Disney Without Kids? Part 2: Sanaa

Link to Part 1: Kidani Village

Part 2: Sanaa

We arrived in the lobby of Kidani Village shortly before 5:00 p.m. We could hear the staff of the Sanaa restaurant singing and playing music to signal the restaurant's opening.

We didn't have a reservation, but were told there was room for us. We waited outside in the savannah viewing area until our buzzer went off. Sanaa is in the rounded part of the building on the lower level, with large windows that face the savannah.

We were seated after just a few minutes. The restaurant is described as "African cooking with Indian flavors."

We lucked out and got a table right by the windows. I ordered a drink called the Striped Lemur, and it was really good. I noticed the entire restaurant was full about 20 minutes after we were seated.

This bird kept coming by to see what we were eating:

On the advice of our server, we ordered this bread sampling platter with 3 different kinds of naan bread and 9 dips:

A few of the dips were super spicy, but we found a few favorites.

We split this lamb slider appetizer:

And some tandoori shrimp:

Overall, this was a great dinner at Sanaa. The view was outstanding. The food we had was maybe a little too strong on curry content, but we figured every now and then we should stretch our palate with different flavors.

After dinner, we went back outside to the savannah viewing area. The fire pit was going, and a cast member was handing out night-vision goggles to view the animals. That was cool!

Our dinner lasted a few hours, and by this time it was after 8:00 p.m. We decided against going to Downtown Disney and instead we wanted to find a hot tub for the evening. So we went back to our room to change and then walked to the pool area only to find that the pools and hot tubs closed at 8:00 p.m. Major bummer! One of the cast members said that the hot tub by the fitness center might be open, so we soaked in that for a while and nobody kicked us out.

Ahhhhh.......peace, serenity. What a relaxing trip this was turning out to be!

We went to bed early since we were both wiped out from traveling and because we would be getting up early to go to Epcot in the morning.

So did I enjoy Animal Kingdom Lodge more this time than I did in 2002? Well, yes. But I think the biggest difference was having a savannah view. We saw a lot of animals from our balcony during the day and night. I don't think I would stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge (either side) without a savannah view again.

Kidani Village was so quiet and peaceful. In the late afternoon, many people were out on balconies viewing the animals. And it was soooooooo quiet. I had a chance to hang out at the pool on my last day, and the pool area was also very quiet and laid back with soft African music playing. It was almost impossible to tell we were even at Disney World.

However, while I think this was a great resort for my girls' weekend, I don't think it's a good match for my family. My kids are very loud and boisterous and I feel that a few of the other Disney resorts that have a more festive atmosphere are a better fit for us. It's totally my personal opinion about the  vibe of the resort compared to others.

Next up: Epcot