New follower to this thread, looking at booking a DVC room for our first stay at AKL in Jan 2018. Hoping for a little advice about which area to stay in. We will be staying with 5 people total, including 2 kids ages 4 and 7 so probably a 1 BD. I've read a few different reviews saying Kidani is better for kids but wondering what the real experts have to say. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Depends on preferences. neither is a bad decision.
As far as the room itself goes, the Kidani 1BR wins hands down because it is larger than Jambo's 1BR, has more closet space, has two bathrooms (ideal if you have 5), one serving the living room area and one connected to the master bedroom, while Jambo has one that is not connected to the master bedroom (from the bedroom you need to cross a hallway that can be seen from the living room). Nevertheless the Jambo 1BR is OK for five since it also has the extra pull-out twin size chair.
The Kidani pool with its elaborate water play area is ideal for a 4 and 7 year old, but Jambo pool is ideal for adults. However, you should likely not consider the pool as a factor since in January you face a substantial risk of not being able to use it.
If you have a rental car, Kidani is also a winner with its under-building parking lot that runs close to the length of the building, and with three elevators along each of the two wings, you can always park fairly close to your room. The Jambo lot is a large parking area outside and across the street from the Jambo front entrance.
Jambo has the advantage of a larger lobby, much large store, and three restaurants, Jiko, a very good but expensive table service, Boma, one the best buffet restaurants on site, and Mara, a good counter service with lots of seating, including some outside, not far from the pool area. Kidani has only a table service restaurant Sanaa, but it is one of the best and now has a breakfast service. You can, of course, use the facilities at either building regardless of which one you are staying in but it is about 1/2 mile trip front door to front door (there is a minivan that runs continuously from one resort to the other that you can catch outside the lobby)
With Jambo, you can end up with a long walk from room to lobby, restaurants, store, pool. and buses. However, with Kidani, you can end up with the longest walk in any hotel in the world (the earth, not just WDW) from room to lobby, restaurants, store, and buses (imagine yourself at the base of World Showcase after coming over the bridge from Future World; now walk to Germany; that is about the same distance you can have from bus stop to end room on the north wing at Kidani. You can make requests for locations at either building but there is no guarantee.
