1st time AKV

[DizDaD7]

AKV is our home resort, but we have now stayed at all of the resorts on property (except Poly). We love them all for different reasons. They each have pros and cons. We just got back from a stay at BWV for the F&G Festival and loved it. But our all time favorite is AKV. I love both Jambo and Kidani. WE have had good and not so good locations there, but still love it. We always request "close to lobby" and have only gotten it once out of 5 stays. Always request Sunset Savannah and have always gotten it. The time we had a Grand Villa at Kidani with 12 of us (grandkids and kids in tow) we had the last one on the last bead closest to Jambo. It was a long walk to the lobby and busses, but we did not care. We were at Disney with our family! I love going back to AKV's after a hectic day at the parks and just relaxing on the patio with animals in front of us. It is like getting away from the world. We had a split stay last year at VGF and AKV and I was so happy to get to AKV's. We have not had any problems with bus transportation there. We waited a long time at BWV for the bus to Magic Kingdom and then had to stop at Swan and Dolphin. Somebody gets lucky and gets the "prime rooms" and somebody has to get the "not so prime" ones. Good luck with your request.

I second everything you are saying...AKL/V Is like a second vacation away from the WDW Vacay.
Also, You're quite lucky that you only stopped at the Swan & Dolphin. We were the 1st stop then Swan & Dolph. Then YC, & Then finally BC...Talk about long. Even worse, I thought we'd at least be the 1st dropped off after returning from the parks, but we were last even then too.. After the 2nd or 3rd night we just got off at Swan & walked back.....What a pain that was... Although I do love BWV, & will be returning in August...

 

[Syndrome]

We are AKV owners and in our most recent stay (January) , as we checked in we requested bottom floor and Sunset Savanna , like every time. We did get our bottom floor room , and the CM said .........yes its Sunset Savanna . It was only down the hall about halfway on the left side. As we walked down to the hall I quickly took notice to the room numbers and our room number matched the opposite side of the Sunset Savanna .................I knew it was going to be Pembe ...................It was ! Was going to complain about it, but it turned out that we LOVED it . It was so private and quiet .............unlike any other room we ever had at AK. Looking out our slider doors on to the Balcony .............there were NO other room across to look into our room . Just an occasional animal keeper roaming around. It was VERY private. The animals were very active , and were fantastic. No giraffes though, but I am pretty sure there were a few Zebras.
Good luck ...........

 

[delilah]

You didn't read my thread very closely. I asked to switch and was told "not all requests can be honored". They said all 2BRs were full at Kidani. This was MLK week 2014.



And let's be honest here, I DID ask to switch rooms and they told me the resort was full. They said requests were not guaranteed to be honored.



I had pretty much the same experience when I was assigned to a Pembe savannah room back in June 2013. There were other issues with the room, such as the safe door being broken, and the water connection to the washing machine in our room was reversed. 1 BR rooms at Kidani are pricey, and I don't want to spend all my points on something that is substandard. My major issues were 1. I did online check-in several days in advance to our arrival; 2. We arrived at 11 am and were told our room was not ready, which I would expect; 3. I made my reservation 11 mos in advance. This is just wrong on so many levels. We are loyal, repeat customers.

And people at BLT can just walk to MK.

What does being on the Jambo side have to do with what I'm talking about? I'm talking about the PEMBE savannah. Of COURSE the Jambo side is much closer to the bus stop.

Listen, AK is great as long as you're not at the Pembe savannah. If you want to play Russian Roulette that's your choice. I won't run that risk ever again.

I agree with you 100% on this. I own at Kidani. We have taken 1-2 trips per year to AKL since 2008, and the vast majority have been at Kidani. I love the rooms at the resort and will stay there again, just not on Pembe, if I can possibly avoid it.

 

[delilah]

This post is beyond ridiculous. Pembe savannah is smaller but has birds, niallas, warerbucks, antelope, gazelles and more. Only missing giraffes and zebras. The longest walk is about seven minutes to the lobby. When a hotel is full a move would be impossible. Timeshares usually run at capacity. Kidani has its own bus stop. No need to walk to jambo.

Kidani is a wonderful resort. If you want the large savannah, request Sunset. My children actually fell in love with pembe savannah. They love niallas. If you request near the Timon elevator you will be near the bus stop and lobby. Keep in mind that you will survive the walk even if you get placed further from the lobby.

The hotel is clean, well appointed and has a great staff. Pool is fabulous and it has an amazing cultural program. Don't be put off by the negative, ridiculous post.

First of all, the animal is spelled nyala, not nialla.

Secondly, if you are on the top 2 floors of Kidani with a savannah view, you are likely to see only tree tops, no animals. There are birds, but, not all African birds. The native Florida birds were chasing the African animals away from the desolate little water hole that is on Pembe savannah while we were there. My favorite thing to do while at Kidani with a savannah view is to sit out on my balcony for breakfast, and watch animals while drinking my morning coffee and eating my breakfast. Can't do that on Pembe, because they take the animals in between about 6:30 and 9 am. I don't know when they come back out because we would leave for the day's activities before then. If you want to watch Florida birds, you can do that at any Disney resort. The trip where we stayed at Pembe, I remember hearing a Mockingbird most mornings, but, the same was true at BLT.