AKL & SSR - current wait times for buses listed here

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We are at AKL right now and I thought I would share our wait times.

Friday - 12:30 PM waited 1 minute for a bus to MK.
At 9:37 PM we waited 7 minutes for a bus back to AKL.

Saturday - 8:05 AM waited 3 minutes for a bus to Epcot.
At 1:44 PM we waited 12 minutes for a bus back to AKL.
At 5:15 PM we waited 10 minutes for a bus to Epcot.
At 9:34 PM we waited 12 minutes for a bus back to AKL. (We did end up standing on that one.)

Sunday (today) - This morning we did the Sunrise Safari at AK so we didn't take a regular bus to the park.
At 2:22 PM we waited 12 minutes for a bus back to AKL.
At 5:30 we waited 17 minutes for a bus to AK.
At 8:25 PM we waited 5 minutes for a bus back to AKL. (Park closed at 8 PM.)

Tomorrow we are moving to SSR so I will post our results from there as well.

[Steamboat Girlie]

Thanks for posting that! I really appreciate you taking time out of your vacation to do that.
We leave on Sunday. Those waits don't seem too bad at all.

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I have Disney insomnia, so I am loving the internet access! :rotfl:

Today:
Bus from AKL to MGM (or whatever they are calling it now) - waited ZERO minutes because it was pulling in at 7:30 AM as we walked up to the stop.
Coming back from MGM to AKL at 11:30 AM we waited about 5 minutes. :)

We transferred to SSR today.

I have to say we were VERY pleased with the buses at AKL. :thumbsup2

[itsreally4mommy]

A bit ironic that your longer wait times were to AK.

[kimberh]

What great times you are having! Thanks for posting. :thumbsup2 The next time I go, I am going to keep up with them also. I have really never clocked the bus. We only had one day on our last trip where I thought we had a excessive wait. We did report it to a driver and he called a bus in. I think AKL had been over looked.

[SamSam]

Thanks for posting your wait times. It's always helpful to know what other people are experiencing.

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I am afraid our luck is changing.

SSR to MGM last night - went to the bus stop in Grandstand at 5:11 PM. Waited FORTY THREE minutes for a bus. I am not exaggerating. We saw at least one bus for every other park. 4 for AK and 2 for Epcot. I was FURIOUS. We had a 6:25 dinner ADR that we didn't get to until 6:45. By the time we got to the parking lot at MGM 61 minutes had passed since we got to the bus stop at SSR.

MGM to SSR - Got to the bus stop at 9:33 PM and waited 6 minutes. That was fine.

Today is early entry at MK so we are hoping we actually make it. :headache:

[isyt]

Good Luck!! Can't wait to hear, I go next week to OKW!! I hope I don't have to drive to the parks !!

[marbella_chris]

i hate staying at SSR purely for this issue with buses, and refuse to stay there from now on. they have real problems with transportation there, and we have also waited 30 minutes plus for a bus to every destination from SSR

terrible !!!

[kikiq]

We're at SSR right now and here are our times so far.

Arrived Saturday and didn't use the buses because friends had a car.

Sunday
DTD - Fort Wilderness -20 mintes (PS - DO NOT do this method of getting to Fort Wilderness. I wanted to take the bus to MK then the boat, but was outvoted)
SSR - MK at 8pm - waited 15 min

Monday
SSR-Epcot at 10am 15 min
SSR-DHS at 6:30 5 min

Longest wait was from MK - SSR 30 min


This morning we're headed back to DHS and another group to MK.

[hakepb]

i hate staying at SSR purely for this issue with buses, and refuse to stay there from now on. they have real problems with transportation there, and we have also waited 30 minutes plus for a bus to every destination from SSR

terrible !!!

I would not completely rule out SSR for the busses. I was there 2 weeks ago, and only had one long wait (to MK), but the next day was just fine (to MK) I also had a 0 minute wait to DHS (Started running up to the bus from a block away but a super-friendly bus driver CM stepped out of the bus, saw us, and called "stop running! The bus cannot leave without me!"

The one long wait did give me an idea of a new game I'd like to play. "Take the first bus" That way you'll never experience a long wait from a resort to the parks. But the remaining days were so good, I gave up on implementing that idea.:yay:

[Rock'n Robin]

keep the reports coming....the early morning busses are what I'm worried about, esp. MK.
Robin M.

[HayGan]

Thanks for the update. We have pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that we will be driving to and from the parks. Guess another reason to be thankful for driving from Pittsburgh to Orlando!
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[hakepb]

I have still never experienced an overall trip (from SSR and BWV) where I though it would be quicker to drive than bus to the parks. Especially with MK. If you drive to MK, then you park in the lot, take a tram to TTC, then take the boat or monorail to the MK. It is a truely grand entry sequence, but much like climbing a huge stairway to a Capital building, it is also a great waste of time.
Perhaps as much as 1 out of 10 times might I actually save time getting to MK, but overall I save a great deal of time bussing vs driving to MK. (And one of those times, the delay was construction before the MK tollbooth which delayed those driving, too)

[hakepb]

duplicate

[kimberh]

I have stood in line at MK at the bus stop, I can't remember which resort, and watched SSR buses pull in one after another, while we waited and waited. Finally, We looked over, put our hands at our sides, at the CM directing every thing and a bus stopped for us. This was at MK, I know we waited 45 min on that day. It was AKL or VWL, I just can't remember which one. Good luck with your stay.

