Trip Report- AKV Kidani 1/17-1/23

[krg74]

Hi Everyone, Just got home from a family trip to WDW. I (35) went down with my mother father and younger brother(11) and sister(14). They have never been before. My wife had to stay home this trip. We stayed at Kidani Village in a 2 bedroom lockout. When we arrived on the first day the weather was just starting to pick back up from the cold snap they had down there. We could not find a place to park so we parked underneath the hotel. As we were waling to the front door, my father looked at the balconies that were the closest to the front and lowest to the ground. He goes "i hope that aint our room". Thanks dad. It ended up being our room. We had room 7305 and 7307. I had no complaints cause the balcony had a wall instead of just a rail. Our room was not ready so we went to downtown disney to eat lunch at Earl of Sandwich. (the best place ever to get a sandwich). Disney texted us alittle while lated saying our rooms were ready. Upon entering the rooms, i was so taken back by how great they were. All the pictures i saw did it no juustice. The extra bacthroom was so worth it for my 14 year old sister. I let my parent have the king size bedroom. The bathroom was bigger than my studio unit. The glass shower was beautiful. I stayed in the studio. Same layout as the other studios, but the bathroom vanity was now completely in the bathroom instead of the hallway like the other DVC resorts. I cant remmber everything, so if you have any questions i will answer them for you while they are fresh in my mind. But i will throw out some likes and dislikes

Likes. 1. This place is beautiful. The theming is top notch. There are so many nooks and crannies to this resort, you dont need to leave it.

2. The new designs of the rooms are great. I hope this is the new design for future DVC Units

3. Staff here was so freindly compared to other resorts.

Dislikes. 1. No counter service options. I like MARA, and did not n\mind walking there, but after a long day it would have been nice to have something local.

2. The parking was just not that convenient. PERIOD.

3. The pool needs to be a little bigger. Great theming, but not big enough for this resort.

Any questions please feel free to ask. Have to go

 

[Cyndibear]

We were just at Kidani (Jan 7-15th) in a 1 bedroom. Have to say we just LOVED it. We too took my Dm and have to say we too enjoyed the extra full bath. She had it just to herself. It made taking showers so much easier. I also enjoyed that huge glass enclosed shower!! Just love it. I too missed having a counter service place. We hopped the bus to get to Mara it was easy, but not the same as having it at the resort. I just love Kidani!!

Cyndi

 

[DizGirl20]

Hi - I have never been to Kidani but hope to go in 2011.

Just curious what you didn't like about the parking? I thought is was convenient b/c it was like an underground parking garage (cool, quiet and close to the villas)? At least this is what others have written.

Also - overall, did you find the resort to be quiet? That is #1 in my book!

Thanks so much for posting and for the responses!

 

[El&Asmom]

We were there last week as well and fell in love with KV. I agree on your points. Having to get all the way to Mara from almost the last unit on the far end away from Jambo was just too far a distance to travel easily.
I thought that I would like the parking, but hated to have to drive under the whole building several times a day to get to the Pumba elevator.

The extra bath is awesome and will us in the future to not have to upgrade to a 2bd with 3 kids. The living room is huge at Kidani, giving our three dds plenty of room with their own bath.

We liked the pool and thought the size was sufficient. Then again, it is Jan and there probably weren't as many people in the pool as there would have been in the warmer months.

Glad you enjoyed your stay. Our stay certainly put AKL, KV near the top of our resort preference list.

 

[toniosmom]

We will be at Kidani on our first trip "home" in March. We will be in a 2BR dedicated savannah view and I just can't wait. I am also giving my parents the master bedroom and will be sharing the 2nd bedroom with my DS5, DN18 and her BFF. That 3rd bedroom is really going to be a lifesaver for us -- I do NOT want to share a bathroom with my niece and her BFF....LOL.

Thanks for your comments. We will be having the majority of our meals in the villa, so the walk to Mara isn't really a concern this time around. I had heard about the pool size and hope that when we go we don't have a problem. I can't imagine how it will be during the really warm/hot seasons like summer.