AK Lodge buses

srr · #1 11-18-2010, 09:54 AM

I'll be staying at the AK Lodge from nov28-dec2. i've read lots of poor reviews about wait times for buses to the parks. i'm concerned about waisting too much time! any thoughts/suggestions/or recent experience?

Mitzie · #2 11-18-2010, 10:06 AM

We were there a year ago that time so hopefully crowds are equivalent. We had no complaints. Bus waits didn't seem to be any shorter or longer than other places we have stayed at. Enjoy. It is still one of our favorite resorts.

DizneyRox · #3 11-18-2010, 10:13 AM

I have never had a big issue with the transportation at AKL. One thing that might be a problem now though, is the park busses stop at Kidani Village first, then go to Jambo House, so there might be more people in it more of the times. That was never an issue for me, we stay at Kidani Village. From what I remember though, there's usually not a lot of people waiting at Kidani, so maybe the nature of the DVC property is that they don't follow the masses. Yes, there were times when the MK or Epcot stops were packed, but i don't think they ever filled a bus at Kidani, at least not from what I saw. And this is usually are July 4th, which is one of, if not the, busiest times of the year at WDW.

BugeyedMuggy · #4 11-18-2010, 12:34 PM

Just got back from AKL Jambo house. We waited for one buss mid afternoon in EPCOT. The rest of the time a bus was waiting for us or we waited only a couple of minutes.

SoaringDisney · #5 11-18-2010, 02:41 PM

Was there this past Sunday. We waited for about 20 minutes for a bus to go to Downtown Disney BUT all the busses headed to the parks came by about every five minutes.

Gator · #6 11-18-2010, 02:51 PM

When I was there in Jan, most of the buses showed up with 2 minutes. That, of course, is just good timing, but it was still really good. The only time I had to wait was for the MK. I think that has to do with the extreme distance to that park. We adjusted for it on our second day at MK, got there earlier, and got to the park in good time.

Dsnygirl · #7 11-18-2010, 03:15 PM

I can't give you current wait times, as it's been a year since we were there (

) but we never had an issue... I think we waited once for a DHS bus, but truly I don't remember ever feeling frustrated b/c we waited too long. It's a bit longer ride, but we enjoy the scenery... Have fun!!

Mousemates · #8 11-18-2010, 10:26 PM

The rides are longer, but i don't recall waiting any longer there than anywhere else. We've always enjoyed our stays there and have never had any issues with transportation wait times.

megustamex · #9 11-19-2010, 01:11 PM

I think it's just a matter of luck when it comes to buses. I think they say they come every 20 minutes, and it always seemed like we had to wait about 20 minutes. We must have just come to the stop right after the bus left every time! If you're really concerned, I suggest renting a car. It's nice to be able to leave whenever you are ready, whether it's from the hotel or the park. The only place parking is a drag is MK.

lawgirl · #10 11-19-2010, 01:48 PM

We've stayed at the AKL for almost 10 years now. Its definitely our favorite, and we can't imagine staying anywhere else.

Maybe we are just patient people, but we have never really experienced a bad wait time for a bus at AKL. It helps that the bus waiting area is pretty cool, and love the African music.

I had worse wait times at the WL and CB...but maybe we've just been lucky. I definitely would not let that deter me from staying at AKL. Its a pretty awesome place!!

LandFan · #11 11-21-2010, 06:21 PM

We've stayed there and we often go there for meals and we've never had bad wait times there!

iheartdisney · #12 11-26-2010, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by megustamex

I think it's just a matter of luck when it comes to buses. I think they say they come every 20 minutes, and it always seemed like we had to wait about 20 minutes. We must have just come to the stop right after the bus left every time!

We had always avoided AKL for the very reason you mention. We finally tried it a couple years ago and had excellent luck with the buses. I posted a trip report and mentioned the amazing bus service. Someone else posted a comment on my thread who felt they waited the full 20 minutes each time they used Disney transportation - and they were at AKL during the exact same time we were. We've been back since and have continued to have good luck with the bus service at AKL. In fact, I'd venture to say, it's been the shortest waits, easiest and fastest service to the parks that we've experienced compared to any other resort. Maybe pixie dust just follows us.

jillluvsdisney · #13 11-26-2010, 07:25 PM

We stayed at AKL Jambo in August. We had no car rental so we used the buses every day. There was never a problem getting a bus from the AKL or back to the AKL.

Donald A · #14 11-27-2010, 02:19 PM

Did a week at Kidani Village earlier this month. All-in-all busses were OK. The buses go to Kidani Village first and then Jambo House. Never waited long but often the people at Jambo wouldn't get a seat as the Kidani Village people had taken them. The one poor experience was our first night (Sat) on a bus to go to downtown disney. This bus is the only bus to go to Jambo house first and it was packed and took forever to come. My pregnant wife and I had to stand on our way to reservations at House of Blues. Definitely not a good first night but things were pretty good with the busses after that.

Donald A · #15 11-27-2010, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mousemates

The rides are longer, but i don't recall waiting any longer there than anywhere else. We've always enjoyed our stays there and have never had any issues with transportation wait times.

This is another good point. The only thing you are close to from AKL is the Animal Kingdom itself. Everything else is pretty far. I think of the EPCOT / Studios area being South Central and Downtown Disney way east of EPCOT and AK and AKL way west. The Magic Kingdom is way North. So if you are looking for a central location close to everything the EPCOT resort area is perfect (boat transportation to EPCOT and the studios too). I, once again, didn't have too may problems at Kidani Village and it was nice and new as well.