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

[Tattylou]

I honestly think your heart is at AKL. I say buy here. You will love it. It's a little more expensive than SSR for your initial investment, but the ability to book and stay here at 11 months out will offset that I'm sure.

I talked to my husband last night and he is on board to buy, but wants to wait to see how all this covid stuff pans out over the next 6 months or so.I don’t think he has much preference in where we buy. So I have time to explore options and maybe save more to get more points. I do love love love the option of savannah view at AKL. I’m booked for CBR for Feb 2022 and was considering maybe renting points at AKL instead, but the pool refurbishment deters me bc my kids will swim (even if it’s chilly for Florida, it’ll be “warm” to us in Feb). I’m also a little nervous to rent now with covid bc a package through Disney is easy to cancel.

 

[igrsod]

I talked to my husband last night and he is on board to buy, but wants to wait to see how all this covid stuff pans out over the next 6 months or so.I don’t think he has much preference in where we buy. So I have time to explore options and maybe save more to get more points. I do love love love the option of savannah view at AKL. I’m booked for CBR for Feb 2022 and was considering maybe renting points at AKL instead, but the pool refurbishment deters me bc my kids will swim (even if it’s chilly for Florida, it’ll be “warm” to us in Feb). I’m also a little nervous to rent now with covid bc a package through Disney is easy to cancel.

That all makes sense.... I would be hesitant to rent until the covid era is behind us.
You will love the Savannah view rooms. That's how I got my hubby to agree to buying DVC, he LOVES waking up to the giraffes. In fact it's hard to get him moving and out of the room in the morning. I can't count the number of times he has said... you guys go ahead, I will catch up later.
Saving up for more points is a great idea too. That way you will always be able to book what you want.

Good luck. Can't wait to see what you decide to do.

 

[Cheburashka]

Wow- these are the kind of pictures that bring me back to wanting to buy at AK instead of SSR. Was this from your room?!

No, this was from one of the central porch viewing areas with rocking chairs. I could see these animals from my room, but not quite as close up, as I was 4th floor and at the far side of the building. It was still a good view from my balcony, though.

Keep in mind before buying that not all savanna views include giraffes, zebras or ankole cattle. A fair percent of savanna views are of the small, chain link fence ringed Pembe savanna, which has more modest animals. I was placed there first, then asked to move, and was moved on the second day. Yes, the Sunset savanna view was worth the hassle of a second day move.

I would always choose AKV over SSR, regardless of your room's view, though. As my pictures show, there are plenty of great views in the public areas of the resort.

 

[Cinderella072004]

Does anyone know if room service is available at Jambo now ? Wasn’t sure and can’t seem to find the information for Covid room service Thanks !

 

[matthew517]

We get to return home in May for 8 nights. Can't wait to sit out on the balcony and watch the animals. AKV is absolutely the best Resort.

 

[Frederic Civish]

I talked to my husband last night and he is on board to buy, but wants to wait to see how all this covid stuff pans out over the next 6 months or so.I don’t think he has much preference in where we buy. So I have time to explore options and maybe save more to get more points. I do love love love the option of savannah view at AKL. I’m booked for CBR for Feb 2022 and was considering maybe renting points at AKL instead, but the pool refurbishment deters me bc my kids will swim (even if it’s chilly for Florida, it’ll be “warm” to us in Feb). I’m also a little nervous to rent now with covid bc a package through Disney is easy to cancel.

I understand his desire to be cautious, but I don't recommend that you wait too long. There was no significant price drop for AKL right through the COVID problems of the last year, and it is unlikely that prices will be depressed as a result of COVID in the near future.

In other words, I don't expect prices to go down significantly, and they will, in fact, probably increase some.

I was disappointed prices DIDN'T DROP, since I had money saved and was ready to pick up more, through a 'great deal.' But the deal never came.

My daughter bought 250 points right at the start of COVID.COVID hit and finished it after the start of the Pandemic and I remember thinking that maybe she would have done better to wait. But the price never again went as low as the deal that she got.

