Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village — Hotel in Bay Lake

Animal Kingdom Lodge has two buildings. Jambo house, and Kidani village. Jambo house is considered the main hotel with a large lobby. Kidani village is the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) villa side, which you can only book with DVC points. Jambo house can be booked as a regular hotel, and they also have DVC villas which can be booked with DVC points. We booked Kidani Village with renting DVC points from David’s DVC website. Let me start by saying the best part about staying here is seeing the animals, and the worst part about staying here is the busses transportation. We booked a standard view room for 7 nights. We specifically requested a partial savannah view room. Our request was granted, however since we were close to the Pool, we had a view of the savannah overlook from the lobby, which could be quite loud at times. So maybe we would sacrifice a longer walk to the room for more quiet. However we had a great view of the savannah and within the first few hours we were able to see all of the animals that were in the savannah. We had a view of the Pembe savannah which includes Okapi, hornbills, cranes, waterbuck, nyala antelope, red river hogs, vultures, and kudu. They refresh the hay and the hanging browse so the animals rotate around throughout the day and you will see them multiple times. Even when it was raining, hot and sunny, and even at midnight! There were animals out and about. The patio was not that deep, but it was long and wide. It came with 2 chairs and a small table. The patio door though had a lot of condensation and you could hear through it. Our room was ready two hours before check in time at 2pm, and we got the notification on the app after doing online check in. They do have bell services to hold your luggage if you wish, which we utilized due to the free waterpark day and were at blizzard beach until around 5pm. The room was cleaned and stocked, however the Disney conservation fund book was well used and in need of being replaced. We booked a studio villa. The toilet and shower are in a separate room, which is awesome, with the single sink vanity separate (but lots of counter pace and shelf space. The shower had really poor water pressure. There was a table with 2 chairs, a small coffee table, a couch (a pull out), and a double bed. There is a closet with two opening doors, and a closet with one door with the ironing board and safe. There is lots of drawer space in the dresser under the TV. There are multiple mirrors. One of the lightbulbs on the mirror was out. There was plenty of storage space. The room is themed very dark with the wooden tones, and the lighting is very dim, so you have to rely a lot on the daylight from the sliding door. The kitchenette part had a mini fridge, sink with soap/sponge/towel, microwave, toaster, and plastic silverware, plastic cups, and paper plates and bowls. The sign in the room said that there would be housekeeping service on the 4th day. But daily they came in to take out and replace the trash cans. On the 4th day, they replaced all of the towels and toiletries, but never gave us back our drying towel. There is a small shop in the lobby, which is where you can refill your resort refillable mug. There is also a station at the pool bar as well. There is also a lot of African art and photos to take a look at. There is one main savannah overlook if you go down the stairs at the end of the lobby. There are representatives here to ask questions and they can talk about the animals here. There is another overlook on the side of the pool area, and this is where they have a campfire nightly as well. There are also stairs downstairs to get to Sanaa, the restaurant. This is a table service restaurant for breakfast and dinner. Superb food, but a little on the pricey side. You can also mobile order it to go. They also have the simba clubhouse for kids to do activities just a little down the path from the lobby as well. Every single cast member we encountered was welcoming and friendly and helpful. They have an internal shuttle that runs between Jambo house and Kidani village. They also have the bus system out front, which runs to all parks and Disney springs. Busses stop at Kidani village first, then Jambo, then to the destination. Be warned about the busses as they do not come as often as other resorts, and they have to make the extra stop at the other resort building. We did notice that at peak morning time they run a bus from each building individually, but that only lasts for a few hours and then it is back to combined. Since AKL is farther away from the parks, it takes a decent bus ride (15-20 minutes) to get to the parks. So factor in about 30 minutes or so in travel time alone, not including waiting 20 minutes for a bus to even come. We have seen 2 busses for each of the 3 all star resorts come before one AKL bus came. This is true of the hotel stop and the park stop. The busses to and from here are not reliable and are quite crowded. So if you are the kind who wants to take a mid day break at the hotel and then come back to the parks, it is a huge timesuck for all parks except maybe animal kingdom. Overall, we enjoyed our stay here, but would not stay again due to the...

