***The Official AKV Owners And Lovers Thread***. Come And Chat

Last week of August, we did a OKW, BLT, AKV (Kidani) spilt stay. My wife and 2 kids - 2 nights at OKW, 3 nights at BLT and 3 nights at AKV.

We own at AKV and have stayed everywhere now in the Disney WORLD universe except for Saratoga, Beach Club and Boulder Ridge. This trip was a good "checklist" trip as I like to call it. Crossed off 2 new resorts. Point of this post is that even though Jambo is our top pick all the time, even Kidani just blows away those other resorts. Sure the proximity to MK was nice at BLT but the rooms seemed dated and the lobby was tiny. Nothing there stood out as a wow moment for me like looking out the back of the lobby into a SAVANNAH!

My current rankings are:
1. AKV - Jambo
2. AKV - Kidani
3. BWV
4. CCV
5. BLT
 
I was just watching the 7 resorts in 7 weeks that Pete and the crew did for AKV. (Why me no included, Pete?) The video at the beginning just reminded my how much I love this resort. I don't really care that the MF are on the high end. (No longer the highest - yay!) I definitely prefer to try different resorts, but so happy that I chose to own there - I'm not sure any other resort gives me the warm fuzzies that AKV does. (I have said that in the "Money is no object" category I would pick the Polynesian for a variety of reasons, but AKV even beats them in many categories.)

We are taking our first trip in which we're bringing friends to join us at AKV in February - I am quite excited to share this lovely resort with friends that have never stayed there.
 
One question, we plan to rent points for a AKV Standart View Studion in Jambo House, have all rooms a partial view ? or are there rooms to the parking lot?

Will the studios undergo a refurbishment till June 2020?
 


Soon to be AKL owners, we stayed there in July and it beats out the other WDW we’ve tried so far. We stayed club level for our last trip and paid for the add-on Fastpasses. Does anyone know if this is a possibility with booking the Club Level from DVC side? Thanks!
 
One question, we plan to rent points for a AKV Standart View Studion in Jambo House, have all rooms a partial view ? or are there rooms to the parking lot?

Will the studios undergo a refurbishment till June 2020?

The DVC rooms are not being refurnished at this time. That was actually done a few years ago. The current refurbishment relates to the AKL hotel rooms. As to the DVC standard view rooms at Jambo, a little more than half have savanna view, the rest are pool view, none are parking lot view.
 
Soon to be AKL owners, we stayed there in July and it beats out the other WDW we’ve tried so far. We stayed club level for our last trip and paid for the add-on Fastpasses. Does anyone know if this is a possibility with booking the Club Level from DVC side? Thanks!

Yes, those staying club level at AKV can purchase the extra fastpasses. Be aware, however, that AKV club level rooms are not easy to get. There are only 5 2BR lock-offs, which means up to 5 studios and 5 1BRs. Owners at AKL can reserve starting online at 8 a.m. eastern 11 months out from arrival date. Club level rooms, particularly studios (and resulting 2BRs) but at many times also 1BRs, can disappear almost anytime of the year within a second after that 11 month window opens -- the winners are simply those whose computers communicate faster with Disney's computers than the computers of everyone else attempting to reserve exactly at 8 a.m.

In other words, if you purchased AKV to get club level and believe you will usually be able to get it, you may want to rethink your purchase.
 
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The DVC rooms are not being refurnished at this time. That was actually done a few years ago. The current refurbishment relates to the AKL hotel rooms. As to the DVC standard view rooms at Jambo, a little more than half have savanna view, the rest are pool view, none are parking lot view.

Someone schedule for an AKV concierge room in December was called a couple of days ago and told the Concierge rooms would be under refurb and that they were being moved to a non-concierge room but would still have club access. That was the story for Value rooms too although people have been assuming that it was because they'd be affected by the hotel rooms being refurbed but if they concierge lounge is still open then the AKV concierge rooms would not be affected. And I think the lounge there was also refurbed not that long ago.

I can't figure out what is going on there because the villas were all refurbed just a couple of years ago.
 
Someone schedule for an AKV concierge room in December was called a couple of days ago and told the Concierge rooms would be under refurb and that they were being moved to a non-concierge room but would still have club access. That was the story for Value rooms too although people have been assuming that it was because they'd be affected by the hotel rooms being refurbed but if they concierge lounge is still open then the AKV concierge rooms would not be affected. And I think the lounge there was also refurbed not that long ago.

I can't figure out what is going on there because the villas were all refurbed just a couple of years ago.
I've got 4 days in DVC club coming up for my son and his wife... no calls on it yet. It's toward the start of December.
 
Someone schedule for an AKV concierge room in December was called a couple of days ago and told the Concierge rooms would be under refurb and that they were being moved to a non-concierge room but would still have club access. That was the story for Value rooms too although people have been assuming that it was because they'd be affected by the hotel rooms being refurbed but if they concierge lounge is still open then the AKV concierge rooms would not be affected. And I think the lounge there was also refurbed not that long ago.

