"Live" from AKV

[AKV707]

Last night we had dinner at Narcoossee's last night. We had an 8:30 reservation. It was our first time. It was also our first time seeing the GF! Beautiful!

We had a great table on the floor in the second row of tables with a clear view of the MK.

DW had the fried calamari for her appetizer and the lamb for an entrée. I had the duck spring rolls for an appetizer and the salmon for my entrée. We also ordered a bottle of wine. A fantastic dinner, excellent service. Well worth it.

Then came desert. Wow! DW had the walnut encrusted cheesecake and I went with the strawberry shortcake, Both were incredible. Right after desert was served, the restaurant lights dimmed and we started to hear the Wishes music piped in from MK! We could clearly see the fireworks. It was if we were in the park, except we were having delicious deserts and cappuccino in a great restaurant.

We will definitely be back!

After dinner, we took the boat back to NK and caught the bus to AKV. It took about 17 minutes to get back to AKV.

 

[Steamboat Girlie]

Thank you so much for taking time out of your vacation to post this information. The bus info. is putting to rest many of my fears. We leave in 30 days and can't hardly wait!
Enjoy the rest of your trip.

 

[ChelleinNC]

Sounds like a fantastic dinner and what a way to end it with Wishes

 

[AKV707]

Got up as usual with breakfast in the room. Headed out to DHS. We had to stop at Blizzard Beach so it took 20 minutes to get there. Could not get on TSM today. Fast pass was for 8:00 tonight! Love the whole new look of the area where TSM is. We will ride it later in the trip. Enjoyed DHS, rode ToT and some other things, grabbed a tuna sandwich, and then took the boat over to Epcot.

Got off at the Swan, one of our old pre DVC faves, and walked across the BW to Epcot.

We were feeling thirsty, so we stopped in the Pub at the UK. And we were there for a while! Met a fellow DVCer there. Love that Pub! As we left the UK, it started to thunder. We decided to make our way out. Got to the bus stop and an AKL bus was waiting! Got home in 12 minutes this time.

Tonight, dinner at Jiko. Can't wait!

 

[AKV707]

While I am here at AKV, I am thinking about the buses after Kidani is open. Since AKL is quite large, and the total DVC accommodations at AKV will be the third largest DVC resort, how do you think that the buses will work.

I have always assumed that there would simply be just two bus stops. But seeing the level of activity at the AKL. I am giving that assumption second thoughts.

The combined population of the two buildings could be more than at OKW and SSR. Does anyone think that Disney will consider two separate bus runs? Or more frequent ones? From the looks of Kidani, it is going to be huge!

The buses have been great so far on our trip. I would hate to see that change once Kidani is open.

 

[heaven2dc]

Sounds like you're having a wonderful time - pics are beautiful! I'm not good with abbreviations - what does TSM mean at Hollywood Studios?

 

[AKV707]

Sounds like you're having a wonderful time - pics are beautiful! I'm not good with abbreviations - what does TSM mean at Hollywood Studios?

Sorry! Toy story Mania.

 

[heaven2dc]

Thank you! I should have been able to figure it out but I keep forgetting about this new attraction.

 

[mcrabeck]

Thanks for sharing your vacation with us! Your pictures are great- can't wait to see more!

 

[AKV707]

Last night we had dinner at Jiko. And as expected it was outstanding. We had the olive flat bread and then we each had the filet with the mac and cheese. Incredible. A little cheesecake for dessert along with some peach tree green tea and all was well. Service was also friendly and outstanding.

Today we headed over to the MK. Left here at 11:15. It took 16 minutes. Had a great time, even though it started to rain. Put on the rain panchos that DW ordered online (and will go in our OL) and kept going. Grabbed some reasonably healthy sandwiches at Columbia Harbor House and headed over to Epcot on the monorail.

Grabbed some beverages in Mexico, and headed around the world. Caught "Slippery When Wet" a Bon Jovi tribute band. They put on a great show.

Rode SE one more time on the way out (3 times on this trip so far) and headed back to AKV/AKL. Only took 12 minutes!

Got back to our beautiful room and then went down to the fitness center.

Right now my fantastic DW is making some turkey chili, so dinner will be at home tonight! More tomorrow.

 

[DVC Mary]

A recent negative review of AKL suggested that the furniture in the Jambo House rooms did not fit well ex) no room at the end of the bed. It suggested that they crammed furniture in to rooms that made the rooms overcrowded.

What do you think?

Can you take pictures of the bedroom area?

Thanks for the great report.

Have you tried the Amarula they sell there? It's like a Bailey's/Kahlua type drink. They also have great wine from South Africa.

 

[LisaS]

A recent negative review of AKL suggested that the furniture in the Jambo House rooms did not fit well ex) no room at the end of the bed. It suggested that they crammed furniture in to rooms that made the rooms overcrowded.

What do you think?

Can you take pictures of the bedroom area?

There are some photos of the bedroom on page 2. You can see how close the bedroom door is to the bed and also how much space there is between the foot of the bed and the dresser.

 

[Lynn5700]

Hi! I'm loving your report so far!!!!! I can't wait to stay here in May!!!!

 

[ADP]

While I am here at AKV, I am thinking about the buses after Kidani is open. Since AKL is quite large, and the total DVC accommodations at AKV will be the third largest DVC resort, how do you think that the buses will work.

I have always assumed that there would simply be just two bus stops. But seeing the level of activity at the AKL. I am giving that assumption second thoughts.