 

[ITGirl50]

I talked to my husband last night and he is on board to buy, but wants to wait to see how all this covid stuff pans out over the next 6 months or so.I don’t think he has much preference in where we buy. So I have time to explore options and maybe save more to get more points. I do love love love the option of savannah view at AKL. I’m booked for CBR for Feb 2022 and was considering maybe renting points at AKL instead, but the pool refurbishment deters me bc my kids will swim (even if it’s chilly for Florida, it’ll be “warm” to us in Feb). I’m also a little nervous to rent now with covid bc a package through Disney is easy to cancel.

I think it’s a great idea to rent. We bought our first contract in 2007, but that’s after we rented two years in a row. We knew after renting it was the right decision for us. If DH thinks prices will go down in 6 months, they won’t. Disney keeps the direct pricing high and only raises the price. Every time they raise the price, people who already own think they are crazy, but people keep buying. Direct pricing affects resale price because Disney will buy back low priced resale properties so they can resale at a higher price.

 

[Tattylou]

I think it’s a great idea to rent. We bought our first contract in 2007, but that’s after we rented two years in a row. We knew after renting it was the right decision for us. If DH thinks prices will go down in 6 months, they won’t. Disney keeps the direct pricing high and only raises the price. Every time they raise the price, people who already own think they are crazy, but people keep buying. Direct pricing affects resale price because Disney will buy back low priced resale properties so they can resale at a higher price.

He doesn’t think prices will go down. He just doesn’t want to commit to travel for x many years during all this covid crap. I need to respect where he is at bc it’s his money too.

 

[sndral]

I talked to my husband last night and he is on board to buy, but wants to wait to see how all this covid stuff pans out over the next 6 months or so.I don’t think he has much preference in where we buy. So I have time to explore options and maybe save more to get more points. I do love love love the option of savannah view at AKL. I’m booked for CBR for Feb 2022 and was considering maybe renting points at AKL instead, but the pool refurbishment deters me bc my kids will swim (even if it’s chilly for Florida, it’ll be “warm” to us in Feb). I’m also a little nervous to rent now with covid bc a package through Disney is easy to cancel.

In your situation it sounds like renting to stay before you buy is a great idea. I stayed at AKV in a villa before I committed to buying my first DVC contract there. In my case Disney had some great cash discounts, so I did that rather than renting. I truly hope that by next February things will have normalized, but we can’t predict the future.
There are 2 pools at AKV and the one at Jambo will be open, if you are in Kidani it’s a 10 minute walk or a short bus/shuttle ride to the Jambo pool - but my recollection from many years ago when I stayed at CBR was that getting to the main CBR feature pool was a hike from my ‘island,’ although the island’s smaller pool was closer.
If you opt to test drive AKV before you buy DVC, the next question is would you prefer to stay in Kidani or Jambo? As Drusba notes Jambo fills faster than Kidani, there are far fewer villas in Jambo. This is my biased, personal list of pros and cons between the two. Note these days I opt for Jambo standard view to save points and hope for a ‘partial’ savanna view
Kidani positives:
Villas larger than Jambo’s, 1 br. & above have an extra bathroom
Savanna view can be better as there are villas on all floors & Sunset savanna is the largest of AKV’s savannas
Park busses pick up & drop off at Kidani first
Can get dedicated two bedroom villas, which gives you 2 ‘real’ beds in the second bedroom, rather than 1 bed & sleeper sofa configuration of the lock offs
Parking underneath = can park closer to villa
Love Sanaa & it’s Sunset savanna views
Kidani negatives:
Small lobby/store (some see the quieter atmosphere as a plus, tho’)
Savanna views can end up w/ a view of the small no giraffe Pembe savanna
Standard views can face the front of the building
No true quick service venue
Villas at the end of the hallways are a hike to the lobby
Jambo positives:
Beautiful lobby, large store - feels like what it is, a nice hotel
Savanna views face one of the 3 large savannas, Sunset, Arusha, or Uzima.
More dinning choices (when open) Mara quick service, Boma buffet, and Jiko signature dinning, pool bar and Victoria Springs bar.
Standard view can have a partial savanna view

https://imgur.com/G2qaSva

if you want to save points you won’t have a view of the parking lot - the worst would be a roof+pool view, which is still ok IMO
Jambo negatives:
All villas on the 5th floor (except Club on 6th) so you look down on the animals
Villas at the end of Zebra/Kudu trails a bit of a hike to the lobby & end of Kudu trail a hike to the pool & Mara

 

[ITGirl50]

He doesn’t think prices will go down. He just doesn’t want to commit to travel for x many years during all this covid crap. I need to respect where he is at bc it’s his money too.

