Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village

Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village Information: Rooms, Pools, Dining, and More

On this page is information on Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village, including pictures of the view from every hotel room, pictures and video from inside Animal Kingdom Kidani Village Villas rooms, a list of amenities, restaurant reviews and dining menus with prices, pool photos and reviews, reader comments, childcare options, and more. Last updated: May 18, 2024

Use our exclusive Room Finder to see a resort map and find a great room!

Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas are found in both Kidani Village and Jambo House. If you are looking for a room in Jambo House, we have a separate Room Finder for Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House.

Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village Resort Overview

Near the popular, and beautiful, Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House Disney built an all Disney Vacation Club property called Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village. The two resorts share an overall design aesthetic, but Kidani Village is more intimate with a significantly smaller lobby. That is not to say that Kidani is somehow less than Jambo House: the design and details at Kidani are fantastic and many prefer the quieter, calmer feel of Kidani. Like Jambo House, Kidani Village borders the savanna and about half of its rooms have spectacular, animal-filled views.

Consisting of a separate freestanding building shaped like a backward 3, Kidani Village has 324 DDV units, a dedicated savanna, a well-themed pool and splash zone, and Sanaa, a top-rated sit-down restaurant combining Indian and African cuisines. Other amenities include a fitness center; an arcade; a gift shop; and tennis, shuffleboard, and basketball courts. Kidani Village is connected to Jambo House by a half-mile walking trail; DDV guests at either resort can use the facilities at both.

Kidani Village has studios and one-, two-, and three-bedroom villas. Except for the three-bedroom units, most rooms are larger than their counterparts at Jambo House by anywhere from 50 square feet (for a studio) to more than 200 square feet (for a two-bedroom unit). Kidani’s villas also have one more bathroom for the one-, two-, and three-bedroom units. Because of the difference in area, one-bedroom units in Kidani Village can accommodate up to five people, and two-bedroom units can hold up to nine with a sleeper chair in the living room.

Having stayed at Kidani Village more than a dozen times, we think it’s quiet and relaxed. The lobby and rooms have a smaller, more personal feel than Jambo House’s. The exterior isn’t anything special: It’s basically a set of green rectangles with oversize African-themed decorations attached. Kidani’s distance from Jambo House makes it feel especially remote. The bus stops are a fair distance from the main building, too, and it’s easy to head in the wrong direction when you’re coming back from the parks at night.

How Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas Compares to Other Disney Deluxe Resorts

The unique feature that separates Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas from not only all the other Walt Disney World resorts, but almost any hotel in the world, is the animals. About half the rooms have a view of the hotel's savanna with various wild animals roaming around. You may wake up one morning and have a giraffe looking in your window. Animal Kingdom Lodge does offer a fitness center.

Where To Check-In, Get Theme Park Tickets, and Make Dining Reservations

A security gate guards the entrance to Animal Kingdom Lodge's grounds. If you arrive by car, you'll need to provide photo ID at the gate; it's not necessary to provide your reservation number or paperwork. A dedicated parking lot across from the lobby serves as temporary parking for those who need it while checking in.

Guests keeping a car at the hotel overnight will be charged $25 per day.

Check-in time at Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas is 4:00 PM, and check-out time is 11:00 AM. Animal Kingdom Lodge participates in Disney's Online Check-In program, which allows you to you provide name, address, and credit card information up to 60 days before your arrival.

If you've checked-in online and provided a mobile phone number or email address, you will receive your room number electronically. Then you can go straight to the room and use your smart phone or MagicBand to open the door, skipping the lobby altogether. Animal Kingdom Lodge's gift shop sells MagicBands for your stay, if you don't already have them.

If you've not registered online, look for signs pointing you to the Registration/Check-In area. You'll need to provide a government-issued photo ID and credit/debit card when you register. While parents are completing the paperwork, kids can unwind in a nearby play area decorated with child-sized furniture, and a television showing classic Disney animated films.

Get theme park tickets and dining reservations at the Concierge Desk, to the right of the Registration Desk. If you need to check in and obtain theme park tickets, you can save some time in line if one adult gets in line for tickets just after another adult starts the registration process. The Concierge Desk can also make Disney dining reservations, and you can avoid a wait there by making them online prior to arrival.

Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort Villas's Rooms

Both Jambo House and Kidani Village have studios and one-, two-, and three-bedroom villas. Most rooms at Kidani Village are larger, however, and the difference is anywhere from 50 square feet for a studio to more than 200 square feet for a two-bedroom unit. (The threebedroom Grand Villas at Jambo House, 148 square feet larger than those in Kidani Village, are the exception.) Kidani’s villas also have one more bathroom for one-, two-, and three-bedroom units. Because of the difference in area, one-bedroom units in Kidani Village can accommodate up to five people, and two-bedroom units can hold up to nine via a sleeper chair in the living room. At Jambo House, one-bedroom “value” rooms sleep four; standard, savanna, and Club Level rooms sleep five.

Having stayed at Kidani Village more than a dozen times, we think it’s quiet and relaxed. The lobby and rooms have a smaller, more personal feel than Jambo House’s. The exterior isn’t anything special—essentially a set of green rectangles with oversize African-themed decorations attached. Kidani’s distance from Jambo House makes it feel especially remote. The bus stops are a fair distance from the main building, too, and it’s easy to head in the wrong direction when you’re coming back from the parks at night.

Kidani Village Studios: Studios sleep up to four people and include one queen-size bed and one double sleeper sofa.

Kidani Village 1-Bedroom Villa: The 1-bedroom villa sleeps 5 and provides a formal kitchen, a second bathroom and a living room in addition to the studio bedroom. The living room's chair and sofa fold out to provide beds for 3 more people.

Kidani Village Two-bedroom villas: Two-bedroom villas sleep nine and include all of the kitchen amenities found in a one-bedroom, plus an extra bathroom. One of the baths is attached to a second bedroom with two queen beds or a queen bed plus a sleeper-sized sofa. As with the one- bedrooms, a sofa bed and sleeper chair in the living room provide extra places to snooze, though they're best suited to small children. Bathrooms in the two-bedroom villas are laid out a bit better than those in the one-bedrooms, with more room to move about.

Kidani Village Grand Villas: The two-story Grand Villas sleep 12 and include four bathrooms, the same master-bedroom layout, and two bedrooms with two queen beds apiece. An upstairs seating area overlooking the main floor provides a sleeper sofa and chair. These rooms have two-story windows offering unparalleled views of the resort's savanna.

Animal Kingdom Lodge's bathrooms spacious, especially in the 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, and Grand Villas. Water pressure in the shower is average - probably less than what you get at home, but still enough to get your hair clean. Eventually.

A separate dressing area next to the bathroom includes two sinks, and enough counter space to fit most of the toiletries you would need. A 1500- watt, wall-mounted hair dryer is provided, but it's not very powerful; bring your own if you've got lots of hair. The dressing area includes a sliding door that separates it from the sleeping area. Combined with the bathroom, this means that 3 people can get dressed at the same time.

Handicap-Accessible Room Options

Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort Villas have around 20 handicap-accessible rooms. Some feature roll-in showers, while others include assistive hearing devices. A subset of these rooms have been converted to comply with Florida's Accessibility Code, with changes to everything from bed, counter-top, and dresser drawer height, to door widths, wheelchair ramps, and more. Use our hotel room finder to see which rooms have which feature

Standard Views and Savanna Views

Disney knows that some hotel rooms are better than others. Most people want something pretty to look at from their hotel room window. To capitalize on this, Disney categorizes all of Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas's hotel rooms based on what you see from inside the room.

Here's the system Disney uses:

• Savanna View:Savanna View rooms make up the majority of rooms at Animal Kingdom Lodge. The main draw with these rooms are the animals that roam the Savanna during the day. The view from your window for the most part includes landscaping and trees. And sometimes Sure the scenery isn't too exciting. But don't worry, most of the time you'll see plenty of animals from the Savanna view rooms.
  
  
• Standard View: Standard rooms generally have unremarkable views of landscaping or parking lots. A hand full of Standard View rooms look out on to the resort's Samawati Springs Pool. These are the cheapest rooms at Animal Kingdom Lodge, but there are some gems to be found in this category, though, using our Animal Kingdom Lodge Room Finder.