The combined population of the two buildings could be more than at OKW and SSR. Does anyone think that Disney will consider two separate bus runs? Or more frequent ones? From the looks of Kidani, it is going to be huge!

The buses have been great so far on our trip. I would hate to see that change once Kidani is open.

I'm thinking Kidani will have 1, possibly 2 bus depot(s) and Kidani and Jambo will share busses. I don't think there will be dedicated buses to Kidani. I also feel Kidani will become the first stop and Jambo the second stop. This means the busses at Jambo could become crowded by the time they get to the Jambo bus depot.

This is total speculation, of course. Thanks for the live updates!

 

[AKV707]

A recent negative review of AKL suggested that the furniture in the Jambo House rooms did not fit well ex) no room at the end of the bed. It suggested that they crammed furniture in to rooms that made the rooms overcrowded.

What do you think?

Can you take pictures of the bedroom area?

Thanks for the great report.

Have you tried the Amarula they sell there? It's like a Bailey's/Kahlua type drink. They also have great wine from South Africa.

There is quite a bit of furniture in the bedroom. Remember, we are in a value villa, so we have about 3' less depth.

It is a little snug, but we are using it all. I am at the desk in the bedroom as I type this!

The bedroom does have a great feel, though.

 

[Claire L]

A recent negative review of AKL suggested that the furniture in the Jambo House rooms did not fit well ex) no room at the end of the bed. It suggested that they crammed furniture in to rooms that made the rooms overcrowded.

What do you think?

Can you take pictures of the bedroom area?

Thanks for the great report.

Have you tried the Amarula they sell there? It's like a Bailey's/Kahlua type drink. They also have great wine from South Africa.

We found our room just fine, not cramped at all, the bonus was that DH could place one of the small tables his side of the bed as a bedside table

Claire

 

[CarolynK]

WE have not been to DHS yet, but here are the others.

We have been to Epcot several times and it keeps taking about 12 minutes. We went to NK early on Tuesday morning for the Keys tour. It took 16 minutes at about 7:30 AM.

On the way back at about 2 PM, it took 18 minutes.

Today we went to AK. Left AKV at 11:00. It took 4 minutes.

Left AK at 4:02 and pulled into the stop at AKV at 4:05! This has to be a walkable trip someday. I mean, there has to be a way to make a nice walkway. There really is no walking path here at AKV anyway, so a path to AK would be great. (Sorry to get OT)

Went to AK as I said. Saw the Nemo show, loved it as usual. Took the Safari, which was great. We grabbed some pizza and then went to see Festival of the Lion King. Never miss it! Decided to head back to AKV. Going to the elliptical machines before dinner for a little cardio. The dinner here in the room.

Travel times from resort to park - are you including the time you stood at the bus stop waiting for the bus to arrive?

 

[AKV707]

Travel times from resort to park - are you including the time you stood at the bus stop waiting for the bus to arrive?

No, I am not. The wait times have been very good, however. Disney says that buses should run every 20 minutes and we only had one incidence where that took longer than that. Most have been around 10.

My times are just to report the distance in response to many "remote" comments about AKV. It does not appear to be very remote in terms of distance at all. We have been pleasantly surprised!

Today, we went Epcot and it took 13 minutes each way.

 

[AKV707]

Well, I will start with last night. We had dinner at San Angel. We have always liked this place. I was not quite as happy as usual. DW enjoyed her dinner, mine wasn't bad, but not great. The service was surprisingly slow since we usually have to slow the wait staff down here so we don't have a 43 minute dinner! Beverages, of course, were excellent.

When we got back to AKV, we met some friends at Victoria Falls for some drinks. Good time. Before we did that I called dining to make a last minute reservation for breakfast today at Boma.

We have been eating in the room every day, which is great, but we decided to treat ourselves to this.

What a great breakfast! Omelette's, oatmeal, and fresh fruit. Coffee, and Jungle Juice! Wow! I wish I could have that every morning. Great juice.

Headed over to Kidani to take some photos which I will post with some others. It is really coming along. While were were there, it started to rain, the only rain of the day.

Then we headed to Epcot, (which, if you haven't figured it out is our favorite park) The bus ride took only 12 minutes this time. Had a great day at Epcot, including Soarin', which is always incredible. BY around 5:15 we were just hot and tired, so we headed out to the bus stop. Waited about 5 minutes and the bus arrived. 12 minutes later, and we were home.

Had dinner in the room tonight, delicious again.

Well, I will post pics as soon as I can. Thanks for all of the replies so far. If anyone has any questions, fire away!

 

[razster]

Hi AKV707,

Thank you for compiling this thread it really is excellent,

I have a couple of questions if I may,

Is there much obvious intrusion on your vacation at AKV by the construction, can you hear it for example is it obviously apparent etc?

have you hired a car at all? I see you have had great experiences with disney transportation, but i am nervous i will need a car for ADR's etc have you had to be very strategic in how you have dined etc dependant on transportation.

Is there anything that is specific to DVC within jambo house that makes it a more or a shared DVC resort or is it just the same AKL with the DVC rooms on the upper floors?

This is going to sound strange but would you be able to photograph two items for me? One is the the owners locker so i can actually see the scale of the container in "real life" so to speak and also the inside of the fridge so ican see the kind of space available..is there a freezer compartment?

How was magical express in getting your luggage to you? again this could be an option if we do not rent a car

Thank you so very much,

Raz