Is AKV too far away from everything for a long stay without a car?

[JoJostar]

We have a 10 day trip planed for AKV in January. This will be our first time staying at AKV. We stayed at BLT in May for a week this year and loved, loved, loved it. While the theming wasn't my personal favorite, you can't beat watching the fireworks every night from the balcony. We won't have a car for this stay so I am worried that we may get a little bit tired of having to take the bus everywhere. Any opinions?

 

[toniosmom]

We were there in March and I didn't have a problem with the buses at all. You do not share the route with any other resort (it stops at Kidani first and then Jambo), so there is always a seat. Some complain about the length of the ride, but I didn't think it was too bad. The biggest problem with the buses from ANY resort is when you need to get to another resort for a dining reservation.

 

[TiaMaria]

It is a myth. Usually perpetuated by people who have never stayed there.

The distance and time is comparable to OKW and SSR from the parks. 10 minutes max to AK, 15-20 minutes to MK, Epcot or DHS.

The big difference is that OKW and SSR have several in-resort bus stops. AKV/AKL have just 2 stops.

The Epcot DVC resort buses stop at BC/YC, BWV, Swan and Dolphin.

Even BLT requires walking over to the CR to catch the monorail and then transfering (up and down 2 ramps) at TTC to go to Epcot.

I will say that the trip from AKV/AKL to Downtown Disney can be a bit time consuming depending on the time of day and traffic. Allow a good 25 minutes or more to go. On the way home in the evenings, if all the parks are around closing, it can take 30-40 minutes to get back from DTD in all that traffic.

The buses to/from the parks pick up at Kidani first, then Jambo. The buses to/from DTD pick up first at Jambo, then Kidani. Peak times of day may require people at the second stop to have to stand on the bus. If you are at Jambo and want to go to Kidani, it is a 10 minute walk. Or you can hop on the DTD bus and ride it to Kidani. Same in reverse. If you are at Kidani, you can walk to Jambo for the CS restaurant or hop on any park bus and disembark at Jambo.

The resort is now using a combo of golf carts and a passenger van to also run guests back and forth to the other side of the resort. Just ask the valet at the doors if the van/cart is there. If not, they will call for it and let you know how long it will take to arrive. If the weather is fine, again, it's just a 10 minute walk from door to door.

 

[nolanboys]

Just got back from AKV. Did feel the ride to MK was long, but it was long from BWV as well - we did a split stay. Loved AKV. Very relaxing and felt like it was a destination on its own, You'll have a great time.

 

[lmshaggard]

We stayed there in June and I was so worried about the exact same thing. I never felt like the bus took very long. We were just at OKW in Sept and in seemed like it took us twice as long to get anywhere. We own at BLT and are huge fans, and I also love BC and BW because of the ability to walk, but we loved AK and it completely changed our thoughts about this resort. The service was incredible, the property is beautiful, and I think we now have to buy some points here as well We are staying again in December for a big family trip and I am so glad that we are staying at AKV - I think our family will love it. We also had a 5th floor room at Kidani and had MK fireworks from our balcony Now it wasn't the same as BLT, but it was definitely cool and totally unexpected!!! Enjoy - I am so glad I took a chance and stayed there - hopefully you will too!

 

[dianeschlicht]

We own at both OKW and AKV. OKW is definitely faster to MK, EP, and DHS, but AKV is faster to AK and isn't bad anywhere else except to DTD.

We find the bus service at both to be excellent.

 

[HotdogDncrs]

The resort is now using a combo of golf carts and a passenger van to also run guests back and forth to the other side of the resort. Just ask the valet at the doors if the van/cart is there. If not, they will call for it and let you know how long it will take to arrive. If the weather is fine, again, it's just a 10 minute walk from door to door.

When we stayed there this past August, no one knew what we were talking about when we asked for this shuttle. We were told to take the bus, however as we were checking out we did see the golf cart running - I guess it all depends on who is working that day.

We did a split stay at BLT and AK Kidani in August - it rained the entire time that we were at Kidani making the transportation piece a little more work (especially when travelling with a 2 year old and a stroller). Unlike others who have posted that the walk from Jambo to Kidani is too long - we found it to be very short and a good way to walk off some of those meals!

Have a great trip!

