Is transport from AKL to Parks really "that bad?"

[brockash]

Hello! Love these boards - great resource for planning. Hope it is ok to ask a similar question here to one I asked in a different thread elsewhere...

We are strongly considering renting points to book a stay at AKL for our family trip next year. Everything about the resort and room seem wonderful and a great match for our group.

The one thing that I do see mentioned fairly often aboutAKL is the perception that it is isolated by distance from the theme parks (except AK of course) and how this is less than optimal and results in much time during your stay being "wasted" on transportation instead of in the parks. I also have found comments suggesting that these concerns are overblown and it really is not that bad.

We plan to stay for 6 nights, and our plan is to take advantage of rope drop each day and return to the room each day around lunchtime for pool or nap or just relax. Then returning to the parks late afternoon. So, for our plan, I do want to learn more about the realities of transportation between our room and the parks.
From the reading I've done here on DIS boards, it seems there are mixed opinions - some say bus transport from AKL is way too far and awful, and other say it is a "best kept secret" that it seems far but actually doesn't really take longer to the parks by bus than most other resorts. I'd appreciate any opinions or experiences any of you would like to share about staying at AKL and using the buses to get to the parks.

One other specific question I have is to ask for any experiences you may have had staying at AKL and using the Minnie-Van service. I know that this service is not currently running, and there is no certainty that it will return at all. However, I think there are good indicators that it will return, and my trip is far enough out that I'd like to assume the Minnie Vans will be available. It seems like the Minnie Vans would make transportation to the parks from AKL even easier, faster, and more reliable. Wondering if anyone has experiencing using these from AKL before they were shut down? We will not have a rental car, and would probably not use Uber/Lyft (at least in the morning) because of the need to get right to the gates for the (new version of) Extra Magic Hour.

Thanks!

We went in Oct.; first time and most likely last and yes we did not have good luck with buses. We've stayed at 4 different resorts since reopening and this is the only one where we were never able to make the real rope drop (45 mins before opening time) due to them not starting transportation soon enough. We were always on the first bus, but we couldn't get to a park more than 20 mins before actual opening which really hindered our abilities to ride anything with a little to no wait.

We did not go back to the resort for breaks as we've had lots of mixed experiences with that with any bus resort, but I agree it seems very isolating.

 

[DVCsloth]

We only stayed at AKL one time and it did seem like the wait for the busses was pretty long. I think that it is the luck of the draw at most resorts though. The busses seem to run like clockwork most of the time. Pretty sure if you allow an hour travel time to get to your destination you will always be on time. I'm not in any hurry when I'm at Disney though, but I like to catch the early bus or whatever form of transportation we use. I really liked AKL and plan on going again, we stayed there before becoming DVC members and it was actually the reason we bought at VGF during the initial sales.

 

[manicstreet]

No, but you do have to ask yourself “are we gonna spend most of our time at the magic kingdom”? If you are then I would switch. It is 30 minutes or so by bus. It’s a fantastic resort and worth staying at. We are staying 1 day in august. We did stay for longer in the past and never had a problem with transportation.

 

[RanDIZ]

We went in Oct.; first time and most likely last and yes we did not have good luck with buses. We've stayed at 4 different resorts since reopening and this is the only one where we were never able to make the real rope drop (45 mins before opening time) due to them not starting transportation soon enough. We were always on the first bus, but we couldn't get to a park more than 20 mins before actual opening which really hindered our abilities to ride anything with a little to no wait.

We did not go back to the resort for breaks as we've had lots of mixed experiences with that with any bus resort, but I agree it seems very isolating.

Dec 2020 was great for us. We did MK from AKV with a park open listed at 8a. The bus left AKV at 7a and I was in the park and off Mine Train by 7:40. I don’t remember the exact drop off time to MK, but to do all of that by 7:40 is a success! It’s really hit or miss trying to leave and go back midday.

 

[Bird003]

It is not terrible just bus only. We had worse luck with riviera buses to be honest. And akl is ten times the resort!

 

[igrsod]

I find the bus rides long no matter what. When we stay at OKW and SSR, the bus is just as long as you have to do the loop before heading off to the parks etc.
That being said, AKL is our home resort and we love it there. I feel so happy when we stay there. The vibe is so relaxed. There is so much to see and do.
We just make sure we are super organized with our timing, so that we aren't making unnecessary bus trips while stressed.

 

[Zzz66]

Hello! Love these boards - great resource for planning. Hope it is ok to ask a similar question here to one I asked in a different thread elsewhere...

We are strongly considering renting points to book a stay at AKL for our family trip next year. Everything about the resort and room seem wonderful and a great match for our group.

