I just had a vow renewal in October of ‘23. Jambo is our favorite hotel and we love the Sunset Lobby area. We used it for a first peek since that wasn’t a thing when we first got married in ‘03. The Sunset Lobby is just past the check-in desk and it’s a gorgeous library-type area. There’s room for everyone to stand or sit there.
I thought about the Sunset overlook or one of the two covered large balconies that overlook the Arusha rock overlook, but I wasn’t sure 30 people would fit in any of those spaces & there’s not seating for 30 & OP mentioned having easy access to food which none of those spots have
Your points are assigned to either Jambo or Kidani… mine are Kidani… but you have the 11 month priority booking at both. An oddity of the online booking system is that it defaults to the one your points are associated with so you need to remember to also check the other when searching… mine select Kidani and I have to add Jambo. Not a problem though since it does recognize 11 month window for both.
Yes, AKV consists of the Jambo rooms that were converted to DVC villas as well as the entire Kidani building. A given contract will be deeded to either Jambo or Kidani, but in practice the owner has 11-month access to booking either one.
Hopefully, Milton will pass thru with minimal damage and the animals will be okay. I know animals sense weather changes, and even emotions of their caregivers - hoping everyone makes it thru this with little more than interesting stories to tell!
I've not confirmed it personally, but have been told some value rooms have a little view. I was told, unlike most bookings, with a value room you cannot request a specific room location. I'd still feel free to call (although NOT this week) when you're a couple weeks out. https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world has some photos from balconies. You can find layouts online that show where room types are located but I purchased the field guide https://www.dvcfieldguide.com/ for around $15 since it has a ton of info all in one place. I find their diagrams super helpful.
Anyone who is interesting in booking ANY of the value rooms for August 2025.. now is your time! I was browsing inventory and there was no availability as usual. I refreshed and nearly the entire month of August was available to book! Value studio, value 1-bedroom, and value 2-bed!! Looks like a chunk of rooms became available in July and September too.
I'm glad you still had a good trip. I assume they will need to check Savannas carefully before letting them out again ... Were any of the animals back out on the Savanna by the time you left Friday?
I don't have access right now (it's on my desktop computer) but if you get the DVC Field Guide it has great graphics showing stuff like this perfectly for every DVC resort. I can't imagine being a DVC owner and not having it for reference www.dvcfieldguide.com - I think it's about $12-15 dollars? They put out new ones regularly, but if you just have one copy it will make a world of difference. Has great diagrams of the DVC room locations and so much more too.
just looked through this site. Great stuff. Thanks!
The first week of December is historically the toughest WDW DVC week to book & AKV is no exception -even 1 br.s will be a challenge. I’d book my home resort at 11 months & try to change at 7 months.
