AKL and just thinking.....

[Scrufsmom]

I have been reading about the AKL for some months now, but I wonder about the bus situation. So many people have had different complaints about the Transportation system. One, does the bus go directly from AKL to the Animal Kingdom? Or does it go to pick up at other hotels? Two, what is the average time length that it takes to go from the AKL to the AK? to MK? to Epcot? and to MGM? If you know the answer it would be greatly appreciated.

Also, is it true the AKL is more secluded?

Thanks for all the tidbits.

 

[goin2disneyagain]

Yes AKL is more secluded. It is about a 5 minute or less ride to AK from AKL. There are no other stops because there are no other resorts nearby. I don't know about the other 3 parks, maybe someone else can answer that for you.

 

[susy]

The transportation is one of the reasons that I love AKL! There is no guesswork involved. The bus picks you up and goes right to the parks! No other hotel stops! we just came back from the Bc and although I loved the short walk to Epcot and the boat to MGM, this area is a little "congested" to me. I really love the remoteness and the secluded feeling at AKL. We have decided to go back in Sept.

 

[flyball]

All AKL busses are dedicated solely for transportation of AKL guests. While I don't remember the exact duration of the rides to Epcot, MK, and MGM, they were not long at all. Also, an added advantage of the AKL busses is that the AKL stop is often the first (in a long line!) at the parks. So at the end of a long day, you don't have as far to walk to your bus as other guests!

 

[cdrn1]

We stayed at AKL for the first time in September. I was very impressed with the bus service. Never a long wait and always directly to the parks with no stops. We will be staying there again this year, in part because of the great bus service.

 

[disneychick05]

We were just at AKL May 25-27. I know that the bus driver said that the ride to MK was 15 min. The MGM bus was grouped with Blizzard Beach so that made the ride longer...not sure of the time. The DD bus was grouped with Typhoon Lagoon..another very long ride. The ride to AK was very quick, as someone said already about 5 min. w/ no stops. I'm not sure about Epcot, but if I had to guess...10-12 min. ride.

 

[jcemom]

The resort is definitely secluded, but we enjoyed that. We found that it made it much easier to relax.

I would say the bus rides were: AK 5 minutes, MK 15-20 minutes, MGM 15 minutes, Epcot less than 15 minutes, DTD maybe 30 minutes. It was very nice not having to make any other stops and having the actual trip possibly take a few minutes longer was well worth that.

 

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by Scrufsmom
I have been reading about the AKL for some months now, but I wonder about the bus situation. So many people have had different complaints about the Transportation system. One, does the bus go directly from AKL to the Animal Kingdom? Or does it go to pick up at other hotels? Two, what is the average time length that it takes to go from the AKL to the AK? to MK? to Epcot? and to MGM? If you know the answer it would be greatly appreciated.

Also, is it true the AKL is more secluded?

Thanks for all the tidbits.

We have stayed at the AKL four times and have never had a transportation issue. The buses pick you up at the one bus stop that the AKL has and then heads directly to your destation. You do not share buses with any other resort and the AKL only has one stop.

Secluded? From what? The AKL is no farther away from the MK that the GF, POLY, CR and WL are from the AK.

You are about a 5 min ride to the AK park and then 10 to 20 for the Studios, EC and MK.

We love the AKL and find the transportation to be great.

 

[Connor&Cody'sMom]

Yes, it is a bit secluded, but I really think that not having to stop at other resorts more than makes up for the extra few miles you might have to be driven. Some resorts have one or two other resorts to drive to, stop, load (or unload) before you get going to your destination-not ALK! I loved not having to share a bus with other resorts. I know they say the buses run about every 20 minutes, but we never waited any more than 10 minutes in the 8 days we stayed there this May. I really don't remember how long it took to get to the parks, but I don't remember it seeming like a terribly long ride. I think you would love AKL.

 

[puffkin]

We thought the transportation was great here, it was so nice only having one stop at the resort and not sharing with other resorts. Plus, they have the best bus stop! It is Huge! and well protected from the elements. Our experiences in December were as follows (usually waited less than 5 minutes for a bus):

MK- approx. 15 minutes
Epcot- approx. 10 minutes
MGM- approx. 10-12 minutes
AK- less than 5 minutes

 

[tinkgrl]

Hi,

Mom & I were @ AKL from 5/26 to 5/29 & had no complaints about bus service!!! Yes, it is a secluded resort but I loved it!!

Allison

 

[SAntonelli]

All in all the transportation was ok from AKL. BUT, one morning when we had early PS for Princess Breakfast at Epcot we waited a long time. Also, the worst was waiting at Downtown Disney one night for return to the resort. We watched while other resorts had 2 or 3 busses arrive and depart while we waited & waited. After we finally got on, we had to go to 2 other stops Downtown beofre heading back.

We stayed at Pop Century for first part of our trip and found the busses to be better. We never waited more than 10 minutes (usually less than 5). AKL is a smaller resort and has less busses but you would think they would know the routine and crowd pattern better than they seemed to at times.

Going to AK was the best. Only a 5 minute ride!!

 

[shellybaxter]

I thought the AKL transportation was "ok" as well. The buses were definately on a 20 minute schedule. So if you just missed a bus, it would be at least 20 minutes before the next one. Transportation to AK was great - a 5 minute ride. MK was about 20 mins. MGM and Epcot about 15 mins. If we really needed to be somewhere (like PS for dinner) we took a taxi. We had PS for Ohana and left an hour and twenty minutes before our PS time. We had to transfer at MK to monorail - we were 10 mins late for PS.

If you have small children, the travel time and nap time really eat up your afternoon time. With a 10 to 20 minute wait for a bus, then a 15 to 20 minute ride and a 10 minute walk back to the room, it took almost an hour to get back for naps.

On a good note though - we NEVER had to stand on an AKL bus.

PS - we were there the first week in May

Shelly

 

[Bashful2]

We were at AKL 5/24-5/30. We had no complaints about the bus service going to the parks. Coming back was a different story. In the past, at other Disney resorts, the busses came quite frequently at park closing. This trip, we watched other resort busses come and go while we waited for an AKL bus. It was very frustrating since the lines were long and everyone is so tired by the time the parks close. Unlike another poster, we stood almost every time coming back.

One night, after a very delicious, but heavy dinner at Chefs of France, we were in the back of a bus. The air conditioning was apparantly not working very well and more heat was coming from the side of the bus (is the engine back there?). I'm usually not affected by heat, but was uncomfortable. DH was drenched in sweat and DD was feeling sick. Shortly after getting to our room, DD was in the bathroom losing her dinner. Not a very pleasant experience, but it is our one and only complaint about AKL.

 

[fortizsyr]

We stayed at AKL in '03 and returning 8/04.

Yes, it is secluded, and that is one of the beauties of AKL.

Transportation as reported in other posts was direct and average waiting time was 20 minutes. The longest wait we had for a bus was a late night return from Downtown Disney, which we estimated at about 30 minutes.