Any improvement on AKL bus timing?

Jessirip

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 12, 2016
We are currently booked for an AoA suite. Our kids are 3 & 6, so the theming is great for them. We are a family of 4 so don't need the extra space, but it is nice.

I can't stop dreaming about a stay at AKL though, and a standard room there is actually $200 cheaper for us currently. Since the kids will have fun no matter what (they'll have plenty of theming in the parks), I am really considering changing. But I am so very on the fence just because of the transportation complaints I have read.

We are planning a mid-day break with park hopping a few days, but not all. A few nights we will call it a day early. We have 7 day tickets and are spending about the same amount of time in each park, including 2 days at AK. A little more MK heavy than Epcot.

I've googled and know there are varying opinions, but I always like to ask specific to our situation and also see if any recent experiences (especially during the very busy recent holiday season) might be shared.

One more thing to throw out is that if we don't stay at AKL this time, we will when we return in about 3 years and the kids are 6 and 9. The only reason I'm not sold on this is that AKL is the dream, and I always try to live for the moment... yada yada.

Finally, split stay totally silly with young kids right?

Thank you!
 
Google every resort. You'll find transportation problems posted for them all.
People complain. Warranted or not.
If you walk up every time 1 min after the bus leaves you'll think it sucks every time. If I approach 5 min before you and just get the bus before it pulls away I'll think it's great. Even though we were at the same resort and only 5 min apart at the bus stop.
So bottom line, what one person reports about the bus really has NO bearing at all on what you'll encounter during your trip. Buses run every 20 or so min. For every property. That doesn't really change.

Personally, we always choose Deluxe over Value Suites. We are "stuck" at an AoA suite for a trip in March at the moment because DD is coming with us. We need 3 sleeping surfaces so no one has to sleep with DGD (aka the human starfish). I'm looking for a bunk bed room at either AKL or WL to open up for our dates. For the cost, I'd much rather stay at one of those.
 
Google every resort. You'll find transportation problems posted for them all.
People complain. Warranted or not.
If you walk up every time 1 min after the bus leaves you'll think it sucks every time. If I approach 5 min before you and just get the bus before it pulls away I'll think it's great. Even though we were at the same resort and only 5 min apart at the bus stop.
So bottom line, what one person reports about the bus really has NO bearing at all on what you'll encounter during your trip. Buses run every 20 or so min. For every property. That doesn't really change.

Sorry if I am asking silly questions, I guess I am hoping to hear about good experiences, as complaints are more common for those to take the time to write. That's the bad thing with Google too, so many answers! But I tend to trust those that post here on the Dis which is why I put it out there to ask. Figured it couldn't hurt.
 
Not silly, sorry, I wasn't meaning to say that.
Just when it comes to buses, it's really impossible for anyone to answer. It's as much about how your timing works out than anything. If you have good timing, you have good reports. If you have bad timing, you have bad reports.
The bigger point is, if transportation complaints are what is holding you back, then they should hold you back for booking anywhere as every resort has complaints. No resort is immune to them.

I can tell you that we have stayed at AKL 3 times and never found their buses to be any different than every other resort we've stayed at. One of the nice things is they never share with another resort, unless you count Kindani as "another resort". They come about every 20 min. Sometimes you stand, sometimes you don't. The monitors are a great help to let you know when a bus is coming. Yes, they change, because they are on moving/stopping buses. So times update continually. We still find them helpful.
 


Not silly, sorry, I wasn't meaning to say that.
Just when it comes to buses, it's really impossible for anyone to answer. It's as much about how your timing works out than anything. If you have good timing, you have good reports. If you have bad timing, you have bad reports.
The bigger point is, if transportation complaints are what is holding you back, then they should hold you back for booking anywhere as every resort has complaints. No resort is immune to them.

I can tell you that we have stayed at AKL 3 times and never found their buses to be any different than every other resort we've stayed at. One of the nice things is they never share with another resort, unless you count Kindani as "another resort". They come about every 20 min. Sometimes you stand, sometimes you don't. The monitors are a great help to let you know when a bus is coming. Yes, they change, because they are on moving/stopping buses. So times update continually. We still find them helpful.

This, I have stayed at AKL at least 15 times now (Jambo every time except for one) and the vast majority of our waits have been less than 15 minutes, and I find this to be about the same property wide. You can certainly have longer waits, or fuller buses, but as the pp said that's likely more of a timing thing than anything else, but overall we have always been pleased with the bus service at AKL.
 
Not silly, sorry, I wasn't meaning to say that.
Just when it comes to buses, it's really impossible for anyone to answer. It's as much about how your timing works out than anything. If you have good timing, you have good reports. If you have bad timing, you have bad reports.
The bigger point is, if transportation complaints are what is holding you back, then they should hold you back for booking anywhere as every resort has complaints. No resort is immune to them.

I can tell you that we have stayed at AKL 3 times and never found their buses to be any different than every other resort we've stayed at. One of the nice things is they never share with another resort, unless you count Kindani as "another resort". They come about every 20 min. Sometimes you stand, sometimes you don't. The monitors are a great help to let you know when a bus is coming. Yes, they change, because they are on moving/stopping buses. So times update continually. We still find them helpful.