Totally makes sense. I think renting is a great way to use DVC without making a full commitment until you are sure.

 

[Somnia]

Well I'm convinced my wait list for Jambo probably won't happen for early December with how sold out DVC is (not shocking at all due to COVID points and for me 100% forgetting to book at the 11th month mark, I booked 2 days later lol).

I love Kidani though so it's not an issue.

 

[TLPL]

Standard view can have a partial savanna view

I am wondering what do you see for those Standard view villas at the end of the Zebra/Kudu trails. Anyone has any pictures from those villas?

 

[rawisericho]

Hi all, I'm not official yet (my contract was sent to ROFR today) but I think I'm decently safe to pass. But assuming that all goes through, my wife and I will be owners with AKV as our home resort!

 

[Lee Matthews]

Pre-COVID, where would you go to see Movies under the stars at AKL? Did they do them poolside? Coming up with some activity ideas in the hope they return before long

 

[ksromack]

Enjoying reading this thread as we have a 2 night stay booked at Kidani in 2 months. Question! How far is the walk from the Timon elevator (approx) to The Mara? I tried mapping it from my maps app but according to that app you can’t get there from Kidani, lol! Is there a walkway or would you walk along the road? We’ve only stayed at Jambo House before and took a Disney bus from AK for a lunch ADR at that time and we must have returned to the park afterwards because I don’t recall taking an internal bus at all

 

[drusba]

^Front entrance to front entrance is about 1/2 mile. The Timon elevator is not overly far from the front entrance, a little more than a 1/10th of a mile, and it is about half that to a doorway that leads to the walkway that takes you to the bus station and, if you continue walking, ultimately to Jambo. There is walkway in front of the Kidani building, and at one point you need to cross a side road to another walkway that is part of Jambo.

The Timon elevator is on the south wing of Kidani. If your room is anywhere near it, you have three options to get to Jambo. One, you can go to the front entrance area and take a a bus that runs between the front entrances of the two buildings. You can go to the second floor via the Timon elevator and out the doorway to the bus station area and walk from there. Alternatively, you can walk in the other direction from your room (rather than towards the Timon elevator and lobby) to the Zazu elevator, the last elevator on that south wing of Kidani and go down to street level from that elevator and walk over to Jambo.

 

[Starwind]

Enjoying reading this thread as we have a 2 night stay booked at Kidani in 2 months. Question! How far is the walk from the Timon elevator (approx) to The Mara? I tried mapping it from my maps app but according to that app you can’t get there from Kidani, lol! Is there a walkway or would you walk along the road? We’ve only stayed at Jambo House before and took a Disney bus from AK for a lunch ADR at that time and we must have returned to the park afterwards because I don’t recall taking an internal bus at all

There is a walkway between Kidani and Jambo. Basically a sidewalk that for most of it runs alongside the building alongside parking lots.

See this map of Kidani. To the right side you see the walkway going off to Jambo:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/kidani-map-with-elevators-marked.3558443/#post-60415897
Then see the overall map of the two resorts and you can see that walkway between them:

https://www.wdwinfo.com/maps/DAKLMap.pdf
There is also a bus that goes back and forth between them, lobby to lobby, though I don't know if it is running right now.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Pre-COVID, where would you go to see Movies under the stars at AKL? Did they do them poolside? Coming up with some activity ideas in the hope they return before long

At Jambo it was down in the pool area - usually between the pool and the Flamingo pen.

 

[rawisericho]

At Jambo it was down in the pool area - usually between the pool and the Flamingo pen.

Also, Kat, are you a corgi owner?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Also, Kat, are you a corgi owner?

Yep! We had 2 Cardigan Corgis. It's been a little over 2 years since we said goodbye to our one guy just a couple of months shy of 16. My Blue cardi is in my profile picture. He's now 16 1/2.