Is transport from AKL to Parks really "that bad?"

[loves to dive]

Don't pick your resort based on the buses. The buses are the buses are the buses are the buses. You are going to have good and bad service at every single resort, I've stayed at all of them except WL, SSS and the new RR. We have even camped at the fort. I've had good and bad bus service at all of them. As far as distance to the other parks, the value resorts are in the same area as AKL, you never hear anyone complain about how far away they are. The only resorts close to MK are the monorail resorts and WL, the rest are pretty far away. If you stay at those resorts, you are going to take some time travelling to Epcot, HS and AK. If you stay at the Epcot resorts you can walk to HS and Epcot or boat (which takes about 20 min), right now you have to bus to MK and even when you could take the monorail it wasn't as fast as people would like you to think, there is no direct route so you have to get on at MK then off at TTC and on another monorail. You have to bus to AK from those resorts. They all have their pros and cons but don't pick one based on transportation unless you know you are going to spend the majority of your time in MK then you can walk there from the 3 monorail resorts.

 

[MissionMouse]

OP, it helps to define what is important to you from your resort. AKL differs from the core deluxe resort where you can walk to one or more parks. At AKL there is not path to take to AK. The buses at AKL is your core method to the parks. Travel time can become a factor if this is a sensitive item of your trip. More time on a bus could equate to less time doing other activities. We stayed at AKL and enjoyed it with an understanding of consumption of time to get round the property. The trade off for us was reserving a Club Savannah view room within a spilt resort vacation.

 

[krissyh]

I am currently booked in a preferred room at CBR, which I have NO desire to stay at. It is not much more for a standard room at AKL, which seems to have equally bad review for busses.
BUT, I could eat breakfast at Boma everyday. It should be open by December, right?
Also, what is the word on Minnie Vans? That would be a game changer.

Of course, if PO opens, we would switch to be there in a heartbeat.

So, based mostly on busses, AKL or CBR?

 

[Lovewinnie]

I am currently booked in a preferred room at CBR, which I have NO desire to stay at. It is not much more for a standard room at AKL, which seems to have equally bad review for busses.
BUT, I could eat breakfast at Boma everyday. It should be open by December, right?
Also, what is the word on Minnie Vans? That would be a game changer.

Of course, if PO opens, we would switch to be there in a heartbeat.

So, based mostly on busses, AKL or CBR?

I would stay at AKL over CBR

 

[RanDIZ]

I am currently booked in a preferred room at CBR, which I have NO desire to stay at. It is not much more for a standard room at AKL, which seems to have equally bad review for busses.
BUT, I could eat breakfast at Boma everyday. It should be open by December, right?
Also, what is the word on Minnie Vans? That would be a game changer.

Of course, if PO opens, we would switch to be there in a heartbeat.

So, based mostly on busses, AKL or CBR?

AKL hands down.

 

[Ecomommy09]

I love AKL and would stay there (and am staying there in August) despite any bus situation. The resort is worth it to me.

Contemporary is so awesome for location that I adore it even though it’s not as relaxing as AKL

 

[igrsod]

I am currently booked in a preferred room at CBR, which I have NO desire to stay at. It is not much more for a standard room at AKL, which seems to have equally bad review for busses.
BUT, I could eat breakfast at Boma everyday. It should be open by December, right?
Also, what is the word on Minnie Vans? That would be a game changer.

Of course, if PO opens, we would switch to be there in a heartbeat.

So, based mostly on busses, AKL or CBR?

AKL in a heart beat

 

[torchlight]

Wow! Incredible response here - thank you so much for sharing all your thoughts and advice and opinions and experiences. It has been extremely helpful for us in deciding what will be best for my family, and I hope maybe it helpful to others in the future as well - I know I spend most of my time here reading existing threads from the past!

We have decided that we are going to stay at AKL for our trip. A few people commented, and I agree, that because we like the resort so much, that's where we should stay. And we really do! The rooms themselves will be a great fit, the Savannah view will be wonderful, and we are excited about the food options and other resort amenities.

On transportation, I feel I have a much better understanding of how the buses work between AKL and the parks in practice. And, in a general sense, bus to AK, Epcot, and DHS seem to be generally in line with bus times from many other resorts. Bus to MK is realistically a bit longer, but not tremendously so. And we have budget to also utilize Uber, Lyft, taxi, car service, Minnie Vans - whatever, really. So, with all that and good planning, we really do believe we can mitigate any additional transportation burden that might come from staying at AKL.

Thank you again all for helping me make this decision!

 

[puertorican00676]

Hi, the problem with the bus, is that it is a bus, not a different kind or novel or romanticized form of transport like monorail/boats/skyliner. Stayed at AKL and transportation was not an issue.
Actually, it’s great that the resort is removed as it takes you out of florida into a “different country” as you enter the resort with the greenery around it that differs from the tropical florida one. That’s what I loved about it. Don’t see issue with buses unless it’s too much to be willing to stand on the bus if it’s full.

