Resort bussing... at it's best and worst?

[heimlichfan]

Okay DISsers, needing your two cents... truthfully just for fun but also to ease my mind a bit.

Typical bussing comments on AKL: "it takes forever, it's so far, bus service there is horrible, etc."

What is your true opinion on the bussing from AKL? I have been so so so lucky to stay at different resorts on property over the years and AKL does not come to mind as the worst-of-the-worst transportation. Here are my experiences that have left me wishing for better bussing:


BLT busses to HS and AKL: Busses were shared with BLT, Poly, and GF. Single stops at each resort but still a lot of time on the bus.

OKW busses: Huge resort, many internal stops. Lots of time on the bus

CBR busses: Ditto to OKW

ASM, ASSp: Big resort with great service BUT big resort with great crowds. Long waits to get on busses.


AKL does not make my list. I've stayed there two times and was happy that even though it was farthest away from everything, it had it's own dedicated bus service. (well, now there's Kidani too I guess)

We are planning on staying there again and I just wanted to see if there was anyone out there who agreed with me?

 

[heimlichfan]

And now I feel dumb for using the wrong "its" in my thread title! Grrrr....

 

[mirage0306]

We thought the buses were fine from AKL. In fact, we thought they were light years better than bus service from BWI.

 

[madalex]

I've done 20+ trips to WDW and stayed at 6 different resorts (all deluxe). I've had really good experiences with the buses and really bad experiences. Overall, no resort stands out as particularly good or bad.

I've stayed at AKL on six occasions. Bus service was made a little more complicated by addition of Kidani, but has generally been fine. My biggest problem with the bus service at AKL is that there is no other option. At all the other Deluxe resorts, there are at least one, and sometimes two, parks that can be reached via means other than the Disney buses. Not true at AKL, which makes for lots more bus rides over a several day stay.

 

[OKW Lover]

AKL bus service is no worse than any of the other resorts. Over the years we've visited WDW way too many times to count (probably >100) and have had both good and bad experiences at each resort we've ever stayed at. That's all the Deluxe, DVC, and Moderate resorts on property. The good and bad experiences were at different resorts, often in the same stay.

 

[Pakey]

25 onsite vacations using the buses. I thought AKL/AKV was fine (2 stays here). The SRO after MK closing was a little long but that's to be expected at park closing on a packed bus.

The consistently worst for me is the Epcot resort bus to/from DTD. I really hate this route. It doesn't matter what resort I'm staying at there, the DTD route is bad.

I've never thought any other resort had better/worse bus service than the others.

 

[soccer mom]

The only place we had disappointing bus service for several days in a row was at the Beach Club at the end of a Thanksgiving week. Most of the buses were servicing five resorts (YC, BC, BWI, Dolphin and Swan) and we were repeatedly faced with full buses that we couldn't get on when the bus stopped. It also seem to take forever for them to make the loop to all five resorts.

Comment on AKL: We feel that it has the best bus service in the World. We knew when we booked the resort that it was a good distance from most of the parks (it wouldn't have felt like an African savannah with a castle or a big silver ball in the background!), with that said, the dedicated bus service made it great!

 

[ols386]

I stayed at AKV only once and had no problem at all with their bus service.

 

[buzznina]

I guess the ones that I do not like are the EPCOT and MK resorts, because they go to different resorts, especially for the price you pay to stay there.

 

[HM]

It's been a while since our stays at AKL, but at the time, I felt it was the BEST service of all the resorts, hands down. It was way better than our stays at GF or Poly.

 

[JKSWonder]

We stayed at AKL in 2010 and experienced no bus problems whatsoever. It was sort of miraculous really, since we have the worst bus luck ever.

 

[Perditamarie]

We have had 2 stays at AKL and I think the bus service was excellent. There did not seem to be many DTD buses, but other than that, the service to the parks was great. The buses were plentiful and only 2 stops - Kidani and Jambo, and always a seat too. It did not feel like it took so much longer to get to any particular park, as I have often seen complained of here on the DIS, especially since there was no seemingly endless pick-ups like at WL or BC/BW (also POR w/all those internal stops) .

