Today In Disney History ~ April 21st
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village is an African lodge-style resort with accommodations that include kitchenettes or kitchens and multi-bedroom units. Featuring over 30 species of wildlife that roam free on the savannas of a 21-acre wildlife preserve, Kidani Village offers guests the unique opportunity to observe exotic animals in their natural habitat from viewing areas throughout the resort and from the balconies of select guest rooms.
The lobby and the villas of Kidani Village extend outwards and resemble the curlicue shape of a water buffalo’s horns. This string of buildings can also be viewed as a piece of native African jewelry, a “necklace” with Villas forming the beads, garden-like walkways creating the “knots” in between, and the main lobby building as the ornament or jewel at its center.
Inside, the resort features authentic African-inspired architecture and decorations, including hand-carved columns, intricate patterns adorning the golden-tone furnishings, tall floor lamps, ornate hanging fixtures, thatched and woven ceilings, and other real African artifacts. An arched window in the main lobby reveals the adjacent savanna.
Outside the main building, wetlands border landscaping that features thousands of indigenous African shrubs and grasses.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas is the eighth Disney Vacation Club timeshare resort, and the fifth located at the Walt Disney World Resort.
The first phase opened in summer 2007 and included 134 remodeled units (216 guest rooms) on the fifth and sixth floors of the existing Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, which opened in 2001. Later construction added 324 units (492 guest rooms) in a new building, Kidani Village, which opened in phases and was completed in 2009. The main building of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is now named Jambo House in order to prevent confusion between both buildings. The development was originally announced in October 2006.
TMSM Today in Graphic by Sherry Rinaldi DeHart; Wiki
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