AKL LITE unofficial FAQ thread#10 - I believe that's known as a 'Jambo Dozen'

[kimmar067]

I don't mind the afternoon thunderstorms. Kind of expect them.. But all day, yuck!

....which is why it's always a good idea to book a room at AKL - there's so much to do during a rainy day....

 

[AngiTN]

To the poster that asked for us to sell them on AKL...

We just got back from a week stay there and MISS IT TONS. We are very much looking forward to stay there again as BRAND NEW DVC'ers with AKL as our home resort. We have stayed at other deluxes and this is our fave. With Poly being a close 2nd.

With that... the bus service is not great.

For every post I find that says the buses suck I can find one that says the buses are great. So I guess as with all things, one persons experience won't be anothers. But I am sure confused on what we'll find on our trip. I guess some people have one perception of bad and others have a different one. That's all I can figure out. Or some just have bad timing maybe

I know without a doubt that for my stay at Pop in Dec 12 the bus service sucked bad. I hope that is our bad bus service time and we have ok service next week.

I have a car rental deal from Southwest if it gets too miserable but really, we don't want to drive. Plus that would require DH going back to the airport to get the car. Plus, I find trams in the parking lots to be no improvement at all from buses. If I have to ride something, may as well be a bus. Plus, I will not put myself in a place that has to use the monorail and for MK that is all you get when you drive. I have about decided to take a cab on our MK days and just let them drop us at the CR and we'll walk over.

 

[anjalee6]

....which is why it's always a good idea to book a room at AKL - there's so much to do during a rainy day....

I can't say enough about how much we love AKL for all the reasons.

 

[anjalee6]

For every post I find that says the buses suck I can find one that says the buses are great. So I guess as with all things, one persons experience won't be anothers. But I am sure confused on what we'll find on our trip. I guess some people have one perception of bad and others have a different one. That's all I can figure out. Or some just have bad timing maybe

I know without a doubt that for my stay at Pop in Dec 12 the bus service sucked bad. I hope that is our bad bus service time and we have ok service next week.

I have a car rental deal from Southwest if it gets too miserable but really, we don't want to drive. Plus that would require DH going back to the airport to get the car. Plus, I find trams in the parking lots to be no improvement at all from buses. If I have to ride something, may as well be a bus. Plus, I will not put myself in a place that has to use the monorail and for MK that is all you get when you drive. I have about decided to take a cab on our MK days and just let them drop us at the CR and we'll walk over.

We have never had a horrible experience. With that being said though. There have been a few times where we have had to wait at the resort for a bus, especially to Epcot for some reason. We have had to stand (that happens everywhere though).

This is why I really try to reserve judgement and not have a preconceived idea of what something will be like. I want to for my own opinion. And...my opinion is, it can't be too bad if we keep staying here over and over again.

 

[AngiTN]

We have never had a horrible experience. With that being said though. There have been a few times where we have had to wait at the resort for a bus, especially to Epcot for some reason. We have had to stand (that happens everywhere though).

This is why I really try to reserve judgement and not have a preconceived idea of what something will be like. I want to for my own opinion. And...my opinion is, it can't be too bad if we keep staying here over and over again.

Ah, yes, that is the same thing I think when I read that someone thought the bus service was bad and yet they stay there again. I won't stay at Pop again, at least not in a non-preferred room and using the buses. It was that bad.

Standing I'm ok with, I get that will happen more than likely. Heck, we stood every trip that Dec and the crowds were 2-3.

But please, I don't ever again want to be standing at the park and watch 2-3 buses come and go for every other resort while the line I'm in grows and grows because there is no bus

 

[anjalee6]

Ah, yes, that is the same thing I think when I read that someone thought the bus service was bad and yet they stay there again. I won't stay at Pop again, at least not in a non-preferred room and using the buses. It was that bad.

Standing I'm ok with, I get that will happen more than likely. Heck, we stood every trip that Dec and the crowds were 2-3.

But please, I don't ever again want to be standing at the park and watch 2-3 buses come and go for every other resort while the line I'm in grows and grows because there is no bus

I have never had that problem coming back to the resort. It seems to be waiting at the resort for a bus that is a longer wait.

 

[Miranda]

Excited to be heading back to AKL the first week in December for the holiday season (and my birthday week trip! )! We last stayed there in September 2002 and I loved it.

 

[busymommy2pink]

57 days until I get to take just my youngest and my sister and her son (their first time!!!!) to Disney World!! We decided on AKL and I can not wait to land!!! Are there movies that play at the resort in the evenings like Beach Club (our main resort that we go to)?

