Our First stay at Kidani...

[mybabesuz]

We have stayed at Jambo twice before in a Standard One Bedroom and a Savanna View Studio but this was our first time at Kidani.

We were in a Savanna View Studio room 7436.
The room is on the Sunset Savanna in the middle of the rooms to the right toward Jambo.

Our trip had a magical start we arrived at Kidani at 6:30pm and we had 6:25pm Boma Reservations.
I asked if they could phone Boma and let them know we were running late.
They call Boma, Checked us in quickly, took all of our stuff and offered us a ride to Jambo.
It was a great start to our trip.

After Dinner we walked back to Kidani. The walk is quick.
We always walked from Jambo to use the Kidani Pool so we were used to the walk.
Our room was easy to find.

The room was nice. Everything was clean and in working order.

But the room was smaller than our studio we had at Jambo...
When we stayed at Jambo, there was 5 or 6 feet between the sofa and the sliding door.
In the Kidani Room the sofa was almost right against the window.
There was maybe a foot of space, just enough to put one cushion when we opened the bed.
The room seemed very small to us.
I kept wanting to peak in another studio to see if we just had a smaller one.
I wondered if we just got lucky at Jambo or unlucky at Kidani.

My biggest disappointment was that we didn't see any animals from our room except for a few birds.
They keep feeding the animals at the other end near Sanaa Restaurant so the animals never came to our side.
And the trees blocked our view of any distant animals.
I really felt like I wasted points for the Savanna View.

I missed having two sinks.

I missed being able to run down and grab a snack and fill my mugs when we got back from the parks at night.
The giftshop was always closed at 11:00pm or earlier.

The resort is beautiful, the kids loved the Community Hall... too much...
They never wanted to leave!
They love Kidani's pool with the small slide.

Kidani wasn't bad but I think we will be staying at Jambo next time. I really missed it.
And I'm glad we are done with studios for a while too.

 

[cvjw]

We had the same feelings as you about seeing (or not seeing animals) from our savannah view at Kidani. We were in the middle of the sunset savannah on the side opposite from Jambo, on the 5th floor. We saw the giraffes run by one day, and the zebras wondered by a couple of times. We mainly just saw the cattle, one ostrich and one buzzard. We found that they were feeding the animals much more regularly by Sanaa so they would stay there by the public observation area. My boys loved it none the less. They spent countless hours out on our balcony, just hoping that an animal would wonder by! We would certainly stay there again, but I would want a villa on a lower floor, closer to the lobby.

 

[magicaldisney]

We also had the same experience with animal viewing. They were feeding the animals by Sanaa and the animals very rarely left that area. I asked about this (not expecting anything to come from it, just wanted to know if this was the only area they fed them) at the front desk and they made a call and a few minutes later they were feeding the giraffes right in front of our room. Though I was disappointed in the lack of animals outside of our room, I was impressed that they tried to make it better for us and I certainly didn't ask them to do that.

To the OP: we have reservations at Kidani in March and I have been contemplating switching to Jambo. Is there a great difference in the animals you can see from your room? Is the gift shop open later than 11:00 to refill your mugs? How is it being the 2nd bus stop going to the parks....crowded buses?

 

[mybabesuz]

We also had the same experience with animal viewing. They were feeding the animals by Sanaa and the animals very rarely left that area. I asked about this (not expecting anything to come from it, just wanted to know if this was the only area they fed them) at the front desk and they made a call and a few minutes later they were feeding the giraffes right in front of our room. Though I was disappointed in the lack of animals outside of our room, I was impressed that they tried to make it better for us and I certainly didn't ask them to do that.

To the OP: we have reservations at Kidani in March and I have been contemplating switching to Jambo. Is there a great difference in the animals you can see from your room? Is the gift shop open later than 11:00 to refill your mugs? How is it being the 2nd bus stop going to the parks....crowded buses?

Jambo has Mara, the Quick Service Restaurant opened until 12 midnight.

The bus ride was exactly the same because you get picked up second so the rides to the parks are shorter.
It's only a few minutes difference. And we never had issues with buses being too full to board in December or April at Jambo.
There were also times at closing from MK that the buses stopped at Jambo first.

We saw lots of animals all times of the day at Jambo.
If you remember the building across the Savanna at Kidani that is all Jambo.
All of those rooms have a clear view of the animals.

