Newbie: Staying at AKL -- Should I rent a car?

[LisaC]

Hi - first-time poster here. I made many trips to WDW as a child/young adult, but haven't been for nearly 10 years and am so excited for my upcoming trip! It will me my 2 year old son's first trip, and my husband's and my first time staying on the property. We can only go for 4 days due to time constraints, so I am trying to plan the best trip I can. We are staying at AKL -- due to my booking at a fairly late date (2 days ago), there wasn't much available at a lower price point at AKL, so I decided to just go for broke and stay Concierge Level. Oh, and the trip is a surprise for my son and husband (if I don't get too excited and spill the beans early!). I just found this board yesterday, and am hoping to tap your wealth of knowledge.

So, here's my first question: I have read that AKL is fairly remote and am worried about relying on the busses for inter-part transportation. We'll be going 2/11-2/14. It looks like I could get a rent-a-car for not much more than what limo service to/from the airport costs, but then will parking in huge lots and having to walk/tram to the parks from those lots cancel out the time savings of not having to wait for the bus?

Also, I have requested a non-smoking room with a view of the Arusha Savannah based on some stuff I read on other websites. I have seen somewhere that despite that request on my reservation, I should also fax a request to the resort anywhere from 3-5 days prior to arrival. Any thought on optimal timing for this fax?

Would love opinions from you experienced DIS-ers! Thanks in advance!

 

[madalex]

You should get a car if you plan to do a lot of resort-to-resort trips (for meals and the like). Since there are no direct buses from one resort to another, those trips can take awhile (up to 1-1/2 hours).

However, a car is not needed for trips to the parks and, as you suggested, hassle of parking car and getting to park from parking lot (especially at MK) outweights any bus issues. Yes, the resort is on a remote part of the property, so that some of the bus rides can take awhile. However, AKL does not share a bus with any other resorts, so there are fewer stops once you are on the bus.

Since you are staying on the concierge level (which you will love; AKL has a great concierge lounge), call the concierge for help with your room request. That's what we always do and it seems to work much better than going through the regular process (one of the benefits of concierge service).

 

[TrickyFish]

I never found AKL's "remoteness" a problem. Yes, its farther away from some parks which equates to a slightly longer drive, but buses were never a long wait and only were problematic at park close (as are all busses, I imagine).

 

[Selket]

Welcome to the Disboards!

Wow - what a great trip! We drove down 2 years ago and stayed at AKL and we drove a couple of times to the AK and to the MGM parks but took busses all the rest (we were there 7 nights). The bus service was fine but sometimes we did wait almost 30 mins to get a bus - the wait was often around 15 mins for a bus to show up - which isn't so bad really. The AKL has dedicated bus service so the bus shows up at the hotel empty and usually it wasn't full when it pulled away. Getting back to the hotel from the park - like after fireworks when everyone is leaving - is a longer wait for the bus - sometimes we had to wait for 2 busses to come and fill up before catching the 3rd. I"m guessing if we'd taken the car we would have still been waiting to get somewhere too.

We had a 20 month old that trip too and a rather large stroller (we were using it as a wheelchair) and the stroller folded down and fit nicely under some seats near the back door - no problem. If someone was sitting there and didn't have anything stored under the seat we just asked if we could slide our stroller under and no one minded. These could be the seats that fold up for wheelchairs but there were no chair riders on our busses.

The zero entry pool is great for a little one - have fun!

 

[3Mousketeers]

Hi LisaC - Welcome to the Dis - Don't have time for a long post but wanted to tell you we'll be there around same time as you - 2/9-2/13. We have 2 DS's (5 and 6) and a DD (20 mo). Our first trip to AKL. We did rent a car but from what I read it seems like you don't have to. My DH is really worried about the logistics of getting all 3 kids on the bus. I'm hoping that after we try it we'll use the bus all the time. Seems alot easier than parking etc. I figure we got a good deal on the car and at least we'll have it for the ride back & forth to the airport. FYI - I got the best rate at Dollar & they are directly located at the airport (no shuttle!).
Maybe we'll see you there!

 

[pumpkinboy]

I never found AKL's "remoteness" a problem. Yes, its farther away from some parks which equates to a slightly longer drive, but buses were never a long wait and only were problematic at park close (as are all busses, I imagine).

TrickyFish has it right! Driving to the parks from AKL is much less convenient: once you get to the parks you still have to take a tram (stroller folded) and those can take as long as the bus. Buses at AKL are frequent and direct, and drop you right at the park entrance. And when you come back for your child's mid-day nap (highly recommended) it's a fairly easy commute back (done it).

As for your requests, the resorts became so deluged with guests' requests coming thru on the fax machine that they now routinely throw them out. Official policy is to attach any requests to the reservation, and these will accompany your reservation into the room assignment process. And remember, your requests are just that, requests, not guarantees. You are more likely to get your requests the fewer you have and the more general they are. Rank your requests from most important to least important. If there is some medical reason you need a non-smoking room (our DD is athsmatic, for example) be sure to ask for "non-smoking, medical reasons" and make that the first request.

Good luck! Enjoy your stay at my family's favorite resort!

