Kidani vs Jambo - What's the Difference?

[drusba]

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. For us the main reason for choosing one over the other is room size. The studios are about the same size in each building, making Jambo the likely choice for closeness to three restaurants, the bigger lobby, and much larger store.

For 1BRs and 2BRs, Kidani wins by a large margin. They are close to 100 sq ft larger than Jambo's, have significantly more closet space, and have two bathrooms in the 1BR (three in the 2BR) to Jambo's one in the 1BR (two in the 2BR). The master bathroom in Kidani has separate tub and shower while Jambo has a combined tub/shower that is difficult to get into for many older guests because of a high/wide lip to get over between the floor and the tub. The master bath in Kidani is connected only to the bedroom while Jambo has a hallway between the bedroom and bath from which those in the living room can see persons going from the bedroom to the bathroom. Also, KIdani has dedicated 2BRs, providing a second bed rather than a pull-out couch in the second bedroom, and the balcony is one long balcony across both bedrooms and the living room while Jambo has only lock-off 2BRs with a wall blocking views from the balcony between the 1BR and studio.

 

[DVC Sue]

I prefer Jambo for the better food selections and a more grand lobby. Kidani has the nicer pool IMO. I will also add that Kidani gets dropped off first when returning from parks by bus.

Totally agree with this.

 

[purpliequeen]

Folks have done a great job explaining pros/cons. Stayed at both multiple times in various rooms sizes - even stayed at Jambo House 2x before the DVC conversion!

For us, it comes down to what's available. AKL is not our home resort so, depending on travel dates and what you're looking for, Kidani might be the only option available.

Kidani Pros:
~Extra bathroom - Depending on party size, this may be a huge game changer.
~Extra space - Same reasoning as above
~Buses - Kidani drops off first, as mentioned.
~Sanaa - Love Sanaa, and it's great if they continue to do breakfast out of here. Saving the trek to Mara at Jambo.
~Underground parking - This is huge perk and hasn't been mentioned enough on this thread. Kidani is the ONLY DVC resort with underground parking, which is sooo nice in the hot FL sun. It's also great if you plan on driving to/from the parks, as you can park near your closest elevator and then the long hallways "negative" isn't as much of a negative. Obviously, driving to MK is a bad idea, but otherwise we enjoyed driving to the parks.

Jambo Pros: Same as everyone else mentioned so not going to call them out again. Obviously it's the flagship building of AKL so it's going to have the pros associated with that. The one thing that I'll add is that Jambo does have long hallways too! I know people mention that "negative" for Kidani, but we experienced it one time at Jambo when we were assigned to a room at the end of the horseshoe. Just saying... it's luck of the draw. We could've changed rooms halfway through the trip, but were too lazy sooo....