I can't figure out what is going on there because the villas were all refurbed just a couple of years ago.

I read somewhere that they are redoing the hallways - which is the reason some of the rooms are being closed off. I can't be 100% sure this is true, but I do know that Value rooms were unavailable for most of December and January and only opened up in late January.
 
I read somewhere that they are redoing the hallways - which is the reason some of the rooms are being closed off. I can't be 100% sure this is true, but I do know that Value rooms were unavailable for most of December and January and only opened up in late January.

I think that started as speculation as nobody could think of any other reason. I don't know if DVC ever confirmed that - however, unless they are building new hallways there's zero chance it takes 1 1/2-2 months to carpet and paint them.

We do own a few points at AKV and I'm really just trying to figure out what they're doing with our money and the affect on owners usage. The rooms were all refurbed a couple of years ago and should not be having money spent on them again except for repairs but that repeatedly seems to be the reason given.

Otherwise halls shouldn't take rooms out of use for a couple of months. :confused3
 
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I think that started as speculation as nobody could think of any other reason. I don't know if DVC ever confirmed that - however, unless they are building new hallways there's zero chance it takes 1 1/2-2 months to carpet and paint them.

We do own a few points at AKV and I'm really just trying to figure out what they're doing with our money and the affect on owners usage. The rooms were all refurbed a couple of years ago and should not be having money spent on them again except for repairs but that repeatedly seems to be the reason given.

Otherwise halls shouldn't take rooms out of use for a couple of months. :confused3

I don't know. We'll be in a value room in February - so I'll try and see if I can see anything different from the last time we were in a room at AKV - but that will have been 18 months so not sure I can tell. I am sure they wouldn't just take rooms out of service for no reason at all.
 
I don't know. We'll be in a value room in February - so I'll try and see if I can see anything different from the last time we were in a room at AKV - but that will have been 18 months so not sure I can tell. I am sure they wouldn't just take rooms out of service for no reason at all.

Oh I agree, it's just going to bother me if they are refurbishing them again so soon. The schedule needed to be moved up from what it was but that would be overkill. I think the timeframe they have the value rooms out of service is longer than when they last refurbished them though. I've been wondering if maybe they're doing some major work at the front of the AKL building? Or redoing the roof although Dec-Jan would seem to be an odd time for any of that with the holidays causing several breaks along the way.

And if there's a relation to the hotel refurb for those rooms then it would seem they could do a better job aligning the DVC and hotel refurbishments.
 
Yes, those staying club level at AKV can purchase the extra fastpasses. Be aware, however, that AKV club level rooms are not easy to get. There are only 5 2BR lock-offs, which means up to 5 studios and 5 iBRs. Owners at AKL can reserve starting online at 8 a.m. eastern 11 months out from arrival date. Club level rooms, particularly studios (and resulting 2BRs) but at many times also 1BRs, can disappear almost anytime of the year within a second after that 11 month window opens -- the winners are simply those whose computers communicate faster with Disney's computers than the computers of everyone else attempting to reserve exactly at 8 a.m.

In other words, if you purchased AKV to get club level and believe you will usually be able to get it, you may want to rethink your purchase.
Thanks for the info, and while I really got spoiled in Club Level it really isn’t a deal breaker. We just loved AKL, plus my internet is freaky fast. 😂
 
Just snagged the last 6 of our 8 night planned stay next February in a value room! The first two nights I couldn't get even going on at 8 AM, but I got lucky this morning. We're actually booking two rooms, but I don't have enough points for 2 standard rooms the full 8 nights, so really hoping to get a value room for one of them. Still need to get the first 2 nights -which I've waitlisted, but also hoping maybe some people walking rooms to get to the Princess marathon will open up the two days I need. Waitlisting value rooms can be pretty futile. We'll see with only two night maybe I'll have a shot.

Edit 6 hrs later: I already got one of the two nights in the value. Now just missing the first night of our trip....crossing fingers some walker will give one up in the next few days.
Quick question - how did you book the last 6 nights if the first two were not available? Doesn’t the first night have to be available before you can book the rest? Thanks!
 
Would you choose Kidani Studio Savannah View or a Studio in Jambo House Savanna View? Cant decide witch one is better. We stayed this year 8 nights at AKL and liked the mara and the View. DVC is all on the 5 floor in Jambo House? Can you see the animals still good?
 
Very odd booking experience today. Contract is in Kidani. Went in at 8am trying to book value room. When I clicked checked availability both studio and 2BR came up as available for my dates and after I clicked to secure the room, it says the dates are outside of my booking window. Shouldn’t Jambo and Kidani be treated as both beings home resorts? Why would Jambo rooms be outside of the 11 month window?
 

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