By now you all know that I’m a founding father and card-carrying member of the “Crescent Lake Snobs.” This is a group that has fallen hopelessly in love with the convenience and location of the Boardwalk area resorts. So why am I now writing about the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and specifically, Kidani Village?
A few columns ago, I wrote a column about the Boardwalk Resort. Reviewing resorts is not really my thing but I tried to give that column a flavor of what it is like staying there. I thought if it would help a few folks that had been considering a stay, but for some reason were on the fence, then the column had provided a service. As it turned out, I received a number of reader comments that validated that intention. There were a few folks that had been considering staying in the area that made the decision to do so; two readers wrote to indicate some relief in that they had already booked stays at the Boardwalk Villas and were pleased to read how high I am on that resort.
So here I am now, talking up the Animal Kingdom Lodge—more specifically, Kidani Village. It’s sort of a strange choice because I consider the resort the anti-Boardwalk. Think about it. If you happen to luck into a Boardwalk view, you’ll come back from a day of park hopping, step on to your balcony, and what will you see? Dozens of people milling about, entering and exiting restaurants and bars. You might catch a performing magician or musician. You might hear the sounds of the Boardwalk games or the dueling pianos wafting from Jelly Rolls. It’s all hustle and bustle.
Now let’s switch to Kidani Village and step out onto that balcony at 9:00 p.m. What do you hear now? Nothing… absolutely nothing. It’s very quiet, and if I can steal a line from every 1950’s Western movie: almost too quiet.
So why am I so high on the Animal Kingdom Lodge? Well, I’ve now had two stays there—each one coming on the tail end of a few days at the Boardwalk. In December 2009, we finished our trip with two nights at Jambo House. More recently, in February 2011, we completed a visit with two nights at Kidani Village. Let me try to explain what’s to love about these resorts—but first, a bit of their history.
A Little History
A short time after Walt Disney World opened its fourth gate, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, they opened the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The Lodge first greeted guests in April 2001 and was a regular Disney resort—by that I mean non-DVC. It was unique in that a number of rooms offered a Savanna view; an opportunity to view African wildlife such as giraffe and zebra from your room and balcony.
In 2006, the Disney Vacation Club announced it would open DVC villas at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Construction began on the new facility, Kidani Village, but its initial phase converted some of the existing Lodge’s guest rooms on the 4th and 5th floors into DVC accommodations.
This first phase of DVC villas opened in July 2007 in the original Animal Kingdom Lodge, and that resort is now called Jambo House. The newly constructed Kidani Village opened on May 1, 2009.
One of dozens of authentic artifacts spread through the resorts. Photo by Steve Russo
Jambo House is shaped like a large half-circle (with several “arms” branching off.) Kidani is Swahali for “necklace” and supposedly resembles one—but to me it looks more like and reversed number “3”. Looking at the building’s shape gives you a sense of how the designers tried to maximize the rooms that would offer savanna views. But more on that later.
So why am I so high on Kidani Village? Lots of reasons. To begin, take a look at the photo below.
Kidani Village – Exterior showing parking. Photo by Steve Russo
Parking
As you can see, the exterior of the buildings are colorful and each room has a balcony. Now, the rooms viewed in this photo do not have a Savanna view but are looking at the front of the property. I will call your attention to the ground level parking. As you can also see, covered parking is available for all guests. It lets you park fairly close to an elevator that will be close to your room and offers the added benefit of being out of any weather. That’s a nice touch, particularly if you consider that at most deluxe resorts you’ll be lucky to park a vehicle in the same area code as your room, let alone directly beneath it.
Lobby
When you step into Jambo House, you’re immediately reminded of the large cavernous lobby at the Wilderness Lodge. Indeed, both were designed by architect Peter Dominick and the similarities are there.
Kidani Village’s lobby is reminiscent of the lobby at Jambo House – just smaller. Photo by Steve Russo
What’s interesting, at least to me, is when you step into the lobby of Kidani Village, you feel like you’re in Jambo House—only a slightly shrunken version. Indeed, Kidani’s lobby is every bit as nice as Jambo’s—just smaller.
Rooms
Like most DVC resorts, Kidani Village sports Studios, 1 and 2-bedroom villas, and grand villas that will sleep up to twelve. Also like most DVC resorts, a “lockoff” 2-bedroom villa comprises a Studio with a connecting door to a 1-bedroom.
Here’s where it differs. The 1-bedroom units at Kidani sport two bathrooms versus only one at the other DVC resorts. Is that a big deal? Let’s say two couples are sharing a 1-bedroom; instead of four people sharing a bath, now each couple has their own. That can go a long way toward comfort, convenience and shortening the time needed to get ready each morning. Following on to that, it means the 2-bedroom villas have a third bathroom. Again, a real convenience.
What else? Not only does the living room sofa fold out to a queen sized bed (as in all DVC accommodations), but each living room sports a chair that unfolds to reveal a single bed allowing you to sleep one more person. For larger groups or families, this can be a real benefit.