Animal Kingdom Lodge Pools

Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas has one pool. Samawati Springs Pool sits sits near the outside of the lobby at the front of the resort. There is also a hot tub, kiddie pool and water player area.

Samawati Springs Pool ranges in depth from around 3 feet 6 inches/1.1m to 4 feet 9 inches/1.4m. The pool is open every day, including during winter. The pools are heated to 82°F/28°C throughout the year. Animal Kingdom Lodge also has a hot tub located near Samawati Springs Pool.

Samawati Springs Pool has one water slide that all ages are free to use. Guests can find showers, storage lockers, restrooms, and laundry facilities. Pool hours are at least 9 AM to 8 PM, extending to as much as 7 AM to 11 PM during busy times. Samawati Springs Pool will have lifeguards during the pools' operating hours.

For more information on the pools at WDW resorts, including towels, entertainment programming, handicap access, kiddie pools, life vests, and much more, see our Walt Disney World Resort Pool Fact Sheet FAQ.

Restaurants and Dining

Sanaa

Sanaa Lunch Menu - Sanaa Dinner Menu - Sanaa Kids Lunch/Dinner Menu - Sanaa Wine List

Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village has one restaurant located downstairs from the lobby. Sanaa (sah-NAH) is not as upscale as Jiko, the resort's African restaurant, but the kitchen offers diners a chance to sample and share a variety of Indian-African creations. Diverse Old and New World wines match the cuisine.

One floor down from the Kidani Village lobby, Sanaa's dining room is inspired by Africa's outdoor markets, with baskets, beads, and art on the walls. It's a cozy space, with 9-foot-tall windows that look out on the resort's savanna - giraffes, water buffalo, and other animals wander within yards of you as you dine.

All of Animal Kingdom Lodge's other restaurant's can be found in the resort's Jambo House building.

Boma - Flavors of Africa

Boma Breakfast Menu - Boma Dinner Menu

The menu rarely changes, as Boma-Flavors of Africa is a favorite of locals and visitors who return time and again for the salads, roasted meats, and interesting sauces. While Disney calls this a buffet, it's very different from what you'd typically expect (there are no steam tables, for starters). If you like a major bang for your buck, try Boma.

A big dining room with side-by-side food stations that encourage diners to roam about and graze, just like the animals that wander about outside the lodge. The house specialties are watermelon rind salad; Moroccan seafood salad; roasted meats, Durban spiced roasted chicken, and vegetable skewers.

Jiko - The Cooking Place

Jiko Dinner Menu - Jiko Kids Dinner Menu

Jiko has been winning awards and accolades (including AAA's Four Diamond Award) for its interesting fare and stellar wine list - one of the largest collections of South African wines in any North American restaurant, with more than 1,800 bottles. Dishes are beautifully spiced and full of flavor. Start with some flatbread and wrap up with the Tanzanian chocolate crèmeux - a mousselike concoction with chocolate crunch, chocolate-cherry mascarpone, and cocoa nibs.

Jiko has a special ambience, from the young African exchange students who greet guests as they enter to a menu of unusual tastes. Jiko's spacious dining room is inspired by the opening scenes of The Lion King. A pair of large wood-burning ovens dominates the center of the room.

House specialties are the wood-fired flatbreads; trio of dips with house- made naan (Indian flatbread); oak-grilled filet mignon with red-wine sauce and sweet-corn risotto; maize-crusted corvine.

The Mara

Mara Breakfast Menu - Mara Kids Breakfast Menu - Mara Lunch/Dinner Menu - Mara Kids Lunch/Dinner Menu

The Mara is small counter service restaurant with a limited menu. Prices range from $6 to $15 for an entree so you won't break the bank. The standout items here are the chicken or falafel pitas.

The Mara participate in Disney's Rapid Fill refillable mug program, where you purchase a souvenir plastic mug once, and get free refills for the remainder of your stay. The cost is a flat $19.99 for your length of stay.

Restaurants at Animal Kingdom Lodge participate in the Disney Dining Plan; meals cost 1 credit at The Mara, Boma, and Sanaa, and 2 credits at Jiko. Tables in Wonderland cardholders are eligible for a 20% discount at most resort restaurants.

