Comment on AKV and Buses

[surfer_ed]

Maybe this belongs to the transporation board but was not sure.

Love AKV and just spent 12 days there in a 1 bedroom and have to say that in all my stays (including previous AKL visits) the buses were the worst. One morning we had to wait for a 3rd bus to MK and we were at the bus stop an hour before the park opened. They kept coming from Kidani already full.

Also after Wishes AKL bus was the one lined up the longest when all other buses resort lines were empty.AND the parks did not seem busy at all.

I hope that this is not going to be the trend for my favorite resort.

Any comments on if this was just a temp issue or has it been this way for awhile?

 

[kayla87]

I'd say yeah, if you're staying at Jambo the buses can probably be bad during peak travel times.

It's funny that you mention Wishes in particular, because that was our worst experience. We had the misfortune of getting to MK for transport after an Ohana dinner right as Wishes ended. I can't remember if we eventually got on the second or third bus, but that was after a long wait for bus 1. The line filled up all the zigzags, something I haven't seen since our honeymoon at POR. Other resorts we could see weren't as bad.

I generally sum up any personal bad bus experiences as bad luck. If I see that lots of other people on the boards have problems too, then I'd say something probably needs to be fixed. For example, a few weeks ago we had the bad luck of arriving to empty bus stops at Kidani, meaning a bus was just there and we had to wait the full 20+ mins for the next one. However, someone else who was there the same week posted on these boards that their waits were always much shorter.

I haven't seen too many complaints about AKV buses, but if more people reply you'll probably get a better feel on the issue than I can provide.

 

[dvc deernut]

Our home resort is bw and ssr, but we usually stay at okw . We like that resort the most. Sometimes when its just my wife and i we will try to get in jamba house. We like the pool, boma restaurant and view on savannah side. Everytime we go to wdw we book boma to eat one night. We always book as earlier as possible as soon as it opens at 430. We plan our day around it knowing that when its time to leave akl we have to wait for buses. The last time we stayed at okw in dec our friends who stayed with us had there car . We found it faster to drive ourselves. When the 2 of us stay at akl we will go out to bus stop area and sometimes what ever bus comes first we will go there. We just wing it. Weve sat a long time a few times waiting for a bus for a certain park at akl. Thats the only thing we dislike about akl you seem to be the farthest away when it comes to transportation. Maybe we are spoiled from staying at okw and saratoga.

 

[dvcbnd]

We also had a negative bus experience while staying at Kidani.
We were staying at Kidani back in July and were at the bus stop by 6am one morning. It was EMH's for MK that day and we wanted to allow enough time for travel. We waited an hour and a half for a MK bus to show up!
We were the first family at the bus stop that morning and as other families arrived, they were shocked to hear how long we had been waiting. Other themepark buses were stopping, but for whatever reason, there was not one MK bus. We never did find out the reason why and hoped that it was an isolated incident.

 

[ToddyLu]

My experience was great at AKV Kidani last Nov (10/28-11/06). Yes, there were one or two waits...actually two that I remember....one was late one morning and then we had to wait a good while for a bus one night when MK closed after MVMCP. But then I am one of those people that get a kick out of watching everyone else get frustrated and down right angry at the buses. I mean the fact that you have a transportation option at all makes us choose Disney every year.

When you compare AKV to Pop Century or All Stars....AKV is so much better...not as long of a walk and much better service. I am not complaining and quickly made our Kidani reservations for 12/01-12/10 this year.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

Yikes! You are making me nervous. We are staying at Jambo in August and always do rope drops ... watching bus loads full of Kidani guests drive on by with out stopping would give me an anxiety attack!

Do you think it is the season? I know our spring break trips (Easter) seemed to have better transporation than our January trips ... the buses and boats were running more frequently.

 

[LisaS]

We're at AKV/Kidani now and have had good luck with the buses. It does help to get on the bus at Kidani however since at least once, the last people to board at Jambo House had to stand. I think if I was staying at Jambo House and wanted to be sure I got a seat on the bus at a busy time, I would walk over to Kidani and board there.

 

[ToddyLu]

Any time we rode the bus there were not a lot of people standing around. It was only an issue late a night. I do think more people board the buses at Jambo though...maybe becasue more children stay there and at Kidani, more people bring there cars to drive....

 

[surfer_ed]

Yikes! You are making me nervous. We are staying at Jambo in August and always do rope drops ... watching bus loads full of Kidani guests drive on by with out stopping would give me an anxiety attack!

Do you think it is the season? I know our spring break trips (Easter) seemed to have better transporation than our January trips ... the buses and boats were running more frequently.

Maybe just the last two weeks were bad. We missed rope drop 2 times because of buses so go MORE than 1 hour before if the service remains the same.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Maybe this belongs to the transporation board but was not sure.

Love AKV and just spent 12 days there in a 1 bedroom and have to say that in all my stays (including previous AKL visits) the buses were the worst. One morning we had to wait for a 3rd bus to MK and we were at the bus stop an hour before the park opened. They kept coming from Kidani already full.

Also after Wishes AKL bus was the one lined up the longest when all other buses resort lines were empty.AND the parks did not seem busy at all.

I hope that this is not going to be the trend for my favorite resort.

Any comments on if this was just a temp issue or has it been this way for awhile?

From my experience, you can have good or bad bus service at any resort. When I stayed at AKV last year, I only waited maybe 5 minutes for a bus every time except once. That time, it was over 35 minutes, then when the bus did finaly show up, there wasn't room for everyone who was waiting. One time at OKW, we waited an hour for a bus after "Wishes", while buses kept coming for other resorts. Of course, we PACKED into the bus when it finally showed up. Other times that week, the buses were OK.