The Griswolds
Member
Which would you rather stay at? Kidani or Jambo house for a one bedroom villa and why? We are considering this resort for January but have never stayed there.
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Kidani or jambo house for a one bedroom villa
- Thread starter The Griswolds
- Start date
Computer Magic
Well-Known Member
Jambo house. You are closer to everything in the main building. The pool is better at Jambo and you have a better store.
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Disneyfalcon
Well-Known Member
I prefer Jambo too. We stayed in a 3 bedroom villa at Jambo last October. Jambo has a quick service place called Mara. I do love the pool there, although Kidani has a neat pool too.
The lobby and store are both bigger at Jambo.
I wouldn't mind staying at Kidani, but if I had choice I would pick Jambo.
The lobby and store are both bigger at Jambo.
I wouldn't mind staying at Kidani, but if I had choice I would pick Jambo.
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CaptainShortty
Well-Known Member
I like the atmosphere of Kidani better. It's quieter and more laid back plus I think the savanna views as a whole are better than Jambo. That being said, you are far from everything including the only QSR at the resort.
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dreamscometrue
Well-Known Member
We are DVC members whose home resort is the AKL Villas, so we’ve been fortunate enough to stay in several different accommodations these these past few years.
I know this info will sound complicated, but that's only because it is!
There are differences between the value and standard villas at Jambo, but there are also differences in the villas between Jambo and Kidani as well. I’ll explain.
The DVC villas at Jambo House (formerly simply known as the Animal Kingdom Lodge), were created by renovating the hotel rooms on the 5th and 6th floors. Since these were not originally designed as villas, and were hotel rooms of different sizes, the resulting villas are not all the same as each other. Some of the rooms that were renovated were considered too small to market as standard DVC villas, thus the ‘value’ category was created. We've stayed most recently in a 2 bedroom, I’ll discuss that to illustrate the differences in rooms, views and buildings.
Jambo has both value and standard sized 2 bedroom villas which are 945 square feet and 1075 square feet respectively. Although similar, the value villas are ‘shorter’ and sleep 8 instead of 9; they don’t have a living room sleeper chair. To make it more interesting, Kidani was constructed as a DVC resort, so the villas are different than Jambo. The standard 2 bedroom at Kidani is 1173 square feet, has a different floor plan than at Jambo, and features a 3rd bathroom. It's important to understand that a standard at Jambo and a standard at Kidani use the same number of vacation points (or dollars), but are different in size and layout.
So why would anyone choose Jambo 1 and 2 bedroom villas if the Kidani villas are larger and have an 'extra' bathroom? Well, we’ve stayed at both so I can suggest some possible reasons. The value villas are still a decent size, guarantee a stay on the 5th or 6th floors,, use fewer vacation points and many feature a pool or savannah view! (Our last 2 stays in values saw us with pool views). Both resorts have awesome features, activities and amenities, but Jambo has the 2 restaurants, 2 lounges, a much larger pool and much larger gift shop/store.
We typically go for value and prefer Jambo a bit more. Having said that, we love both resorts, and after much discussion, even decided to split our next vacation between the 2 resorts. There are lots of photos online, but be careful because there is often no distinction in the photo tags between value, Jambo and Kidani villas, and you might not know what you’re being shown.
Hopefully this info helps. We've stayed in 1 bedrooms mostly and the same info applies as was in the '2 bedroom' example I used. What I mean is that the value 1 bedroom is smaller (sleeps 4 not 5) than the standard 1 bedroom (629 square feet compred to 710 square feet), and the Jambo standard 1 bedroom is smaller than the Kidani standard 1 bedroom (which is 807 square feet). The Kidani 1 bedroom has 2 bathrooms compared to the Jambo which has 1 bathroom, has a different floor plan, etc, etc..
There...that should clear everything up for you.
I know this info will sound complicated, but that's only because it is!
There are differences between the value and standard villas at Jambo, but there are also differences in the villas between Jambo and Kidani as well. I’ll explain.
