AKL walk way

[EvilQueen4Real]

When staying at the Kidani villas is it a long walk to Jambo house? Is there a lit pathway? Is conceriege level worth the extra points?

[cyl-e]

Can't answer about concierge.
But - yes there is a walkway. The walk is about ten minutes. We did it all the time, but we enjoy walking. Dh says that I should say ten to fifteen

[wdrl]

There is also a free shuttle that runs between Kidani and Jambo. Check with the front desk or valet CMs for the schedule. Also, you can take any of the Disney Parks buses to go from Kidani to Jambo. On the return, however, only the Disney bus that goes to Downtown Disney runs in reverse order from Jambo to Kidani.

[CFRivera]

In my opinion concierge level is definitely worth the extra points. I would stay that way every stay if I could.

[EvilQueen4Real]

Do you all prefer Jambo to Kindani? Sorry about the spelling. At work and rushing.

[denlo]

I don't prefer one over the other. I like each for different reasons:

Jambo House

Near the action. It's part of the main resort so there is a lot people there, and it's close to 2 TS restaurants and the QS, Mara. The pool is larger, and there are more shaded areas for seating. However many of those shaded areas have no view of anything other than tall grasses.

Two classes of villas are available at Jambo House that you cannot get at Kidani Village, the Club Level Concierge, and Value rooms. DH and I just missed out on trying CL villas in April when we had to cancel our vacation. The point price is high, but you are eligible to reserve a Sunrise Safari that takes place early morning on the Kilamanjaro safari with breakfast afterwards at Pizzafari. We had to cancel that too.

The GV's at Jambo are slightly larger and all one one floor. Many members love that there is a pool table room in that GV.

Last stop for bus pick up to the parks. So that might mean standing room only in the mornings.


Kidani Village

It's exclusively, a DVC resort. All the public areas are smaller, but still nice. You don't get the WOW factor as you enter the lobby. But I am quite comfortable sitting in the lobby at Kindani. Kind of homey and friendly. There are lots of nooks and crannies around to relax or even watch the savana. The Community Hall is located here. Sanaa restaurant, it is not a signature resturant, so the prices are more reasonable considering it's at a Disney resort. Excellent food.

The villas are located on floors 2 through 4, so you can get better views of the animals than at Jambo House where the rooms are on the fifth and sixth floors--tree tops often will block the animals who rest in the shade.

Underground parking, we drive to WDW so it's really nice to get the car out of the sun and near the closet elevator to our villa. We found we were out of the resort in five minutes when driving, it took us that long just to get to the lobby at Jambo House, sometimes longer.

The Samawati Springs Pool, is wonderful for families. Good slides, but the really fun part is Uwanja camp, a water play park which is split into 3 sections for children from simple splash areas to water canons. And there is some shade there too.

Negative for Kidani, it does not have a full QS restaurant, you have to eat the pool (very limited and sometimes expensive selections) or walk to Mara. But having sandwich and salad fixings in the room solved that problem.

Both resorts have great activities for guests including story telling, talking to Cultural representatives, night vision viewing, and crafts.

I like a more quiet retreat from the hustle and bustle of the parks, so really prefer Kidani Village. But we have stayed at both and enjoyed them equally.

[EvilQueen4Real]

Thank you so much for the detailed information. It's so hard to decide. My brother, his wife, 2 daughters, baby daddy and there DGD 5 are joining us and it's there 1st trip. I really want them to have a great time.