Just returned from AKV; Kidani's not quite ready for prime time

[Dean]

I don' think this argument holds water. They're already doing it already with the DTD bus (which, like the theme park routes, are assigned on-call); clearly you could successfully train the bus drivers to remember their route.

I think they try to minimize right angle turns due to the mechanics of how a bus turns and the increased risks in doing so. Personally I don't see it as needed, don't think it's reasonably fixable with the regular bus system and don't believe Disney sees it as an issue either. With over 1300 bus drivers, I think it'd be far too risky and confusing telling them to go one way one time and the other another time. They don't have regular routes and get sent all over. I bet they have to remind them pretty regularly with the internal routes that are different and still they sometimes miss the extra stop..

 

[jerseygal]

Corkscrew slide! How fun! Can't wait to see more pics of the Kidani pool!

 

[christa112]

Am I missing something. I thought Kindani was opening May 1, but not the entire resort was going to open until later in the year. If this is true, it would make complete sense on why they are still working on things.

 

[ftballfan7]

When we went to visit on Saturday, we were told that to get to Jambo from Kidani, you had to take the DTD bus. From Jambo to Kidani you could take any bus.
Also when we came from AK we stopped at Jambo first and then went over to Kidani. I wonder why what the deal is. I think it would be nice if all the busses stopped at Kidani first and then you could hop on any bus to get to Jambo. I would think with a lack of a CS at Kidani, there would be more DVC people wanting to get to Jambo for meals at Boma or Mara. It seems there would be less reason for Jambo people to go to Kidani except for the pool.

Except of course for the Kidani people who want to return to their resort after eating at Jambo.

 

[hakepb]

Except of course for the Kidani people who want to return to their resort after eating at Jambo.

I think the prototypical Disney experience is go from your room to dining (either breakfast or an after nap-time lunch or dinner) then a park and the bus system was setup with the "prototypical" experience in mind.

But I will completely agree with you that they did not take into account the number of DVC'ers that will go from Kidani to Jambo, eat at the outstanding Jambo dining, then back to Kidani (for the day or to get back to the feature pool)

 

[gkrykewy]

I still think we are overstating the proportion of guests who will plan to wait 10 minutes for a bus rather than walk for ~8.

 

[Stinkerbell317]

We went over to check Kadani out this past weekend. As others have said the pool area is fantastic. I love the splash park areas for the kids. However I have a complaint. NO ICED TEA!!!!! Isn't this Florida? Land of the Arnold Palmer??? And no iced tea AT ALL at either Kadani drink station? That's my "morning coffee". I won't be staying there if I have to bus all the way to Jambo every morning to get a drink. Seems trivial I'm sure to most people but I'm a creature of habit and can't function without caffeine in the morning.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I still think we are overstating the proportion of guests who will plan to wait 10 minutes for a bus rather than walk for ~8.

Absolutely! Imagine Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, Baby/Stroller and another couple of toddlers, for the most part, they aren't walking! Add to that the typical summer rain storms! It's not a matter of fitness, lazyness etc., it's convenience and/or personal choice. DIsney may have to review the bus situation when Kidani is operating at full capacity!

 

[LisaS]

So the longest possible walk took 7 minutes. Perfect! That's what I was hoping. Thanks for the confirmation.

I just want to clarify that when Phase 2 opens, the longest possible walk will be longer, probably 3 or 4 minutes longer. Also, when we did it in 7 minutes, we were walking quite fast (we were running late for our Boma ADR). Our 10-minute leisurely pace would probably be a better estimate for most people.

For guests staying in rooms in the south wing, there are two parking lot elevators along the south wing that allow you to exit the Kidani bldg and join the walking path to Kidani. I believe they are called the Timon elevator and the Zasu (Zazu?) elevator. There is at least one more elevator in the south wing but it doesn't go below the 2nd floor so you have to take an elevator that goes all the way to the parking level (and the signs next to the elevator will tell if you they do).

I also timed the walk from the Kidani lobby to the end of the south wing and it took me 5 minutes. It is a very long hallway. We're in BWV at the moment near the very end of its very long hallway and the BWV hallway seems shorter to me than the Kidani hallway. As others have posted, if you are at/near the end of the south wing, you are probably as close to the Jambo lobby as you are to Kidani's lobby!

 

[LisaS]

I still think we are overstating the proportion of guests who will plan to wait 10 minutes for a bus rather than walk for ~8.

