Please tell me I will like Kidani Village

[bayknox]

We are going Dec 16-23 2011 and did have a reservaion for a 1 bedroom at Saratoga Springs, but wanted to change resorts. The only rooms available were at OKW and SSR. We did find a studio savanna view at Kidani village, so we switched to that and were put on a waitlist for BLT and BCV.

For those of you that have stayed at Kidani Village, please share your likes and dislikes. Is there somewhere besides Jambo House to refill your mug?

Thanks so much.

 

[ToddyLu]

We own there so we love Kidani. It is a very relaxing atmosphere with cool dark decor and African art with lovely African music planing. The CMs are very friendly and can give u lots of info about their home and the animals. I really like that about this resort. It feels like a destination and not stuffy at all. because Jambo is large it is more noisy with lots of energy, with a market place flair so we prefer Kidani. The hallways are long which can be an issue and it does have a remote feel but excellent bus service. I think it is fantastic theming. BLT is great for convienence and location, VWL for that America Western personality, SSR for it's upscale golfing, spa and grand setting against the backdrop of DTD. So each resort is very special. You need to go with a safari frame of mind. Watch The Lion king , The African Queen, etc to prep yourself the enjoy the adventure. If you go with" man I wish I wish I could walk to Illuminations from here". You won't enjoy it as much.

The only negative besides hallways and remote feel(which we love) is lack of CS-- but you will have planned ahead for that and knew this going in, right?

 

[ToddyLu]

U fill ur mug at the gift shop and down at the pool at Kidani.

 

[supersuperwendy]

Kidani is my husband and kids FAVORITE resort. I think it will lend itself nicely to your Christmas time visit!

 

[cindy74]

Well i have bin to the bcv and at kidani there is no stormalong bay . But there is a amazing view at the animals and who says you get use to it dont get it .......who see´s a giraffe ore a zebra from his bedroom ???? At the kidani there is a great pool where kids will love to spend time in . The only thing i was a bit disepointed at is that you will have to cross the parking to get at the pool but thats the only thing . Kidani has a relaxing thing sitting outside the lobby in a rockingchair arround a firepit and watching the animals just magic you have to travel to africa for that .

 

[SIMJUN]

Kidani is our home resort and we love it. The rooms are great. We love the decor. Love being able to watch the animals from our balcony.

The food at Sanaa is very good.

The cast members are great.

The only negative comment I have is having to walk through a smoking area to get to the buses.

 

[papamouse1]

PUt us on the list for loving Kidani. I hate to sing its praises too much, because it has had such a bad rap for being so far away from the parks. Works in our favor when people don't look at it.. honestly it is probably our "overall" fav resort now, so much so that we have just bought a points addon for there to go with our SSR.

Only drawbacks.. bus is only form of transport which can "sometimes" be slow. More often than not the buses have been no prob for us.
Looonnnngg walk to Jambo for a great QS meal. Can sometimes be a long walk from your room to lobby, pool, etc.

Outside of that, can't think of anything we don't absolutely love!

 

[twinklebug]

Kidani is our home resort and we love it. The rooms are great. We love the decor. Love being able to watch the animals from our balcony.

The food at Sanaa is very good.

The cast members are great.

The only negative comment I have is having to walk through a smoking area to get to the buses.

Agreed! It's nice that they removed smoking from the buildings, but doesn't Disney 'get' that second hand smoke is not just an inconvenience... it can send some of us into asthma attacks? I hold my breath when I approach the smoking areas - shouldn't have to do that just to live, particularly in a place that tries to cater to making people feel great to be alive.

Other than that one issue, I think you'll LOVE AKV-Kidani. We'll be there right after you - CAN'T WAIT!

 

[DenLo]

We just returned from WDW and stayed in a 2BR at Kidani Village for 5 nights. I loved the villa, it was really a nice size. It worked well because there were ten of us in two 2BRs and five kids, ages 7, 10, 11, 13, and 15 all seemed to congregate into the same villa at the same time. We did have to remind them to be quiet on the balcony and to use inside voices from time to time.

