***The Official AKV Owners And Lovers Thread***. Come And Chat

[Wosmama6]

I have a stay booked in a 1br at kidani late Feb/early March and was fairly confident I would get a refurbed room but now I’m second guessing! Anyone have any intel?

 

[muppets3d]

I have a stay booked in a 1br at kidani late Feb/early March and was fairly confident I would get a refurbed room but now I’m second guessing! Anyone have any intel?

I would guess that soon they will close off the north wing of Kidani and open the South wing with all the refurbished rooms open for guests. I would assume that would happen by the time you check in, but nobody really knows for sure. At least, the people who do know won't say so on a public forum.

 

[Mirabell Rose]

At AKV Jambo now and moving to Kidani Sunday. Hotel desk says they have now closed the wing with the non refurbished rooms and so all rooms going forward will be refurbished. Yippee!

 

[DigitalOlli]

anybody knows if they start early with the jambo refurb? we are debating if we book kidani in August or Jambo. We like Jambo more but want a refurbished room

 

[muppets3d]

anybody knows if they start early with the jambo refurb? we are debating if we book kidani in August or Jambo. We like Jambo more but want a refurbished room

If you want a refurbished room you should book Kidani. If you book Jambo, chances are you will not get a refurbished room. You may luck out and get one at Jambo, but you just have to decide how important it is to be at Jambo vs. have a refurbished room.

 

[drusba]

anybody knows if they start early with the jambo refurb? we are debating if we book kidani in August or Jambo. We like Jambo more but want a refurbished room

The original schedule was to do Kidani from October 2025 to May 2026 (8 months) and Jambo May 2026 to January 2027 (9 months). They are doing Kidani 1/2/ the building at a time, all floors. Kidani, with five floors of rooms and a huge number of rooms, is supposed to be done qucker than Jambo, which has a lot fewer rooms, all on the fifth floor, except for the small number of club level rooms on the sixth floor.

What those proposeed schedules for the two buildings tells me is that DVC has a large number of people working on the Kidani rooms to try and get them done in 8 months, but the obvious plan for Jambo is to do only a small number of rooms at a time, which means by August not much will be finished and chances of getting a refurbed room are likely quite low.

 

[Bucketfoot]

We've got a while to wait, but I'm looking forward to see the rooms in person in December. I was definitely fearful given some of the recent refurbs. But it certainly looks like they did this one right!

 

[studentdisney]

How accurate are the quoted refurb timelines? If I book Jambo for 1/2027 what is the likelihood of getting a refurbished room?

 

[muppets3d]

How accurate are the quoted refurb timelines? If I book Jambo for 1/2027 what is the likelihood of getting a refurbished room?

If they do Jambo the same way they're doing Kidani probably pretty good.

 

[Elephantay]

We are trying to figure out our September trip, and want to stay at Jambo. Hoping for more availability soon! We need two studios and it's not looking good for DVC, and the prices for the lodge proper are high, with two studios costing $4000 for four nights.
Not a great discount so two rooms for four nights would be too much for our budget.

 

[Brian Noble]

It's probably too early for most discounts during that period. I would expect them to be at least pretty good once they come out. For 2025, discounts covering that period were released in late March.

https://www.mousesavers.com/historical-information-on-walt-disney-world-resort-discounts/

It might also be worth calling Member Services and see if they can get you a cash disocunt on the DVC side---if I recall correctly, it is 25%.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

I know I'm in the minority on this one but going for a club level stay in about a week and really GLAD to have an old room. No I'm not drunk yet. The new refurb looks absolutely stunning and extremely well done preserving the old heritage but with modern updates. I'm just a sucker for nostalgia and am glad I can experience the old ornate carved furniture and dark wood/old school African vibes one more time. The resort just smacks of home and comfort and I want to take that in one more time before moving on to the new. It's also why I took 800 pictures of Dinosaur each time I rode it for the "last time". Just turned out each trip was NOT the last time lol but this should be it for AKV Jambo before it's fully refurbed.

 

[RickNJane]

I know I'm in the minority on this one but going for a club level stay in about a week and really GLAD to have an old room. No I'm not drunk yet. The new refurb looks absolutely stunning and extremely well done preserving the old heritage but with modern updates. I'm just a sucker for nostalgia and am glad I can experience the old ornate carved furniture and dark wood/old school African vibes one more time. The resort just smacks of home and comfort and I want to take that in one more time before moving on to the new. It's also why I took 800 pictures of Dinosaur each time I rode it for the "last time". Just turned out each trip was NOT the last time lol but this should be it for AKV Jambo before it's fully refurbed.

I am with ya. Our only stay was a GV at Jambo last year. We had just added on and splurged with the family. It was amazing. When I hear refurb, I have flashbacks to what they did to BWV. We have been loyal BWV members for decades. The refurb really let me down. They cheaped out on things like the Kitchen. Flooring is nice, but already pealing up in places. And they toned down the theming until it is just Marriott Beige. The Murphy bed couch is a very bad couch. They took away seating to add the Murphy. I could go on, but you get my drift.
We loved the character of Jambo House. Everything in the room supported the vibe and theme. I have seen the pics of Kindani refurb and it seems to have kept the original feel. However, I do not trust DVD when it comes to refurbs these days. Looks like Schedule is king, Budgets are bargain basement. Just look at GCV, they are having to do the Refurb again since there was such an uproar by the owners. In the end Cheap Costs. I want to feel like I am in a resort in Africa, not a Motel 6.

 

[Elephantay]

It's probably too early for most discounts during that period. I would expect them to be at least pretty good once they come out. For 2025, discounts covering that period were released in late March.

https://www.mousesavers.com/historical-information-on-walt-disney-world-resort-discounts/

It might also be worth calling Member Services and see if they can get you a cash disocunt on the DVC side---if I recall correctly, it is 25%.

Right now there's no DVC availability! While I'm hoping that changes we need to book within a week- and will be borrowing points to do it.
We are AP pass holders for the first time but the deal they have now ( 25% off stay more, not AP) its expensive. We aren't staying here for the full week -split stay-and a longer stay would be a little better I think. It would be nice when a resort is getting a refurb if they opened up some regular rooms to use on points.
Last year the rate was out at this time and it never got any better

 

[Mirabell Rose]

Right now there's no DVC availability! While I'm hoping that changes we need to book within a week- and will be borrowing points to do it.
We are AP pass holders for the first time but the deal they have now ( 25% off stay more, not AP) its expensive. We aren't staying here for the full week -split stay-and a longer stay would be a little better I think. It would be nice when a resort is getting a refurb if they opened up some regular rooms to use on points.
Last year the rate was out at this time and it never got any better

Have you considered Kidani? You still have access to everything at Jambo.