Savanna view deluxe studio at Kidani Village at AKL questions

[Snoozan]

I am about to book a studio at Kidani Village. Is this the newer of the resorts at AKL for DVC? Is there a big pool with a slide at this resort or is that at the other resort? Is there a particular savanna view to request? And did I read something about an underground garage here?

 

[Bing Showei]

Kidani is the newer resort and opened in 2009. It is a DVC exclusive building with no hotel component. Jambo House was repurposed for DVC in 2007. It occupies the 5th and 6th floor of the hotel, which opened in 2001.

The Samawati Springs pool at Kidani is indeed the one with the giant slide (and a small baby slide). Jambo actually has a slide as well, but it is smaller/shorter.

If you like giraffes, you'll want to request the "Sunset Savanna." The "Pembe Savana" has no giraffes. Of course, if you don't like those lanky showoffs, Pembe Savanna view puts you closer to the pool area.

Kidani does have an underground garage.

 

[CarolynFH]

The Kidani building is actually raised above ground level so that the garage is under the building (as opposed to under the surface of the ground). We liked that a lot since we could park near the elevator that was closest to our room, the car wasn’t sitting in the hot sun all day, and rain wasn’t an issue either.

 

[drusba]

For some additonal information that you might find informative see my posts at https://www.disboards.com/threads/kidani-village.3502722/#post-55575268 and https://www.disboards.com/threads/kidani-or-jambo.3597578/

 

[sunny_stace]

We just stayed at Kidani in October and it was fabulous! This kids loved the pool (especially the fun slide and activities lead by CMs in the afternoons), and while we didn't have a Savannah View, there were lots of areas where we could go view the Savannah and we saw tons of animals. They encourage the animals to roam the entire area so you don't have to go to one specific area to see each animal (there were days we saw giraffes and days that we saw none.) The parking at Kidani was a little tricky for us as we had a luggage topper on our vehicle, but they do have an area for "oversized" vehicles which was still close to our villa (we were right by the pool.) We stayed in a two bedroom lock-off, so part of the room was made up from a studio and it was spacious and well laid out; the two of us girls who shared that side of the villa never had to argue over the bathroom mirror or closet space!

Bus transportation was also fantastic, probably some of the best I've had in all of my WDW stays! While the resort is a bit further out from most things (apart from AK park of course - 3 minute bus ride!), we never waited longer than 5 minutes for a bus and the rides weren't long enough to be bothersome (at least for us!) We also had a little girls night out over at Jambo House one evening and used the complimentary shuttle to get back and forth and it was quick and easy, plus the CM who was driving was so sweet and we all had a big Disney sing along on our ride!

I hope this helps and you have a magical trip!