 

[dizneyfan]

Our family rented a car on our first trip and only used it once during the entire trip. Our next two trips we got a towncar for airport transportation and used the bus system for the majority of our other transportation needs. We found that the busses dropped us off closer to the entrances of the parks so that just about canceled out any time savings on driving our own car.

We did rent a cab during our last trip from AKL to the Boardwalk where we had a PS at Spoodles. The cab cost about $10--the valet services will gladly call one for you. We took bus transportation to DTD after eating, to shop for a while, then a bus home to AKL. Our other PS's were at Chef Mickey's and Ohana. You can get there by taking a bus to Magic Kingdom then hop on the monorail.

If there wasn't much difference in price, a car might be a good deal. However, the difference when I priced them has always been more than $100 more for a car. You can get several taxis for that price!

Enjoy your trip!

Dizneyfan

 

[my3kids]

I just got back from AKL Concierge yesterday. We loved it. We also requested non smoking and we had a wonderful view of the animals on the Arusha Savannah.

The lounge was great, with a full continental breakfast, snacks throughout the day and hot items from 5 to 7 with beer and wine. Eight to 10 had desserts. The lounge was on the 6th floor, where I actually requested to be placed. We ended up on the 5th , just past the Zebra elevators and it was convenient. I ended up loving the location.

We did have a rental car, and did the valet parking. The valet thing was nice because when we went to another resort, we could just drive to the door and they would take the car away, just like at "home" at AKL. After a couple of days though, for the parks we started using the busses and I actually liked that better. But, with a little guy, calling ahead and having the car w/ car seat right out front might be easiest.

If you have any questions, just ask!

 

[LisaC]

Thanks so much for the quick replies. I am now leaning toward just getting a limo to/from the airport. I will have to strap the car seat in a rental or in the limo, so that will be a hassle either way, but it sounds like the wait for the busses isn't that bad. We are only going to bring an umbrella stroller, so that should be fine on the busses.

The concierge staff did put my room requests on my reservation, so I guess I will leave it at that. They have been super so far -- have set up dinner reservations for all 3 nights, a character lunch at Crystal Palace and have booked us on Sunrise Safari. They are also going to have a birthday gift delivered for DH, and a little surprise for DS, too. They are the ones who suggested I might want to ditch the rental car, but I wanted to get your opinions, too.


My3Kids - so glad to hear you were there so recently and loved it!

3Mousketeers - I hope we do run into each other, and hope we have nice weather while we're there!

 

[HopperFan]

I agree that you do not need a car and the only time it may be an issue is if you want to go to another resort. We had company come from Ft. Wilderness to AKL to eat, via DTD and said it only took 30 minutes so that wasn't even bad. Also if you drive to MK you still have to take monorail or ferry over the lagoon, that is after riding the tram, where if you ride the bus you are dropped right at the front gate. ! Our bus trip from AKL to MK last May was 10 minutes !

I think you'll be fine without it ! Have fun !

 

[sanibelover]

I love having a car at Disney, but it is a long way from the parking lot to the rooms at AKL. Unless you use the valet, it can be a real hassle. If you forget something in the car, it can literally take 20+ minutes to retrieve it........been there, done that....

 

[ksc37]

I guess you don't NEED a car at the AKL, but when we went last February, we were really glad to have it.

At the time, our children were 11 months and 3 years. First of all, I hated dealing with two strollers on the bus. Secondly, I found waiting in long lines for the bus with tired children to be a bad experience. One day, after leaving the AK at closing they had just 1 bus going back and forth. It took the bus 3 trips back and forth before we could get on (at least 30 minutes). After waiting for the bus 25-30 minutes at the MK the next afternoon to go back to the hotel for naps, we decided to start driving. Once you were on the bus, it was not problem, because there are no other stops, it was just waiting in the lines at the bus depots that was a pain.

I know most people love the AKL bus service (so we may have just been there on a bad week), but we found it to be poor (I think they only had one bus in service for each park). Driving to the parks was fine for us, because with it being low season, we could park fairly close and bypass the trams. Even driving to the MK was fine, because I like taking the boat and monorail from the TTC to the Main gate.

Overall, I loved the AKL, don't get me wrong, but I won't stay there again until the kids are out of strollers.

 

[Kapp]

We parked it and got back in a week later. The transportation from the AKL is fine. Some have complained but you can do that about any resort at a specific time. Even resort hopping can be done with some planning and transfers. Driving around WDW is a pain so we leave the driving to Disney!

Enjoy and be sure to eat dinner at BOMA. Excellent!

Kapp

 

[LisaC]

Thanks so much for all the replies -- I am looking forward to browsing these boards and getting to know this great group of Dis-ers! And hopefully, after my AKL visit, I will have some fresh information and be able to contribute a bit to the knowledge base.

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

Hi Lisa - welcome to the Disboards!

We stayed AKL Concierge last March and had a wonderful time. You have made a super choice! One nice thing is that the pool has a zero entry which will be great for a 2 year old. No steps to fall on if he is moving too fast.

As far as your room requests, I agree with the other folks. Leave it to the concierge staff. They will take care of you. A great part of concierge is checking in in the lounge. You can get a cold drink, sit down, and your little fellow can watch tv.

Be sure and try Mara, the food court. We found the selections there to be tasty for a quick meal or something to take back to the room My DD could live on the chicken sandwiches on pretzel bread. We love Boma and Jiko, also.