All About Kidani Village at Animal Kingdom Lodge

Every year we try to celebrate birthdays in a big way. It was the big 40 for me this year and my birthday wish was to sit on a balcony, sipping coffee and watching giraffes and zebras grazing in the Savanna.

A trip to Africa would be great, but the kids don’t have passports and can you imagine the cost of those airline tickets? With just a quick trip to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, I got my birthday wish and so much more.

Animal Kingdom Lodge

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is a deluxe African-themed resort consisting of two separate properties, Kidani Village and Jambo House. Jambo House was the original Animal Kingdom Lodge with the smaller more intimate Kidani Village coming later as a dedicated Disney Vacation Club resort.

Although the hotels are on the same property, there is a half-mile distance between them. For those who would enjoy a stroll, there is a lovely walkway connecting the two pathways, otherwise, there is a shuttle that will take you back and forth between the two hotels.

Animal Kingdom Kidani Village

The lobby at Kidani Village is much smaller than the grandiose Jambo house. At Kidani Village the lobby is decorated highly in wood, giving it a really rustic, but elegant look.

The first thing we noticed when entering the lobby was the massive two-story window overlooking the Sunset Savanna. While I checked in, the kids were enjoying the marvelous view of all of the wildlife.

During the check-in process, we were also given a map of the property, the recreation calendar and my favorite, the Wildlife Spotting Guide. There is definitely not a shortage of amenities or activities for the entire family at Kidani Village.

You can find out more about the amenities at Kidani Village here.

When we arrived, we had a couple of hours before our room would be ready since we were early. There were plenty of other families just like us who were hanging out waiting on their rooms. With an abundance of places indoors and outdoors to relax while you wait, the time flies by. Since we had been couped up in a vehicle for a few hours we decided to put on our adventure hats and explore the property.

Before we got too deep into our exploration, we had to park our car. You have two options with parking, either valet or self-parking in the underground parking lot, either way, you will pay for parking during your stay, the choice is yours. We happened to park near the pool so that is where our adventure began.

On the way to the pool area, we met a lovely cast member named Simba, from Zimbabwe, who was stationed at a savanna overlook. We referred to our Wildlife Spotting Guides while he pointed out the animals that were currently present on the Pembe Savanna at that particular overlook.

You can go here to read more about Wildlife Spotting at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

He also mentioned how it was hotter than Africa, even with his favorite place in his home country of Zimbabwe being the desert. I guess we really are having one of the hottest summers ever!

After our visit with Simba, we continued on to the pool area where we stopped by the Maji Pool Bar for some waters and adult beverages. The aroma of tandoori chicken that was being served to the bar patrons made us realize just how hungry we were. The kids were very excited about the pool area which has a large pool, two hot tubs, a slide, and a children’s area with an interactive water feature. We were too hungry at that moment to think about playing in the pool so off to find some food. You can read more about the pool area in detail here.

Dining at Kidani Village

Because Kidani is much smaller than the Jambo house, dining options are limited. You have the Maji Pool Bar which opens at 11 am or Sanaa which offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Since we had reservations in a few hours at Sanaa, we decided to sit at the bar located in Sanaa and munch on a couple of appetizers.

You can read more about dining at Kidani Village here.

By the time we were done enjoying our appetizers our room was ready. We returned to our car to get our bags and then headed up to our room.

Savanna View Rooms at Kidani Village

Since we were only staying for one night we opted to book a deluxe villa which is the standard room at Kidani Village, however, I did opt to upgrade to book a Savanna View Room, after all, I had birthday wishes to fulfill with giraffes and coffee.

About half of the rooms at Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village offer a savanna view where you can view the wild roaming animals outside your window.

Of course the moment we arrived in our room I immediately went to the balcony to see what wildlife I would see from our Wildlife Spotting Guide. Unfortunately, there were no animals outside our window on the savanna, but I did still enjoy the balcony view. Besides, I had the time and I just knew I would get my birthday wish of coffee with giraffes before check-out.

After spending some time relaxing in the room we decided to head down to the Pembre Savanna Overlook for the Campfire. Unfortunately, the afternoon was full of storms and lightning and this didn’t happen. It was however very interesting to watch the animals out in the storm. We also learned that animals are never forced inside. They have times they are taken into the buildings that are on-site but even during the last hurricane, the cattle stayed out because they did not want to go inside. I was told they survived just fine.

After watching the sideways rain and intense lightning over the savanna for some time, we ventured to safety and decided to have an early dinner at Sanaa. Although our reservation was not for another hour we were quickly sat at a table with a view of Sunset Savanna. Sanaa is the only restaurant on property that offers savanna viewing. There was plenty of wildlife to see during dinner as the storm had passed and the animals had reemerged.

After dinner, we decided to take the shuttle to Jambo House. Animal Kingdom Lodge offers an on-property 16 passenger van with endless Disney tunes that departs to its sister property every 5 to 7 minutes. Immediately upon arriving at Jambo House, we noticed the vast differences between the two properties. Jambo House was massive with a grandiose lobby and was very busy at that time with check-ins and people heading off to one of the four restaurants located there. We did a quick stroll through the property and decided to head back to Kidani Village as it was much more our cup of tea.

When we arrived back at Kidani Village we headed back to Pembe Savanna Overlook one last time for the evening to use the complimentary military-grade night vision goggles to view the animals. Unfortunately, the animals were all in hiding but the kids still thought it was super cool to look through the night vision goggles.

From here we headed back to the pool and hot tub which was a great way to finish my birthday. We stayed until pool closing which is at 11 pm and much after our normal bedtime. When we arrived back to the room I had to take a peek outside before retiring and what did I see? Tons of animals. Apparently, many of the animals on the savanna retire outside our room. Eden and I watched them for some time before I had to force her to go to bed. I think she would’ve slept on the balcony if I would let her.

With check-out being at 11 am on the property and the pool opening at 9 am, we had a leisurely morning and guess what? I got my birthday wish to sip my coffee and watch giraffes from my balcony. It truly was a magical overnight stay at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village.

Have you experienced Animal Kingdom Lodge? If so please share below.