Kidani Village Resort Size

[DannyDisneyFreak]

I knows it's about a 15 minute walk over to Jambo but I'm wondering how large Kidani Village is itself? What's the distance from one end to the other? What is the farthest distance one's room may be from the pool or bus stop? Just trying to get an idea of the size of the place.

 

[drusba]

Walking distance down hallway and across lobby from end of south wing (closest to Jambo) to end of north wing is a little under 2/3 mile. Room at end of north wing to bus stop on south wing is a little more than 1/3 mile; similar if going from end of south wing to pool on north wing. If seeking comparisons you may be familiar with, the distance from bus stop to end room on north wing is about the same as walking from the base of World Showcase at Epcot to Germany.

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Okay, it's a good size then. What would you recommend for a reasonable room location requests? I'm having a hard time finding a map that gives elevator locations and really gives an idea of room locations. I've see fan made room locators for other resorts but not seen anything for AKL.

 

[tjkraz]

The lobby is essentially in the center of the resort. The most central room location would be close to that. The popular request is for a room "close to the lobby."

Realistically, the difference between the closest rooms to the lobby and the furthest rooms is just a couple minutes of walking. The more extreme rooms in one direction are closer to Jambo, while in the other direction they are closer to the main pool. There are stairwells scattered throughout each floor to help access ground level / parking.

The extra exertion will probably stand out after a long day at the theme parks. But time-wise, being in a distant room won't dramatically alter your daily schedule.

 

[drusba]

If you have savanna view and want to see giraffes and zebras, lead request is Sunset savanna view; 80% of savanna view rooms overlook Sunset at Kidani; the smaller Pembe savanna has no giraffes and zebras.

If you want to be near bus stop, request close to community hall or close to the Timon elevator. If you want to be near the pool, request close to pool or close to the Rafiki elevator -- down it to ground, parking lot floor gives you shortest possible walk to a gate providing entry to the pool area. Those requests can be made through Member Services with either savanna or standard view and they result in avoiding real long walks to any of the amenities at Kidani.

I would avoid requesting close to lobby. If you can get it fine, but the issue these days is getting it. It is the most common request made (guests have learned though experience that they never again want to walk to rooms near the end of the wings). It is a request that can be made by any guest when doing online check-in. Many have reported in the last year or so not getting a close to lobby request and ending up in rooms far from lobby -- when the resort cannot meet a location request it just puts you in any available room rather than trying to find something close to your request.

 

[addiln]

We stayed here last year and were on the top floor with a savanna view. Our room was at the far end of the resort. The walk from the bus at night seemed to take forever and the walk from the pool was even worse. This resort is a hike at times.

 

[supersnoop]

Okay, it's a good size then. What would you recommend for a reasonable room location requests? I'm having a hard time finding a map that gives elevator locations and really gives an idea of room locations. I've see fan made room locators for other resorts but not seen anything for AKL.

Will you have a car? If so, I'd request "near elevator." Otherwise, I'd request "near bus stop."

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Will you have a car? If so, I'd request "near elevator." Otherwise, I'd request "near bus stop."

Yes we will have a car

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

If you have savanna view and want to see giraffes and zebras, lead request is Sunset savanna view; 80% of savanna view rooms overlook Sunset at Kidani; the smaller Pembe savanna has no giraffes and zebras.

If you want to be near bus stop, request close to community hall or close to the Timon elevator. If you want to be near the pool, request close to pool or close to the Rafiki elevator -- down it to ground, parking lot floor gives you shortest possible walk to a gate providing entry to the pool area. Those requests can be made through Member Services with either savanna or standard view and they result in avoiding real long walks to any of the amenities at Kidani.

I would avoid requesting close to lobby. If you can get it fine, but the issue these days is getting it. It is the most common request made (guests have learned though experience that they never again want to walk to rooms near the end of the wings). It is a request that can be made by any guest when doing online check-in. Many have reported in the last year or so not getting a close to lobby request and ending up in rooms far from lobby -- when the resort cannot meet a location request it just puts you in any available room rather than trying to find something close to your request.

If you request something like "near elevator and pool" is that honored often?

 

[drusba]

Sometimes requests succeed and sometimes they don't and there is no survey telling us which succeed more often than others. What you usually hear about is when a particular request has been failing often because that is being reported anecdotally, such as has happened with "close to lobby" in last couple years.

