trip planning...need a little insight

[ebonyeyes]

Planning our next trip to WDW. We are going to rent DVC points for our stay. We are wanting Animal Kingdom Lodge. (last trip AKL '10) Thinking of trying club level this time if possible. In your opinion...is it worth the extra points/money? Is it hard to book 11 months out?
~I think I have read that the only CL rooms are at Jambo house...is this true, none at Kidani?
~Does Jambo have a kids activity/craft room & arcade like Kidani?
~I know if you book directly with Disney, they offer bunk beds in some of their rooms. Do you know if any of these rooms are DVC?
~Do all 1bd rm have the 2 bathrooms? I think I have read that the value 1bd are all at Jambo and are a 3 ft smaller with no sleeper chair.
~Last question for now, How are the safari's that are eligible to book when you stay CL?

Thank you in advance for helping me make our trip the most magical ever!!
Nanette

 

[lovin'fl]

Planning our next trip to WDW. We are going to rent DVC points for our stay. We are wanting Animal Kingdom Lodge. (last trip AKL '10) Thinking of trying club level this time if possible. In your opinion...is it worth the extra points/money? Is it hard to book 11 months out?
~I think I have read that the only CL rooms are at Jambo house...is this true, none at Kidani?
~Does Jambo have a kids activity/craft room & arcade like Kidani?
~I know if you book directly with Disney, they offer bunk beds in some of their rooms. Do you know if any of these rooms are DVC?
~Do all 1bd rm have the 2 bathrooms? I think I have read that the value 1bd are all at Jambo and are a 3 ft smaller with no sleeper chair.
~Last question for now, How are the safari's that are eligible to book when you stay CL?

Thank you in advance for helping me make our trip the most magical ever!!
Nanette

I just was figuring points for almost the exact trip. We are going Aug 2015 and bringing DS(will be 18.5)'s GF for her very 1st WDW trip. I have AKV and BWV points to use. We will do 3 nights at each resort. My DDs and I are going to WDW in a week and we have new PAPs we will use so they will expire Aug 13, 2015. Our trip will be Aug 8 to Aug 14 and then we are adding 2 nights (Aug 14-16) at Universal. I will book a 2BR and will get standard view at BWV to save points. But for AKV I decided to go for club level. I know I, at least, want savannah view and that is 150 points where Club level is 183 points so I don't think it's a bad deal (11 more points per night for the club lounge....sweet!). But to answer some of your questions....

Yes, Club level is in Jambo (the 1BR will only have 1 bathroom unlike Kidani where they have 2 bathrooms). Value rooms are all also at Jambo and they are smaller.

We stayed at Kidani for this past Xmas and the 1st night, which we added last minute, we had a savannah view and the rest of the trip we had standard view. I enjoyed Kidani but would like to now try Jambo. I REALLY REALLY REALLY preferred the savannah view. I think it is worth the points...though my SIL, who also owns AKV, thinks it's a waste of points because of all the windows and viewing decks throughout the resort...but, for me, there is nothing like having coffee in the AM or a glass of wine in the PM from your own private balcony and seeing giraffes and zebras...shoot, MIL and I got a kick out of late night viewing the big horned cattle-like animals. LOVED it!!!

 

[supersnoop]

I believe club level gets you daily housekeeping, access to the lounge for snacks, and the ability to book certain safari tours. Worth it? That's up to you.

Only Kidani has two bathrooms in the one bedroom.

Value rooms are on the fifth floor at Jambo and are shorter, so they only sleep four people. There is no sleeper charge in the "value" rooms.

 

[lovin'fl]

ALso, yes club level is tough to book so you need to do it as close to 11 months out as possible. I will book right at 11 months out. I just have to decide which we should do the 1st leg, BWV or AKV...which would be best for booking...the 1st leg is Sat-Tue and the 2nd leg is Tue-Fri???? The first leg will be more points with the Sat and I'd prefer to conserve BWV points for F&W trips.

 

[disneynutz]

AKV Club Level worth it, not IMO. The views from the room aren't great, I don't need or want daily room cleaning, the offerings in the lounge are okay but no big deal and sometimes in the morning it's like a mini feeding frenzy.

If you do stay which is doubtful IMO renting points, I would do the restricted access safari just to do it.

Bill

 

[lovin'fl]

AKV Club Level worth it, not IMO. The views from the room aren't great, I don't need or want daily room cleaning, the offerings in the lounge are okay but no big deal and sometimes in the morning it's like a mini feeding frenzy.

If you do stay which is doubtful IMO renting points, I would do the restricted access safari just to do it.

Bill

Club level 2BR villas don't have good savannah views?

 

[mcorbo]

Club level 2BR villas don't have good savannah views?

One side looks out over the Sunset Savannah, the other the pool. You can not get a guaranteed DVC Club level savannah view room, it is only a request.

 

[lovin'fl]

One side looks out over the Sunset Savannah, the other the pool. You can not get a guaranteed DVC Club level savannah view room, it is only a request.

Well pooey...there goes club level for me. I guess we'll do Kidani savannah view (and go for the extra bathroom).

 

[disneynutz]

Well pooey...there goes club level for me. I guess we'll do Kidani savannah view (and go for the extra bathroom).

Just so you and other readers know for the future, the CL is on the top floor, so the roof eves hang down into the view from the balcony.

The pool view side is above the 5th floor roof below so you see a large roof area with the pool in the distance through some trees.

The savanna side is where the savanna dead ends at the building like a cul-de-sac. The only animals that hang out there are sent there by the gamekeepers by selective feeding.

Bill

 

[Deb & Bill]

The only DVC villas currently with bunk beds are the Tree House Villas at SSR.

There are only five two bedroom lockoff club level villas on the sixth floor of Jambo House. Three are savanna view (with a partially blocked savanna view because of the roof overhang) and two are pool view. They do not have the extra bathroom because they are renovated hotel rooms. They also do not have a separate shower and tub in the one bedroom villa and larger. Because they are so few, they go very quickly at eleven months out. And often when members go to book at eleven months out, they are already blocked on their first night, so they can't book their stay in the club level villas. There are none in Kidani Village.

Jambo House does not have a Community Hall like Kidani Village.

 

[ebonyeyes]

THANK YOU for all the feedback! Actually thinking of attempting a split stay. 4 nights CL and the remaining 8 nights at Kidani. DH & DS vote Kidani while DD & I vote CL. Hoping it all works out. If not we won't be disappointed!

 

[ebonyeyes]

One side looks out over the Sunset Savannah, the other the pool. You can not get a guaranteed DVC Club level savannah view room, it is only a request.

What a bummer! Rethinking my plan now.

 

[skier_pete]

Not the first one to mention this, but the club level rooms are very hard to book. There are only a few of them, and from my observation they are pretty much gone at the 11-month mark. You would need to rent points from a AKV owner, and have them committed to getting you the room right at the 11-month mark, and still you might not get it.

In addition, I have heard there is construction going on on the roofs, so the views of the CL rooms, which aren't great to begin with, are even worse right now. As others have said, you have no guarantee for a Savannah view room, (which to me throws club level out the window).

The value rooms are also hard to get, but not as hard as the club level rooms. They also don't guarantee Savanah View, but at least you are paying few points.

I am with the PP that for the amount of money it costs, it is worth the extra 2-3 points a night to get Savannah View. When we stayed there 4 years ago, I thought I would get tired of seeing the animals outside our window, but I just never did. A big reason we bought at AKV.

Jambo does have a kids activity room/area. There's actually a lot more going on at Jambo than at Kidani if memory serves from our one previous stay.