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(For the first page of this review of Kidani Village, see this.)

AMENITIES AT KIDANI VILLAGE

Kidani Village is paired with nearby Jambo House and its services and amenities, but is so distant that it also functions as a stand-alone resort–more like Saratoga Springs than like the Beach Club Villas.

See the map (as always on this site, to enlarge it, click it).

Kidani’s layout maximizes views of the savanna, and there are no paths for guests through the savanna.  So those staying at the far end–marked with an orange “x”–have quite a hike to get to the great amenities and services at the Animal Kingdom Lodge’s Jambo House.

So Kidani was designed with its own drop off (see the top of the page), check-in lobby…

…with a cool view to the savannas beyond…

…and gift shop.

More, probably too much,  from the gift shop, with a focus on food and places to use your refillable mugs, given all the kitchens–and the weak counter service–at Kidani:

Back outside, there’s a bus stop.

Buses (except to Magic Kingdom) are shared with the stop at Jambo House–which means you can use them to get back and forth–just ask the driver or you may end up at Epcot.

Signs indicate the projected time of the next bus. There’s also a little shuttle van that goes back and forth between Jambo and Kidani–ask for it at the guest drop-off outside the lobby.

You can also walk (to Jambo, not Epcot), or of course drive–although the layout of parking at both facilities means that if you drive you’ll likely face a bit of walking anyway.

Across the street from Kidani is a little-noticed or used simple recreation area with shuffleboard, a basketball court, barbecue grills…

…and a pair of tennis courts.

DINING AT KIDANI VILLAGE

Downstairs from the lobby is the wonderful table-service restaurant Sanaa…

…and its bar.

Sanaa celebrates the African-Indian cuisine that’s been developing for centuries from Indian Ocean trading routes. Here’s the review from our book The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2019:

From many parts of Sanaa you can see the savanna and whatever animals may be at play there.

In late 2016, Sanaa began offering quick service breakfast from 7a to 10a. At first an experiment, this offering now seems quite official.  See this for a review of breakfast at Sanaa.

There’s more dining at Jambo House.

There’s also a path out to savanna viewing areas…

…and a firepit…

…not currently offering roast zebra.

And then there’s the great pool complex!

THE SAMAWATI SPRINGS POOL AT KIDANI VILLAGE

This review continues here! 

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(For the first page of this review of Kidani Village, see this.)

THE SAMAWATI SPRINGS POOL AT KIDANI VILLAGE

The Samawati Springs pool at Kidani Village is one of two pools at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge–the other is the Uzima Springs pool at the main Jambo House.

Guests at Kidani can use either.

Some prefer Uzima Springs, despite the distance, for being a little more verdant, or for having a broader range of quick-service dining available.

But Samawati Springs is a great pool, and of course much more convenient.

Samawati is not the kind of low-amenity quiet pool that you will find near some other DVC resorts, but rather comes with all  the pluses that you’ll find at any main pool.

My favorite feature, though, is simpler–it’s the vista from the zero entry side. I love the sky and trees…

Here’s the pool from another angle–this shows the smaller of the two slides here.

A couple of shots of the larger pool slide:

There’s also two hot tubs, one by the pool deck…

… and a more secluded one on an upper level:

Nearby is a water play area…

…the water play area at night…

…a playground for kids…

…and a ping pong table.

There’s also a bar. It has a real menu–albeit not with a lot of options. See the  bottom of the image (click it to enlarge it):

Near the bar is a refillable mug station.

Also in the pool area, in an upper level, is the spa.

Kidani guests are also welcome at the Uzima Springs pool at Jambo House, and can walk, take a theme park bus (check with the driver first to see if the bus is stopping at Jambo) or take the couretsy van at the guest drop-off point.

 THE ART OF KIDANI VILLAGE

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(For the first page of this review of Kidani Village, see this.)

THE ART OF KIDANI VILLAGE

The animals are the star at Kidani Village, and are covered on my page on Kidani Village theming here, but also a delight is the art of Kidani Village, in both its private and public spaces.

The rooms combine carved adventurous-looking furniture and fixtures with interesting textures in the floors and curtains, plus fun art on each side wall.

More art on the doors.

Outside the rooms there’s not as much scope as at sister resort Jambo House for public art, but I still find the light fixtures charming…

…these…

…and these.

