How are the busses at AKL - Jambo?

[chuckml]

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.

This was our experience as well. Loved the resort, hated the busses.

 

[mamabunny]

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.

This was our experience as well. Loved the resort, hated the busses.

Question: If you are on site now, have you reached out to a Concierge, or a Manager at AKL, and asked about the transportation situation? If there are Transportation CMs at the Bus Stop(s), have you asked them why you aren't seeing the AKL buses?

I would be interested to hear from Disney why your experience has been markedly different than what most folks experience at AKL.

 

[Sepo]

They have digital boards with estimated times at the hotel bus stop (Kidani at least). But they are only sometimes on.

Disney definitely could use widely available technology to give a precise window by app of when the busses will arrive next. This is common in the city where I live. For whatever reason Disney doesnt do this. I suppose it could lead to surges, or they have some other reasons. If it existed, I would definitely drive less.

 

[chuckml]

Question: If you are on site now, have you reached out to a Concierge, or a Manager at AKL, and asked about the transportation situation? If there are Transportation CMs at the Bus Stop(s), have you asked them why you aren't seeing the AKL buses?

I would be interested to hear from Disney why your experience has been markedly different than what most folks experience at AKL.

Definitely not there now. As I said in a previous post, we stayed there shortly after Kidani opened, and the bus service was lacking. Maybe it's changed since, but I'm just sharing our experience with AKL.
I don't think you'll find many people who say AKL has stellar bus service. I've seen good, no problems, etc. but never outstanding. I think that goes for most of the deluxes honestly. The best bus service we've had on property has been Pop hands down, and it's not close.
And yes, the poor CM's heard from loads of guests at the bus stations while we were there, myself included.

 

[gillep]

We have stayed at AKL at least once a year for a week, every year, for almost 10 years. The buses are the buses property wide, I think that on average they are very good, but there are times that you can have longer waits. Overall, I have had no significant issues with bus service at AKL, and certainly don't think it is any worse than any of the other resorts we have stayed at (deluxe, moderate, and value). We still use WDW transportation the vast majority of the time, with an occasional Uber thrown in there, and are satisfied with the service. That said, it is all about timing, if I get to the bus right before it pulls up I will feel like I had great service, if you come a minute after me after the bus has left and have to wait for the next one, you may complain about long waits. Also, there are some people that are just not bus people, we have traveled with them, and even though I thought that waits were short, and service efficient, they complained about long waits and inefficiencies.

 

[Texans_loyal]

Never waited longer than 15 minutes at Kidani or Jambo, even over MLK weekend.

 

[Shellyb84]

We once about 1.5 hours to get back to AKL from MK. I think there was some sort of issue with the bus breaking down but I still don't know why it took so long to get another one dispatched. This could have happened anywhere though. We never had an issue leaving the resort, our timing was always perfect and we happened to be walking up to the stop as soon as the bus came.

 

[scheddj]

Question: If you are on site now, have you reached out to a Concierge, or a Manager at AKL, and asked about the transportation situation? If there are Transportation CMs at the Bus Stop(s), have you asked them why you aren't seeing the AKL buses?

I would be interested to hear from Disney why your experience has been markedly different than what most folks experience at AKL.

Yes I have. At the resort they have an employee at the bus stops in the morning. The first time we waited over 20 minutes they said it was because we were sharing and the bus filled up at Kidani. At 45 minutes a gentleman complained again and the employee called for a bus. The next day I complained right away at 20 minutes and they called a bus.
In the afternoons there are no cast members at the bus stops to complain to so you either wait your 20 to 40 minutes for the park bus that you want or take the first one that comes and do park to park transportation.
The worst one that happened was from Epcot back to AKL. We waited over 50 minutes and I finally went to the next bus stop (we had already seen 3 busses come and go there) and asked the bus driver to call a bus for us.
Every time anyone asked a CM to call a bus they were very helpful, I’ve just never seen so many people having to ask before. Speaking with others we were waiting in line with who had stayed at AKL before they told us that the busses had been like this every trip. I’ve seen it happen once, maybe twice per trip at other resorts but never with the regularity that it has here.
On a more positive note the busses between AKL and AK are every three minutes!!

 

[mamabunny]

Yes I have. At the resort they have an employee at the bus stops in the morning. The first time we waited over 20 minutes they said it was because we were sharing and the bus filled up at Kidani. At 45 minutes a gentleman complained again and the employee called for a bus. The next day I complained right away at 20 minutes and they called a bus.
In the afternoons there are no cast members at the bus stops to complain to so you either wait your 20 to 40 minutes for the park bus that you want or take the first one that comes and do park to park transportation.
The worst one that happened was from Epcot back to AKL. We waited over 50 minutes and I finally went to the next bus stop (we had already seen 3 busses come and go there) and asked the bus driver to call a bus for us.
Every time anyone asked a CM to call a bus they were very helpful, I’ve just never seen so many people having to ask before. Speaking with others we were waiting in line with who had stayed at AKL before they told us that the busses had been like this every trip. I’ve seen it happen once, maybe twice per trip at other resorts but never with the regularity that it has here.
On a more positive note the busses between AKL and AK are every three minutes!!

Thank you for the information - I appreciate you taking the time to reply in depth!

We have seen "glitches" in the bus system, staying at various other Resorts at WDW, however typically that was during higher-traffic times (for example, right after fireworks) or during what we call "busy season" (like holidays, cheerleaders, etc.) when the Parks and the Resorts are all stuffed full.

I think if I was in your shoes, I might try to talk to the GM at AKL (while I was still on property), and let them know what my experience has been. They are more likely to let Transportation know about a Guest complaint of an on-going transportation issue than a bus driver or clipboard-wielding CM who may just pass off your questions or comments as random or one-off. (Not casting aspersions on Bus Drivers or CMs, but the GM of the Resort has a more immediate stake in Guest happiness) That's just me; it comes from my background in Customer Service; you can't fix what you don't know is broken!

Thanks again for the insight into what you have been experiencing!

 

[Spencer Wright]

You hear mixed reviews but from my experience it is very good!

Yeah, problems can occur, but CM's at the resort seem to be very responsive when issues or delays occur.