Kidani Village or Jambo Lodge?

[fairy8i8]

Which pool/resort would be best for a 4 year old? I love the lobby and feel of Jambo, but when it comes to a resort with a child, I think the pool is more important, and I hear that Kidani Village has an awesome kids water area. It's our son's first visit to Disney World. Is Kidani worth an extra $20/night or so more for the kids pool? Anyone have pictures of the pools?

 

[ALMinVA]

unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the pool area to share with you, but I can tell you that we stayed at Kidani in August and we absolutely loved the pool area. There was a great splash park area with buckets that poured out, a kiddie slide, water guns, just a great kiddie area and then the pool with a wonderful slide. Our family loved it. We have stayed at the Poly and Pop and really enjoyed Kidani. It was myself, dh, my sister who was visiting from Ireland with her two boys 8 and 7 and my dd 11 and ds 5. All of us enjoyed the pool area every day.
I know if you do choose Kidani, you will not be disappointed.

 

[FantasiaMagic]

I stayed at Kidani this past summer. I liked it a lot. The only problem I had was they had no good QS options. Jambo had a very good QS.

Kidani does have a much better pool area then Jambo.
I also thought Kidani had better animal viewing sites then Jambo

Here is my trip report thread of Kidani - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2975354

-FantasiaMagic

 

[fairy8i8]

Thanks for the thoughts! My husband was of the same mind that the kids area of the pool could make the difference in where we want to stay. Also good to know that they have good animal viewing areas!

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I thought Kidani was great, I keep some food in the room for breakfast and snacks so the CS isn't a big deal for us. The one time we wanted it we just walked over to Jambo.

The pool is great, enjoyed the movie there at night as well, of course the animals are a hit and always had a seat on the bus since it picked up there first.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Which pool/resort would be best for a 4 year old? I love the lobby and feel of Jambo, but when it comes to a resort with a child, I think the pool is more important, and I hear that Kidani Village has an awesome kids water area. It's our son's first visit to Disney World. Is Kidani worth an extra $20/night or so more for the kids pool? Anyone have pictures of the pools?

Are you booking a villa or a standard hotel room?

 

[fairy8i8]

Are you booking a villa or a standard hotel room?

A villa studio room.

 

[jollygreengirl]

You can use Kidani's pool if you stay at Jambo. It's a bit of a stroll over there, but you can take the buses. If I remember correctly, the DTD bus goes to Jambo then Kidani and everything else goes to Kidani first. So DTD bus to the pool, any other bus back from the pool. We stayed at Jambo in Sept and it's gorgeous. The Kidani lobby is very pretty and similar to Jambo, but just smaller. My ds (4) loved the Kidani pool, but being at Jambo was easier since we used the Mara (quick service) quite a bit. The pool has a playground/water play area which is very shaded and a separate pool with the big slide. One day, I think we were at the Kidani pool for 4 hours straight. Either way, you'll enjoy AKL.

 

[Mommygraham]

We stayed at the Jambo house in October. I have three small children. They loved the pool there. I liked that it was zero entry and the slide was great. We did go over to Kidani Village to check it out and I'll have to say as much as we LOVED Jambo house, the pool at Kidani is awesome. If you are basing your choice on the pool alone, I'd stay at Kidani. But, Jambo still has a great pool and awesome dining choices and QS which were very important to my family. Either way you go, you'll love it. Also, Jambo has night viewing and campfires with marshmallow roasting. My kids loved that. Maybe Kidani has similar activities. Have a great trip!