Just got back from a Week at AK Kidani and it was a mess

[momof2crazyboys]

Disney seems to be going through all of their resorts doing refurbs so I'd assume it would hopefully in the next year or two. They have so many resorts they have to do them in phases I am sure. Plus they don't want too much construction at the same time because then they can't rent the rooms

Totally understand this however the Poly bungalows are already being refurbished after only being open since 2015 when there are places like Kidani that are in desperate need.

 

[mickeymom629]

Now I'm concerned... We are staying in a GV (standard view) and studio (savana view) in Kidani later this year ... wondering if I should rethink our accomodations.

 

[tlm345]

You are absolutely right I completely misspelled the name. Kidani!!!! We contacted housekeeping several times and it took so long to get a response we just gave up. Staffing is low, we asked housekeeping in the halls told it would be taken care of an it was not. Like I said we have stayed here many times and have not had issues. We won't stay there again until a full refurbishment is done. I agree love the spa tubs use it every stay and the pull out sofa and sofa chair are awful my grown sons will agree!!! We did notify about the dishwasher on our way out and sent an email as well. The worst part was the buses which I did not mention in my original post. We waited more than 20 - 25 minutes for buses in most cases and when leaving Hollywood studios it was 50 minutes. I called after 35 minutes and they sent a transportation leader out and finally a bus arrived 15 minutes later. I am sure many of these issues are due to restaffing after the covid shutdown but the resort itself is in rough shape.

We stayed at Kidani for the first time in March and would have chosen to buy there if the transportation wasn’t a nightmare. We chose to buy elsewhere. I have been to Disney many times and stayed many places…this transportation was the absolute WORST I have ever experienced. We would suck it up for the morning trips and use Lyft or Uber in the evenings when we were exhausted and couldn’t tolerate the long bus waits.

 

[quandrea]

Maybe I am not as picky but Kidani was fairly nice when we were there in September '19. Sounds like you just got a specific rough room unfortunately or I got super lucky.

We were there Dec 2019/Jan 2020 and our room was lovely. The hallways carpet stains are disappointing. As the previous poster said, any member encountering something that requires attention should alert maintenance. This allows for things to get fixed. I think of my dvc as my home. If something needs attention, I attend to it.

Eta: just read op’s second post. Sorry to hear much of the issue seems to be with staff that fail to respond. That is not okay.

Hopefully one of these days AK will get a full refurb in the vein of SSR which is gorgeous.

 

[momof2crazyboys]

We stayed at Kidani for the first time in March and would have chosen to buy there if the transportation wasn’t a nightmare. We chose to buy elsewhere. I have been to Disney many times and stayed many places…this transportation was the absolute WORST I have ever experienced. We would suck it up for the morning trips and use Lyft or Uber in the evenings when we were exhausted and couldn’t tolerate the long bus waits.

If we had realized how back the transportation would be we may have considered buying elsewhere as well but at the time there weren’t as many options. We recently moved closer to FL so I think we will drive for future trips and use our car to get to and from the parks.

 

[momof2crazyboys]

We were there Dec 2019/Jan 2020 and our room was lovely. The hallways carpet stains are disappointing. As the previous poster said, any member encountering something that requires attention should alert maintenance. This allows for things to get fixed. I think of my dvc as my home. If something needs attention, I attend to it.

Eta: just read op’s second post. Sorry to hear much of the issue seems to be with staff that fail to respond. That is not okay.

Hopefully one of these days AK will get a full refurb in the vein of SSR which is gorgeous.

We have owned at AK since 2009 when it first opened. It is no nearly as nice as it once was and now that there are so many newer DVC resorts it pales in comparison. The problems were numerous and Although we reached out to staff I should not have to spend my vacation correcting problems and complaining.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Fourteen years between refurbishment for a hotel room is too long in my opinion. I would rather pay more in maintenance fees to stay in nice, or even just acceptable, accommodations.
When we go to Disney and pay high prices for almost everything, we want it to be an overall pleasant experience. I don't want to sit on the sofa with the mystery stain or have overworn and dated furnishings in my room. A ten year cycle for refurbishment is probably a more reasonable target, or a more aggressive program for fixing issues instead of just letting them go for years until the next scheduled refurb. My .02.

