I read this in the All-Ears newsletter - looks like bus service @ SSR is off the hook

[Bob Price]

Laura writes: If you are staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House, I would strongly suggest considering renting a car. My husband, 4-year-old and I have just returned from a 14-night trip and found that with the completion of Kidani Village, the bus transportation picks up and drops off at Kidani FIRST. This meant that when the bus transportation arrived at Jambo House to go to the parks, it was sometimes already full (standing room only) and on the return journey from the parks we had to drive past Jambo House to drop off and collect new people at Kidani before going to Jambo House.

 

[SusanWasHere]

I think a lot of bus route re-thinking needs to be done. It's just as bad as at the Epcot resorts where 5 resorts share! Depending on which one you are staying at, the bus or boats can be loaded and you have to wait 2 and 3 times to get on. It makes NO SENSE whatsoever. Maybe they need to do a Jambo bus and a Kidani bus. Esp for people with wheelchairs or ECVs - it makes it so difficult. The bus system is amazing and does great - but they really need to look at how they lump the resorts. That's a pet peeve of mine too!!!

 

[tjkraz]

That mirrors my observations from last fall.

I don't think there were any times that people wouldn't fit on the bus at Jambo (although it certainly could happen), but with Jambo being the second stop you have a much greater chance of having to stand.

Disney should be able to control this by increasing the number of buses in the loop. If they can provide adequate service to resorts like Pop Century, the All Stars and Caribbean Beach with 2000-3000 rooms each, they should be able to support Jambo + Kidani.

 

[robertdangelo]

Maybe they need to bring back the "Cattle car" they used for All-star resorts when they 1st opened. Remember them? It was a funny looking, tractor-trailer transportation system. I never rode, but remember seeing it back then while staying at BWV.

 

[CruznLexi]

We stayed in Oct and any time we picked up at Jambo rarely did people have to stand but comming from the park that was a different story. But I saw lots of people with small kids less than 2 and elderly people standing and few people offered to give up seats. Which is sad. We own at DVC because we like Disney but do not spend all day at the parks like to spend time at the resort.

 

[Chuck S]

Maybe they need to bring back the "Cattle car" they used for All-star resorts when they 1st opened. Remember them? It was a funny looking, tractor-trailer transportation system. I never rode, but remember seeing it back then while staying at BWV.

I rode the tractor-trailer once for OKW. It held a lot of people confortably seated, but I don't think there was any way to load ECVs or wheelchairs. It had seating over the bobtail of the trailer and over the wheels of the trailer, so there are two sets of steps inside.

 

[rutgers1]

I was just there for 9 days, and not once did a bus arrive at Jambo too filled to take people.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I suspect they didn't add buses when Kidani came into the route, but it makes sense that they need to, because that's a lot of extra people to accommodate.

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

That mirrors my observations from last fall.

I don't think there were any times that people wouldn't fit on the bus at Jambo (although it certainly could happen), but with Jambo being the second stop you have a much greater chance of having to stand.

Disney should be able to control this by increasing the number of buses in the loop. If they can provide adequate service to resorts like Pop Century, the All Stars and Caribbean Beach with 2000-3000 rooms each, they should be able to support Jambo + Kidani.

When we stayed at Kidani in Feb., there was one morning where we got on the AK park bus at Kidani and the bus was nearly fully with everyone who had been waiting to board at Kidani. When they stopped at Jambo, about 8-10 people were able to squeeze onto our bus leaving a lot of people at Jambo to wait some more until another bus arrived.

On a side note, one afternoon we returned to Kidani from one of the parks and I noticed a family of 6 get off the bus and head towards the pool area. A few steps later they were entering their car that was parked in the short term parking lot in front of Kidani. I'm betting that they were staying at
Jambo and drove over to Kidani to catch the bus.

 

[sjs314]

I cringe every time I read a complaint about the buses at AKL, but then I notice for every bad post about them being crowded now that Kidani is opened and the fact that the buses pick up there first, there seems to be a post about that not being the case. I am hopeing it is all just a matter of bad timeing, the last time I stayed at AKL in 2006 the buses were great with the exception of one time having to wait at AK for a bus back to the resort for an extremely long time. I will never hear the end of it if we have problems with the buses on our upcoming trip in November

 

[twinklebug]

When we stayed at Kidani in Feb., there was one morning where we got on the AK park bus at Kidani and the bus was nearly fully with everyone who had been waiting to board at Kidani. When they stopped at Jambo, about 8-10 people were able to squeeze onto our bus leaving a lot of people at Jambo to wait some more until another bus arrived.

I'm betting we were on the same bus - the Jambo people looked like they wanted to riot. I was confused how they'd get the wheel chair guest waiting at that stop onto any bus at Jambo if they always arrive full. To his credit, the driver said he'd call for a second bus for the Jambo folk. It's a shame that Disney has allowed it to get this bad. On our first trip to AKV Jambo before Kidani opened one of the things I LOVED about Jambo were the empty buses that would pull up and being able to get a seat every time.

On a side note, one afternoon we returned to Kidani from one of the parks and I noticed a family of 6 get off the bus and head towards the pool area. A few steps later they were entering their car that was parked in the short term parking lot in front of Kidani. I'm betting that they were staying at
Jambo and drove over to Kidani to catch the bus.

... or they were folk saying off site who just wanted free parking & knew the system well enough to say they were visitors or going to sannaa there.