, we didn't see a single animal from those rooms. If I had known there were Savannah view rooms like that at Jambo, I would have booked standard and requested pool view.

Edit to add......our savannah view room was one of those in the picture above. We were directly over that fenced in area. Will look for a picture.

 

[kristenrice]

Our Jambo house view overlooked a fenced in area with a large amount of dirt, we didn't see a single animal from those rooms. If I had known there were Savannah view rooms like that at Jambo, I would have booked standard and requested pool view.

Edit to add......our savannah view room was one of those in the picture above. We were directly over that fenced in area. Will look for a picture.

We learned that those fenced in areas are "people pens". In case of a fire or other emergency that requires evacuation, those pens are used to allow the guests to escape into the savanna area without being in danger from the animals.

 

[majortom1981]

Did anyone have a savannah view room and end up wishing they hadn't used up points on it? What was unimpressive? Where was your room (which building/which savannah)? What time of year did you go? If you wouldn't book a savannah view room again, would you bother to stay at AKV?

Thanks for any input. I hear so many rave reviews but I'm sure there's a flip side to consider.

We had a savanah view on our first stay. We stayed in one that is more towards jambo house in kidani . IF your facing the savanah in the lobby the rooms on the right. We got one ostrich the whole time we were there, the animals tended to stay by the lobby most of the time.

You can view the savanah with glass walls every couple of rooms and at the lobby. the next time we stayed at a standard view and did not miss the savannah at all . we did all our viewing off the lobby (the rocking chairs are awesome).

PS kidani is our home resort.

 

[HayGan]

It is highly unlikely that we will ever do AKV without a savannah view. Yes, it is more points but I bought at AKV so that I could see the animals.

We have done 25+ nights in savannah views and never had a problem in seeing the animals. Sure they aren't all always outside your window but you can almost be assured that there are ones that you can easily see. They tend to move to different areas at different times (and of course they have their favorite spots) but I doubt that there is a savannah room where you don't get to see animals!

 

[Luv2trav]

We loved our savannah view studio at Kidani, but did not care for the two we had at Jambo House. I think it is a bit of a gamble, and depends on expectation I suppose.

Our Jambo house view overlooked a fenced in area with a large amount of dirt, we didn't see a single animal from those rooms. If I had known there were Savannah view rooms like that at Jambo, I would have booked standard and requested pool view.

Edit to add......our savannah view room was one of those in the picture above. We were directly over that fenced in area. Will look for a picture.

I agree with this 100%. I have stayed at Kidani once and Jambo twice and we had savannah view all 3 times. Kidani had OUTSTANDING view and Jambo stunk! If I stay at Jambo again I am definately doing Pool view.. Kidani view was amazing.

 

[Serkazong]

When we bought at AKV, I was concerned about this also. I kind of hoped it wouldn't matter to me (we had never stayed there). After our first trip to Kidani, I was a little suprised to find out that I liked savanah view A LOT more than I thought I would. I love mornings and evenings on the balcony and its now a must do for us. We tried a trip without it and I wont do that again. We also tried Jambo vs. Kidani but we like Kidani better.

But thats just me and everyone needs to try it out. Maybe you'll get lucky and not care so much for the savanah view

 

[ovalhead96]

I agree with this 100%. I have stayed at Kidani once and Jambo twice and we had savannah view all 3 times. Kidani had OUTSTANDING view and Jambo stunk! If I stay at Jambo again I am definately doing Pool view.. Kidani view was amazing.

It must be the DVC rooms. I've had savanna rooms at Jambo (non dvc), and the views were unbelievable. The last time was just a few feet from the loby in the back section. We had tons of animals the entire time. My wife spent hours on the balcony just watching the animals and drinking coffee.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I'm surprised at myself that I didn't like the room I had the one time I had a savannah view. But it was more about room location than anything else. For DVC, the savannah rooms are on the long "arms" of the U shape. One of the advantages to me of the standard and value rooms is that they're always on short arms of the shorter U shape. When I had a savannah view, I was in the last pod-thing so I was "to haycks and back" (as my grandmother used to say) from the elevator down to Mara. The view was terrific, but leaving the room to go anywhere wasn't so much.

 

[jennib5426]

We did a week in a jambo sv and it was a great view. We had top floor corner room over looking the savannah between Kadani and Jambo.
The 7 year old took one look out at the animals and was like, "what ever who cares lets go to the pool".
So we would not use points for the view again..LOL

 

[look1angel]

Guess we just get lucky, everytime I've stayed at AKL we get the SV & are never disappointed. I almost couldn't imagine staying at AKL & not getting the SV but have heard the pool view was nice & may talk DH into that next time.

 

[kendzee94]

We've stayed at Jambo 1x and Kidani 2x with a savanna room. The last time, we were on the Pembe Savanna and had one of those newly downgraded to standard view rooms (6 or 7th bead down). As I posted on the other thread, I called the front desk and MS to complain, as I truly believed they put us in a standard, and not a savanna view room.

With that being said, we had great views and rooms our first two trips! We are heading back in the fall and have a standard view booked for a couple nights before we stay concierge level. I am going into it knowing I only have a 50% chance of getting a savanna view, so it will be interesting to see what a true standard view is vs. what we have paid extra points for with the savanna view and if we will want to do the standard view again.