When did AKL start doing this?

[McGoofy]

When did Animal Kingdom Lodge start doing this? We were at AKL a couple of weeks ago and noticed something new from the last few times we had stayed there. The bus transportation shared a bus with AKL and Animal Kingdom. So for instance, when we wanted to go places, we sometimes (not all the time) would let people off at Animal Kingdom, pick up new passengers at AK and then go to the park that we wanted to go to. One night it was very frustrating for us. We wanted to be at EPCOT for a 7pm concert. We were outside AKL at 6pm. We waited about 20 minutes for a bus. After picking us up at the Epcot zone of AKL, the bus went on to AK. This process added on another 15-20 minutes to the trip. We arrived at EPCOTaround 6:45, so my DH and I had to do some extreme power walking to get to the American pavillion for the concert. We got there about 7:05. Lucky for us, there was seating available. However, without that extra stop, we would have been there with time to spare. Just wondering if this was an unusual week, or is AKL doing that all the time now? I didn't like that much at all.

[magicofdisney]

When we were there about 2 weeks ago, we were at All Star Sports. One morning, charter busses were picking us up and taking us to the parks. I asked what was going on, where were the Disney busses? The driver said they didn't have enough drivers for that day because Disney doesn't pay enough, so they had to bring in extra help. If you were there around the same time, my guess is they just didn't have enough drivers to run the routes the way they normally do.

[DizneyRox]

Disney routes busses now based on need. It appears there was an Epcot bus wihin range, so they probably diverted it. Otherwise they would have used a ton of gas for a dedicated bus.

Personally I don't like how they are running the busses now. You used to be able to count on a schedule with the busses, you can't.

You used to also be able to just stay on your current bus say if you forgot something at your resort, and often this is not the case either. You may actually have to exit and wait at your bus stop for a bus that will be going back.

[Checkers]

:mickey: We returned about a month ago and I was very displeased with the bus service. I wrote to Member Services (thru DVC) and expressed my disappointment as well as making suggestions. We actually had some really surly bus drivers and ones that did not announce the stops (at night) in a resort the size of Saratoga Springs. We were totally confused for a couple of days. I pointed out that if Disney was going to offer Magical Express (which is a great service), and actually having their guests "captive", then it was their responsibility to provide reliable transportation to the parks as well as from resort to resort. For example it shouldn't take over an hour to get to a dinner reservation and another hour to return. Yes, you can take a cab, however, it isn't always affordable for some families. I did receive a reply from MS and they acknowledged my concerns and said they would be passing them on to the proper department. I also think the sharing of busses with sometimes as many as 4 resorts (YC, BC, S&D, BWI) is really pushing the envelope. Well, I'll get off my soapbox and close by saying that if we are dissatisfied with something of this nature, we should notify Disney and then maybe it can make an impact. We love our DVC and just want to make the most of our visits without spending hours to/from our destinations.

[BigRedDad]

This happened to us on several occasions while there on our Honeymoon in 2001. Buses just went wherever needed. We waited 20 minutes for an MK bus, loaded about 15 people, then stopped at the All Stars to pick up more people, then to MK. Total time was 45 minutes.

I don't know why it was that way when we were there. The parks were barren until the day after Thanksgiving. After that trip, we decided that the All Stars and AKL were too unpredictable to stay at. All Stars has too many people and AKL could take you to Sea World before going to MK.

We did get $100 off our room which almost covered our cab fares.