The All-New "unofficial" AKL/AKV's Jambo & Kidani FAQ thread.....

[lissiesmum]

could someone please tell me what you can fill your refillable mugs with at Mara? My DD does not drink soda or any of those types of drinks. I probably already know the answer to this (NO!), but just checking to see if there is any juice or milk you can refill?

 

[lissiesmum]

Is there a bad Savannah View at the lodge? Just want to make sure I have a list of rooms/floors/trails I should avoid when they assign my room. I'd rather tell them I want to move up front before having to walk to the room and be disappointed...Do they show you where your room is on a map before you go to your room? Can you request to see where it is?

 

[Donald is #1]

could someone please tell me what you can fill your refillable mugs with at Mara? My DD does not drink soda or any of those types of drinks. I probably already know the answer to this (NO!), but just checking to see if there is any juice or milk you can refill?

Sorry but there isn't milk or juice. Those you have to buy separately. They did have Minute Maid Lemonade when I was there in November.

 

[ang38]

Bad? not really. Not as good as others, yes. I would request Zebra trail, Arusha savanah, Arusha rock. The zebra trail side has better views of the animals. Our first stay we had a perfect view, right in front of a watering hole! The next stay I didn't want zebra trail because I wanted a different view. BAD move on my part. We were on the opposite side of the savanah and many of the animals were blocked by the trees. Plus we were a lot further from the pool and food. So Zebra trail, Arusha rock , lower the floor the better. And yes, they will show you a map if you ask.

Is there a bad Savannah View at the lodge? Just want to make sure I have a list of rooms/floors/trails I should avoid when they assign my room. I'd rather tell them I want to move up front before having to walk to the room and be disappointed...Do they show you where your room is on a map before you go to your room? Can you request to see where it is?

 

[Spokavegas]

Which GV would be better to request? Probably the very end that looks out towards the end of the Arusha Savanna? Or are there no animals down there? Anyone have a photo from one of those very end rooms?

Respond ASAP if you can- I have DVC on hold to put in a request! (We made the ressie MONTHS ago, first GV booked for our week.)

 

[lissiesmum]

Bad? not really. Not as good as others, yes. I would request Zebra trail, Arusha savanah, Arusha rock. The zebra trail side has better views of the animals. Our first stay we had a perfect view, right in front of a watering hole! The next stay I didn't want zebra trail because I wanted a different view. BAD move on my part. We were on the opposite side of the savanah and many of the animals were blocked by the trees. Plus we were a lot further from the pool and food. So Zebra trail, Arusha rock , lower the floor the better. And yes, they will show you a map if you ask.

Thank you for the info! I added a request for zebra trail, arusha savannah and I'll cross my fingers for a great view

 

[SGMCO]

Anyone know where the locations/trails of the Standard View Rooms are?

Standard View rooms were only available (at this time)
so I thought that maybe
I will ask if a Pool View is available when we check in.

Any hints/tips on getting an upgrade to a better view for Free?

 

[lissiesmum]

I just found this on the official WDW website for Kidani Village. If we are staying at the AKL, could my DD head over to meet the characters too? ANyone here of this?


[I]Character Greetings, where preschoolers and big kids can meet and greet some of their favorite Disney Characters, can be found in Disney's Animal Kingdom Villa's main lobby on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday from 8:10 a.m. to 8:40 a.m. and 9:10 a.m. to 9:40 a.m. [/I]

 

[MnMomW3Boys]

I just found this on the official WDW website for Kidani Village. If we are staying at the AKL, could my DD head over to meet the characters too? ANyone here of this?


[I]Character Greetings, where preschoolers and big kids can meet and greet some of their favorite Disney Characters, can be found in Disney's Animal Kingdom Villa's main lobby on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday from 8:10 a.m. to 8:40 a.m. and 9:10 a.m. to 9:40 a.m. [/I]

Oh yeah..I am glad you posted that, as we are staying at Kidani the 2nd week of May. I am sure you are welcome to visit the Characters if you are not staying a Kidani. Maybe someone else knows for sure.

 

[s&k'smom]

Oh my God that would be awesome. We are at the lodge next October (well if I don't go switching things around) can we use the pool at the villa, that's really what my kids want to know!

 

[bgenew1]

We are thinking of switching from Pop to AK Pool view in May on the 4/3 deal. Is the DVC construction still ongoing?

 

[SGMCO]

We are thinking of switching from Pop to AK Pool view in May on the 4/3 deal. Is the DVC construction still ongoing?

You will have to call and see if a pool room is available for
that special because I just called the other day and switched
resorts from CBR to AKL (we have the FD Bounce Back) and
at 1st they didn't want to let me change (said nothing was available)
but finally the CM was
able to talk to another person who allowed me to change
resorts but all they had was a Standard view. I hope that
I can ask about a better view when we check in.

