AKL parking and transportation?

[castleri]

What is the parking situation at AKL? Will I be able to self park or will I have to valet park? Also how far is the Animal Kingdom park from the hotel? Thanks for any info you can provide.

 

[Seahunt]

Last weekend when we checked in at the guard gate, my DH asked the guard where the self parking was. He directed us to the left (valet to the right) and we found a close spot right away. It was an "Aha" moment for us, because we usually pull up to the front of the resort, get the bag out, have the bellman tag it, etc. which is really overkill for us because we live in FL and usually are there with just one bag so it's no problem to handle it ourselves.

This time, we parked, grabbed the bag out of the trunk and wheeled it right to registration, checked in and went right to the room. Last time at the Poly, when we still thought you HAD to use the bellman service, we checked in with the bell manager (tip), went to registration for room assignment, then climbed on the golf cart with the bellman (another tip) and went to the room, all for one measly bag! This worked so much better! (However, if you have lots of bags, it would still be easier to check the bags, then park the car in self parking if you don't want or need valet.)

The next night we moved to the WL, and did the same thing - asked the guard at the gate for the way to the self parking, and again, it was to the left, and a nice spot was available. There was a little bit of a hill up to the front door that you had to pull your bag up with this one though....

Oh edited to add - forgot to answer that AK park was just a short hop by bus from the Lodge - just went to end of the street and took a left, then turned into park bus stop area - probably 5-10 minutes.

 

[DebbieB]

AKL is setup almost exactly the same as WL. If you've self parked at WL, it's the same.

AK is probably about a mile from the hotel, I don't believe there's a way to walk.

 

[Selket]

There is a 30 minute self park area on the other side of where the valet guys are at the main entrance. So, in other words, if you drove under the roofing of the main entrance and kept going straight...slightly to the left perhaps (?) but mostly stay to the right you'd pull into that area where it would be easy to unload your bags by yourself if you wanted (or if you were driving and forgot something and wanted to run back and get it). I believe this 30 min lot is separate from the regular lot and is closer to the front door. If you aren't sure how to find it you can always pull up to the front door and ask the valet guys

 

[castleri]

Thanks for the great answers- now I will be able to just pull in like I really know where I'm going. Parked at WL several times both staying there and doing the boat and bike plan so sounds like it should be no problem. Thanks again and many happy days at Disney to you all.