Animal Kingdom Lodge has one lounge and two pool bars to consume adult beverages at. Victoria Falls Lounge is Animal Kingdom Lodge's main lounge. Victoria Falls Lounge has indoor seating and a full drink menu with several beer selections, wines, and a selection of spirits. The lounge is usually open 4 PM to 9 PM daily.

Uzima Springs Pool Bar is located adjacent to the Uzima Springs Pool at Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House. Uzima Springs Pool Bar has a small selection of specialty drinks, African beer and wine.

Maji Pool Bar is located near the pool at Kidani Village. It also offers a selection of specialty drinks, African beer and wine, as well as limited grab-and-go dining options.

Transportation to and from Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort

Driving Your Own Car Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort is just off of I-4 in Lake Buena Vista. Take I-4 Exit 3 - W Osceola Pkwy. Follow Osceola Pkwy for about 5.5 miles and Animal Kingdom Lodge will be on your right.

Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort's GPS address and location are:

Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort
2901 Osceola Parkway
Bay Lake, FL 32830

Latitude: 28.353637 North, Longitude: 81.602756 West

From Orlando International Airport See our Walt Disney World Transportation Options page for information about how to get to and from Orlando International Airport and Walt Disney World.

From Sanford International Airport It's about a 40-minute drive from Sanford to Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort. If you're not renting a car, be aware that Sanford's airport offers fewer transportation options than Orlando's, and Sanford's options are generally much more expensive. A taxi from Sanford International Airport to Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort will cost between $120 and $150, depending on traffic. Mears Transportation offers 3-passenger towncar service to Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort for around $140 each way, plus tip; 5-passenger SUV service or 10-passenger van is around $190 each way. That means round-trip transportation will run you somewhere between $240 and $380, plus tip, between Sanford and Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort. At those prices, it may be less expensive to rent a car and park it at the hotel.

Getting to the theme parks, water parks and Disney Springs Disney provides free bus service from Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort to Magic Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, and Disney Springs. Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort's bus stops sit along the front wall of the lobby, between the lobby and check-in parking lot. Each theme park has its own bus stop somewhere along the wall. Animal Kingdom's bus service is shared with Blizzard Beach, while Disney Springs and Typhoon Lagoon also share a stop and service. Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village and Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House have their own their own bus stations but share bus service. Because of this busses will fill occasionally with people at Jambo House and then head to Kidani Village.

Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort's Bus Schedule

Ask a Disney Cast Member about Animal Kingdom Lodge's bus schedule, and they'll tell you that buses run about every 20 minutes. In reality, Animal Kingdom Lodge's bus schedule varies considerably depending on the time of day and where you're headed.

For example, if you're headed to the Magic Kingdom between 8 AM and 11 AM, you'll wait around 11 minutes, on average, for a bus to arrive. The bus schedules for Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Disney's Hollywood Studios are about the same early in the day, with a bus arriving every 15-20 minutes, on average. Bus schedules to the water parks and Disney Springs are a little less frequent, and you could wait anywhere from 12 to 37 minutes for a ride.

Buses run a little slower from around 11 AM to around 4 PM, when most people are already in a park. Disney's evening buses are scheduled around the theme parks' closing times, where most of the fleet is deployed to get guests back to their hotels. Your waits to return to your hotel from a theme park should average out to around 30 minutes under most circumstances.

If you've got your own car, it's faster to drive yourself to Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach water parks, and Disney Springs. Disney's bus service is faster to the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Getting to another hotel from Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort If you've got dining plans at another Disney hotel, the cheapest option is to take a Disney bus from Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort to Disney Springs (or an open theme park), then take another bus from there to your destination hotel. Do the reverse to get back to Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort. While that's free, it can take anywhere from 90 minutes to 2 hours each way. If your destination is one of the Magic Kingdom monorail resorts, and the Magic Kingdom is still open, you could take a bus to the Magic Kingdom, then either walk (to the Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower), hop on the monorail (to the Polynesian and Grand Floridian), or take a boat (to Fort Wilderness, Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian). We suggest you still allow at least an hour for that.

