Kudu Trail open yet?

[jbrowna]

We stayed at AKV in December, and at that time the construction wall was still up, blocking the way onto the Kudu Trail. We were told that they expected it to open at the end of January.

However, I was just on the phone with MS, hoping to snag a last-minute studio for Feburary 7th -- also hoping that the Kudu Trail DVC wing would be newly opened, which might make some last-minute rooms available. The MS person (advisor? guide? what's the proper term?) said that the Kudu Trail had been opened since December. Well, I certainly know it wasn't opened the first week in December, 'cause I was there!

Does anybody here know: is the Kudu Trail opened yet? If not, any estimate on when?

Thanks!

 

[LisaS]

Jambo House is supposed to be finished by Jan 29th so all of the rooms on the Kudu trail should be open by then. However most of the Kudu trail has not been declared yet. Only the villas at the very end of the Kudu trail have been declared so that limits the number of rooms available to be booked on points. The rest still belong to Disney so they would be available to be booked for cash through CRO.

 

[jbrowna]

Lisa -

Thanks for being such a great source of information about AKV! I really appreciate the updated maps you periodically post in the ongoing thread about AKV ownership.

Just out of curiosity, how do you get your information about when rooms have been declared into inventory? Is that on some official government web site? Or do you have some exclusive inside source?

Keep up the great work! I can't wait to hear your updates over the coming year concerning Kidani.

 

[pperfectmom]

LisaS-I just looked at your photos of the Kidani Village models. Thanks! I am totally sold on buying into AKV. Now if I can just convince DH what a wonderful idea it is. Do you know what the projected opening date is for the Kidani Village? I don't think I've seen an actual date anywhere.

 

[LisaS]

Just out of curiosity, how do you get your information about when rooms have been declared into inventory? Is that on some official government web site? Or do you have some exclusive inside source?

I wish I did have an inside source! Actually I get the information from the Orange County Comptroller's website. Every time Disney declares more units into AKV, they file some documents with the county. Those documents contain the floor plans for those units and show their location within the outline of AKV. The county scans the documents and saves them as PDF files.

Go to their search page and type the following into the "Enter Party Name" box exactly as shown (note that the apostrophe is replaced with a space so you must type "disney s" and not "disney's"):

disney s animal kingdom villas

and click the Search button. Click on one of the search results and in the window that comes up click on the "View PDF" button to view the scanned document.

 

[LisaS]

Do you know what the projected opening date is for the Kidani Village? I don't think I've seen an actual date anywhere.

There used to be information on the AKV FAQs page on the public DVC website that stated phase 1 would open in early 2009 but that information is no longer there. There have been rumors that the first phase of Kidani might open late this year but nothing has been announced.

 

[ccigliano]

Sorry if I this is a bit off topic but my sister just decided that she would like to go to Disney for her Passover break as she is a school teacher so we are really limited for times she can go. I am waitlisted for any DVC studio but should I call around January 29 and try to book those rooms if they come into the inventory??? or will they get automatically assigned to those on waitlists infront of me. I would prefer AKL but at this point I didn't want to be picky - believe me any DVC studio will do. Just wondering.

 

[LisaS]

Sorry if I this is a bit off topic but my sister just decided that she would like to go to Disney for her Passover break as she is a school teacher so we are really limited for times she can go. I am waitlisted for any DVC studio but should I call around January 29 and try to book those rooms if they come into the inventory??? or will they get automatically assigned to those on waitlists infront of me. I would prefer AKL but at this point I didn't want to be picky - believe me any DVC studio will do. Just wondering.

They should go to people on the waitlist but given the way MS's computer systems work, who knows! Also, the construction is supposed to be done on Jan 29th but it's the the sales pace that determines when they declare more units. For a while they were adding more units every month, then it was every two months. The most recent additions were made around Dec 12th.

 

[drusba]

I was there Jan 1 to 8. My inside source is one of the manager's I asked while I was there. That whole wing was supposed to become available for occupancy today, January 12. Whether it is all usable by DVC yet because of need to declare rooms part of DVC, I do not know.

 

[ccigliano]

Thanks for all the inside info - I think I may call MS on Monday to change my days on the waitlist anyway as the airfare is just ridiculous for that week and since I haven't booked that yet either it is just going up up up. We're talking $500 roundtrip Sat - Sat or Sun to Sun - Mon to Mon right now is a little easier to swallow at $300. Thanks again!