Some one will come along with more info I am sure. DVC rooms a t Jambo are located on the 5th and 6th floors. At Kidani all the rooms are potentially DVC. There are only value and KC rooms at Jambo. The KC rooms do not have really good views from what I have read and are located on the 6th floor. Value rooms are 10-2 bedroom lockoffs, so they can be broken down into 10 studios and 10 one bedrooms. You have a chance with savanna view, pool view and parking lot view with value rooms. The value rooms are also about 3 feet smaller that regular DVC rooms. All one bedrooms at Kidani have 2 bathrooms, not at Jambo. All standard view rooms at Jambo are considered pool view, I believe.
KC rooms have, of course access to the lounge there with appetizers and small offerings throughout the day including drinks. There is turn down service in the evening and daily room service. With a regular room you have trash and towel day on day 4 after check in and regular full service on day 8, then day 12 T&T service, and so fourth. I believe KC guest also have access to a special safari or they did....
Ignoring club level there are some differences between Jambo and Kidani. For each it essentially comes down to view type (not I didn't say view because you never know from a given villa). Value are smaller and only in Jambo. They are the only one's where view doesn't come into play on the reservation side. If you like the resort overall, the differences are generally minor but can be important to some. The value rooms are some of the cheapest on property and tend to fill up quickly.
Unless you're overly serious about the club level or value villas, you should be able to get into AKV pretty easily with anything at 7 months out. You might consider buying a different resort to either get in cheaper (OKW, SSR) or give you additional options (all other WDW resorts).Thanks for the replies. You guys really know your stuff.
I just wish they would have a QS more accessible.
I asked about "the club" and I apologize for not being more clear. I wanted to know about Kilomanjaro Club level. I think it was answered anyway but thought I needed to clarify in case someone else wanted to chime in. I think we are pretty sure we will buy in, just doing as much research as possible. Luckily, we have friends that have been in a long time to ask more questions. I think they reeeeeally want us to get in so are very convincing.
Thanks for the replies. You guys really know your stuff.
I just wish they would have a QS more accessible.
I asked about "the club" and I apologize for not being more clear. I wanted to know about Kilomanjaro Club level. I think it was answered anyway but thought I needed to clarify in case someone else wanted to chime in. I think we are pretty sure we will buy in, just doing as much research as possible. Luckily, we have friends that have been in a long time to ask more questions. I think they reeeeeally want us to get in so are very convincing.
I'd second drusba's reminder about the dramatic price different for AKV resale vs retail and suggest there's not a single of the lost options resale that are worth paying extra for retail.Thinking of getting 200 points to start at current incentive. This gives us a few options at most of the resorts (depending on availability at 7months of course). We love the theme of animal kingdom and the kids love the animals.
Would love Bay Lake but costs more per point. Maybe we can add on here and do a split stay.
We can afford to pay cash and not finance but I have a hard time spending this amount all at once. I just try to look at it as paying for vacations (at nice resorts!) ahead of time. Did Disney 3 times with kids and always can't wait to go back.
As long as he realizes he'll be paying more for the cruises using points than he would cash, that's fine. He also needs to know this is a program that is severely limited, could be removed tomorrow and has considerable risk even if it works out as intended. Point out to him that every cruise will almost certainly cost you more than if you simply paid cash, that the single person on points and the rest on cash (due up front, higher than the early booking cash price for those on cash), that if you have to make ANY changes (dates person) that you have a new $95 fee, that the number of cabins for DVC is limited to normally a max of 10% and that if you have to cancel the points are severely limited (no longer DVC points). You'll also have to buy considerably more points to cruise than just for DVC stays. With VERY limited exceptions a cruise will return between $6-7 a point, for AKV that means you'll only get between 33¢ and $1.33 for each point return on the cruise.
! We bought direct while on a cruise in April (great incentives and DH also wanted the options available for direct that you can't get with resale) and stayed in a 1 BR in Kidani with savannah view. Having that door for couples privacy was well worth it. Plus the 1 BR has a large whirlpool tub in the master bath; soaking in that, drinking a nice glass of wine after a day at the parks makes for a whole different experience. Our kids are also 8 & 10 and they loved their space and their own bathroom. The full kitchen was also great. We only used it for breakfast and snacks but next trip plan on doing more meals in the room. One note on resale though...the prices are going up (yes, I know, so are direct). I had been looking at them for months before we bought and either couldn't find a contract we liked that wasn't stripped or the few we did find already were taken when we called. Whichever way you choose to go, if you vacation a lot at Disney and prefer the deluxe resorts then over time it's a good deal but more importantly the memories you'll make with your kids are priceless.
There were reports that being a resale owner precluded you from booking the Member Cruise not only with points, but with cash as well.