 

[bakerworld]

We own at AK but use it mainly for resort only stays. We're not rope drop people. I would say for any park other than AK you'll need to factor in a bus wait and bus travel time to your destination.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

I can only tell you that we'd really like to stay at AKL someday but I keep choosing other resorts because I hate Disney buses. Hate them. Hate the wait, hate the ride. We've stayed at Poly and Yacht Club in the past and decided to go with Grand Floridian this time over AKL and Beach Club and there were several reasons, but (1) we can walk to MK and (2) don't plan on spending much time at Epcot this trip. If we stayed at AKL we'd up taking Uber everywhere.

 

[Shellyred8]

When comparing bus transportation between any of the resorts and any of the parks, there will always be good and not-so-good reports from people. The couple of times that we stayed at AKL, I actually thought the bus transportation was fairly decent. I really loved the 5 minute trip to AK, but I didn't care so much for the 20+ minute drive to MK. But the drive to EP and HS was only like 10 minutes or so. If everything is opened back up at AKL, I wouldn't hesitate to stay there. We even do a visit to AKL on trips when we aren't staying there, just to visit the animals.

I've always found that the boats, monorail and skyliner are more predictable because they don't have the traffic from the public to deal with and slow them down. Yes, there are other factors that will cause issues with these modes of transportation too, so you have to keep that in mind too. For example, if there is lightening in the area, the skyliner goes down and you have to wait for them to deploy buses to your location. So, no location's mode of transportation is perfect. But in general, I prefer staying at one of the EP resorts so we can walk or boat to EP and HS.

 

[helenm29]

We stayed at AKL for a split stay with POFQ last time and had no problem at all! we just made sure we were at the correct bus stop and the correct time....If we knew we were going to be really late coming back from a meal or something we would just grab a Mini van or Uber. We had already looked at how much time it would take us to get from one stop to another from AKL. You just have to plan ahead and give yourself plenty of time.

 

[PollyannaMom]

We stayed at AKL for a split stay with POFQ last time and had no problem at all!

Same for us!!

...You can probably tell my brain is trying to justify AKL because I really like the resort. But I also want to make sure my eyes are wide open about the realities of the transportation options because I can see if I’m off base on that we could end up pretty unhappy if we feel like huge chunks of our day are “wasted” on transportation. I think spending time on transport seems like a part of life no matter where you stay at WDW, so I’m just trying to learn if there is really a huge difference between AKL and the other Deluxe resorts in that regard.

We have decided that we are going to stay at AKL for our trip.

Glad you went for it!! I was going to say that unless you were planning a very "MK-heavy" trip, the extra few minutes wouldn't matter much at all. I never mind the busses myself, as we consider it planning time on the way in and rest time coming back!

I also wanted to add that last time we stayed at AKL, we noticed late afternoon was feeding time for many of the savanna animals, so going back mid-day allows you to see that! We loved the resort, and it's definitely worth the distance.

 

[MickeyMouse3!]

AKL is our DVC home. Personally, I think Disney does a pretty good job with their transportation. Yeah, it's frustrating getting to the bus stop just in time to see your bus leaving the station. Dang! 15-20 minutes of waiting for the next one to arrive. What's the alternative? Paying for Uber/Lyft? Hopefully your ride will be there when you are. This is also another added expense both to and from. Driving your own car (personal or rental)? Mmm, I don't think so. Traffic, parking lot trams and resort parking fees just don't seem all that appealing. Especially since they are daily add-ons. The 15-30 minute ride, depending on destination, and getting dropped close to the entrances, is still better than the alternatives. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

When people are concerned about how 'remote' AKL is, I share some simple research. If you stayed at any WDW resort and did 1 of the 4 parks each day, the overall bus time from AKL is actually less than most resorts. As noted, it's a long ride to MK. On the other hand, if you stay at a monorail resort and want a day or 2 at AK, it's just as long of a ride! So if you split time among the parks, AKL is not a burden. If you are spending more days at MK, a monorail resort would be much more convenient. And if you're doing EP/HS a lot, BC/YC/BW/Swan/Dolphin might work better. And with Skyliner, so will CBR/Riv for those parks.

Glad to hear you're going to try AKL. For us (and not for everyone), it's one of our favorite resorts anywhere, not just Disney. It's quite unique, and when the restaurants are back, it's the best! Have a great trip!

 

[bookgirl]

I didn't really have any problems per say when we stayed at AKL. Like others mentioned it is further out but honestly depending on where you're staying and where you're going you get that at any location/destination. WDW is huge. Just leave early.

 

[krissyh]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/i...o-parks-really-that-bad.3842006/post-63102261Well I switched
Honestly, if PO opens, I will likely switch again but I feel much better about this choice. I don’t mind a longer bus trip. It is waiting forever that bothers me. If the Minnie Vans come bay we might take that to MK.
THANKS FOR THE ADVICE.

 

[mickeyfan100]

Kidani is our home resort, and it’s still our favorite!!! I’ve never had an issue with transportation.

 

[cleophus12]

We have never had transportation trouble at AKL. Worst we ever had was WL! And although the Skyliner is great, the morning waits from Pop/AoA especially can be very long and then you have to stand in another line to switch lines. It took us almost an hour to get to HS one morning during an especially busy week. Won't make that mistake again. Taking a bus from AKL has never been that bad.