You should note that requesting just near an elevator with nothing else is a request that technically always succeeds because there are three sets of elevators along each wing and every room is reasonably close to an elevator. Also note that the request for near an elevator and the pool is the same as the request I noted above for "close to the Rafiki elevator."

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Sometimes requests succeed and sometimes they don't and there is no survey telling us which succeed more often than others. What you usually hear about is when a particular request has been failing often because that is being reported anecdotally, such as has happened with "close to lobby" in last couple years.

You should note that requesting just near an elevator with nothing else is a request that technically always succeeds because there are three sets of elevators along each wing and every room is reasonably close to an elevator. Also note that the request for near an elevator and the pool is the same as the request I noted above for "close to the Rafiki elevator."

Yes, thanks for the clarification, I did mean the Rafiki elevator. Does anyone have a map that shows the elevator locations? And also a map with the locations of the room categories? I have seen these for other resorts, usually fan made.

 

[bochnikm]

On our September 2015 trip we had room 7964, 5th floor in the Pumbaa section, near the end of one wing. It took a little over 5 minutes to walk to the closest elevator to the lobby. If you have a car ask at check-in what is the closest elevator to your room and park as close as you can to that elevator. That will save you a lot of walking unless you need to get to the lobby, pool or Sanna.

 

[drusba]

Yes, thanks for the clarification, I did mean the Rafiki elevator. Does anyone have a map that shows the elevator locations? And also a map with the locations of the room categories? I have seen these for other resorts, usually fan made.

The map you seek does not quite exist for Kidani but see this map:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/maps/Kindani_Village_Map.jpg

The front entrance area faces west, the north wing is the one on the left and the south wing on the right. On each wing you will see three, red AED signs, one very near the lobby and the other two down the wings. That is where the elevators are. The ones right near the lobby have no name. Heading down the north wing, the elevator that is between the second and third building pods is the Rafiki elevator, and the one between the sixth and seventh pods is Pumba. On the south wing, the one between the second and third pods is Timon and the one between the fifth and sixth pods is Zazu.

I have not seen a map of actual location of room categories but every floor on every pod has 2BR lock-offs (which are also all of your studios and 1BRs at Kidani) and dedicated 2BRs, and thus you can get a studio, 1BR or 2BR anywhere and everywhere in the resort.

 

[DaisyNY]

Joining in...Is there a place to pick up snacks in Kidani Village? We're looking at booking a May trip...

 

[drusba]

There is a small store off the lobby area that has some food/drink items and there is the pool bar that has sandwiches and the like. It is not anyhting like having a counter servie like Mara's at Jambo.

 

[2boys2cute]

We stayed at Kidani last spring and we loved it. It is definitely big but I agree that if you can get a room near the Timon elevator it is much better. It is definitely not a 15 minute walk to Jambo from that part of the resort. If it helps you gauge at all, our room was technically in the Zazu section and it was a 1/4 of a mile walk to the lobby (per my IPhone).However, except for morning coffee we hardly ever went to the Kidani lobby. From these message boards I thought the walk to Jambo would be really long, it wasn't bad 5 maybe 10 minutes tops (with my 6 and 9 year old). The key is to make sure you are South of the Lobby.

 

[Jim Maloney]

On our September 2015 trip we had room 7964, 5th floor in the Pumbaa section, near the end of one wing. It took a little over 5 minutes to walk to the closest elevator to the lobby. If you have a car ask at check-in what is the closest elevator to your room and park as close as you can to that elevator. That will save you a lot of walking unless you need to get to the lobby, pool or Sanna.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

It's a matter of perspective. The first day there, it's quite small from the lobby to any room.
After a full day at the park, it seems significantly larger.
After 4 full days including Epcot, it's quite large indeed.
Spend a week at Disney (with or without a no-park day; doesn't matter) and it's near galactic scales.

 

[Jennasis]

The resort is gorgeous. The walk is enough to keep us from coming back. We were at the far end of the hall (none of our requests were honored). It took forever to get to the lobby, bus stop, pool (I was ready to scream trying to find the dang thing) and even to our room from the parking garage. We'll stick to Jambo in the future.