 

[anjalee6]

57 days until I get to take just my youngest and my sister and her son (their first time!!!!) to Disney World!! We decided on AKL and I can not wait to land!!! Are there movies that play at the resort in the evenings like Beach Club (our main resort that we go to)?

Yes, they set up a big inflatable screen at the pool area. Each night of the week is a different movie.

 

[sndral]

Through the years I have stayed @ CBR, POFQ, Poly, YC, GF and, of course, AKL/AKV. Additionally we do a lot of dinning at various resorts during our 11 and 12 day stays. We rely entirely on Disney transportation, thus I have lots of experience w/ Disney transportation @ all times of the day and night (well, not so much early morning as we west coast natives don't 'do' east coast time so well.)
I have vivid memories of lengthy waits trying to 'escape' DTD - the worst being a 2+ hour wait after Cirque de Soleil one chilly December night, another when a passenger w/ a screaming baby tried to start a fight w/ my son for 'looking at him funny', another where the bus driver pulled the bus over and went off on a rant about Disney management and how they handled driver's schedules.
But, I also remember the driver after dinner @ the YC one night who asked me where I was going when I was the only one on her MK bus @ closing and when I said the GF, she just took me directly to the GF. My favorite bus experience was closing one night @ some park waiting forever to get back to AKL, we'd been waiting so long that people in line were plotting the overthrow of Disney and hijacking the next Pop bus that sailed by and forcing it to go to AKL, once our bus finally arrived the bus driver had the near mutinous packed bus happily singing Disney songs by the end of the ride (He started off singing 'Some day my Bus will come' to the tune of 'Some day my Prince will come' from Snow White - it was hilarious w/ his modified verses and from there got us to join in on easier songs.) And surely I can't be the only one riding a bus to a park on a low crowd day when the driver has flipped on the 'this park is closed due to crowding' canned message to get a laugh from his/her riders.
My take away from all that is that no matter where I stay there will be a time or two or three where I will wait and wait while 3 MK buses come and go when I want to go to Epcot, for example. As long as I give myself lots of time to get to the inflexible time slots (ADRs) I don't get too riled about the waits. Besides, I tend to forget those hundreds of times when it was smooth and easy where I waited 5-10 minutes, got a seat and off we went.

 

[MomofDisneyLoversx3]

Thank you. That's what I was afraid of. That's the 1 thing my In Laws home resort (Beach Club) has over AKL, is the boardwalk which is the best place in Disney for a run because you can go right into ESPN for a beer right after!


I'll figure something out.......Thnak you

Not sure if you will have a car....my ex loved running at Coronado, and it is a quick (less than 5 min) drive from AKL. If you have a car, you could drive there and do your run

 

[kimmar067]

But please, I don't ever again want to be standing at the park and watch 2-3 buses come and go for every other resort while the line I'm in grows and grows because there is no bus

.....Yikes....I don't blame you! All the times that we've visited WDW, I have NEVER had any experiences like that....and I've stayed at Values, Mods, AND Deluxes....AND, during different times of the year....

 

[kimmar067]

.....before our friends bought a time-share near Kissimmee, they usually stayed at CBR and always told about the horror stories of bus after bus passing them up, yet I don't know why they preferred staying there....

 

[maryj11]

Ah, yes, that is the same thing I think when I read that someone thought the bus service was bad and yet they stay there again. I won't stay at Pop again, at least not in a non-preferred room and using the buses. It was that bad.

Standing I'm ok with, I get that will happen more than likely. Heck, we stood every trip that Dec and the crowds were 2-3.

But please, I don't ever again want to be standing at the park and watch 2-3 buses come and go for every other resort while the line I'm in grows and grows because there is no bus

That must of been the same Dec. we were at Pop I will never stay there again. I think we stood on the bus every time but maybe 2 trips.

 

[AThrillingChase]

SO excited - Just booked a DVC rented split stay at jambo and kidani savannah view I stayed CL level in a regular resort room in January and fell I love with the resort. Now all I have to do is wait 7 months!

 

[anjalee6]

Woohoo! 2 more sleeps!

 

[kimmar067]

Woohoo! 2 more sleeps!

....don't you mean "two more NON-sleeps"....?

 

[think-like-tink]

Woohoo! 2 more sleeps!

How exciting! We just got back and I can't wait to go back.

 

[kimmar067]

How exciting! We just got back and I can't wait to go back.

....AKL has a habit of doing that to people....

 

[anjalee6]

....don't you mean "two more NON-sleeps"....?

Haha! Yeah, you're right!

How exciting! We just got back and I can't wait to go back.

We love it! It's the only place my DH will stay anymore. Can't convince him to try anything new. But, secretly, I'm fine with it because it's my favorite. I just like to give him a hard time. Haha!