The one bedrooms are bigger at Kidani and have a 2nd bathroom.
And we like the pool at Kidani better, but we don't mind the walk there.
The community room is great, but the kids wanted to spend too much time there.
If you do stay at Kidani be sure to ask for a room closer to the lobby.

For us we just like Jambo better. It is more convenient for us with the restaurants.
If we planned a trip with a larger group or planned on eating more in the room we might try Kidani again.

 

[CruznLexi]

We have stayed At both and prefer KV over JH. JH seems noisy the slide smaller. Their hot tub is awesome! KV has refill drinks at the pool and store JH does not. We love the pool better. We don't do SV seems a waste of points. Going back in Oct and can't wait!

 

[BEASLYBOO]

We're trying Kidani later this year, and I've heard quite a few complaints about the lack of animals, which for us has never been a problem at Jambo, during multiple stays.

Thanks for the report, we'll try Kidani but I have to admit that I do like the grandeur of the Jambo lobby! and the resort amemities!

 

[mybabesuz]

I am definitely a Jambo Girl at heart!

The slide is longer at Kidani... a little too long for me...

I do think Jambo is noisier but with two preschooler we fit right in with the noise...

Mara is basically at the pool, so no refills at the pool is a not an issue.
It would be nice if they would put a refill station in the gift shop at Jambo,
but Mara is only a 3 minute walk from there.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Our last stay at Kidani was in a GV at the faaaar end. There were constantly tons of animals, including a couple of very frisky zebras (every single morning).

I have stayed in both, and much prefer Kidani. Sanaa has become one of our favorite restaurants on property.

MG

 

[lumpydj]

We have stayed at Jambo twice before in a Standard One Bedroom and a Savanna View Studio but this was our first time at Kidani.

We were in a Savanna View Studio room 7436.
The room is on the Sunset Savanna in the middle of the rooms to the right toward Jambo.

...

But the room was smaller than our studio we had at Jambo...
When we stayed at Jambo, there was 5 or 6 feet between the sofa and the sliding door.
In the Kidani Room the sofa was almost right against the window.
There was maybe a foot of space, just enough to put one cushion when we opened the bed.
The room seemed very small to us.
I kept wanting to peak in another studio to see if we just had a smaller one.
I wondered if we just got lucky at Jambo or unlucky at Kidani.

My biggest disappointment was that we didn't see any animals from our room except for a few birds.
They keep feeding the animals at the other end near Sanaa Restaurant so the animals never came to our side.
And the trees blocked our view of any distant animals.
I really felt like I wasted points for the Savanna View.

I missed having two sinks.
I missed being able to run down and grab a snack and fill my mugs when we got back from the parks at night.
The giftshop was always closed at 11:00pm or earlier.

The resort is beautiful, the kids loved the Community Hall... too much...
They never wanted to leave!
They love Kidani's pool with the small slide.

Kidani wasn't bad but I think we will be staying at Jambo next time. I really missed it.
And I'm glad we are done with studios for a while too.

We stayed on the other side of Kidani (closer to the pool) on the 2nd floor (lobby floor). We always saw animals outside our room. I think we were in the 3rd bead. It's possible we saw more because of the time of day we were in our room. We always had the cattle outside in the morning. The zebras and giraffes came by between noon and 2. Sometimes they were there in the evenings too. It also helped that we were on a lower floor, our view wasn't blocked by the trees.

We stayed in a studio too, but we had 2 sinks. Not sure why you had only 1. Were you in a HA room? I wonder if Kidani seemed smaller than Jambo because of how the room was configured. Maybe the kitchen/bathroom area was larger so it made the living area a little smaller. Overall, the Studios are larger at Kidani, but only by 1 or 2 square feet - which is not noticable at all. FWIW - I've never stayed at Jambo though - so I can't compare...

 

[bookwormde]

When we were 2 beads north of the lobby in 6/09 it seemed like there were animals in front or to the side of our room almost 24/7, I wonder what has changed?

bookwormde

 

[delaneyc52]

When we were 2 beads north of the lobby in 6/09 it seemed like there were animals in front or to the side of our room almost 24/7, I wonder what has changed?

bookwormde

Agreed!!! We were there the same time!!! And we had giraffes, wildebeests, zebras, and more all over the place constantly! I've done Jambo...but I really loved Kidani.