The one thing that I do see mentioned fairly often aboutAKL is the perception that it is isolated by distance from the theme parks (except AK of course) and how this is less than optimal and results in much time during your stay being "wasted" on transportation instead of in the parks. I also have found comments suggesting that these concerns are overblown and it really is not that bad.

We plan to stay for 6 nights, and our plan is to take advantage of rope drop each day and return to the room each day around lunchtime for pool or nap or just relax. Then returning to the parks late afternoon. So, for our plan, I do want to learn more about the realities of transportation between our room and the parks.
From the reading I've done here on DIS boards, it seems there are mixed opinions - some say bus transport from AKL is way too far and awful, and other say it is a "best kept secret" that it seems far but actually doesn't really take longer to the parks by bus than most other resorts. I'd appreciate any opinions or experiences any of you would like to share about staying at AKL and using the buses to get to the parks.

One other specific question I have is to ask for any experiences you may have had staying at AKL and using the Minnie-Van service. I know that this service is not currently running, and there is no certainty that it will return at all. However, I think there are good indicators that it will return, and my trip is far enough out that I'd like to assume the Minnie Vans will be available. It seems like the Minnie Vans would make transportation to the parks from AKL even easier, faster, and more reliable. Wondering if anyone has experiencing using these from AKL before they were shut down? We will not have a rental car, and would probably not use Uber/Lyft (at least in the morning) because of the need to get right to the gates for the (new version of) Extra Magic Hour.

Thanks!

Following. I actually have the same question. When are you going?

 

[brockash]

So, here’s what I’m struggling with a bit. I know there are a couple resorts where you can easily walk to MK (like contemporary), but don’t most other “close” ones still require to get on a monorail or boat or skyliner… don’t those take the same type of waiting and transport time you are describing for the AKL buses? The boat from Wilderness Lodge may be faster than the bus from AKL, for example, but it isn’t instant - what is the actual difference?

And would the “MK” resorts have essentially the same (or worse?) travel time to the other three parks and water parks as from AKL?

Also thinking about crescent lake resorts - obviously quick and easy walk to Epcot. They say you can walk to DHS from Beach Club, for example, but isn’t that like a 30 minute walk? Is that any faster than a bus from AKL? And you can’t walk to AK, MK, or the water parks…

You can probably tell my brain is trying to justify AKL because I really like the resort. But I also want to make sure my eyes are wide open about the realities of the transportation options because I can see if I’m off base on that we could end up pretty unhappy if we feel like huge chunks of our day are “wasted” on transportation. I think spending time on transport seems like a part of life no matter where you stay at WDW, so I’m just trying to learn if there is really a huge difference between AKL and the other Deluxe resorts in that regard.

In our opinion there's a huge difference in convenience and time in regards to a monorail resort or staying at Cresent Lake. We've done both those options and would 100% choose either just on transportation alone compared to AKL. One large difference is that if you can walk to your resort; there is no waiting for transportation which is a huge factor...especially mid-day. Personally, if transportation is most important to you and you're planninf on going back midday and returning; I'd definitely pick CR or one of the Epcot resorts.

Now, if transportation is not your main priority and you want to stay at AKL, I'd say stay at AKL.

 

[bdiddy]

We are here now and have been taking an uber to the parks in the morning all week and love it! Granted it’s an extra $10-$15 every day but we’ve never had to wait more than 5 min for a driver (I swear they are just circling waiting) but it’s just so convenient and it’s a good feeling when you pull away and see the long line of people waiting for the buses and know that you’ll be beating them all there by probably at least 30 min if not more. I don’t love the idea of spending the extra $ especially since transportation is free but honestly it is so worth it in the mornings for us. Time is money and that’s less waiting. So if you are worried about it or find the bus waits too long, I would really consider getting an Uber and budgeting for that extra daily cost.

 

[Chami]

The only time we had trouble with buses was from AKL to AK. There was one very crowded bus we could have gotten on, but I let a family with 2 little ones get on instead. (We would have been the last people to fit on the bus.) We then waited for almost an hour for the next bus. It was so frustrating watching 3 buses come and go for all of the other parks before the next bus to AK arrived.

We didn't feel like it took overly long to get to the other parks, even MK. Then again, 20 minutes or so doesn't seem like much when you live in an area where it can take 30-90 minutes to go 5 miles.

 

[KAngela]

You can probably tell my brain is trying to justify AKL because I really like the resort. But I also want to make sure my eyes are wide open about the realities of the transportation options because I can see if I’m off base on that we could end up pretty unhappy if we feel like huge chunks of our day are “wasted” on transportation. I think spending time on transport seems like a part of life no matter where you stay at WDW, so I’m just trying to learn if there is really a huge difference between AKL and the other Deluxe resorts in that regard.

