Help Please with AKL Villas!

[mjpeter]

Thanks so much in advance!!

My family (five of us) will be staying in Disney Oct 23 through Nov 1st. My inlaws will be giving us points, and it looks like Animal Kingdom Villas is the best deal. (Two bedroom...which is a must for us)

First of all, what is a "Value View?" Would a two bedroom value view be large enough for us? We don't care much about the view since we don't spend too much time in the room...but we would like the room to be in good condition. Are there certain rooms to ask for that may be quieter than others, or is the resort fairly quiet in general?

Thanks again!!

 

[Deb & Bill]

First things first. Do you already have a reservation? If not, you may be limited as to what you can actually get. That is a pretty popular time with members because of Food and Wine Festival and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

The Value two bedroom is only located at Jambo House and will be a lockoff two bedroom. Meaning it can be separated into a studio and a one bedroom villa. So the second bedroom will have a separate exit to the corridor and a kitchenette. There are no value two bedrooms at Kidani Village.

The Value two bedroom will sleep eight with a king sized bed in the master bedroom, a queen sized sleeper sofa in the living room, a queen sized bed and a double sleeper sofa in the second bedroom. It's a bit smaller than the savanna or standard view two bedroom.

The value two bedroom could have a savanna view, a pool view or a parking lot view.

 

[LeahA]

We had a 2 bedroom lock off/standard view at Jambo House, there was 5 of us, perfect size, view of pool.

 

[mjpeter]

Thanks for the information!

Are there certain areas that you would suggest if we are able to make reservations?

 

[Deb & Bill]

Thanks for the information!

Are there certain areas that you would suggest if we are able to make reservations?

You are six and a half months out from a very popular time. Have your ILs check on availability first. There may not be any Value two bedroom left.

 

[LisaS]

The booking categories at AKV are Value (not "Value View"), Standard View, Savanna View and Concierge. What distinguishes the Value rooms from the other booking categories is not the view but the size of the room. The Values are 3 feet shorter than the non-Values. Because of that, the occupancy is lower for the Value 1BR and 2BRs which sleep 4 and 8 respectively instead of the 5 and 9 which are allowed in the non-Value 1BR and 2BRs due to the sleeper chair in the living area of those larger rooms.

The Value rooms face the pool, Sunset Savanna and parking lot. You can request a particular view but it is not guaranteed. Hard to say which Value rooms would be the quietest. Construction of Kidani Village should be finished by October so the rooms facing the Sunset Savanna would probably be the most quiet followed by the parking lot view rooms. The ones facing the pool are probably the noisiest.

As Deb & Bill said, there aren't many Value 2BRs. There are 10 in total, with two facing the parking lot, four facing the Sunset Savanna and four facing the pool area. Since they are lockoffs, they can be "locked off" and rented as 1BRs and Studios and I expect many of them are so that leaves fewer than 10 to be rented as 2BRs. Given you are within 6 months of your travel dates you should definitely have a "Plan B" in mind because you will have to be very lucky to snag a Value 2BR at this point.

This map shows the location of all of the DVC rooms in Jambo House. The Value rooms are located on the 5th floor along the Giraffe and Ostrich trails at the front (main entrance side) of the resort.

http://www.parkinfo2go.com/dvc-akv/floor5.php

 

[mjpeter]

The booking categories at AKV are Value (not "Value View"), Standard View, Savanna View and Concierge. What distinguishes the Value rooms from the other booking categories is not the view but the size of the room. The Values are 3 feet shorter than the non-Values. Because of that, the occupancy is lower for the Value 1BR and 2BRs which sleep 4 and 8 respectively instead of the 5 and 9 which are allowed in the non-Value 1BR and 2BRs due to the sleeper chair in the living area of those larger rooms.

The Value rooms face the pool, Sunset Savanna and parking lot. You can request a particular view but it is not guaranteed. Hard to say which Value rooms would be the quietest. Construction of Kidani Village should be finished by October so the rooms facing the Sunset Savanna would probably be the most quiet followed by the parking lot view rooms. The ones facing the pool are probably the noisiest.

As Deb & Bill said, there aren't many Value 2BRs. There are 10 in total, with two facing the parking lot, four facing the Sunset Savanna and four facing the pool area. Since they are lockoffs, they can be "locked off" and rented as 1BRs and Studios and I expect many of them are so that leaves fewer than 10 to be rented as 2BRs. Given you are within 6 months of your travel dates you should definitely have a "Plan B" in mind because you will have to be very lucky to snag a Value 2BR at this point.

This map shows the location of all of the DVC rooms in Jambo House. The Value rooms are located on the 5th floor along the Giraffe and Ostrich trails at the front (main entrance side) of the resort.

http://www.parkinfo2go.com/dvc-akv/floor5.php

Thanks so much for all of the information!!

I'm not too picky about where we're staying...I just don't want to use all of their points during the time period. Their home resort is Saratoga Springs, but it looks as if it would use a few more points per day. We've stayed there before, and it was wonderful, but thought it would be nice to try something else.

Which resorts have the most 2-bedrooms, and therefore might be easier to get into? My kids are excited about Animal Kingdom now, so maybe I'll have to spring in for some rental points for an extra day or two to help with a standard/savannah view....hmmmm...

 

[Deb & Bill]

Thanks so much for all of the information!!

I'm not too picky about where we're staying...I just don't want to use all of their points during the time period. Their home resort is Saratoga Springs, but it looks as if it would use a few more points per day. We've stayed there before, and it was wonderful, but thought it would be nice to try something else.

Which resorts have the most 2-bedrooms, and therefore might be easier to get into? My kids are excited about Animal Kingdom now, so maybe I'll have to spring in for some rental points for an extra day or two to help with a standard/savannah view....hmmmm...

If you are not the member, arrange a transfer for your ILs into their account. Then they can control the reservation and you won't be at the mercy of anyone else.

OKW or SSR might have the most available this late and may not require as many points.

 

[DisneyWalker44]

OKW is fairly easy to get into, and has the added advantage of using less of their points. But I wouldn't give up on AKV is they gets have their hearts on it. Standard-view should be still be available, and is somewhat cheap point-wise. And, who knows, there's always a change value is open.