just back from sww at akl-kidani

[andreadoiron]

we stayed at akl-kidani in a 1 bedroom from june 1 - june 7. we had never been to akl before and let me say we were blown away! we loved the 2 bathrooms in the 1 bed villa. the decor was so luxe and the staff so friendly. the pools were very nice and the walk to jambo house to use that pool wasn't very long although we did use the bus once.
the kids activities at jambo were more interesting than at kidani so we did a few activities at jambo (cookie decorating at boma, bracelet making in simbas cubhouse) but the storytelling by kidani rock at night was very cool!
it was quite hot so we used the pools alot. during the day the pools were very busy (hotel was full 2 of the nights we were there so a very busy time for them) but by about 7pm it got very quiet. the kids water area was a huge hit not only for my 5 year old but also the 12 year old. they met alot of other kids in the water area and had some water gun wars, etc. very fun!
we ate at Sanaa and it was excellent! we didn't get a safari view window and in the future i will wait for that (they wanted to seat us quickly) the food is funky but great and the service was very good. the desert menu was small and not overly appealing but that was the only flaw.
Star wars weekend was great for my 5 year old but honestly i expected more from a disney event. Not enough characters out and about and by 2pm we couldn't find any character signing lines except for darth vader. it was so hot that by afternoon my son didn't want to wait in any more lines so we skipped darth. we waited in the line that said it was for princess leia, luke skywalker and r2d2. unfortunately only one character was out at a time, not all three together so we only got to see luke skywalker. i really like the way epcot and mk do the character thing w/1 line for multiples in a building that is not weather dependent. we almost got rained out of Queen amadala.
my son was one of the lucky ones that got into jedi training but it was rained out before he got to fight the bad guys. luckily he was so hot, he didn't complain. the parade had alot of characters that were never out in the park to sign autographs and info on where to go to sign up for things was scarce. all in all, i was disappointed and would not bother going again. plus it was our bad luck that tot had 2 elevators down all day...the ride didn't even open until 11am or so then the stand by wait was anywhere from 90mins - 2 hours! we had fast passes for 2:15 and we still waited about 35 minutes in line. since that is my fav ride at HS, i was very disappointed w/that as well.

 

[heaven2dc]

We've been wanting to go during SWW (my DS32 is the biggest fan) but never could think we would be able to stand the heat in early June. We will have to try it one year (but I'm sure they wouldn't pick my son out of the crowd for jedi training ). It's great that your DS got picked! It's always a treat to watch the little ones up on stage.

AKL is a beautiful resort (we've never stayed but I went to look at it in Dec 2008 and it is gorgeous!)

 

[andreadoiron]

We've been wanting to go during SWW (my DS32 is the biggest fan) but never could think we would be able to stand the heat in early June. We will have to try it one year (but I'm sure they wouldn't pick my son out of the crowd for jedi training ). It's great that your DS got picked! It's always a treat to watch the little ones up on stage.

AKL is a beautiful resort (we've never stayed but I went to look at it in Dec 2008 and it is gorgeous!)

just an fyi for futures: during sww they don't pick kids out of the crowd, you have to sign up w/your child (won't let you sign your child up if they are not with you in line) you really need to go directly to the sign up place basically as soon as the park opens. the signup was not near the jedi training stage but over by american idol which really confused me!