Kidani Village without a rental car - will this be ok?

[WDWLove]

We're not planning on getting a rental car for our upcoming trip to Kidani Village (this is the first time we've ever stayed there) -- is this ok, or do most people rent cars when staying there?? From what we've read on the boards it seems that Kidani/AKL is a bit far away from MK and Epcot (the 2 parks we'll be visiting most on our trip). We've already set up Magic Express, and would rather spend our money on souveniers than a rental car but if it's a must do, I will rent a car We're just confused and a bit overwhelmed (as you can see I'm new to these boards).

Thank you

 

[Eddie]

Just got back from 2 weeks at AKL had a great time. Stayed in Jambo house. Had a car for 1 week in middle of the trip. Was not really a need if you are mainly going to parks. We like to eat a few meals off properties and for getting to restaurants at other resorts it does make things easier.

Had no real issue with bus system, do not think we ever had to wait longer then 10 to 15 minutes at all.

So if it is mainly to and fro parks car is not huge issue. of course if you do want to do other stuff then it may play into your thoughts.

 

[sissy_42]

We're not planning on getting a rental car for our upcoming trip to Kidani Village (this is the first time we've ever stayed there) -- is this ok, or do most people rent cars when staying there?? From what we've read on the boards it seems that Kidani/AKL is a bit far away from MK and Epcot (the 2 parks we'll be visiting most on our trip). We've already set up Magic Express, and would rather spend our money on souveniers than a rental car but if it's a must do, I will rent a car We're just confused and a bit overwhelmed (as you can see I'm new to these boards).

Thank you

I'll be staying there for the first time this October and I will not be renting a car. It is further from the theme parks but I don't mind leaving a few minutes early to get on the bus. I just don't see the need since Disney has bus service in place.

 

[stopher1]

We've stayed there twice with no car, and will be doing so again in September - and it's just fine. If you are one to normally move around and even head off property - then yeah, you'd want a car - but otherwise, the bus transportation works out just fine. It's really no farther going from AKV to the MK than say going from BLT to DTD - or vice versa. It's a great big World...everything is far from something at WDW.

 

[erionm]

We stay at AKV every year and as locals we have a car with us. The only time we don't use Disney transportation is when we are going between resorts to dine.

 

[adminjedi]

We have never had a rental car for our WDW vacations.

 

[poohkinandpiglet]

You don't need a car. Bus transportation from AKV is great.

 

[DizGirl20]

Thanks for posting this thread. We will be spending out next vacation @ Kidani. We ALWAYS rent a car and I was planning on renting one again but perhaps this thread will change my mind!

My only concern is we would love to get over the Beach Club/Boardwalk area. How would we get there from AKV? (sorry to hijack the thread)

 

[adminjedi]

Thanks for posting this thread. We will be spending out next vacation @ Kidani. We ALWAYS rent a car and I was planning on renting one again but perhaps this thread will change my mind!

My only concern is we would love to get over the Beach Club/Boardwalk area. How would we get there from AKV? (sorry to hijack the thread)

AKV to Animal Kingdom Park, AK Park BUS to BCV.

 

[Vickis3js]

We actually drive to WDW and once we are there our can never leaves its parking spot!! I think its especially easy to get to other resorts from AKL. You jump on the AK bus and then hop on the resort bus you want there.

Even though its further out from the other parks its never a long wait for it. Plus by car or by bus its still the same distance to get there. We actually drove more when we stayed at Pop.

 

[drusba]

We always have a car but it is easily doable without. The bus transportation is usually good (you have only two internal stops -- at Kidani and Jambo -- and there is no sharing with other resorts and personal view is that it is better than other DVC resorts and beats the snot out of BWV which is my other home resort which has abysmal bus service). However, if you do not have a car I do highly recommend that you request a room close to the lobby. With a car you can park close to your room because underground parking stretches throughout building and thus if you use the car for the parks you can easily get to it from any room in the building. If you don't have a car and have a savanna view room and don't request close to the lobby you can end up about the distance from the lobby that California is from Florida. There is no hallway walk from lobby to room at any hotel in WDW, in Florida, in the United States, that is longer than the one to the end rooms on the north wing of Kidani.

