Can someone help me with in on AKL Jambo vs Kidani?

[mrmcgiv]

Hi:

We arrive in about 1 month and I was looking at some pics of AKL. I see there are 2 sections. Kidani and Jambo house. They both look very nice, but by looking at the samawati spgs pool and children's play areas at Kidani I think Kidani looks like it would be great for my 6 and 9 YO.

My question:

1. Is Kidani for DVC owners only?
2. If we stay in Jambo House how far is it to walk to the Samawati Pool in Kidani?
3. Which area would you recommend if given a choice? And what are the pros and cons to either area?
4. In either area is there a better location to request? We will be getting a standard room.
5. Any other suggestions, advice and fun things to suggest to do there?


We are staying for 5 nights, we have 9YO daughter and 6YO son.We will have a car there. We will make use of the pool!


One more - is there a hot Tub near the Uzima springs pool at Jambo House?

THANKS!

[DizneyRox]

Kidani has the best pool on property, except maybe the Beach Club, they are probably neck and neck.

Jambo House guests can use it, they have removed the key card access point for some reason. Regardless, Kidani and Jambo are considered the same resort, so you should hae had access anyway.

1. No, anyone can stay at Kidani, although the prices should be more to stay there in a studio than a normal room at Jambo. The studio will have a fridge, sink and microwave among a few other little things. You can also get the 1BR and 2BR accomodations... A portion of any DC resort is set aside for "normal" guests.
2. It's about a half mile walk from Kidani to Jambo, most (about 1/2) of it outside. YOu can also catch a bus, ANY park bus goes from Kidani to Jambo. DTD buses go from Jambo to Kidani. That's how they work their internal transfers so to speak.
3. I'd go Kidani. Getting a "fresh" bus is nice, which means less standing. It's also the first drop off MOST of the time (unless the bus is routed to DTD after AKL). It's closer to the pool. Only drawback is no CS location, so you're looking at a wlk to get there. The refillable mug stations at Kidani don't have the selection that they do at Jambo.
4. You call...
5. There are all sorts of daily activities at AKL in both Jambo and Kidani. Animal viewing is fun, een just sitting by the firepit.

There are hot tubs at both pools...

[mrmcgiv]

Thanks for the info. When we booked I looked at Jambo house pool, which looked nice...but last night i came across the pictures of the pool at Kidani and it does look like one of the nicest pools at disney,. esp fpr my kids at their age! It sounds like they do not have any standard rooms at Kidani though. I will see about staying at Kidani anyhow.

While the counter svc would be nice to have close by, I think we will use the pool daily and the restaurant maybe once or twice. I like to try to eat at the CS in the parks. As for the drink selection, we have never gotten the mugs before and may not this time either, so that does not matter either.

THX

[DizneyRox]

We don't do a lot of CS either, but found that we did use the Mara more than we figured we would. We like to walk, so it's not that big of a deal, however when it's 86 degrees/80% humidity at 7am, a quick walk to other resort area can get old. Sanaa DOES NOT serve breakfast either, so if you want to eat, it's Jambo or someplace else (unless you stock the room).

Just a couple things, not a big deal really, it's by far our favorite resort on property.

And yes, the pool area is really really nice. Beats the heck out of the Jambo house pool IMHO. The play area got lots of use and there's plenty of room at the Kidani pool. Jambo is a little more hectic than I'm used to.