AKV Kidani - highlights and lowlights
May 13, 2023 10:04:13 GMT -5
annamaria, jedimom3, and 2 more like this
Post by ItsMe on May 13, 2023 10:04:13 GMT -5
We just got back back from 8 days staying in a two bedroom savanna view at Kidani. 5/5-5/12/2023
We scored a room near the Timon elevator, close to lobby, close to buses and not too far from the pool.
Highlights -
amazing CMs - We’ve had so-so interactions during our visits since Covid reopening. But this thrip it was like the old days. They were happy, chatty, helpful. We put to use the cast compliment on the MDE app often. What an easy way to be sure they are recognized.
Buses- were great. we only waited more than 15 mins at the resort or park for a bus one time. And that was Thursday at the resort trying to get to Moonlight magic. Driver said they were running 25 minutes behind as they had many scooters to load unload that night. While waiting for the bus 4 Disney springs busses came and went. I don’t understand why they don’t just re-route a bus when something is going awry. Needless to say we were crammed in that bus.
Pool- was pretty busy, and saw many towels “saving seats” (no shoes or bags or any personal items around, just a rolled up towel) but we also saw CMs removing said towels after a while.
Park reservations- won’t matter come next year, but we wanted to switch parks twice morning of and were able to do so. We hate the park reservations so we were happy we were able to still be a bit flexible. This had not been the case during previous visits. We were happy to see they are going away in 2024 (we are not AP holders)
Flower and garden at Epcot- we found some really good food booths with some delicious items. (I am talking to you avocado toast, vegie bruschetta, swordfish, street corn, and watermelon salad - there were others but these were my faves).
Sanaa- our first time there and it did not disappoint.
Weather - only rained once and it was while we were at dinner. Otherwise it was sunny and hot during the day, and cooler (perfect) at night.
Rides- rode Tron and GotG for the first time. Loved them both.
What we didn’t like -
waking up early everyday to score a VQ or ILL. I know we don’t “have” to do that, but some rides it’s the only way to get on them and others the wait times for them are ridiculous if you don’t buy the ILL. We didn’t spend money on park passes to not ride rides. So we needed to do this. On the day we bough ILL for RotR, the ride was down until spurned 3 or 4 pm. We left park around 2pm so we stopped at GS to get a refund. Smugglers was also down that day. Needless to say the waits for the other rides were insane. We only rode Star Tours. This morning was a total bust.
Wait times- in general were terrible. We won’t wait more than 45 mins for most rides. And the popular ones were closer to 60 mins or more. Using evening extra hours and moonlight magic helped us get on some rides we missed during the day. Genie + was $18 one day and then $20 and $22 the others. So people are buying it and it’s clogging up standby. I don’t like it but it’s not going away.
Flower and garden - very few festival stands. Years past we would practically run into the stands with unique garden items, this year it seemed like we had to search them out. And the offerings were disappointing.
Overall a great trip. Any questions ask away.
Once I get my photos organized, if I can figure out how to upload them here I will come back here to add them.
We scored a room near the Timon elevator, close to lobby, close to buses and not too far from the pool.
Highlights -
amazing CMs - We’ve had so-so interactions during our visits since Covid reopening. But this thrip it was like the old days. They were happy, chatty, helpful. We put to use the cast compliment on the MDE app often. What an easy way to be sure they are recognized.
Buses- were great. we only waited more than 15 mins at the resort or park for a bus one time. And that was Thursday at the resort trying to get to Moonlight magic. Driver said they were running 25 minutes behind as they had many scooters to load unload that night. While waiting for the bus 4 Disney springs busses came and went. I don’t understand why they don’t just re-route a bus when something is going awry. Needless to say we were crammed in that bus.
Pool- was pretty busy, and saw many towels “saving seats” (no shoes or bags or any personal items around, just a rolled up towel) but we also saw CMs removing said towels after a while.
Park reservations- won’t matter come next year, but we wanted to switch parks twice morning of and were able to do so. We hate the park reservations so we were happy we were able to still be a bit flexible. This had not been the case during previous visits. We were happy to see they are going away in 2024 (we are not AP holders)
Flower and garden at Epcot- we found some really good food booths with some delicious items. (I am talking to you avocado toast, vegie bruschetta, swordfish, street corn, and watermelon salad - there were others but these were my faves).
Sanaa- our first time there and it did not disappoint.
Weather - only rained once and it was while we were at dinner. Otherwise it was sunny and hot during the day, and cooler (perfect) at night.
Rides- rode Tron and GotG for the first time. Loved them both.
What we didn’t like -
waking up early everyday to score a VQ or ILL. I know we don’t “have” to do that, but some rides it’s the only way to get on them and others the wait times for them are ridiculous if you don’t buy the ILL. We didn’t spend money on park passes to not ride rides. So we needed to do this. On the day we bough ILL for RotR, the ride was down until spurned 3 or 4 pm. We left park around 2pm so we stopped at GS to get a refund. Smugglers was also down that day. Needless to say the waits for the other rides were insane. We only rode Star Tours. This morning was a total bust.
Wait times- in general were terrible. We won’t wait more than 45 mins for most rides. And the popular ones were closer to 60 mins or more. Using evening extra hours and moonlight magic helped us get on some rides we missed during the day. Genie + was $18 one day and then $20 and $22 the others. So people are buying it and it’s clogging up standby. I don’t like it but it’s not going away.
Flower and garden - very few festival stands. Years past we would practically run into the stands with unique garden items, this year it seemed like we had to search them out. And the offerings were disappointing.
Overall a great trip. Any questions ask away.
Once I get my photos organized, if I can figure out how to upload them here I will come back here to add them.
But the ones we did wait in were pretty spot on the posted times - except for the Moonlight magic night, the wait times posted were a good 10-15 minutes higher than the actual wait. 