Particularly for those staying more than halfway down the south wing, the walk from the Jambo lobby to the Jambo bus stop plus the walk from the Kidani bus stop to their room in Kidani may be just as long as the walk from the Jambo lobby to their Kidani room. So either way, they will do just as much walking, but going by bus will take 3 or 4 times as long.

 

[ekball]

Particularly for those staying more than halfway down the south wing, the walk from the Jambo lobby to the Jambo bus stop plus the walk from the Kidani bus stop to their room in Kidani may be just as long as the walk from the Jambo lobby to their Kidani room. So either way, they will do just as much walking, but going by bus will take 3 or 4 times as long.

Totally agree!!! I'm not sure I understand why this walk is so daunting to so many - it's truly nothing compared to the walking you are doing everyday around the resort, the parks, down to the pool, down to the lobby. Now I DO understand that for some it is a mobility issue (I get the bus concern for those people). And then there's the issue of the summer downpours. Otherwise, speaking from experience (I walked it round trip 3 times last weekend), this walk is NOT a big deal. Really. Like I said, it is nothing compared to the walking you are doing daily in WDW - in your resort, parks, etc. It is just not that long - and I stayed in one of the farthest possible rooms that was open (last room on the hall, 2nd building to the left of the lobby, 4th floor). Maybe the 'artists rendering' makes the walk look longer than it truly is???

 

[drusba]

I also timed the walk from the Kidani lobby to the end of the south wing and it took me 5 minutes. It is a very long hallway. We're in BWV at the moment near the very end of its very long hallway and the BWV hallway seems shorter to me than the Kidani hallway. As others have posted, if you are at/near the end of the south wing, you are probably as close to the Jambo lobby as you are to Kidani's lobby!

The BWV walk to the end rooms (historically mentioned on this sight as the "extremely long walk") is actually somewhat shorter than the walk to the end of one of the Jambo wings from its lobby. The south wing of Kidani is longer than either of the Jambo wings. What I am waiting to see here is a report on the walk from the end of the northern wing of Kidani to the lobby since that wing is so long it could be in two counties.

 

[HayGan]

It is a big resort. I would expect things not to be right next to each other. Quite frankly, I don't get all the anxiety over the walk. Then again I have walked from the last building in the Grandstands at SSR to T-Rex Cafe in DTD so I might not be the typical guest

 

[gkrykewy]

Absolutely! Imagine Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, Baby/Stroller and another couple of toddlers, for the most part, they aren't walking!

I disagree. For the most part, Disney resorts are large, sprawling, and require a significant amount of walking. Caribbean Beach, Port Orleans, Coronado Springs, All Star... the list goes on. If you are staying on Disney property, you are usually walking a good bit, and it's often outdoors on landscaped paths between buildings, to the pool, to the lobby/arcade, etc. This is really no different at all.

In fact, I just measured it in Google Earth, and the outdoor walk between the Kidani and Jambo lobbies is roughly equivalent to the walk between some of the more distant Caribbean Beach buildings and the main central pool - about 1,700 feet.

Add to that the typical summer rain storms! It's not a matter of fitness, lazyness etc., it's convenience and/or personal choice. DIsney may have to review the bus situation when Kidani is operating at full capacity!

I can assure you that DVC did not intend for buses or cars to be the primary means of transportation between Kidani and Jambo. One look at the site plan should tell you that.

 

[Demosthenes]

I can assure you that DVC did not intend for buses or cars to be the primary means of transportation between Kidani and Jambo. One look at the site plan should tell you that.

Ok, though that's frankly irrelevant. The question is why is it inefficient, not why would somebody use the system. Like Dean, you may argue it is inefficient to discourage the use of the busses for internal transportation, and maybe that's the case, but it is inefficient. Many people on the boards take a "holier than thou" approach that people are lazy or stupid, or whatever, but we don't know why someone would prefer the bus option, I frankly don't think we should judge them for using it. I do think it is reasonable to point out inefficiency in certain aspects of a resort, especially when it is new and the tweaks are being made; how else will Disney know to make those tweaks?

 

[hakepb]

I don' think this argument holds water. They're already doing it already with the DTD bus (which, like the theme park routes, are assigned on-call); clearly you could successfully train the bus drivers to remember their route.

