How's the transportation to and from AKL?

[Twins4me07]

So we are currently booked at BC for President's week and now I'm getting a little nervous over the price. AKL is 1,600 cheaper. I'm only concerned about the transportation since my husband commutes 2 hours each way so he's not into "commuting" on vacation. Are the buses frequent at the resort and at the parks? We have 9 year old twins that are spent at the end of a long day in the parks. If we are able to catch some warm weather we usually go to the park in the morning, then back to the resort for pool and showers and then dinner and more park. We have stayed at BW, BC, Poly (2xs), and WL. We love being close to the parks but 1,600 extra might not be worth at BC when we might or might not get to enjoy the pool. Again, my concerns are over the transportation at AKL. i would love to hear your experiences. We are staying for 6 nights and this is our 6th time visiting. TIA

 

[Vader-was-framed]

The transportation at this wonderful resort is nothing to be concerned about. It has dedicated buses and now has tvs with arrival times. Also added separate buses to magic kingdom from Jambo and Kidani. Times are 15-20 to mk. 5 ak,10 hs,10-15 Epcot. We have stayed at many resorts and it is very comparable.

 

[DisBuckMan]

We do split stays every trip, with usually the first part of the trip at AKL due to the fact that it's our son's favorite resort by far, and it's one of the resorts we are owners at as DVC members. We have never had a problem with frequency of buses there at AKL. It's farther out from any park or DS other than AK, but in reality...you're never more than a 15-20 minute bus ride to anywhere on property.

 

[goldie09]

I was at AKL in late October, and I can say we never had an issue with the buses. I had previously stayed only at value resorts and so I was never "walking distance" or close to any park, so AKL's relative "remote" location wasn't a problem.

Only you and your family can decide on the value of staying at a resort from which you can walk to a park. Personally, that $1600 could go a VERY long way, and I would definitely switch to AKL, which is beautiful, a true destination resort.

 

[kreckl]

AKL os or favorite resort, and while I don't think the buses are bad- I don't think you can compare the location to BC.

 

[Babsy]

The AKL is awesome, but it does only have bus transportation to the theme parks. It is about an extra 5-10minute bus ride to the MK. Otherwise the distance/time it takes to get to theme parks isn't much different than for most of the other resorts.

We often choose to stay at the AKL for both the price and the beautiful resort. It doesn't have the great proximity to major theme parks that you get at the BC, but it is a wonderful value for a deluxe resort at $1600 savings. Only you can say how much walking into Epcot through the IG is worth to you, though.

have a great trip, whichever resort you choose!

 

[Princess Minnie321]

I was very impressed with the busses at AKL. We spent 6 days at the parks and never waited more then 15 minutes for a bus. There were a couple of times where a crowd was waiting and I knew we would not get on the bus. Immediately after the first bus arrived, a second pulled up and got everyone on.

 

[saving our pennies]

I was expecting the buses to be an issue, but was very pleasantly surprised On our week long trip, we only encountered about 4-5 full buses (usually returning from a late night park). Our longest wait was 15 (maybe 20?) min, but on average it was about 10. I didn't like that buses were out ONLY option from AKL, but it turned out okay. Hope this encourages you and that you ave a wonderful trip!

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

I can't compare it to BC because we have never stayed there. But when we were at AKL we had no issues using the AKL buses. None of our waits were longer than 15 minutes and most were much less than that. We loved our stay at AKL, had an Arusha Savanna view room and there are plenty of viewing areas outside your room. Loved the lobby a great place to explore. And loved stopping and talking with the Cast-members that are spotted around the outside trails. It was interesting to hear their story. Where are they from, how they found there way to WDW, do they live in an area in Africa where they see the same animals as at AKL; wondering free near where they live, etc. And dinning choices are great, love Boma!!!

 

[Dakota731]

We were last there 8 years ago and I thought the waits were long so I'm glad to hear they've gotten better though I do think 20 minutes is too long! I did love the location at BC and being able to walk to two parks without ever waiting for a bus!

 

[kreckl]

$1600 more for a 6 night trip.....so if you are ONLY concerned about the buses/commute and would truly enjoy either resort.....that's $266 more each day. You plan to go back and forth 2x each day. So is it worth it to pay $66 each time you can walk to a park? And actually- you can only walk to 2 of them. The BC bus to MK is no picnic. You could stay at AKL and budget $80 day for cabs if you wanted....We have occasionally taken a cab back to the resort when tired/rainy/cranky etc, and its been worth every penny imo. But most of the time the buses are fine.