 

[Disney Dreams]

I've tried reading through the pages and pages of posts here looking for an answer to my question, but I haven't found it yet so I'm hoping someone can help me out.

We are staying at AKL for our next trip to surprise my daughter. It's been a dream of hers for a long time now, but it just wasn't in our price range Anyway, I finally booked it with the 4/3 deal, but I really wanted CL so I could take her on the safari. Since I couldn't get it with the deal I booked one night CL rack rate and the remaining nights on the 4/3 deal.

The CL night is our last night and we have an early flight the next morning. I think I'm set on doing the Wildlife Discovery Excursion, which I think goes at 10 AM and 1 PM. Will we be able to do that on the day we will be checking into CL even though we can't officially checkin and get our room until 3 PM? I hope that makes sense! Thanks for any input!

DH and I stayed CL at AKL in October. Absolutely LOVED it, btw. I just compared "memories" with my DH as to how access to CL services went for us on arrival day.

We arrived at 6:30am. We were met in the lobby and a CM escorted us up to the CL. We then checked in at the CL desk, although our room was not going to be available for several hours (which we knew and understood). However, we were invited to enjoy the CL breakfast which was just being set up, were able to relax in the CL (as we were a little slow-going having just arrived off the red-eye from CA), and had all the CL services available to us, even though we did not yet have a room.

DH and I imagine, the same would be true for your tour. Book it in advance. You are checking in on that day, so, based on our experience, we think the CL services should be available to you.

I do know that we tried to do the Sunrise Safari the day AFTER we checked out and were staying at the YC and we were told we could not do it then. Understandably.

Btw, we did the Excursion you are discussing. It was PHENOMENAL. You will love it.

- Dreams

 

[Miffy]

We are thinking of switching from Pop to AK Pool view in May on the 4/3 deal. Is the DVC construction still ongoing?

DH and I are just back from a week at AKL. Although I don't know what the DVC construction schedule is, I do know where the DVC construction is--and it's on the other side of the lodge, far far away from (and out of sight and hearing of) the pool view rooms. Right now, even with all the DVC construction going on, if you were in a pool view room, you'd be blissfully oblivious of the work.

However, some pool view rooms were being renovated while we were there, and I don't know when that will be finished, although they move pretty quickly and May is weeks and weeks away.

 

[Miffy]

DH and I are just back from a week at AKL. We did our usual last-day walk-through to see all the public views of all the savannas, and the one thing that surprised us was that there are not just a few animals on the supposedly non-animal-populated-through-April-15th Sunset Savanna, there are a lot of animals on the Sunset Savanna.

Because of the DVC construction (clearly visible and audible from the Sunset Savanna), those rooms are being booked as standard view.

Late yesterday afternoon, we saw the following animals on the Sunset: giraffes, zebras, wildebeasts, water buck, river hogs, and ostriches.

We were happy we'd gone over there to see the construction on the DVC property, since we got the bonus of seeing so many animals.

BTW, we saw a lot of animals on all 3 savannas during our stay.

I can't believe we're home already. That was the world's fastest week.

 

[mmmears]

DH and I are just back from a week at AKL. We did our usual last-day walk-through to see all the public views of all the savannas, and the one thing that surprised us was that there are not just a few animals on the supposedly non-animal-populated-through-April-15th Sunset Savanna, there are a lot of animals on the Sunset Savanna.

Because of the DVC construction (clearly visible and audible from the Sunset Savanna), those rooms are being booked as standard view.

Late yesterday afternoon, we saw the following animals on the Sunset: giraffes, zebras, wildebeasts, water buck, river hogs, and ostriches.

We were happy we'd gone over there to see the construction on the DVC property, since we got the bonus of seeing so many animals.

BTW, we saw a lot of animals on all 3 savannas during our stay.

I can't believe we're home already. That was the world's fastest week.

Miffy,

Thanks for the info on the animal situation -- I hope it continues like that since it would be nice to see so many animals.

 

[MaryJPixie]

Hello!!!!! We booked a standard room for April.....is the construction going to be done by then?? Also, which trails house the standard rooms, should we request anything specific as we would like to be near the pool area.....TIA

 

[TheWog]

Hello!!!!! We booked a standard room for April.....is the construction going to be done by then?? Also, which trails house the standard rooms, should we request anything specific as we would like to be near the pool area.....TIA

I think you can upgrade to a Pool View for only $10 per night. That would guarantee you to be near the pool. Sorry, I don't have the answers to your questions.

 

[joelp]

The Pool View is worth the extra $10 - it will put you very close to the restuarants, the lobby/gift shop ... and the pool!!

We had a nice room on the Zebra Trail - Pool View ...

 

[eeyoresnr]

here are a couple pics from our stay in Dec 08