 

[MEM]

There is no hallway walk from lobby to room at any hotel in WDW, in Florida, in the United States, that is longer than the one to the end rooms on the north wing of Kidani.

That is so true! We stayed at Kidani in August 2009 and while the bus service was fine, it was that long walk to our room on top of walking all day that was a killer. I swore that the next time we stayed at Kidani we will have a rental car. It was also quite a hike from our room to the pool.

 

[TagsMissy]

we stayed as a group of 7 last year at Kidani and had no car. We had an awesome time and did not miss driving!

 

[dianeschlicht]

We always have a rental car, but when we stayed at Kidani last march, we never moved it from the spot we parked it in when we arrived until we were ready to leave! The bus service is very good from AKV, and there was really no reason to use the car for anything.

 

[TiaMaria]

I decided to test the popular theory that "AKV is SO FAR from everything" when we stayed there last month.

The bus picks up at Kidani before Jambo for every park, but picks up at Kidani last when going to Downtown Disney. I didn't start timing until the bus actually pulled out of the resort onto Osceola Parkway.

Do you know that the longest bus ride was to Downtown Disney? That ride to the MarketPlace stop was 23 minutes.

The ride to Magic Kingdom was 20 minutes and the ride to Epcot and Hollywood Studios were 18 and 20 minutes. I never timed the ride to Animal Kingdom, but it couldn't have been more than 8-10 minutes - tops. The rides home sometimes seemed about 10 minutes longer if the parks were letting out at that time. I am willing to bet, based on the traffic on the roads, that ALL resorts added at least 10-15 minutes onto their return commutes at that time of night also.

Not too shabby IMO - similar in length to other DVC resorts we have stayed at to the different parks - either by bus or monorail. It has certainly taken our family about 20 minutes or longer to WALK to Epcot and DHS from Beach Club or Boardwalk!

There is no big difference AT ALL in the commute time IMO - it is just a popular myth that gets perpetuated by those that either have never stayed at AKV - and are just repeating what they have heard, or those that don't care for it - and use it to cut it down, or have no desire to stay there - and use that myth to dissuade their friends and family from pressing the matter.

Now, yes, I agree that the walk from many of the rooms to the bus stops at AKV requires careful planning when timing out your commute, but I never found the ACTUAL bus service lacking, except 1 day when we were waiting for an Epcot bus. We waited about 20 minutes, and heard others say they had been at the stop at AKV for about 15 minutes already. Not sure what that was about, but I do know that sort of thing happens at ALL resorts.

All of our other waits were for 10 minutes or less. On the way home - again, we were lucky to never wait more than 10-15 minutes for a bus back to AKV.

C'mon AKV Lovers - let's stop this MYTH in it's tracks right now!

 

[Jitzy]

We always have a car. We were at Kidani last month and just kind of parked it there. Like others were saying, we only used our car for a trip to Wal-Mart for groceries.

It seems to me that unless you are waiting 40 minutes or more for buses, a car doesn't really save much time. You still have to go through the parking tolls, find a spot and wait for a tram, especially at MK.

Save gas and miles, use their buses!

 

[islandtimect]

We've stayed at Jambo, GF, WL, BWV, FW, Poly, and Dolphin and find that the ride time alone doesn't matter, it's the length of time you wait for the transportation. We've waited 2 minutes for a bus to MK from AKL and got there in 20 minutes. We've just waited 28 minutes for a boat to DHS from BWV and got there in 50 minutes. You'll hear that an advantage to being on the Boardwalk vs AKV is how close DHS, BCV and Epcot are. But unless you walk everywhere, a slow boat that makes multiple stops and comes once every 30 minutes doesn't make for quick transportation. I'm happy with AKV transportation.

 

[WDWLove]

Thank you everyone for the great responses! I think we're going to skip the rental car and use WDW transportation on this trip.

 

[kendzee94]

Just remember to request a room closer to the lobby, not at the end of the long hallway furthest away from everything; or if at Kidani, the hall between Kidani and Jambo. I think you have a better chance if you make a request. When we did not make a request, we were 3/4 of the way down the hall that was away from everything and it was a long walk. We never rent a car, never had a problem with the bus service.

 

[nikkistevej]

We have stayed before with no car and we were fine.