There you have it, then. You really like the resort, so you should stay there.

Personally, we stayed at AKL and didn't like it. The resort is great, the food is wonderful, the staff is good; the travel killed us. Lots and lots of waiting for and riding on busses. Enough that we *felt* it in a way unique to that DW trip. All four of us commented on it and all came to the same conclusion: never again. But we are glad we stayed there once!

I don't say that to discourage you. I think what the other posters are saying on here is good stuff about how to make it less impactful for your trip, and they have some good advice about how to manage both the travel and your expectations. And what you said is true: spending time on transportation is part of being in WDW. If you anticipate it, you probably won't find it to be that big a deal.

What we learned that trip is that we are die-hard monorail people, as MK is our primary focus on trips and we just love that convenience. DW and I fell in love with Contemporary for exactly that reason on a later trip: quick walk to our favorite park, and multiple viable routes to get back to our hotel. Other people clearly have different opinions and expectations on their trips, and that's okay: it's why Disney has hotels spread around the property!

 

[firedust]

We mostly used Lyft during our Feb 2020 stay at AKL. I think we only used the bus to Epcot and to/from AK. Tried to use the bus our MK and HS days but they kept getting more and more delayed so we used Lyft (I would literally have cried if we had missed a shot at a ROTR boarding group).

That said, my hubby absolutely loves AKL and we are staying there again in December. I'm just budgeting for Lyft.

 

[Leight19]

I think others have hit nail on head but my thought is akl buses are not noticeably worse then other resorts but buses anywhere are not as nice as boat, skyliner, monorail, or walking. To me, it’s being a deluxe without other options to travel to parks that gives it bad reputation rather then the buses being worse then other busses.

That said, every resort uses buses to some parks so unless you split stay and/or only focus on parks with easy transport it’s similar issues most days (e.g going from contemporary to ak is just as inconvenient as akl to mk IMO).

 

[karen4546]

Be at the bus stop one hour before park opening-no matter which park you are going to that day. It is around 10 minutes to AK, 17-20 minutes EP and HS, and 22-25 minutes to MK.

AKV is our home resort and before we bought into DVC, we stayed at AKL many times. It is BEAUTIFUL, has great gift shop, great food, great pool, lots of activities and we LOVE it!

 

[Lovewinnie]

We loved our stay at AKL, it’s a great hotel. Had savannah view which was amazing. Pool is great. But we will not stay there again. We definitely had transportation issues. Always felt like we were waiting for a bus, either at the resort or at the parks to get back. My husband also didn’t care for the food choices at the resort.

 

[Brob2132]

Don't have a ton to add (resort is ++, bus travel can be a bit long), but I just wanted to add how AWESOME we thought the resort is. Great relaxed vibe, beautiful Savannah view, wonderful food , and just overall an excellent experience. My wife convinced me to try the Grand Floridian because of the transportation this fall (hopefully our last trip sans children) so we'll see how it goes. I keep showing her random photos of AKL hoping she will change her mind .

 

[raddisneyfan]

I have stayed and never had a problem with buses from AKL. Even if I'm not staying there, I always visit at least once during every WDW vacation and always go there by bus and, again, have never had issues. My only issue now is whether or not my beloved BOMA will be open again by November. If they have a passholder discount for my Nov/Dec visit, I may even switch my reserve and stay there. If not and they have a passholder discount for September, I may plan an extra visit this year just to have a staycation at AKL.

 

[FastPasser.]

I would never not stay at a resort because the bus ride might be five minutes longer. Because all resorts and parks use the same buses, any resort can have good or bad service at any given time. No Disney owned resort has their own dedicated buses running back and forth in a loop, it's one big system split up into five bus hubs. It's who's ever next in line on that particular bus hub's computer.

 

[emily nicole]

I haven’t stayed at AKL but I have stayed at an off-property hotel in the Animal Kingdom area and I didn’t think it was a far ride to anywhere. Even MK.

 

[RanDIZ]

Don't have a ton to add (resort is ++, bus travel can be a bit long), but I just wanted to add how AWESOME we thought the resort is. Great relaxed vibe, beautiful Savannah view, wonderful food , and just overall an excellent experience. My wife convinced me to try the Grand Floridian because of the transportation this fall (hopefully our last trip sans children) so we'll see how it goes. I keep showing her random photos of AKL hoping she will
change her mind .

This might help change her mind.

Jambo Lobby and Sanaa window seat for dinner. Dec 2020