Just Returned From AKV/AKL: A Few Notes: Pics Included!

[ADP]

Hi Everyone,

Just returned from 4 nights at AKL and 5 nights at AKV 1 bedroom savanna view room Oct 19th - 28th. We had a great time and the resort is still in great shape and as beautiful as ever.

My personal feelings on the villa rooms are positive. The Furnishings are beautiful. I really liked the layout of the rooms. I only have 1 maybe 2 issues with the rooms and again these are personal views.
1. When you walk into the room you are in the kitchen. There is no hallway, foyer, or seperation between the entry and kitchen area. This aspect of the room gives it more of an apartment feel than a vacation home feel.
2. The part of the bathroom with the comode is rather large and seems like a waste of space. Not a big issue but just something I noticed.

Everything else about the room is great. Our balcony was huge and we really enjoyed the animals outside on the savanna. I did not feel the animails were too far away. We were on the 5th floor; room 5518 on the zebra trail during our 5 night stay in the villas.

I'll be posting some pictures of the room and give a little more insight on these boards soon. I'll post a full trip report on the trip reports board as well.

The construction at Kidani Village is moving along. There is noticable structure now and its beginning to take shape. I got a sneak peek at the rooms on the 5th & 6th floor surrounding the lobby (concierge) (I walked behind the tarp). These rooms look to definately be ready by December 1st as the rooms I saw were almost completely done. Also, the construction at the Contemporary is showing noticable structure as well. The first floor frame looks somewhat complete. If I was a betting man I would guess the first floor might be a parking garage based on the way the frame looks. Of course; that is just a guess at this point.

More to come!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks for the update on construction! Did you take any photos of the Kidani village construction? I'm for sure taking some time before our Jiko reservation next month to scope out the Kidani construction. We only had photos of earth moving equipment last trip!

 

[Claire L]

Thanks for the report. Yes the first floor at Kidani is parking as confirmed 2 weeks ago by a guide when we did the open house tour, even though we bought in August!

Claire

 

[ADP]

Thanks for the report. Yes the first floor at Kidani is parking as confirmed 2 weeks ago by a guide when we did the open house tour, even though we bought in August!

Claire

Thanks Claire...I was aware that Kidani was 1st floor parking...I was stating that the 1st floor of the new contemporary construction maybe parking. However, looking at my photos again maybe it won't be a parking garage.

 

[ADP]

Thanks for the update on construction! Did you take any photos of the Kidani village construction? I'm for sure taking some time before our Jiko reservation next month to scope out the Kidani construction. We only had photos of earth moving equipment last trip!

Sorry Diane, I had a couple, but we were running out of disk space on our camera and my DW took it upon herself to call those photos useless so she deleted them. How dare her!

Here are some pictures of our villa and the view from our room:

Our view from our balcony

Our Villa. Please pardon our mess!
The Bedroom

Closet across from the kitchen

Hallway leading to bedroom and bathroom

Sitting area, TV and sleeper chair

Bathroom comode...This seemed like a lot of space wasted to me.

Kitchen and doorway

Living Room

Double sink in the bathroom

Bathtub with shower (These will be seperate in Kidani village)

Left for us at when we got to our villa by Mousekeeping!

Doorway to grand villa...I shot this wandering the resort. Can I please go in?

Contemporary photo taken from the monorail

 

[lovwdwalot]

Is it only me, or does this one bedroom seem really small compared to the other DVC resort one bedrooms?

 

[ADP]

Is it only me, or does this one bedroom seem really small compared to the other DVC resort one bedrooms?

In my opinion the main living area and kitchen are smaller; however, I believe the bedroom and bathroom to be a little bigger than most DVC one bedrooms. Basically, they had to take 2 AKL rooms and convert them into this 1 bedroom unit. Because of that there appears to be this imbalance in room sizes compared to other DVC 1 bedroom units.

Kidani Village (new building) 1 bedrooms will be larger than the Jambo House (current building) 1 bedrooms. Also, since it is new construction there will be more flexibility in how the rooms at Kidani Village are layed out.

Check out the one bedroom layout at Kidani versus the photos I've posted of Jambo to compare room layouts. Here's the link to the 360 degree view of the room. Make sure to select the one bedroom.
http://dvc.disney.go.com/dvc/guest/resorts/virtual360/virtual360Landing?id=DAKV360Page

 

[Claire L]

Thanks Claire...I was aware that Kidani was 1st floor parking...I was stating that the 1st floor of the new contemporary construction maybe parking. However, looking at my photos again maybe it won't be a parking garage.

Was tired yesterday and missed the Contemporary being mentioned!!!

Claire

 

[BroganMc]

Contemporary photo taken from the monorail

They are coming along with that. When I took my photo (a week or 10 days earlier) it wasn't even half done.

Looks like they have the framing done for the first floor in about 14 days. Is that normal or a bit fast?

As for AKV, I just can't get used to walking in on that dark kitchen. It feels so Motel 6 to me. Probably the influence of the 1970's beach resorts I stayed in as a kid. Those always opened into the kitchen and hard the darkest tile floors.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Is it possible that the Contemporary construction is only a parking garage?

If so, is it meant to free up space in a parking lot somewhere for new construction? Surely, Disney wouldn't sacrifice such wonderful views, but who says Disney has always made a lot of sense with their decisions.

 

[darby74]

We just got back from the AKV and had a couple of thoughts on points raised here -

1. We've got photos of the Kidani construction that we took on the safari tour of the AKL's savannas. We'll post later once we have a chance to download from the camera.

2. Compared to the 1BRs at BWV or VWL we thought the more compact bathroom (versus the huge triangular bathroom split into two rooms) was nice. Can't wait for the extra bathroom at Kidani - we used the bathroom for our daughter to sleep in and had to go to the connecting studio when nature called while she was napping. Space in the living room/kitchen seemed fine, and the kitchen was really quite nice.

 

[annhad4]

Hi,
Thanks for the pictures and the link.
We just returned from our trip on Friday and we stayed in a 2BR at Boardwalk on Saturday and Sunday through Friday in a 2 BR at AKV. It was fresh in our minds since we stayed in both places during the same trip and we all agreed AKV seemed bigger than BW. Not sure if it really is, but the layout for our family of six just seemed to work better and feel roomier. We also had my Mother and Father in law with us (making it a party of 8) and we had a great time with plenty of space. However, nothing compares to OKW space wise. Can't wait for the new building to open it looks even bigger!
Ann

 

[KirstenB]

Thanks so much for the pictures!! I just booked AKV 2 br for late May. I honestly thought we wouldn't get in (home resort is OKW and had to wait for 7 mth window), so I didn't want to look at photos until I knew one way or the other. I'll show these to dh and the kids, thanks again!

BTW, are there any quiet pools there, like other DVC resorts?

 

[LisaS]

BTW, are there any quiet pools there, like other DVC resorts?

Currently the only pool is the original AKL (the hotel) pool. When Kidani Village (the new building) opens in 2009, it will have its own pool and a water play area but neither building has/will have a quiet pool.

 

[byoung]

Seems like you had a great vacation.

 

[Jillpie]

can't wait for our first stay here!