I even like the lobby at Kidani. Sure it's not as big and imposing as Jambo House but it was really a nice gathering place. The animal keepers are very knowledgeable and friendly and talking to one about the animals on our savanna gave us more enjoyment as we watched the animals on our balcony.

The gift shop is very small but has a nice selection of food items for the villa and easy access to the refillable mug machine, there is also one at the pool.

The pool was a big hit with the kids. I just wish there was more shady spots on the pool deck.

The hands down favorite restaurant for our families was Saana. Many thought the food was the best at WDW.

The only negative is that the hallways seem even longer after a day after the parks.

 

[crazybones27]

we love our home resort AKV. We actually prefer Kidani to Jambo just because it's quieter then Jambo and their pool is so much more fun for the kids. You can refill your mug at the gift shop but definitely put a request in to be on a lower floor and closer to the lobby. Some rooms can be pretty far. We like to refill our mugs a lot so being closer to the lobby is definitely helpful. The reason for requesting a lower floor is due to being able to see the animals on the savannah better. The higher floors sometimes have a more obstructed view due to the trees. On the lower floors you can see under the trees for a better view of the animals eating. The only downside which was mentioned was the lack of counter service at Kidani. We were at Jambo on our last trip and we used their shuttle van back and forth between them and it worked our great. It came about every 7-10mins or so. Just long enough to pick up and drop off at each side. I think you'll enjoy it! A lot of people actually leave very surprised at how much they enjoyed their stay!

 

[3DisneyKids]

Not sure what your family make up is, but my kids LOVE Kidani. Love it. Great pool area and they love the animals plus the evening activities.

Downsides...depending on where your room is, you can be hella far from everything. Our room was literally a .25 mile walk from the lobby. And .3 miles from the pool. (We are runners and we clocked it on our running Garmin). Didn't bother us in terms of time or walking...we love any opportunity for exercise. But I can see where it would be a major hassle for other folks. On the other hand, you could end up super close.

LOVED Sanaa. We went to the bar each night and had light fare and a drink. Perfect.

 

[DenLo]

I agree with what crazybones27 says about the 2nd and 3rd floors for savanna views, and being close to the lobby. However there are 324 two BR villas and more villas if they are broken out into 1BR and studios. Also the 2nd bead from the lobby is mainly handicapped villas. So there really is only a small percentage of guests that can be close to the lobby.

 

[papamouse1]

...The only negative comment I have is having to walk through a smoking area to get to the buses.

I forgot about this one... this one was definitely a downer. Has anyone been there witin the last 3 months or so? I could've sworn I read in a post somewhere they had moved the smoking area.

Here's hoping!

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

We stayed in a studio standard view last December. We loved it. The lobby is so pretty at Christmas. The fire pit was great on the cool nights.

 

[vandy]

I forgot about this one... this one was definitely a downer. Has anyone been there witin the last 3 months or so? I could've sworn I read in a post somewhere they had moved the smoking area.

Here's hoping!

Stayed there last week and didn't see anyone smoking in that area but the maps still show it as the designated area. Kids say they saw people smoking at a picnic table underneath there on the lower level of the parking garage. Could have been workers, could have been guests, just not sure.

 

[vandy]

We are going Dec 16-23 2011 and did have a reservaion for a 1 bedroom at Saratoga Springs, but wanted to change resorts. The only rooms available were at OKW and SSR. We did find a studio savanna view at Kidani village, so we switched to that and were put on a waitlist for BLT and BCV.

For those of you that have stayed at Kidani Village, please share your likes and dislikes. Is there somewhere besides Jambo House to refill your mug?

Thanks so much.

As far as the resort itself, we like Kidani Village. A 2br villa provides three full baths and for 6 adults that is big. I suggest requesting a room as close to the lobby as possible. The bus stop is outside of the Timon section. Myself, I would prefer a 1 br villa over a studio, but if a studio works for you, I think you will enjoy the resort.