- Joined
- May 1, 2000
- Messages
- 2,598
We just returned from 8 nights at AKV. We had a nice time, and got to experience Kidani for the last 3 nights. The resort is nice, and the interior looks great. The Kidani pool is way better than Jambo's pool; in my personal opinion, Jambo has the worst pool of any DVC resort, and easily the worst slide. The pool at Kidani was very nice, and we were very pleased to not have to pool hop the last few days (we spent the first part of the week in Coronado's pool). The slide is very nice, and while pretty much another corkscrew slide (like many of the other DVC resorts), it is themed well, and was plenty long.
The restaurant was smallish..., and the store was as well. That is a little surprising considering the apparent size of the finished resort. It was no problem this week, but the place was pretty empty (rooms were booked to capacity, but CMs were telling us that there aren't that many rooms ready for use). The savannah feels more intimate and closer to the rooms and public areas than Jambo. I also like the parking; much of it is under the buildings, so you keep out of the heat (kind of like Vero, though the garage is more open).
A few things were disappointing this week. One thing that surprised me was how much the exterior public areas still lack to be finished. None of the Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU) walls in the parking garage area were painted. That is normal for a parking garage, but this is open to public view. It looks really distracting, and if it isn't on a punch list, it needs to be added. It looks really tacky. Also, as you approach the building, the siding has no trim nor design of any sort. I have to believe this will be changed later; it looks like a metal fabricated building, and is not very attractive. They may think that one day the vegetation will block the eyesore view, but it looks awful right now. All around the resort, there is a lot of construction debris, building materials, mulch, tools, etc. The site really needed another week to be properly prepared for guests to arrive. This was not in the savannah areas, but in and around the rest of the resort it looked this way. It was very bad show on Disney's part. My wife was shocked by it; as was I (I am a commercial builder, and I've never turned over a hotel in such a state before; they clearly were struggling to make substantial completion).
I really hope they work out the busses as well. Since we were at AKL all week, we saw the resort with Jambo only, and with Kidani. With only Jambo, the busses were significantly more efficient. When Kidani was added to the loop, efficiency was really hampered. It takes 6 minutes to get from the Jambo bus stop to the Kidani bus stop (seems long, but I timed it on multiple trips; part of the problem seems to be some sort of direction the drivers have been given to crawl down the streets once inside the resort). Also, many times when you take the Epcot bus from the park , and always for the MGM bus from the park, you go to Blizzard Beach, and sometimes also to AK during the slower parts of the day. It takes forever, and would seem interminable if you were the going on to Jambo house. Also, for some reason, all busses from theme parks go to Kidani first, then Jambo. That would be fine, except that without a walkway from Jambo to Kidani, your only means of transport from Jambo to Kidani is the Downtown Disney Bus, which seems to be the least frequent of all the busses. It works fine going from Kidani to Jambo, because you can catch basically any bus; the problem is coming from Jambo to Kidani. I waited 40 Minutes on Friday night to get from Jambo to Kidani after dinner at Boma. That was ridiculous. I think they should make it so that Epcot and MK go to Kidani first, and AK and DS go to Jambo first. That way the internal transportation would be greatly improved. I know they will have to work out details, but this is one they have to work on, and soon.
I don't want to sound all negative. We did enjoy our stay. Our 5 year-old loved looking for the animals each day, and while his mother and I hated the Jambo pool, he loved it (though he too preferred Coronado's pool). We also really enjoyed the Mara and Boma (breakfast and dinner). I love the exotic smells coming from the kitchens of Jiko and Boma each time you walk into the resort. I also loved the CMs out at Arusha Rock and the storytelling (BTW, at Kidani, the stories are told in the library overlooking the savannah, not outside). We also loved Zawadi Marketplace; that store has more unique items than any other resort store we've been to before.
I'll post some pictures when I get them uploaded, but if anybody has any questions, feel free to fire away.
The restaurant was smallish..., and the store was as well. That is a little surprising considering the apparent size of the finished resort. It was no problem this week, but the place was pretty empty (rooms were booked to capacity, but CMs were telling us that there aren't that many rooms ready for use). The savannah feels more intimate and closer to the rooms and public areas than Jambo. I also like the parking; much of it is under the buildings, so you keep out of the heat (kind of like Vero, though the garage is more open).
A few things were disappointing this week. One thing that surprised me was how much the exterior public areas still lack to be finished. None of the Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU) walls in the parking garage area were painted. That is normal for a parking garage, but this is open to public view. It looks really distracting, and if it isn't on a punch list, it needs to be added. It looks really tacky. Also, as you approach the building, the siding has no trim nor design of any sort. I have to believe this will be changed later; it looks like a metal fabricated building, and is not very attractive. They may think that one day the vegetation will block the eyesore view, but it looks awful right now. All around the resort, there is a lot of construction debris, building materials, mulch, tools, etc. The site really needed another week to be properly prepared for guests to arrive. This was not in the savannah areas, but in and around the rest of the resort it looked this way. It was very bad show on Disney's part. My wife was shocked by it; as was I (I am a commercial builder, and I've never turned over a hotel in such a state before; they clearly were struggling to make substantial completion).
I really hope they work out the busses as well. Since we were at AKL all week, we saw the resort with Jambo only, and with Kidani. With only Jambo, the busses were significantly more efficient. When Kidani was added to the loop, efficiency was really hampered. It takes 6 minutes to get from the Jambo bus stop to the Kidani bus stop (seems long, but I timed it on multiple trips; part of the problem seems to be some sort of direction the drivers have been given to crawl down the streets once inside the resort). Also, many times when you take the Epcot bus from the park , and always for the MGM bus from the park, you go to Blizzard Beach, and sometimes also to AK during the slower parts of the day. It takes forever, and would seem interminable if you were the going on to Jambo house. Also, for some reason, all busses from theme parks go to Kidani first, then Jambo. That would be fine, except that without a walkway from Jambo to Kidani, your only means of transport from Jambo to Kidani is the Downtown Disney Bus, which seems to be the least frequent of all the busses. It works fine going from Kidani to Jambo, because you can catch basically any bus; the problem is coming from Jambo to Kidani. I waited 40 Minutes on Friday night to get from Jambo to Kidani after dinner at Boma. That was ridiculous. I think they should make it so that Epcot and MK go to Kidani first, and AK and DS go to Jambo first. That way the internal transportation would be greatly improved. I know they will have to work out details, but this is one they have to work on, and soon.
I don't want to sound all negative. We did enjoy our stay. Our 5 year-old loved looking for the animals each day, and while his mother and I hated the Jambo pool, he loved it (though he too preferred Coronado's pool). We also really enjoyed the Mara and Boma (breakfast and dinner). I love the exotic smells coming from the kitchens of Jiko and Boma each time you walk into the resort. I also loved the CMs out at Arusha Rock and the storytelling (BTW, at Kidani, the stories are told in the library overlooking the savannah, not outside). We also loved Zawadi Marketplace; that store has more unique items than any other resort store we've been to before.
I'll post some pictures when I get them uploaded, but if anybody has any questions, feel free to fire away.
Hehe....that was me. And yes, perhaps all of the beverages helped.
