Animal Kingdom is it out of the way ?

[Inlastplace]

Hi,
Ive been reading the forum for the last couple of months since we decided to go to Orlando in August 2020. We originally intended to stay at either CBR or PORR that was until we saw AKL. Various reviews say its very nice but a bit isolated. Apart from AK how long would it normally take to get to the other parks by bus. CBR and PORR seem more centrally located and have the options of the Skyliner and boat as well as a bus. Oh the pool looks more impressive at CBR as well.

We are a family of three (son will be 12 and on his first visit to Disney) if that makes any difference.

Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions.

[2019DisneyEvans]

We are here now staying at AKL. It’s about 20 minutes to some of the parks. It’s beautiful and doesn’t feel too far.

[Rescuer]

We didn’t find that at all.

We’ve stayed twice once for 15 nights and once for 12 nights and only ever used Disney transport.
We had a couple of minor issues but we thought it had one of the best bus services we’ve encountered so far.

The longest journey is to MKbut it’s not bad really and having stayed in MK resorts and Epcot resorts they all have one place that takes that little bit of extra time.

You are minutes from AK and also pretty close to Epcot and Hs.

[Guest]

I am always puzzled by the comments about AKL being out of the way, as it is said often. However if you look at a map, it isn’t out of the way at all. In fact the MK resorts are furthest away from anything else other than MK itself, and nobody ever says they are out of the way.

I have just changed from AKL because we wanted to go club as we don’t have a dining plan, but I would have no issues staying there at all. We have visited several times and find the transportation absolutely fine.

[sha9]

I don’t think AKL is out of the way at all. Add 5 minutes to journey time compared to other resorts. I think the issue is that the other deluxe resorts are all close to either DS or the other 3 parks.

[PoohBears#1fan]

I think that AKL feels more out of the way as there is only 1 form of transport, if you look at the other deluxe resorts, the MK & Epcot resorts have boats and monorail & some have a park walkable, even OKW has boat transfer to DS, at AKL you have the buses only and can't walk to any parks.

We feel it's remote and use it as our base when we aren't doing any WDW parks during our stay, it's a quick drive to get off property and as we can't physically see any resorts from there and it has a unique feel, we don't feel that we're missing out.

It's not always about geography.

[emmafleur]

I think it might be down to the theming perhaps that makes it feel out of the way? Being surrounded by a savannah is beautiful and immersive so that it’s easy to forget you’re at Disney. I wonder if that’s what people mean by feeling isolated. Maybe it’s not meant in a negative way 😊❤️

[GezzasGem]

Will be our third visit this August and don't feel it is any more out of the way, having stayed at CBR and POR also. We have fallen in love with the theming and it is our go to resort now!

[Inlastplace]

Thanks ever so much for all the replies. Having never stayed on site in WDW (our only other WDW visit being the best part of 15 years ago) it's difficult to get an understanding of the location/travelling time to all the parks. Thanks once again for the comments.

[Mexy02]

I dont know if this will get removed but it’s a great tool for finding travel times
ourlaughingplace/aspx...x#.XKkTMBrTWf0