As I pointed out (now more specifically) I was just at OKW 4 days, bussed by South Point (going back from the parks) 8 times and I think construction was "only" 3 days, 6 times.
In my experience, 25% or 33% of the time the bus drivers did not follow the internal resort signs and did the wrong route by South Point.

Do you want to get onto a park bus at Kidani to get to your Boma or Jiko reservation and 25-33% of the time wind up going to a park instead of Jambo because the bus driver got it wrong?

(I think the DTD "reverse" problems might be less a current issue as they might be dedicated DTD busses, but I'm not certain on that guess)

 

[gkrykewy]

Ok, though that's frankly irrelevant. The question is why is it inefficient, not why would somebody use the system. Like Dean, you may argue it is inefficient to discourage the use of the busses for internal transportation, and maybe that's the case, but it is inefficient. Many people on the boards take a "holier than thou" approach that people are lazy or stupid, or whatever, but we don't know why someone would prefer the bus option, I frankly don't think we should judge them for using it. I do think it is reasonable to point out inefficiency in certain aspects of a resort, especially when it is new and the tweaks are being made; how else will Disney know to make those tweaks?

I'm sorry if you think I'm being "holier than thou" - I'm trying to just be reasonable, rational, and pragmatic. My point with the line you took issue with is that if Disney did not intend Disney buses to be used as a main mode of transport between the two buildings, then it's not an issue of efficiency, it's a question of people trying to shoehorn the buses into regular use for a purpose for which they are not intended.

I think if the walk is THAT big a deal, then you should just stay in Jambo, frankly.

Now if I'm mistaken and there are signs (for example) promoting the buses for transport back and forth, then my perspective would certainly change.

 

[Demosthenes]

I think they try to minimize right angle turns due to the mechanics of how a bus turns and the increased risks in doing so. Personally I don't see it as needed, don't think it's reasonably fixable with the regular bus system and don't believe Disney sees it as an issue either. With over 1300 bus drivers, I think it'd be far too risky and confusing telling them to go one way one time and the other another time. They don't have regular routes and get sent all over. I bet they have to remind them pretty regularly with the internal routes that are different and still they sometimes miss the extra stop..

I just can't believe that the average bus driver is too stupid to know how to figure this out, especially since they already have to do this to accommodate the current internal transportation system. FWIW, what I'm suggesting doesn't add more right angle turns; it remains constant no matter where they pick-up or drop-off first. One thing we can definitely agree on is, Disney doesn't think its an issue, for anybody concerned with it, that's the problem.

 

[Demosthenes]

I'm sorry if you think I'm being "holier than thou" - I'm trying to just be reasonable, rational, and pragmatic. My point with the line you took issue with is that if Disney did not intend Disney buses to be used as a main mode of transport between the two buildings, then it's not an issue of efficiency, it's a question of people trying to shoehorn the buses into regular use for a purpose for which they are not intended.

I never accused you of being holier than thou...

I think if the walk is THAT big a deal, then you should just stay in Jambo, frankly.

Until now.

There are, in fact, signs for this.

 

[ekball]

I do think it is reasonable to point out inefficiency in certain aspects of a resort, especially when it is new and the tweaks are being made; how else will Disney know to make those tweaks?

Because one can't 'hear' the tone of my post, let me just say that I don't mean this to sound snarky in any way...

Can I respectfully ask, what the 'inefficiency' is? And more importantly, what would the fix be in your opinion? A dedicated bus between Jambo and Kidani? I can't imagine Disney would ever do that. They are offering some sort of bus service between the two locations, they run similarly to other resorts that have multiple stops, so they really have offered Kidani/Jambo guests the same service as any other Disney owned resort. Why would we expect anything different at AKV? Now, if the complaint is that the busses are running very slow, than that's a whole other story. But that's one that's relevant to all resorts, not just AKV. And most likely, as usual, it's all about timing....when you happen to hit the bus stop....right before a bus comes, or right after one leaves. And that's just the luck of the draw. I was at Kidani last weekend, like you, and I guess we were lucky because we seemed to catch the busses at the right times. We never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus.

I guess I'm just wondering what the solution would be for those who are so worried about the bus situation. And I don't mean that in a 'holier than thou' attitude or tone, just pure curiosity. I felt like we were offered multiple solutions for going back and forth between Jambo and Kidani - walk over or take the bus, but just like any other bus trip you may need to wait a little bit. It's what I have come to expect when I'm at Disney and if I ever get too tired of it, I guess I'll rent a car.