A couple of insights to share regarding this:
1. We missed out on our "desired" DVC property for our October 2018 and "settled" for Kidani Village. We had always heard people say that AKL was just felt too far away and isolated. We decided to go with it because it gave our young boys a chance to stay where they could see animals virtually any time. But we are a parks family, so there was still apprehension about the transportation. I will say this, there is really NOTHING to be worried about. Buses are frequent to all parks. The only ride that even seems remotely long is to MK, but it really is not all that bad at all. It is a good time to see some sights on the way over.
If you have any PPO breakfasts, I might recommend Uber or Lyft (if in your budget). We had a PPO Crystal Palace and did not want to risk the bus, but would have been ok.
2. We did visit friends at AKL in June 2017 and were returning to DHS for the evening. We waited nearly 45+ minutes for a bus, and the wait time kept getting pushed back incrementally by 5 minutes. Apparently a bus broke down while a shift change was happening, and it all just caused a jumbled mess. We walked the transportation/concierge window at the front of resort and they comped us a taxi over. Basically, what I am saying regarding this is that it could have happened, literally, at any resort. It was handled extremely well and we did not miss anything of significance.
3. On our stay there was always a transportation "guide" out counting the number of riders and advising bus times. Once the line for MK was extremely long and the young lady called via her walkie and another set of buses arrived within a few minutes. This was nice to have, because it felt she had her pulse on times and availability.
All of this is to meant to say: stay with confidence at AKL. It is a really nice resort and does not feel any further out that other resorts not within walking distance to a park. Those are simply an entirely different category, and price reflects that. We enjoyed AKL VERY, VERY much and transportation was never an issue for us!