There’s also original art here and there–not as much as in Jambo, but still fun.

More:

Kidani’s principal negatives are its distance from Walt Disney World theme parks other than the Animal Kingdom, its limited quick-service meal options, and the lack of drama of its lobby compared to that of Jambo House.

…although the lobby does gain grandeur in an evening storm.

Returning visitors will likely find Kidani Village to be a favorite. Its spaciousness is a delight, it is quieter and more serene than Jambo House, and then there’s those animals!!

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Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

DISNEYQUEST

By Jim Korkis

The DisneyQuest program was designed to be a national series of multi-story, interactive “virtual” Disney theme parks for large urban areas that might have populations who could not frequently visit an actual Disney theme park.

(c) Disney

To work out any challenges, the first five-story, one hundred thousand square foot DisneyQuest opened in the Downtown Disney West Side area on June 19, 1998 to take advantage of the participation of an already enthusiastically large audience to work out any challenges.

A second DisneyQuest opened in Chicago in 1999 but permanently closed on September 4, 2001 due to a number of factors including low attendance.

There were plans for twenty more similar venues, including ones in Philadelphia, in the Disneyland Resort in California as well as in Toronto, Canada, but none of them proceeded beyond the initial planning stages.

The idea started in late 1994 with vice president of new ventures Joe DiNunzio and Mike Lang of Corporate Strategic Planning.

“Since technology was arriving at a state where interactive storytelling and virtual environments were becoming possible, it seemed like a good time to push it a bit farther and develop a new kind of entertainment venue,” recalled senior producer and creative director Larry Gertz.

“The endeavor would have the environment and variety of a theme park, the interactivity of an arcade and the excitement of a thrill ride. And with the ability to create virtual environments and sets, the whole thing could be indoors and located in various cities, all over the world.”

To dispel the notion that it was merely an arcade to appeal to teenaged boys and young men, Disney hired five female show producers, three female engineers and had the lighting produced entirely by women.

“We produced fifteen different cutting edge attractions, all at once. And they all had to pass the Florida Ride Legislation review. We had to develop many technologies simultaneously that were all very different,” said project director Pete Rahill.

Disney Quest is divided into four zones of play:

• EXPLORE ZONE: The Virtual Jungle Cruise, Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride racing through Agrabah to release the Genie and the Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold.
• SCORE ZONE: A rescue mission on other planets in Invasion! An Alien Encounter and also Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam
• CREATE ZONE: The Living Easels to paint a live masterpiece. Create and ride a virtual rollercoaster at CyberSpace Mountain. Sid’s Create-A-Toy where guests could assemble and take home their own toy. Learn how to draw a Disney animated character at the Animation Academy. Create a CD by choosing from over 20 styles and 1000 vocals at the Radio Disney SongMaker.
• REPLAY ZONE: Buzz Lightyear’s AstroBlaster is a zany bumper car race. Mad Wave Motion Theater where you can ride a fantasy coaster or a high speed race car. The Dance Zone offers the latest dance video games and KidQuest is designed for kids ages 2 – 7.

Throughout the location, there are additional video games, pinball machines, and a Wonderland Café coffee and dessert location where guests could connect with the internet as well as a traditional Food Quest court with pizza, sandwiches, salads and other items.

When it first opened, the venue included other attractions like Hercules in the Underworld, the Cybrolator, The Cave of Wonders Slide, Treasure of the Incas and Magic Mirrors.

Redemption games were removed from the facility in January 2015.

In an era of smartphone apps, lifelike video games and other interactive attractions, DisneyQuest appeared too dated for many people. On June 30, 2015, Disney announced that the entire location would be closing in 2016 to make way for the NBA Experience. However, at Disney, plans are always changing and now it appears DisneyQuest will survive into 2017.

