Animal Kingdom Lodge Buses/Express

[Jing]

In reading through some of the threads, I had a difficult time locating what time buses start running to the parks from AKL in February. I thought it was an hour before park opening, but I have seen anywhere from 30-90 minutes listed. We have 8:25 reservations at CP on a morning MK opens at 9am but there is an earlier reservation we wanted to grab, depending on what time buses run. Any recent experience with this?

We are also coming into MCO at 10:30am on a Saturday from Delta and using Magical Express. Is 11:45am a realistic ETA to get to the AKL-CL check-in desk?

Thanks!

 

[Jestocost]

Regular bus service to the parks begins approximately one hour before park opening, but buses actually start running (albeit less frequently) at about 6:30 a.m. to get guests to early ADRs. If you are planning an ADR at the MK earlier than 8:25 a.m., you probably would want to be at the bus stop at or shortly after 6:30 a.m.

DME generally will get you to your resort 60-90 minutes from when you get off of the plane. Since the average is about 70 minutes, it's highly likely you would be in the check in line at AKL by about 11:45 a.m. All of that assumes you are using the DME luggage transfer service or have only carry-on bags. If you plan to stop at baggage claim to collect your own bags, add at least another 20 minutes to those times.

 

[Jing]

Thanks for the info! I think I will keep the 8:25 - 6:30 is a little scary on vacation