The worst was BC/BW.

 

[goofy4tink]

I have stayed at......Pop. AoA, Allstar Music, POR, OKW, BLT, BCV, BWV, CR, AKL (Jambo and Kidani), Polynesian. VWL, SSR, Swan and Dolphin. The best bus service? pop and AoA. Those buses go right to the park. Yes they are large resorts but the buses are more frequent at those resorts.
Buses at the Epcot resorts can be annoying. BW always shares with the S/D and sometimes with the YC/BC.
As for the buses at Jambo House and Kidani......I never had issues with buses at either resort. Park closing is always hard as far as crowded buses go. Doesn't much matter which resort it is.

 

[mum2four]

I have stayed at......Pop. AoA, Allstar Music, POR, OKW, BLT, BCV, BWV, CR, AKL (Jambo and Kidani), Polynesian. VWL, SSR, Swan and Dolphin. The best bus service? pop and AoA. Those buses go right to the park. Yes they are large resorts but the buses are more frequent at those resorts.
Buses at the Epcot resorts can be annoying. BW always shares with the S/D and sometimes with the YC/BC.
As for the buses at Jambo House and Kidani......I never had issues with buses at either resort. Park closing is always hard as far as crowded buses go. Doesn't much matter which resort it is.

Agree! The buses from AOA were incredibly convenient. It seemed like new buses were constantly arriving. The direct route with no extra stops was great. Honestly, I can't imagine any other resort's transportation being more convenient to all four parks.

 

[mickeynut1]

Okay DISsers, needing your two cents... truthfully just for fun but also to ease my mind a bit.

Typical bussing comments on AKL: "it takes forever, it's so far, bus service there is horrible, etc."

What is your true opinion on the bussing from AKL? I have been so so so lucky to stay at different resorts on property over the years and AKL does not come to mind as the worst-of-the-worst transportation.

We are planning on staying there again and I just wanted to see if there was anyone out there who agreed with me?

We've had 2 stays at AKL and the buses were great on both stays . The only time we had horrendous bus transportation was during our stay at the BC. The buses shared among all 5 resorts and were always full when they arrived at the BC .

We thought the buses were fine from AKL. In fact, we thought they were light years better than bus service from BWI.

I agree (although our Epcot stay was at BC rather than BWI ).

The only place we had disappointing bus service for several days in a row was at the Beach Club at the end of a Thanksgiving week. Most of the buses were servicing five resorts (YC, BC, BWI, Dolphin and Swan) and we were repeatedly faced with full buses that we couldn't get on when the bus stopped. It also seem to take forever for them to make the loop to all five resorts.

We had the exact same experience the year we stayed at the BC right before Christmas. I don't think we ever had a bus pull up that wasn't full .

 

[heimlichfan]

Thanks everyone!

I feel like our times utilizing AKL bussing has been great - glad to hear that I'm not alone.

With that said, it's crazy to me how bussing is arranged for the high-end deluxe resorts. I can only imagine how some people might feel spending that much time on the busses after spending that much money on the resort!

 

[goofy4tink]

Busing is seldom better at the deluxe resorts. Why? Because you are paying for location...and that location usually means that you can walk, boat or monorail to at least one park. At the Epcot resorts, you can walk or boat to two parks!! You are taking buses to only two other parks.
I stay at an Epcot resort pretty much all the time since buying DVC. I do like to stay at non-DVC sometimes though. And I do have to say that the buses at BW aren't all that different than at, say, POR or SSR. Most resorts have multiple stops within the resort. When I was at SSR last Dec I was in the Grandstand section...we were the first bus stop, both ways. Well....sure, we were able to get a seat every time, but it took 15 mins just to get off resort property (at least!!). Same with POR or CBR. It can take more than 15 mins on occasion. For some reason, people seem to think the multiple stops at the Epcot resorts are much worse than multiple stops within other resorts. I've timed it....maybe 20 mins (but usually closer to 15) from getting on the bus at BW to getting on the actual road to the park...including stops at S/D and sometimes YC/BC.