Please settle my anxiety over AKL busses

[Marc A.]

Our upcoming trip is almost 2 weeks away and after hearing stories of long waits, long travel times, packed busses I am getting stressed.
Please calm me down!!!

 

[ADP]

I wouldn't worry too much. AKL has dedicated busses, meaning they don't share them with another resort. I do believe the DHS bus stops at Blizzard Beach on the way, but other than that it should be good.

Travelling to the MK does take a little longer because that park is furthest away. Just remember though you are only a 3 or 4 minute bus ride away from the Animal Kingdom. EPCOT and DHS are not that bad just remember the stop at Blizzard Beach.

You'll love AKL! It's a terrific resort experience.

 

[Nooshkin]

We stayed at AKL in Sept/Oct and did not have a single long wait. The only crowded buses we had we at peak times such as park closing. I too was concerned because the year before we stayed at PO-FQ and had horrible bus experiences!

 

[sshaw10060]

We were at AKL the second week of January and I found the buses were perfectly fine. They tend to be longer rides than some other resorts since the resort is a little more off the beaten track. If traveling to a park or DTD the bus is the way to go. If you are traveling to another resort, spring for a cab (this is true for most resort to resort trips). It is a good use of your money.

 

[Marc A.]

thanks everyone!

 

[brandylouwho]

We stayed at AKL in December and rode the bus to & from a park about twice daily and all went well save for one incident. Interestingly, that incident occurred on a morning when there was a transportation CM out at AKL tracking buses, etc. Also, it happened when we had an early ADR at the Magic Kingdom, so we actually had to be somewhere at a certain time.

While it was not funny to us at the time, in the grand scheme of things all went well. We weren't even late for our early CP ADR (but we were very worried that we would be late).

1 not so stellar experience out of some 30 bus rides...pretty good odds to me.

And remember, poeple are far more likely to post about a bad bus experiences, but all the good ones aren't worth a post...they are expected, normal and not so note worthy most of the time.

 

[SAHDad]

We stayed at AKL in late January, and I am pushing hard for it to become our "normal" resort. (The home one for the in-laws DVC is WL, but I'm pushing for them to try and get AKL rooms for our Oct trip.)

We had a savanna view, and although we could not see giraffes from our window, we still could see zebra, spoonbill, ankole cattle and several other animals.

Concerning transportation: AKL to AK is about 5 minutes. Without counting the time to wait for a bus, and ignoring Downtown to AKL (since it seems Downtown to any resort is always a hit-or-miss), our average bus trip was about 20 minutes*. Even with factoring in the wait for the bus, we still averaged about half an hour - which is pretty much what we have found to be the case for WL. YMMV, but for our trip, we had bus problems only twice - once to DHS, and the early morning bus to MK for Crystal Palace ressies. In both cases, we missed the bus, and had to wait for some time before another arrived - but that's pretty much always the case in those circumstances.

* Anywhere from 15 to 22 - I'd check the time as soon as we got on the bus, and again as soon as we arrived. DW and I were the first in our family to stay at AKL, so we had to scout out everything.

 

[noladave]

I don't mean to add to your stress, I would love to calm you down, but I want to relate our experience at AKL. I disagree with some people here - we stayed at AKL in feb 2005, and we will never stay there again. It is a wonderful resort, but the fact remains you are miles from anywhere. Bus trip to MK is a min. of 20 minutes, and can take longer. Leaving MK at night, can be a long wait. The worst part is that you have to stand for 20-25 minutes after a long day at the park, because all of the seats are taken by parents with kids (or your own kids). The kids all fall asleep because the trip is so long, so you will probably have to carry your kids all the way back to the room, or wake them up to walk back. (been there done that)

with that said, remember to just plan accordingly. IN the mornings, make sure you are up early enough, and get out to the bus stop. Or, like we started doing after day 2, just drive to the parks. It made our life less stressful, and you can come and go as you please.

Also, if you don't have kids, these things are that big of a deal.

 

[757hokie]

Two week-long stays at AKL and no complaints about the bus service. Don't let it be a source of stress...you're going on vacation to Disney World and staying at an AMAZING resort!

Even if there are one or two "incidents" during your stay when you have to wait a little longer for a bus (and that can and does happen with any bus route)...so what?! Are you going to let a 10 minute wait for a bus ruin your vacation? Of course not.

It's funny how we're willing to deal with waiting an hour in an attraction queu when we have to, but we let a 20 minute bus ride be a source of anxiety!