 

[sweetdana]

We stayed in Aug. I would split if I went back to AK, I wouldn't stay for more than 3 nights. The ride from AK WOW! Epcot and HS are a little longer, but liveable. The ride from MK is not. If you end up standing with a DD5, a stoller a balloon, and no seats after fireworks, it is a solid 25 mins. This isn;t bad if you have a seat, but it is if you have kids and you and they do not. I would go back there, but I would only stay a few days doing parks. I would split to anywhere else. If you don't do parks every day, I loved everything else about it.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Yesterday I said "Good morning" to the maid right outside the door of my room at 12:05 (I remember because I looked at my watch and had to correct myself-"I mean, good afternoon"). At 12:35, I was inside the gate. So in 30 minutes I walked to the bus stop, waited for the bus, rode to Epcot, bag check, went thru the turnstiles. Not bad!

 

[CruznLexi]

We like AKV for the remoteness. You don't have the high traffic like the epcot resort or the MK have. We stay in a studio and do the dinning plan. Last thing I want to do is cook. We have been to Disney plenty of times before buying into DVC we are not hard core people and don't get up early and stay until closing. We like to use the resort pool and head to the parks for a few hours and then doo the pool and head back at night and then hot tub at night. We have stayed for many days.
Lexi

 

[DisneyDudet]

I don't feel like it is too far away to stay for 10 days without a car. We stayed for 10 days at BLT, and felt like it was rather far from AK and even Epcot and DHS. The BEST part of AKL/VAKL is that you don't share buses with any resort. Every time we've stayed at AKL, we have had the best bus service.

Now, you can do what we did, which was to rent a car midway through our trip, to save on money, since we knew there would be plenty of days where we would not use a car. There's the Alamo rental car location near MK, plus a national rental location at the Dolphin hotel.

 

[ToddyLu]

We stayed 9 nights at AKV last Oct/ Nov and will there for another 9 nights this Dec. The buses are great. Heck, it would take almost (notice I said almost) the same amount of time for a car to drive..same lights, exits and toll booths. Plus you have to park the car for MK and take a another form of transporation from the car to the gate. I do get why people take their car...trully I do. The buses are fine at AKV. It takes the same amount of time to travel from All Stars to MK also. WDW is the size of NYC practically, the transporatation system I think is pretty good for the amount of hauling they do on a given day. Will you sometimes have to wait a few minutes, sure. Will this make other bus riders angry to the point of calling Disney Transportation from their cell phone at the bus stop, yep. Will other buses pull up right as you sit down on the bench. Sure. WIll you have to wait for them to load a scooter/ECV, definitely. Is it still free and convinent to me..YES!! You have to take it like lines and crowds for what it is and build it into the vacation.

 

[adminjedi]

We never have a car at DW...doesn't matter what resort we are staying at!

 

[gkrykewy]

No- we've had numerous long stays without a car. It's not really any less accessible than anyplace else, contrary to reputation.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

We spent 10 nights at Jambo House in August. We did not rent a car. Honestly, I found the transportation at AKL to be just fine. After staying at VWL and BWV where you can wind up sharing buses with several resorts, it was nice just sharing between Kidani and Jambo. We went to both water parks and DTD in addition to the main parks.

You can always take a cab if you want to get somewhere quick - we seem to do this at least once per trip and it is much less expensive than renting a car. I had planned to use a cab for DTD (it seems like transportation to DTD just takes forever no matter where you stay -unless it's SSR, OKW, or Port Orleans) and Chef Mickey's, but just didn't feel it was necessary after we had spent a couple of days using Disney buses.

 

[TagsMissy]

we stayed at Kidani as a group of 7 with no car and had no issues. we really like not having to drive while at WDW and did not find the distance to be any issue.

 

[Hans Moleman]

I think you would be better off with a car.

We stayed there last May for a week with 2 little ones, and by the end of the trip we really wished we had a car to come and go as we wanted.

 

[dianeschlicht]

The resort is now using a combo of golf carts and a passenger van to also run guests back and forth to the other side of the resort. Just ask the valet at the doors if the van/cart is there. If not, they will call for it and let you know how long it will take to arrive. If the weather is fine, again, it's just a 10 minute walk from door to door.

That 10 minute walk from door to door should actually take about 6 minutes. Now if you are counting how long you walk in a hallway to GET to the door....then 10 minutes isn't a stretch at all. We found it took us 5 minutes to get to the lobby from our room on the last bead. It took us about the same to get to the lobby of Jambo from Kidani.

 

[TiaMaria]

That 10 minute walk from door to door should actually take about 6 minutes. Now if you are counting how long you walk in a hallway to GET to the door....then 10 minutes isn't a stretch at all. We found it took us 5 minutes to get to the lobby from our room on the last bead. It took us about the same to get to the lobby of Jambo from Kidani.

Isn't that the truth! Thank goodness there is plenty to look at outside the windows as you are walking.

 

[scout68]

We have stayed for a couple of ten day trips with a car and didn't use it.