Got it, thank you so much. :)
 
This, I have stayed at AKL at least 15 times now (Jambo every time except for one) and the vast majority of our waits have been less than 15 minutes, and I find this to be about the same property wide. You can certainly have longer waits, or fuller buses, but as the pp said that's likely more of a timing thing than anything else, but overall we have always been pleased with the bus service at AKL.
This is good to hear too thank you.
 


We have totally enjoyed our 2 stays at AKL and find that resort to be the most unique of all the resorts. We have over 30 trips and we do not even consider transportation when we pick a resort anymore. We know it can be great or bad any given day at any of the 3 levels of resorts, and this includes the monorail.
 
I agree with both previous posters. We have stayed twice at AKL and are going back again. We love it! Waiting for a bus was never an issue - I don't recall a wait time that was out of the ordinary. I don't find the Drive times too bad to any of the parks and we do a mid day swim break every day.
 
The key thing to remember about bus transportation from the resorts is that it's like a major city's transportation system. AKL doesn't run their own bus system, neither does AoA or any other Disney resort. It's one big system. By and large, they do a really good job of moving many thousands of people around an area twice the size of Manhattan every day, but....stuff happens. Buses break down, drivers get sick, estimates for how many people will need a bus back to WL at Epcot closing tonight are off.

@AngiTN is quite right in saying that a lot of guest experiences with the buses come down to timing and luck. If you happen to walk up just after an MK bus leaves and spend the next twenty minutes sitting there with impatient kids while it seems like busses for every bleeping destination on Disney property come and go...it's frustrating. If you happened to leave your room 10 minutes earlier or 10 minutes later, it would have been a happier experience.

You know yourself and your family best. Some people just wanna go when they're ready to go, and not be waiting around for their ride. It may be worth renting a car if you'd be much happier having the transportation under your control.
 
Google every resort. You'll find transportation problems posted for them all.
People complain. Warranted or not.
If you walk up every time 1 min after the bus leaves you'll think it sucks every time. If I approach 5 min before you and just get the bus before it pulls away I'll think it's great. Even though we were at the same resort and only 5 min apart at the bus stop.
So bottom line, what one person reports about the bus really has NO bearing at all on what you'll encounter during your trip. Buses run every 20 or so min. For every property. That doesn't really change.

I've stayed there three times with a fourth coming up and this is SPOT on!! I would say overall the bus service is very good. Yeah, you will experience the occasional 20-30 minute wait throughout the trip, but that is the exception. Also, this resort will have CM posted at the bus stop during busy times, which helps.
 
I’ve stayed hundreds of nights at AKL. Their bus service is as good, if not better than any of the other resorts. Only resort I haven’t stayed at is Art of Animation. I’d book that standard room over a value resort in a heartbeat. An bonus—it’s cheaper!
 
In the past two years, we have stayed at Poly, VGF, AKV, OKW, BLT, and BW. Oh, and SSR for one night. I will take AKV transportation over those others any day of the week.
 
I've stayed at AKL dozens of nights, and have found the bus schedules to be no worse than any other resort.
 
We are currently booked for an AoA suite. Our kids are 3 & 6, so the theming is great for them. We are a family of 4 so don't need the extra space, but it is nice.

I can't stop dreaming about a stay at AKL though, and a standard room there is actually $200 cheaper for us currently. Since the kids will have fun no matter what (they'll have plenty of theming in the parks), I am really considering changing. But I am so very on the fence just because of the transportation complaints I have read.

We are planning a mid-day break with park hopping a few days, but not all. A few nights we will call it a day early. We have 7 day tickets and are spending about the same amount of time in each park, including 2 days at AK. A little more MK heavy than Epcot.

I've googled and know there are varying opinions, but I always like to ask specific to our situation and also see if any recent experiences (especially during the very busy recent holiday season) might be shared.

One more thing to throw out is that if we don't stay at AKL this time, we will when we return in about 3 years and the kids are 6 and 9. The only reason I'm not sold on this is that AKL is the dream, and I always try to live for the moment... yada yada.

Finally, split stay totally silly with young kids right?

Thank you!
We stayed at AKL over Easter weekend last year and had excellent bus service. No complaints.

AKL vs. AOA is no contest imo, especially if AKL is actually cheaper. Request a Kudu Trail room (or "near paddock", if that's still an online check-in option), and you might get lucky like we did, and get a great animal view outside of your standard room.
 
We had a great experience with the busses at AKL last year and we are booked to return in the spring. My kids were 5 and 3 when we went.
 
We stayed at AKL for the first time 2 years ago for 7 park days and are going back in March. We only had one Loooooong wait for a bus that whole week. I’ll take that any day.
 
We never had any issues with bus transportation at AKL either time we stayed there and we often go back and forth to the resort during the day. We also liked that the buses only go to Jambo House and Kidani Village and nowhere else so it's a relatively quick trip. We didn't find it to be any better or worse than BC, BWI or GF. Even though there are other modes of transportation at those three locations, you still may have to wait just as much as if it was a bus and it wasn't bad there either. I wouldn't let complaints steer you away from AKL.
 
I just got back yesterday, we stayed at Jambo house. The buses were great! we never waited more than 15 minutes and this past weekend was PACKED.
 

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