 

[Mama Lo]

You also could take Uber for $6-8 per ride and still come out way ahead.

I was there in August and we never had trouble with the buses. It is a beautiful resort that you will most likely love. Enjoy spending some of your savings on the wonderful restaurants there.

 

[tgarre06]

So we are currently booked at BC for President's week and now I'm getting a little nervous over the price. AKL is 1,600 cheaper. I'm only concerned about the transportation since my husband commutes 2 hours each way so he's not into "commuting" on vacation. Are the buses frequent at the resort and at the parks? We have 9 year old twins that are spent at the end of a long day in the parks. If we are able to catch some warm weather we usually go to the park in the morning, then back to the resort for pool and showers and then dinner and more park. We have stayed at BW, BC, Poly (2xs), and WL. We love being close to the parks but 1,600 extra might not be worth at BC when we might or might not get to enjoy the pool. Again, my concerns are over the transportation at AKL. i would love to hear your experiences. We are staying for 6 nights and this is our 6th time visiting. TIA

I just returned last week from AKL, and the buses were awesome! Never waited for more than 10 minutes. Our timing was really good this trip, and a bus was pulling up as we arrived at the bus stop about 75% of the time. Obviously, sometimes your timing can just be off. We have stayed at WL, Poly and Contemporary as a comparison, and we had no issues with AKL transportation. The resort is really great, I loved it and will stay again.

 

[Yarbogash]

I was there in May and we did have a few long waits. One time the trip to AK took 40 minutes; long wait for a bus, then trip to other part of AK, then loading some scooters and then the drive. I could have walked quicker. AK shares busses with Blizzard Beach so that can slow you down a bit too. Overall tho the busses were pretty good but imho a car would have been generally quicker.

 

[glk2009]

We've done BWI (last two trips) and AKL (first two trips)... it really is great to be able to walk to two parks, but the theming at AKL is awesome and the bus service for our two stays at AKL weren't memorable, meaning they weren't awful. I think the only shared bus for AKL is to Disney Springs (shared with a water park), but this could be different now.

We were at AKL for dinner at Jiko during out last trip and my ODS asked if we could stay there for our next trip! Works for me and I have no worries about the bus.

I'd say take the savings and make the switch. HTH!

 

[Lupeix]

I have never stayed on those two resorts, but I have stayed in the boardwalk area and on AoA which is a resort with dedicated buses. It really depends what you mean by "spent" regarding your kids at the end of the day and which parks are you planning to visit more often. To us the wait for the buses at the end of the day and how packed the buses were was a "no, no, never again doing that" (Sorry AoA). But my kids are little and we need to lug around the stroller in the bus (and wake up the littlest one to fold it). Being at the boardwalk was a huge plus, you can walk to epcot and bus/take boat to DHS. We decided that we will rather stay off site at Bonnet creek and rent a car than stay at a resort with bus only transportation options. That said with those savings you can rent a car and still save lots of money. If you don't mind driving a little you will be anywhere quickly. You can also check the swan and dolphin if saving is important. You will have the same benefits of BC location (minus the disney magic and awesome pool). And there's always Uber.....

 

[tgarre06]

I just returned last week from AKL, and the buses were awesome! Never waited for more than 10 minutes. Our timing was really good this trip, and a bus was pulling up as we arrived at the bus stop about 75% of the time. Obviously, sometimes your timing can just be off. We have stayed at WL, Poly and Contemporary as a comparison, and we had no issues with AKL transportation. The resort is really great, I loved it and will stay again.

I should have added that I was traveling with a 1, 3 and 4 year old.

 

[MillauFr]

For a fraction of $1,600 you can take Lyft/Uber for every trip.

 

[vinotinto]

Merry Christmas!

BC and AKL are our two favorite resorts. In our limited experience, the transportation is better at AKL than BC, although, of course, at BC you can walk to Epcot, which is really awesome. Buses late at night departing MK are simply painful, but that is across the board.

For $1,600, I would not even think twice!

 

[Apopper74]

While have never stayed at BC, we have stayed at Contemporary, Poly and AKL. While Contemporary and Poly were great for their location, AKL is our favorite one by far and one we are returning to this year by unanimous vote. $1,600 is a lot of money and you could do a lot of other things with it.