More than 80% of the Kidani savanna rooms overlook the very large Sunset Savanna, which includes giraffes and zebras. The only other savanna at Kidani is the much smaller Pembe savanna which does not have giraffes and zebras. As a result with a Kidani savanna view room, I always make my first request one for a room overlooking Sunset savanna, a request that has a very high chance of being granted.
Then, I always add a second location request, and it is not close to the lobby. If you actually get close to the lobby, that would be good. The issue can be actually getting that request granted. The Kidani building is about 2/3 mile long, and thus rooms can be extremely far from the lobby, bus station, or pool. Those who have previously suffered those long walks have made "close to lobby" the most popular request made and, over the years, because of too many requesting close to lobby, many have reported not getting it granted. Moreover, if the resort cannot grant such a location request, it does not attempt to give you something close to it, but instead puts you in any availalble room, which is often one far from the lobby.
I use two different second location requests, in addition to Sunset savanna view, depending on time of year, and either, if granted. provides a good view of the savanna. During reservation times when the weather may be too cool for the pool (e.g., in January), I request close to the the Timon elevator, on the south wing of Kidani (front entrance to the lobby faces west), which is not very far from the lobby and provides a quick trip, via that elevator, to the second floor and a door that goes directly to the bus station. During times when it is always warm enough to use the pool, I request close to the Rafiki elevator on the north wing (where the pool is, and applicable rooms are also not very far from the lobby) because down that elevator to the ground/parking lot floor gives you the shortest possible trip from the Kidani building to a pool gate.
Note, that any request you want to make should be made through Member Services (via phone, chat, or email), and you should do that now with only a month to go. The online check-in section has a page for making location requests, but there are very few and one of them is entirely pointless. One of the requests you can make is "close to an elevator," but you do not get to provide the name of the elevator. Kidani has three sets of elevators along each of the two wings, with the result that a close to elevator request, when not naming the elevator, can be met by placing you in any room in the building.