 

[Iggipolka]

We stayed at AKL Jan 2009 (it's our Home DVC resort) and had absolutely no problems with the bus system. Average time to MK was 15 minutes, AK was less than 5, Epcot 10-15 minutes, DHS 15 or so with the stop at Blizzard Beach.
Coming home from Epcot one night, it took exactly 10 minutes from pick up to drop off, pretty impressive.

The wait for the bus was between 0 minutes (bus right there) and a max of 20 minutes. No big deal at all and quite a normal wait with all of the other resorts as well.

Have a great time and don't stress about this!

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

We have stayed there 3 times and never once had an issue. By far the best bus service we have ever had.

 

[mybabesuz]

Plus the bus stops at the parks are a whole lot closer than some of the others.
I remember going past Bus stop #3 at MK for AKL and Crying... as I had to walk to stop #24 for POP !
That was enough... We bought a DVC at AKV !!!
I can't wait to ride the AKL buses...

 

[BriarRosie]

I don't mean to add to your stress, I would love to calm you down, but I want to relate our experience at AKL. I disagree with some people here - we stayed at AKL in feb 2005, and we will never stay there again. It is a wonderful resort, but the fact remains you are miles from anywhere. Bus trip to MK is a min. of 20 minutes, and can take longer. Leaving MK at night, can be a long wait. The worst part is that you have to stand for 20-25 minutes after a long day at the park, because all of the seats are taken by parents with kids (or your own kids). The kids all fall asleep because the trip is so long, so you will probably have to carry your kids all the way back to the room, or wake them up to walk back. (been there done that)

with that said, remember to just plan accordingly. IN the mornings, make sure you are up early enough, and get out to the bus stop. Or, like we started doing after day 2, just drive to the parks. It made our life less stressful, and you can come and go as you please.

Also, if you don't have kids, these things are that big of a deal.

These things can happen at any resort. Over the course of the years, I've experienced similiar issues at Port Orleans and more recently, my home resort, Beach Club. I do think renting a car is a better stress reliever, but I'd still take the bus to the MK because of TTC avoidance.

I actually like that AKL doesn't share a bus with other resorts, unlike the Swan/Dolphin/Yacht/Beach/Boardwalk run that can happen during slower times of the day. (And the same joy can be said about Pop Century. That resort doesn't share routes either.)

 

[hannah's dad]

We stayed at AKL for three nights last year at the end of a trip and I don't remember any issues with the busses. Generally the worst waits we have personally experienced were from SSR.

We are returning to AKL in a studio villa for eight nights next month and can hardly wait!

 

[DWFan4Life]

Our upcoming trip is almost 2 weeks away and after hearing stories of long waits, long travel times, packed busses I am getting stressed.
Please calm me down!!!

I just wanted to say enjoy your trip, don't worry, all gonna be fine. Just have fun and hope you had a great time.

Have a nice and safe trip coming.

 

[stitchlover]

We were going to stay at AKL this year but the buses scared us. I hope you will share how it went when you get back. I would still like to consider it for next Spring.

 

[Just People]

There could be no worst bus stop than the one for Boardwalk Resort. My God, it felt like we stopped at every WDW resort before we headed to the theme parks. We were so glad we had a car. Even going to MK was more convinient with a car.

 

[arielrocks]

we stayed a week in Sept 08 - no problems with the busses at all - very reliable - we had no long waits - maybe 10 mins was the worst!!!!

I agree getting to and from MK is probably the worst journey of all but only becuase if the time it takes to get there and back!!!!

 

[Disney Khi]

I really wouldn't worry. We stayed at POR last year, and to read the complaints about buses at POR on these boards you would think Disney only sends one 12 passenger van around every hour to try to pick up everyone at the resort. However, we never had any trouble. We never even had to stand up on a bus, and we used Disney transportation exclusively. The only experience I have with AKL transportation is from AK to AKL and then AKL to DTD on the night we ate at Boma. It was fine. We didn't have a long wait for the buses and then the buses weren't extremely crowded. The rides weren't that long either. (Well, especially not AK to AKL! ) I would love to stay at AKL, and I wouldn't let a little thing like this bother me. In fact, it wouldn't even cross my mind to worry about it! Go and have a great vacation!

 

[Marc A.]

Again, thank all of you for your opinions. We are really excited for our trip and I feel much better after reading these posts.
Our last two trip were on the monorail so I may just be one-tracked in my thinking (no pun intented with the one-track) lol.
Thanks again
Really love the DIS!!!