Animal Kingdom Lodge w/o car?

[Cateyes]

Currently we are booked at AKL the last week in Sept and have not rented a car. As time moves along here I'm thinking we should have one. I'm wondering if it would be faster to rent and drive from the airport than taking DME, also assuming that it will give us more freedom park to park, resort to resort etc... DH is pretty much on board with spending the extra "we've spent this much what's another $200?" (Gotta love it when he APPROVES spending more money!) What are your experiences at AKL with and without a car?

 

[plutospup]

Even when we had a car we still preferred the bus to the Magic Kingdom. It is by far, faster! (Car to MK parking lot to tram to TTC to Monorail/Boat to MK: 45 min...Bus from AKL to MK: 15 min) We took our car to the other parks because as you mentioned we prefer the convenience. The Disney buses to the other parks are direct. The pick you up at AKL(only one bus stop) and drive you right to the park, unlike most other Disney resorts with multiple bus stops. AKL's transportation is very good.

 

[bg4]

I will also echo the previous comments. AKL bus transport is direct and quick in transit times only. You will wait for the bus to arrive. When we were there in June we waited at the MK bus station for about 25 minutes for the bus to arrive but had no problems otherwise. Aminal Kingdom (park) is close and the bus is quick (its next door) so driving is not necessary to this park.

Parking at AKL is either self-park but its quite a long walk, valet park or use the handicap (I hate that term also) lot which could be a moderate walk in hot/humid weather but is usually quite close.

At AKL you are real close to 192 and outside restaurants/shopping and driving to DTD may be quicker not to mention driving to Epcot and MGM.

It depends. It could work either way. All being even or perhaps one trip to 192- getting the car would be my choice.

 

[PirateKitty]

My parents just stayed at the AKL for the first time and used the magical express instead of renting a car. They were hesitant at first, but were most pleased in the end, stating they would never bother going through the hassle of renting a car again.

 

[disneyag]

We have stayed at AKL twice in the last 2 years and didn't have a car. It's definitely quicker to MK on the bus than your car. AKL doesn't share a bus with any other resort, so it's much better. We rarely waited more than 15 minutes for a bus.

 

[wld]

We will be staying at AKL for the 3rd time and WDW for the 13th time in October and we have never rented a car.
We live in the country and drive everywhere so it is a luxury for us to let someone else drive. We also tried ME for the first time last time and didn't think it was all that bad...
AKL has great bus service and we are never in a real big hurry these days, not like our first few trips when we ran around like crazy. So we're in relaxed vacation mode anyway.
We meet all kinds of fun people on the buses too!!!
And the extra $200. could do all kinds of other fun things!!!!
We also have no interest in leaving disney property so that isn't an issue for us.

 

[CleveRocks]

There's no reason to believe that renting a car will get you to AKL faster than DME will.

With DME, you get to skip baggage claim. You go directly to the DME Welcome Center where you check in, and then you get in line for your bus. The bus will stop at no more than 4 resorts, but 3 seems to be the max most of the time. There's no telling in advance which order you'd get dropped off in (1st, 2nd, etc.). The average reported time from landing to resort drop-off via DME is 70 minutes.

As we've all experienced in the past, there's reasonable risk of delays at baggage claim as well as at the rental car counter. And of course, there could be delays with DME, too.

It could go either way, all I'm saying is that renting a car to get from MCO to AKL is no guarantee of getting to AKL faster than via DME.