The queen sofa sleeper. Photo by Steve Russo
As I was getting to know our 2-bedroom villa at Kidani, I had the sense the Imagineers learned a few things from the design of earlier DVC rooms and set out to correct some deficiencies. One that I really appreciate was the desk in the master bedroom. At the back of the desk and on top, there was a 4-outlet power strip and the network (HSIA) connection, in easy reach. No longer will I have to crawl under a table to plug in the network cable. That’s a nice touch.
Another thoughtful feature is the “connection panel” that accompanies the wide-screen television and DVD player. It offers simple, up front connections allowing you to plug in a camera or camcorder to display your stills and video on the TV.
In this photo: table and chairs, television, DVD player and connections, and the chair/bed. Photo by Steve Russo
Our kitchen also offered a table with a bench seat and two additional chairs. You could easily seat four people there and possibly five. In addition, there were two stools available at the kitchen counter. We typically don’t take meals, other than breakfast, in our room but it’s nice to know you could seat six or seven people for dinner if needed.
Restaurants
Guests at either Jambo House or Kidani Village are free to share the facilities of both resorts; and they are significant. Jambo House boasts two of the finest dining establishments on property: the unique buffet Boma – Flavors of Africa, and, in my opinion, one of the finest dining experiences on property, Jiko – the Cooking Place. Also at Jambo House is the Mara, a quick-service restaurant that’s open all day.
Kidani Village hosts Sanaa, another wonderful restaurant whose name translates to “work of art.” Sanaa features food from tandoor ovens with the flavorful spices of Africa and Asia while proving a spectacular view of the savanna for its diners.
Sanaa offers a beautiful dining room and great views of the Savanna. Photo by Steve Russo
Pools
Jambo House offers the very nice Uzima Pool which, at 11,000 square feet, is very large and includes a zero entry area and a very cool slide.
I mentioned that the Kidani Village lobby looks very much like Jambo House, just smaller. I might say the same for its pool. Samawati Springs Pool is for the exclusive use of Kidani Village guests and, at 4,300 square feet, is ample. It too offers zero entry, two water slides (a smaller one for toddlers), and an interactive water feature that the kids will love.
The Interactive Water Features at Kidani’s pool area. Photo by Steve Russo
Location
OK, it ain’t the Boardwalk. You will be taking buses to all theme parks. Heck, you’ll be taking buses everywhere—even between the two resorts.
Wait… that’s not entirely true. A walk from the lobby at Jambo House to the Lobby at Kidani Village is almost exactly one-half mile. That’s really not too bad. But how can you move back and forth between the two locations if you don’t want to walk and don’t have a personal vehicle?
To use Disney transportation is fairly easy. From Kidani Village, board any theme park bus. Those buses always stop at Kidani first, and then move on to Jambo House. From Jambo House, board a Downtown Disney bus—these buses make Jambo House their first stop, and then move on to Kidani Village. Simple, right?
To get to the theme parks, as I mentioned, you’ll either use a personal vehicle (if you have one) or Disney bus. The one advantage here is the buses pick up at Kidani Village and Jambo House only—you aren’t sharing buses with any other resorts.
The Savannas
OK, here’s where the rubber meets the road. I don’t know of any other location on the planet, save for a tent on the continent of Africa, where you can take your morning coffee while you watch giraffe, zebra, wildebeest… and the antelope play. You may not share this feeling, but to me this is cooler than the other side of the pillow.
The names and locations of the various savannas confuse the heck out of me but I’ll try to make some sense of them for you. I’ll note here that all of the savannas are open 24 hours a day.
Jambo House offers views of the Sunset Savanna, the Arusha Savanna, and the Uzima Savanna. Your room may only see one of them but you can view the others from various viewing locations around the hotel.
Kidani village shares a view of the Sunset Savanna and also offers the new Pembe Savanna. Like Jambo, there are also a number of very comfortable viewing areas both inside and outside the hotel.
One of many comfortable sitting areas offering a view of the savanna. Photo by Steve Russo
In each room is a guide sheet offering pictures and descriptions of all the animals you might see, and this sheet will help you distinguish an eland from an antelope, for example. The animals you can see include Ankole Cattle, Bontebok, Eland, Zebra, Greater Kudu, Impala, Okapi, Red River Hog, Nyala, Reticulated Giraffe, Roan Antelope, Sable Antelope, Thompson’s Gazelle, Waterbuck, White-Bearded Wildebeest, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Blue Crane, East African Crowned Crane, Greater Flamingo, Marabou Stork, Ostrich, Pink-Backed Pelican, Spur Winged Geese, Guinea Fowl and Ruppel’s Griffon Vulture. Phew!
Will anything beat this view with your morning coffee? Photo by Steve Russo
So there you have it: one man’s take and opinions (and a brief pictorial) of the properties comprising Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. If you’ve stayed there before, this article may have reminded you of some of its features. If you’re contemplating a stay there, hopefully this will push you over the edge. I don’t think you’ll regret it.