I’d read the Disney World website description of Animal Kingdom Lodge and knew that the wildlife held a strong focal point of the theme. However, it was not until I entered my room that I fully understood what it meant.||Deluxe Studio - Savanna View:|I booked this room pretty late, with only a couple of days' notice, but managed to snaffle a Savanna view room via the DVC website! I was thrilled and super excited, and I really was not disappointed at all.||I was assigned a room in Zazu - to the right hand side of the main Kidani Village building. It was a fair walk down the corridor from the atrium, something I wish I knew in advance - after a long theme park day, the trek to the room just felt a little too much. Alas, it was worth it though, as the room itself was perfect.||Entering from the hallway, you had the bathroom to the left - a perfectly sized space. A separate toilet and door to the left, and a shower-over-bath to the right, with a sink unit in the middle, and a ton of storage / surface space on either side and beneath. A large mirror took up the majority of the wall above the sinks, which was a great size. The lighting in here was a lovely amber colour - whilst this fit the theme perfectly, it wasn’t fantastic when it came to getting ready - sometimes a simple white light (or the option of such light) is preferable. Alas, this was not an issue, and more of a “it’d be nice to have”. The bath was great, and the shower was incredibly powerful - something that cannot be taken for granted when it comes to hotel rooms, I’ve found.||Back in the room, there was a small kitchen space with a drip-coffee machine, microwave and a medium sized minifridge (sadly, no freezer). The sink unit was great for washing up cups that I’d used in the parks, so I could keep everything nice and clean.||There was a large wardrobe with plenty of space for all my clothes - with the most beautiful, wooden doors that again, really fit the overall African theme. ||The TV was inset into the wall with a fantastic wooden surround, directly above a set of draws, providing yet more storage space. To the left was a nice large table (but not too large) with two ornate wooden seats. Directly opposite was a pull out sofa and coffee table that proved to be a perfect space to relax after a long park day.||The bed was incredibly comfy, with the most luxurious-yet-simple bedding I’ve experienced across property. The pillows were sumptuous and I fell asleep almost instantly every time I laid down. I cannot fault it at ALL!||The balcony was my favourite space in the room - large and overlooking the Savanna. The animals come fairly close, so the views are fantastic, but even when they are off in the distance, the way the building is laid out in a horseshoe shape, they are never really too far away. I enjoyed mornings watching the animals slowly wake up and wander, alongside mid afternoon breaks where the animals ran around. Most of the time there was something to see, and this was my personal highlight of the entire room. There’s something special about watching the wildlife whilst enjoying a cup of tea before embarking on my day.||The theming was lovely and not in your face. It was a nice mix of ambient lighting and dark wood, something I really appreciate. I felt incredibly relaxed the entire time I spent in the room.||Facilities:|I did not spend too much time at the resort, but I did visit the shop a couple of times - located in the main atrium, they had a lovely selection of merchandise, including shirts, ears, sweet treats and snacks. I unfortunately experienced really bad sinus pain during my visit, and rushed down as soon as they opened one morning to secure pain medication - thankfully they had this and it was a godsend. Remember to make use of any discounts you may have - DVC, Annual Pass, Blue ID etc as it’s all valid here!||I can HIGHLY recommend Kidani Village at Animal Kingdom Lodge as one of the most relaxing and exciting places to stay on Disney World property. There is always something to see, and the animals add an extra touch of magic...

So let me start by saying I have mixed feelings but my kids loved it! We had the 3 bedroom grand suite in Kidani Village. I honestly wish we would have been In the main building in Jambi house but that’s me. The Kidani village building isn’t as grand as the Jambo house. The pool is smaller the lobby is about 1/4 of the size and there is only one restaurant if you don’t include the pool bar. Our villa was located on the far end so take your walking shoes unless you want to drive to the main lobby each time. This is where the restaurant was and the convenience store. The pool is even further down. If you get the other end of the hotel you’d be closer to the pool. We had the end closest to the entrance of the parking. They have overed parking under the resort but very few spots. We took the elevator up to our room and the room to me was impressive my husband not so much for the price it should be better but it’s Disney they rake you over the coals for ambiance. It was very big and accommodating. There were 3 balconies to small ones for each room upstairs and one long one downstairs that ran the length of the room. The animals were out in the morning and at dusk. They tended to migrate towards the lobby area obviously they feed them more there and they like them there since there is a viewing platform and they is the center of the hotel. We did get to enjoy seeing them from our room though. Each bedroom was very spacious as well as the bathrooms. This suite had 4 bathrooms in total. The upstairs also had a living room area I believe there was a pullout couch but we didn’t need it so we didn’t check. There could have been more extra blankets and pillows for the entire 3 bedroom villa there was only one sealed bag. The bag had one pillow and a blanket. That was it for the entire place. So onto the food. We had a sick kid and we left the parks early I left to find us food. The walk to the lobby was never ending it felt like. I should have drove but we walked it. Once I arrived in the lobby it was the one restaurant that was downstairs the signage needs improvement I was looking around trying to find it. Similar to the signs for the pool we found it on accident because the signs kept pointing us in one direction and you could get to it several different ways. One family was lost and followed us the next day because they didn’t understand the signs. Pool was good like I said the main pool is way bigger and for the hotel building on our side to be so large you would think the pool would be larger. There was plenty of seating. A baby slide, a swirly slide for older kids, a splash pad and wet playground, and a ping pong table. I also found on accident a viewing platform past the bar and restrooms. We saw animals from there before we left. Everything was pretty clean including the bathrooms. Food and prices were decent at the pool bar. The restaurant inside the hotel which was African flair didn’t sound appealing especially for children. I was disappointed there weren’t better options for kids or even Americans they don’t like African style food. The convenience store was full of options you could make yourself in your room but more like pizza and hot pockets not actual food. I has to walk back to the room which seems like a mile away a s then drive to the main building in Jumbo House in search of food. Once I enter jumbo House the lobby is huge and impressive and beautiful. Completely different vibe from the other building. There are three restaurant options in the Jambo house. We settled with The Mara since that was a take out/ grabs and go option. They do have seating in that restaurant where you can eat there as well or to go bags were you can take it with you. There was no option of eating at Boma because they are still doing reservations and all the reservations were full. Sidenote all the reservations were taken up for the next morning for the Buffet breakfast. We also had to eat at the Mara for breakfast. All in all we had a good experience but for the price of the room there should be better food options....