The fastest option, however, is almost always an Uber, Lyft, or taxi from Animal Kingdom Lodge to wherever you're going; it's generally not more than a $20, 15-minute cab ride to get to most Disney hotels from Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Uber and Lyft are often less. Taxis are available outside the lobby; if a taxi is not already sitting out front, the bell services desk also serves as a taxi stand, and they'll call one for you.

To Universal Orlando If you're staying at Walt Disney World and don't have a car, Mears Transportation will shuttle you from your hotel to Universal and back for $18 per person. Pickup and return times are at your convenience. A one-way taxi ride is around $36, and may be the cheapest option if you have three to five people.

Shopping, Recreation and Things to Do

Survival of the Fittest Fitness Center is Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas's fitness center and spa. It is open 24 hours a day.

Animal Kingdom Lodge's gift shop is Johari Treasures. It is located on the right side after you enter Animal Kingdom Lodge's lobby. As you'd expect from a Disney gift shop, Johari Treasures has a decent collection of souvenirs ranging from small trinkets such as keychains and pens, to embroidered jackets Disney Vacation Club exclusive merchandise. Prices for these items are about what you'd pay in the theme parks or Disney Springs.

Johari Treasures also sells basic pharmacy items such as sunscreen, aspirin, allergy and cold medicine, baby diapers and formula, shampoo, and the like. And Johari Treasures has Disney-branded cookies, chocolate, coffee tins, and similar items, if that's what you're looking for. Prices for these items are considerably higher - about double - than what you'd probably pay at home.

Walkers, joggers and runners can find a jogging trail. The trail is a 0.5 mile path that connects Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House and Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village.

Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort Babysitting and In-Room Child Care

Disney contracts with a third party company, Kids Nite Out, to provide babysitting services at the resort hotels. See our Disney resort childcare page for more information.

Miscellaneous Animal Kingdom Lodge

There are on site washers and dryers available for guest use. For more information on guest laundry services at Walt Disney World hotels, see our WDW Laundry Information page.

If you lose something during your stay, contact Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort's Lost and Found department by calling (407) 938-3000.

Would you recommend this hotel to a friend?

Hotel	Definitely (+/- since last year)
Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village	91% (+13%)
Average for WDW hotels	76% (+0%)
Average for off-site hotels	57% (+0%)

Would you stay at this hotel again?

Hotel	Definitely (+/- since last year)
Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village	94% (+0%)
Average for WDW hotels	92% (+2%)
Average for off-site hotels	79% (-7%)

Hotel Photos

Hotel Videos

Good (and Not-So-Good) Rooms at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village

Best and Worst Room Views at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village

TouringPlans offers pictures of the view from any Disney Resort room on property. Click here for the Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort Villas map and to choose a room to see the view.

The best views in Kidani Village are from the north-facing rooms near the bottom and middle of the backward 3. Try rooms 7X38–7X44, 7X46–7X52, 7X06–7X11, 7X68–7X82, and 7X61–7X67 (X indicates numbers 0–9). These overlook the savanna next to Jambo House’s Kudu Trail rooms and beyond into undeveloped woods. West- and south-facing rooms in the bottom half of Kidani Village overlook the parking lot; west-facing rooms in the top half have either pool or savanna views.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths	Weaknesses
Nice pool with excellent splash area	Savanna views can be hit-or-miss
Underground parking close to elevators	Erratic bus service
Beautiful, understated lobby	No quick-service dining options other than pool bar
Sanaa restaurant is an Unofficial Guide favorite
Beautiful Grand Villas sleep 12
Close to Jambo House amenities and restaurants
Great fitness room

Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village Dining

• Johari Treasures (Market)
• Kidani Village Private Dining (Room Service)
• Maji Pool Bar (Bar or Lounge)
• Sanaa (Table Service)
• Sanaa Kuamsha Breakfast (Quick Service)

Commuting Times to the Parks

Park	Bus	Personal Automobile
Magic Kingdom	50.0 min	37.0 min
EPCOT	27.0 min	16.0 min
Hollywood Studios	24.0 min	16.0 min
Animal Kingdom	18.0 min	9.0 min
Disney Springs	29.0 min	22.0 min