How is the transportation to and from Animal Kingdom Lodge?

[dumbo ears]

We are staying at the AKL in a couple weeks and id like to know how the transportation is? Are the buses crowded? How are the buses to the MK around 8:30 or so?

[auntfrannie]

When my group of 8 stayed there a couple years ago the bus service was great. We never waited longer than 10 minutes at AKL to catch a bus.

[DakotaDisney]

I stayed at AKL in January of '07.

The buses to and from AKL were very good.
We had our own buses, there was always plenty of room. It only the fullest in the evening at the end of the day. The waits were not long and we never had to wait for a second bus at any time of the day.

Have a great trip! I am going back to AKL in May!

[DizneyRox]

AKL often gets a bad rap in my opinion. I've never had a problem there, with the room, food, or the transportation. Actually, I'd rather stay at AKL than the Grand Floridian.

[Tygger7]

One thing to remember....AKL is the furthest away from all the parks except AK. Even if you have to only wait 5-10 mins on a bus, you need to allow 20-25 minutes drive time into the actual park, especially MK. I did a "test ride" last time we were there, just to see if being so far out would bug me....and it did. But, I spend most of my time at MK so it makes more sense for us to stay at WL or one of the monorail resorts. Budget your time accordingly and allow more than you think you'll need to get to the parks and you'll be fine.

[sorarail]

AKL has a long, covered walkway with lots of benchs - and each destination has it's separate boarding area. It's a fairly comfortable place to wait.
The buses come quite regularly - DH and I never had to wait more than 5 minutes for one when we stayed at AKL. However, if overall travel time is important you, I agree that you might want to stay at a resort closer in.

[SurferStitch]

We've never stayed at AKL, but we have taken the bus from AK to AKL a couple times.

Both times we waited a VERY long time for the bus to the resort...we were very surprised since AKL is next to AK. One time we waited around 40 minutes for a bus, and another time it was around 25 minutes. This was in the early afternoon both times. We waited around 15-20 minutes at AKL to head back to AK both times.

We were very surprised at how long we had to wait, and said that we wouldn't want to stay at AKL based on what we had seen. Hopefully these were flukes, and service is good, because we have considered staying here in the past. It's just so far away from everything, that we would have to get a ridiculously great deal for us to pull the trigger. We'll see....maybe for our next trip.....

[ThanxForNoticin]

Let me start by saying we love AKL and recommend it to anyone who asks. As for the bus transportation, most of the time it's really good. Just something to keep in mind, though - during slower times of the day, it is possible that your trip from AKL to some of the parks will make more than one stop on the way to the park. In the mornings and evenings, I believe most of the bus transportation to and from AKL is just for AKL. But in the late morning and afternoon, you will have to allow for extra time for a stop at the Wilderness Lodge and Grand Floridian on the way to MK. This might not affect you at all, but you should be aware. We were at AKL a couple weeks ago and were disappointed with the extra stops - but we should have known. Have a great trip.

[Tinkerfreak]

We do love the fact that you don't share buses with other resorts but I have to admit that there have been times we have had to wait a while for a bus. There is nobody out there to report the problem to so you have to walk back up the hill to the resort so I think sometimes they are not aware of the problem.
We stayed at the Poly last year and although we loved the monorail the bus service was horrible. We waited at least 30 minutes every time we took the bus to any park. DH was very upset about this. We also had the same problem when we stayed at the BC and we hated sharing busses. By the time the bus got to the BC it was full so we had to stand. We have only had to stand on an AKL bus a couple of times and that was at park closing and now we just wait for the next bus.

[tnpoohbear]

We have stayed at the AKL twice with the last time in October. We love this resort and the bus service is just fine - you do not have to share the bus with any other resort like you do with the All Star resorts (although we love those resorts as well). The buses start very early - we are at MK before 8:30 and the buses came about every 15-20 minutes I think they are more frequent when the crowds are heavier.

You will love it!!

[EmmMOM2]

They have their OWN buses so you dont need to stop and pick up other hotels.
I never waited more then 5-10min for a bus to arrive and we were NEVER standing.. we always got a seat. In fact we were never on a bus to or from their where people had to stand.
This was in the month of august as well, when it can be busier.

[ThanxForNoticin]

They have their OWN buses so you dont need to stop and pick up other hotels.

Just to clarify a point. During slower times of the day, they do go on a schedule that stops at other resorts. We just did a mid-afternoon trip from AKL to MK 2 weeks ago, and we first stopped at WL and GF on the way. Most of the day, there are not extra stops - but they do double and triple the hotel stops at times during the late morning and early afternoon.

[RedSoxFan]

We had excellent bus service during our stay at AKL. The longest wait was 10 minutes for the MK bus; and that only happened once. The other times it was 5 minute wait or less.

[Goofy Dad 13]

We have always had good luck with the transprotaion from AKL. Not sharing busses with others is one of the things we consider as a great benefit of staying here.

With regard to distance from the parks, other than MK, is seems closer to some of the other parks than the MK resorts.

[Giselle]

When I stayed at AKL a yr ago, it took at least a half hour on the bus to get anywhere except AK. More often than not we waited 15-30 minutes for the bus both ways. Although I loved the hotel I felt like we wasted half our day waiting for and riding on buses.

[DizneyFanz]

We have always had good luck with the transprotaion from AKL. Not sharing busses with others is one of the things we consider as a great benefit of staying here.

Totally agree! Never have had any problems with the buses at this resort.

[IC10]

We never ever waited long and the only time we complained about the buses is when we went from WL to DTD. Well let me clarify we went from WL to the campgrounds to the Poly, to GF to DTD. On all of our AKL buses we went straight to our destination without hardly any wait and it never felt that far to MK. AKL is one of the best kept secrets people bash it all the time and I love it cause it means there will always be room for me when I get to go home aka. AKL!