We stayed at Kidani this week and visited Jambo one day. while Kidani felt like a working hotel, Jambo almost felt deserted. No gift shop, no restaurants, none of the animals viewing areas had any chairs. It was very odd. I can’t imagine they would do much, if any, holiday decorating.
We also stayed at Kidani this past week.
We used the pool at Jambo House. From our room location, it was actually a shorter walk there than the one day we went to the Kidani pool. The Kidani pool seemed small and busy. The wait for the slide was all the way down the stairs. We didn’t stay long. The next day we walked over to Jambo House and discovered not only was it a shorter walk, but the pool was almost entirely empty (we went to the pool in the afternoons, it could be busier in the evenings. I counted a few times, and I never counted more than 20 people in the pool). They had the pool trivia games, which my DD loves, and pool music. The Jambo House lobby was completely empty. Not a single guest in it the times we walked through. I wasn’t looking for whether fires were lit, so I can’t comment about that. I remember hearing music in the elevator but I can’t recall if it was playing in the lobby.
We loved our room Kidani and had a great stay there. We ended up in a two bedroom villa. I had originally booked a 1 bedroom villa at rack rate, but when passholder discounts were released, I discovered that a 2 bedroom villa was actually less expensive than the 1 bedroom at rack rate (the 1 bedroom wasn’t available with a discount). There are only two of us, and we practically had more space than we knew what to do with! My DD (9) couldn’t get over having her own bedroom and bathroom on vacation.
I declined housekeeping during our stay (the first two days of our stay, they came in while we were out and emptied the trash only), and thanks to the “spare bathroom,”
I didn’t need to request any additional towels our entire stay! The room and view were both amazing. We love AKL but haven’t stayed in a long time as we find the buses inconvenient (we find that at every resort, but AKL feels so far away from everything especially on the bus). I rented a car this time due to Covid and wanting our own space (and the convenience of throwing off our masks as soon as we were in the car!). I think I might never go back to Disney buses! I thought the car rental would be a pain, especially navigating parking lots (we only lost the car once, at Epcot, lol), but it was really convenient. I had requested a room near the elevator, and we were literally the first room off of the Zazu elevator. It was perfect. I parked right by the elevator, and in less than 2 minutes, we were in our room.
The biggest issue we had was the lack of dining options and also shopping. I did mobile ordering from Sana’a one night, which was really convenient, but aside from that, the dining situation is a problem. The shopping was also inconvenient. The gift shop at Kidani is very small, and they were limiting the number allowed in at any time. We had to wait in a line to get in, and the selection of things available is limited.