We just returned from a quick four-day trip to WDW, so I thought I would post a quick review of our DME and park transportation service.
Our flight arrived at approximately 12:40 p.m. on Sunday (about 15 minutes early) and we headed straight to the DME welcome desk. We were stopped at the entrance to the queue by a CM posted at a podium there. The CM reviewed our vouchers, asked about bags and then sent us directly to the bus queues without having us do a full check in at the desk. The CM at the bus queue reviewed our vouchers again, noted the number of bags checked and scanned the bar codes, then sent is into the AKL line. We waited maybe 15 minutes to board the bus and it filled quickly. It made three stops before AKL--POP, CSR and CBR--and we at the resort by 2:00 p.m. giving us a total time of 80 minutes from deplaning to resort.
Bus service to and from the parks was excellent throughout our stay. The longest we waited for any bus was approximately 10 minutes and most waits were shorter than that. Some buses back from the parks were crowded, but that's what I would expect when leaving the MK at 11:30 p.m. on an EMH night or when leaving AK immediately following the afternoon parade.
One new AKL transport consideration has to do with Kidani Village, the new DVC property that opened recently. In all of our trips to the parks, we proceeded directly from Jambo House (the original AKL site) to the parks. However, with the exception of or late-night return from the MK, all of our buses back from the parks stopped first at Kidani Village before going to Jambo House. The two are very close together, though, so that only added maybe 5-10 minutes to the return trip.
DME back to MCO worked as expected. We were scheduled for a 5:05 p.m. pick up and the bus arrived at 5:00 p.m. with only four passengers already on board. A total of 10 people boarded at AKL, but we headed directly to MCO from there with a mostly empty bus. A couple that rode with us indicated that they had been scheduled for a 4:35 pick up that never happened and that CMs at AKL confirmed that neither the 4:05 p.m. nor the 4:35 p.m. DME bus stopped at AKL. It's not clear if there was anyone scheduled for the 4:05 p.m. bus, but there was at least two passengers scheduled for pick up by the 4:35 p.m. bus that failed to arrive. There was plenty of room on the 5:05 p.m. bus, however, so there wasn't a problem. We were dropped off at MCO at approximately 5:45 p.m. and encountered NO LINES at SWA check in or at security.
Our flight arrived at approximately 12:40 p.m. on Sunday (about 15 minutes early) and we headed straight to the DME welcome desk. We were stopped at the entrance to the queue by a CM posted at a podium there. The CM reviewed our vouchers, asked about bags and then sent us directly to the bus queues without having us do a full check in at the desk. The CM at the bus queue reviewed our vouchers again, noted the number of bags checked and scanned the bar codes, then sent is into the AKL line. We waited maybe 15 minutes to board the bus and it filled quickly. It made three stops before AKL--POP, CSR and CBR--and we at the resort by 2:00 p.m. giving us a total time of 80 minutes from deplaning to resort.
Bus service to and from the parks was excellent throughout our stay. The longest we waited for any bus was approximately 10 minutes and most waits were shorter than that. Some buses back from the parks were crowded, but that's what I would expect when leaving the MK at 11:30 p.m. on an EMH night or when leaving AK immediately following the afternoon parade.
One new AKL transport consideration has to do with Kidani Village, the new DVC property that opened recently. In all of our trips to the parks, we proceeded directly from Jambo House (the original AKL site) to the parks. However, with the exception of or late-night return from the MK, all of our buses back from the parks stopped first at Kidani Village before going to Jambo House. The two are very close together, though, so that only added maybe 5-10 minutes to the return trip.
DME back to MCO worked as expected. We were scheduled for a 5:05 p.m. pick up and the bus arrived at 5:00 p.m. with only four passengers already on board. A total of 10 people boarded at AKL, but we headed directly to MCO from there with a mostly empty bus. A couple that rode with us indicated that they had been scheduled for a 4:35 pick up that never happened and that CMs at AKL confirmed that neither the 4:05 p.m. nor the 4:35 p.m. DME bus stopped at AKL. It's not clear if there was anyone scheduled for the 4:05 p.m. bus, but there was at least two passengers scheduled for pick up by the 4:35 p.m. bus that failed to arrive. There was plenty of room on the 5:05 p.m. bus, however, so there wasn't a problem. We were dropped off at MCO at approximately 5:45 p.m. and encountered NO LINES at SWA check in or at security.