The DVC villas at Jambo House (formerly simply known as the Animal Kingdom Lodge), were created by renovating the hotel rooms on the 5th and 6th floors. Since these were not originally designed as villas, and were hotel rooms of different sizes, the resulting villas are not all the same as each other. Some of the rooms that were renovated were considered too small to market as standard DVC villas, thus the ‘value’ category was created. We've stayed most recently in a 2 bedroom, I’ll discuss that to illustrate the differences in rooms, views and buildings.
Jambo has both value and standard sized 2 bedroom villas which are 945 square feet and 1075 square feet respectively. Although similar, the value villas are ‘shorter’ and sleep 8 instead of 9; they don’t have a living room sleeper chair. To make it more interesting, Kidani was constructed as a DVC resort, so the villas are different than Jambo. The standard 2 bedroom at Kidani is 1173 square feet, has a different floor plan than at Jambo, and features a 3rd bathroom. It's important to understand that a standard at Jambo and a standard at Kidani use the same number of vacation points (or dollars), but are different in size and layout.
So why would anyone choose Jambo 1 and 2 bedroom villas if the Kidani villas are larger and have an 'extra' bathroom? Well, we’ve stayed at both so I can suggest some possible reasons. The value villas are still a decent size, guarantee a stay on the 5th or 6th floors,, use fewer vacation points and many feature a pool or savannah view! (Our last 2 stays in values saw us with pool views). Both resorts have awesome features, activities and amenities, but Jambo has the 2 restaurants, 2 lounges, a much larger pool and much larger gift shop/store.
We typically go for value and prefer Jambo a bit more. Having said that, we love both resorts, and after much discussion, even decided to split our next vacation between the 2 resorts. There are lots of photos online, but be careful because there is often no distinction in the photo tags between value, Jambo and Kidani villas, and you might not know what you’re being shown.
Hopefully this info helps. We've stayed in 1 bedrooms mostly and the same info applies as was in the '2 bedroom' example I used. What I mean is that the value 1 bedroom is smaller (sleeps 4 not 5) than the standard 1 bedroom (629 square feet compred to 710 square feet), and the Jambo standard 1 bedroom is smaller than the Kidani standard 1 bedroom (which is 807 square feet). The Kidani 1 bedroom has 2 bathrooms compared to the Jambo which has 1 bathroom, has a different floor plan, etc, etc..
There...that should clear everything up for you.
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Wow
Wow! Thank you for all of the info. Very helpful. We are a family of five so I guess the Kidani villas are probably the ones with the extra chair/bed in the room.
Wow! Thank you for all of the info. Very helpful. We are a family of five so I guess the Kidani villas are probably the ones with the extra chair/bed in the room.
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dreamscometrue
Well-Known Member
True, the Mara is about a good 15 min walk. You can, however, get refillable mugs filled at Johari Treasures, and get mugs filled and a very limited food menu at Maji Pool Bar.
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dreamscometrue
Well-Known Member
No problem. It took us quite awhile, and lots of asking questions online and at the resort, to figure out all this.
Since there are 5 in your party, you can choose a standard 1 bedroom at Kidani or a standard 1 bedroom at Jambo House. (It's only the value 1 bedrooms at Jambo that sleep 4 and would not work for you.) In terms of the actual rooms, the standard 1 bedroom at Jambo is 710 sq. feet with 1 bathroom, while the standard 1 bedroom at Kidani is 807 sqaure feet with 2 bathrooms. Obviously Kidani is attractive with the extra bathroom, but as I and others have stated, the resorts themselves are very different.
Kidani is smaller and more 'quaint', but also features a 'Community Hall'-as do other DVC resorts- with games, pool tables, crafts, etc. Sanaa is wonderful, and the pool area, though smaller than Jambo, is awesome!
I said that we probably prefer Jambo, but we really, really have a hard time not staying at both during a vacation. Love them both.
Also remember that the price you pay (or points if you are a DVC member) depends on the view from your balcony and if you are on concierge floor too. The rates, from least to most expensive, are 'standard' view, 'savanna' view and 'concierge' (that's the floor...view can vary). When you book, you'll have to state the resort (Kidani or Jambo), room type (1 bedroom...not value 1 bedroom) and the view/floor (standard, savanna, concierge).
Hope you have a great vacation. If you have more questions, post 'em here or send me a PM. There's lots and lots of WDW stuff I don't know, but these 2 resorts I know well.
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