It's actually every 7 years. 7 years you get a soft goods refurb and then 7 years later a full refurb. Then 7 years for a soft goods and so on. What's difficult is that they haven't been very consistent on what a full refurb entails.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Totally understand this however the Poly bungalows are already being refurbished after only being open since 2015 when there are places like Kidani that are in desperate need.

PVB was originally scheduled for 2022 - 7 years after opening but then Disney decided to refurb the hotel side this year while they had the resort closed and DVC joined in by delaying VWL yet another year.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I think the pandemic has held up a lot of the refurbishment and repairs, plus the lack of housekeeping staff doesn’t help matters. Hopefully DVC can start to catch up. FWIW, we stayed at BLT in April and had several issues with the room. Even so, we loved BLT and just took it all in stride considering the once in a lifetime circumstances.

 

[PsycProfPlum]

I absolutely agree. would rather pay more fees too. We really don't want to buy a new contract but have considered selling our contracts at AK and purchasing at one of the newer DVC resorts but that defeats the purpose of getting in early. They just need to remember there are owners who came before their newer premium properties.

Same! DVC is way too much buy in cash to have to settle for mediocre on the room condition. I know many will disagree with us, but I'm with you. I'd rather pay a bit more in dues and have a shorter refurb window. We were at SSR shortly before, and then after, the hard-goods refurb there and it was like a different resort. We currently aren't staying at Boulder Ridge because of the reported room conditions. We are AKL owners and have a Kidani stay coming up next week and this thread makes me a bit nervous.

 

[momof2crazyboys]

Same! DVC is way too much buy in cash to have to settle for mediocre on the room condition. I know many will disagree with us, but I'm with you. I'd rather pay a bit more in dues and have a shorter refurb window. We were at SSR shortly before, and then after, the hard-goods refurb there and it was like a different resort. We currently aren't staying at Boulder Ridge because of the reported room conditions. We are AKL owners and have a Kidani stay coming up next week and this thread makes me a bit nervous.

I am sure you will still have an amazing time as we did and hopefully your room is in better condition than ours was. I am optimistic that not all rooms are in the condition ours was. We were extremely far from the lobby, I don’t think we have ever been that far out We had savanna view which was still as wonderful as ever. I just think it is definitely time for a full overhaul of the resort.

 

[CarolynFH]

I absolutely agree. would rather pay more fees too. We really don't want to buy a new contract but have considered selling our contracts at AK and purchasing at one of the newer DVC resorts but that defeats the purpose of getting in early. They just need to remember there are owners who came before their newer premium properties.

Same! DVC is way too much buy in cash to have to settle for mediocre on the room condition. I know many will disagree with us, but I'm with you. I'd rather pay a bit more in dues and have a shorter refurb window. We were at SSR shortly before, and then after, the hard-goods refurb there and it was like a different resort. We currently aren't staying at Boulder Ridge because of the reported room conditions. We are AKL owners and have a Kidani stay coming up next week and this thread makes me a bit nervous.

Let DVC know your views. Email dvcmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com.

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

Our first stay at Kidani our room lost power. FYI, that bathroom gets REALLY dark guys. It was like a whole new season of naked and afraid

It's a good thing I really like giraffes, or that may have been a one and done.

 

[MBTigger]

We would suck it up for the morning trips and use Lyft or Uber in the evenings when we were exhausted and couldn’t tolerate the long bus waits.

Funny, but I am the opposite. I found the morning bus service pretty bad for DHS and Epcot and would rather Lyft in the morning so as to get a good rope drop position.

 

[tlm345]

Funny, but I am the opposite. I found the morning bus service pretty bad for DHS and Epcot and would rather Lyft in the morning so as to get a good rope drop position.

I have teenagers and we would hop to 3 parks in a day sometimes. When I would look up and see any kind of line for the busses I would just call it haha. $15 seemed like a value in that moment.