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Thanks, Jim! And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: DECEMBER 17 TO DECEMBER 25, 2016

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

For more on December 2016 at Disney World, see this.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/17-12/25/2016

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 8a-12MN 12/17, 8a-7p 12/18, 8a-12MN 12/19 through 12/21, 8a-7p 12/22, and 8a-12MN 12/23 though 12/25

Epcot will be open from 9a-9.30p 12/17 through 12/24 and 9a-10.30p 12/25

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-9.30p 12/17, 8.30a-10p 12/18 through 12/24, and 8a-11p 12/25

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 9a-7p 12/17, 9a-7.30p 12/18 through 12/24, and 8a-8.30p 12/25

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/17-12/25/2016

Saturday 12/17 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 12/18 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios  Evening: none

Monday 12/19 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Tuesday 12/20 Morning: Magic Kingdom Evening:  Epcot

Wednesday 12/21 Morning: none  Evening:  Magic Kingdom

Thursday 12/22 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Epcot Evening: none

Friday 12/23 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: Hollywood Studios

Saturday 12/24 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 12/25  Morning: Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/17-12/25/2016

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p 12/17 through 12/22; Afternoon Christmas Parade noon and 3.30 12/23 through 12/25

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/17-12/25/2016

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 10p 12/17, and 12/19 through 12/21; 9p 12/23 through 12/25

IllumiNations at Epcot: 9.30p 12/17 through 12/24; 10.30p 12/25

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 7p 12/17; 8 and 9.30p 12/18 through 12/25

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9.30p 12/17; 6.15p 12/18 through 12/25

Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 6.45p 12/17; 9p 12/18 through 12/25

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/17-12/25/2016

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

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Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

THE PEOPLE WHO BUILT DISNEY WORLD: BILL EVANS

By Jim Korkis

In the spring of 1985, I got a chance to interview landscaper and Disney Legend Bill Evans about his work on the Disney theme parks.

In 1952, Bill and his brother Jack landscaped the grounds of Walt Disney’s Holmby Hills home. Walt then asked them in 1954 to landscape Disneyland. Jack passed away in 1958 of a heart attack.

Bill stayed on as a consultant, drawing landscape plans, installing materials and supervising maintenance of the Park. He was hired as the Director of Landscape Design and was responsible for the landscape design of Walt Disney World.

(c) Disney

Although he officially retired in 1975, Bill consulted with Imagineering on the landscaping for every other Walt Disney theme park until his death. Today, his methods of plant propagation, plant relocation, and recycling are widely used everywhere.

To continue our celebration of WDW’s 45th Anniversary, here is a short excerpt from that interview I did with Bill:

“In Florida we had a perfectly miserable experience in the theme park area down there because of the Florida terrain. The site of Disney World is a big piece of real estate, almost fifty square miles. Walt wanted that kind of dimension in order to separate himself very thoroughly from the neon jungles that surrounded Disneyland. That was the plus side.

“The minus side was most of that site had an elevation of, I think, the fall in ten miles was only ten feet. There weren’t any hills on the property although they were described as hills by the local surveyors.

“As an example, I wanted to start a tree farm to start producing some of the material we needed. A surveyor said, ‘There is just the place for it. There is a hill over on the West Side that would be just fine. Not that many trees on it.’ He drove me over. There wasn’t a bit of road. It was all pasture land and swamp, and exceedingly poor pasture land at that. We finally arrived at the spot and he said, “What do you think of that? It’s a hill”.

“Boy, you could have fooled me. There was a place out there about maybe six or eight feet of freeboard before you ran into the water table.

“I’ll walk up there but catch me if I fall. I don’t want to roll all the way to the bottom.” (Laughs.)

“That’s where we put the tree farm.

“When we built the theme park, we had to lift the elevation of a hundred acres a maximum of 15 feet and a minimum of 10 feet. In order to get some freeboard to build the biggest basement in Florida, you had to raise the elevation. The process was to dig a 250 acre lagoon and the yield from that soil is what built that site.

“If you look at the soil profile in that part of Florida it is kind of like a Danish pastry. There is a skinny layer of sand on top and then there’s some peat muck, maybe something else and underneath all of that some blue clay and underneath that pink clay and then brown clay and gray clay. All the colors of the rainbow but all clay.

“When you move the earth you take off this layer and put that over somewhere else and this layer on top of that. All of this abominable soil. You could dig a hole in that and it would fill with water. You’d drain it and you had just as much water in there a week later.

“When we built Epcot, we were able to convince the engineers that no matter what it cost it would be a great economy to ignore that kind of source and go find a sandy source for soil. We have a very congenial environment for the landscaping at Epcot. No clay.”

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Thanks, Jim! Bill Evans was named a Disney Legend in 1992.

And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

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