How are the busses at AKL - Jambo?

[themcfluffybutts]

I keep on seeing mixed reviews of people saying they didn’t have to wait and others saying they waited 40mins. We’ll be driving down so we’ll have our car but a bus would be so much easier for bringing our toddler back for naps.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The only time we had to wait for a bus was when there was an accident on World Drive and the buses were having a hard time getting from the MK to almost any resort. Other than that one trip, no problems at all.

 

[loves to dive]

The buses are the buses and are the same at every single resort. I've stayed at almost all of them and have waited a hour at all of them and have gotten right on a bus at all of them. They have to rely on the traffic, the people getting on and off the bus and snafus just like any other public transportation. We always have a car and don't get in it again after it's parked until we leave, we rely totally on Disney transportation.

 

[MainMom]

Stayed at AKL in June 2016. Only had one bus issue in 7 days worth of bus rides.

 

[chuckml]

We stayed at AKL not long after Kidani opened, and it was the worst bus service we've had at Disney. I would think it was probably because Kidani had just opened and they were working out the kinks of having the resorts share.
One Morning, every MK bus that came in the am was packed full from Kidani, which was frustrating. Eventually a CM made a call and a couple extra MK busses rolled up for Jambo.
I loved the resort as a whole, but the busses were not great for our trip.

 

[LilacGarden]

We were at Jambo in Oct. 2017. No issues at all. I keep reading that the buses would stop at Kidani first but we always boarded an empty bus. We always left first thing in the morning and were generally at the parks before they opened. We maybe had to wait 15-20 minutes at most leaving the parks later in the evening. We generally stayed the whole day and did not leave.

 

[malissa99]

We have stayed AKL Jambo twice most recently in October 2017. We never found the busses at the lodge to be an issue. Now waiting to leave MK back to AKL... those busses were a ridiculously long wait. Both trips.

 

[Shellyred8]

We stayed at Jambo in Jan 2018 and didn't have any problems with the buses this time around. For planning purposes, I would recommend taking the bus to AK for sure and then plan to drive to the other parks. I think the bus ride to AK from Jambo was like 5 minutes. It would definitely take you longer to drive, park and get on a tram to get to AK.

While the buses to the other parks were fine for us and we didn't encounter any excessively long wait times, it really is hit or miss and it happens at all of the resorts, not just AKL.

Have a fantastic trip!!

 

[tobikaye]

I was there in June and the buses were fine, not great, but not horrible. We had some waits when we arrived, but no different than other resorts. We had a car and mixed up our trips. We always took the bus to MK, but mixed it up for the other parks. Actually, I think we always drove to AK since we were usually able to go from our parking spot at AKL to the gates in AK in about 15 minutes since we did not have to wait for buses.

 

[Linkura]

We always had great service on our Sept 2016 trip, but that was a while ago of course.

 

[k2kten]

I was there in early february and thought the buses were wonderful. We never waited too long and i have no complaints.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

We have stayed at Jambo three times and the bus service was at least as good as most other resorts (Pop stands out as the best bus service I have experienced, largely because of the dedicated buses and single bus stop- the soundtrack they play on the buses also helps).

The only issue can be that sometimes AKV and Jambo share a bus, so lines can be long at park close, and the bus stops at AKV first on the return trip. That can take some unloading time. No worse than the bus service at any of the resorts that share buses or have multiple stops. For some reason, I really like the bus stop at Jambo House, and I particularly like walking into Jambo House. We have stayed at many resorts and so far, AKL is my all time favorite. I hope you have a wonderful trip.

 

[Linkura]

We have stayed at Jambo three times and the bus service was at least as good as most other resorts (Pop stands out as the best bus service I have experienced, largely because of the dedicated buses and single bus stop- the soundtrack they play on the buses also helps).

The only issue can be that sometimes AKV and Jambo share a bus, so lines can be long at park close, and the bus stops at AKV first on the return trip. That can take some unloading time. No worse than the bus service at any of the resorts that share buses or have multiple stops. For some reason, I really like the bus stop at Jambo House, and I particularly like walking into Jambo House. We have stayed at many resorts and so far, AKL is my all time favorite. I hope you have a wonderful trip.

I didn't know that there were times that Kidani and Jambo DIDN'T share buses. They always did in Sept 2016.

 

[dansdad]

I didn't know that there were times that Kidani and Jambo DIDN'T share buses. They always did in Sept 2016.

Yeah, our last 3 stays each one had their own bus in the mornings every day.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

I didn't know that there were times that Kidani and Jambo DIDN'T share buses. They always did in Sept 2016.

It varies, but I don’t see a rhyme or reason as to specific times or times of the year. We’ve been on a bus from AKL to the parks that didn’t share during non peak times when we were the only people on the bus. We’ve also been on a bus during peak seasons right at park close when they did share and we had to wait for three buses to finally get on. You just never know if they will be shared.

 

[DisneyArkie]

Same as everywhere else. You will have good experiences some trips and bad on the others. Not predictable at all.

 

[Mousemommy1]

We have been here since Monday and the bus service has been great. Much better than we anticipated!

 

[themcfluffybutts]

The overall positive tone is really encouraging. I much rather take the bus and enjoy taking in "Disney" with my toddler than worrying about driving/parking/finding the car at night.

 

[Koogs]

I stayed there last week for 9 days, and generally, the buses were good. I think we only had 2 times over the course of the week that we were really feeling less than happy, but that happens. The wait times were not excessive at all, probably the longest was 20 minutes.
Almost all the park days on the way to the parks, Jambo didn't share a bus, we had an empty bus coming. On the way back you have Kidani there too and it stops there first.

They do get a bit crowded, but compared to Saratoga, it was better.

The length of the bus ride isn't terrible, but a few of the rides we started feeling like it was taking forever. But it was really situational.

Having said that, I don't like the busing in general, we had ECVs some of the time(my parents), my sit and stand stroller, backpack, camera bag, an 18 month old and a 6 year old. It is a process to get on the bus...

 

[scheddj]

At AKL right now. By far, by far, by far the worst bussing on property.

ETA: All of us standing in line have watched three animal Kingdom park busses come and go from Epcot and no AKL yet. This seems to be the norm rather than the exception. It is downright shameful how bad it is.