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Today has been better (so far).

We went to the bus stop at 6:51 AM to start waiting for a bus to MK. There was an MGM bus sitting there, which was ironic since we waited FOREVER for one of those last night! :headache:

The MK bus showed up at 7 AM, so only a 9 minute wait. We made it round to the other stops and got to MK by 7:40 AM.

We went to the bus stop at MK at 2:44 PM and waited 11 minutes for a bus. Once we were on the bus we had an additonal 6 minutes before the bus departed, but a 17 minute total wait is fine. There were maybe 8-10 folks in front of us in the line, not sure how long they had been there before we walked up.

[grumpydad]

i hate staying at SSR purely for this issue with buses, and refuse to stay there from now on. they have real problems with transportation there, and we have also waited 30 minutes plus for a bus to every destination from SSR

terrible !!!

while i'm sure everyone at some point has had a terrible experience with the buses, it is purely a matter of luck.

i was at SSR last week and only waited once more than 10 minutes and that was to typhoon lagoon, whci doubles with DTD

[BigEeyore]

Thanks for sharing - keep it coming and have a great trip!

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Tuesday 8/5 - SSR to MK at 5:35 PM - bus was there when we walked up.
MK to SSR - bus was there when we walked up at 10:53 PM. It was my birthday so we are chalking it up to birthday magic.

Wednesday 8/6 - Epcot to SSR 8:25 PM - waited 16 minutes.

[HayGan]

Thanks for the updates. I hope you are having a great trip & Happy Belated Birthday!

[Laneychris]

Thanks fopr sharing, hope you are having a great time!

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We are having a blast! :banana:

Today - 9:30 AM - SSR to MK - When we went to the bus stop there was a "purple pants" guy out there. Within maybe 3 minutes a bus for AK, Epcot, MK and then MGM all showed up one after the other. Interesting.

Tonight - 8:04 PM - MK to SSR - waited 16 minutes.

[tgj]

I wish more people would do what you're doing -- actuallty look at their watch and jot down the time they got to the bus stop and the time their bus actually arrived. I have no proof, but I'll bet the buses come more quickly than people think. I've often heard people say (myself included) "Where's that bus? We must have been waiting here for half an hour," when it's really only been 15 minutes.

I think this is a good thread and a nice eye-opener for some.

[JustSayin]

Looks like the bus service at SSR is not quite as bad as you might be led to believe by reading some reports. Your experience pretty much mirrors what ours was over the 10 days of our last visit.

We had 1 acceptable bus wait at SSR (20 minutes), 1 bad wait at the Poly (45 minutes), 1 terrible wait at DD going to AKL (60 minutes), and 1 terrible wait at the Yacht and Beach Club (60 minutes).

Thanks so much for the info, and hope you continue to have a great trip.

[stba2006]

I don't suppose any-one else could share their times? This has been really interesting.

We are staying at AKL in Oct and after reading some threads i was starting to worry about the resort transportation as we are not driving. After reading this though i am feeling a bit better :)

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We are actually still here, but I have stopped the super-precise bus monitoring because we just haven't had any issues since our first night at SSR. We checked out of SSR on 8/11 and moved to the Poly (where we never used a bus) and yesterday we moved to AKV. We went to MK yesterday around 4 PM, waited about 20 minutes for a bus. Came back last night about 10:45 PM (in the pouring rain) and waited maybe 10 minutes for a bus. It was probably less than 10, but I was soaking wet so it felt like longer.

This morning we went to MGM (got to the bus stop around 8:20 AM) and while all of the other buses came first, we still easily made it before 9 AM. We didn't wait more than 10-15 minutes. The bus goes to Blizzard Beach first, so the transport time is a little longer. We came back to AKV around 1 PM, and again, the wait for a bus wasn't too bad.

[Brave teacher]

Keep it up! I am enjoying seeing these times. I was also getting uneasy with staying at SSR in Feb. and seeing people reporting problems with the waits. Thanks!

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

This morning we had an 8:05 ADR for Crystal Palace. We were at the bus stop at 7:15 AM. A bus came about 7:20 or so. We got on with 2 other families. One family was going to the Poly so they essentially hijacked our bus and got the driver to take them directly to the Poly. It made me mad for a couple of reasons. First, there is NO resort to resort transport and we spent a LOT of money on taxi fare this trip to make sure we got to our ADRs on time. We never attempted to hijack a bus. IF that family going to the Poly was the only family on the bus that would have been a different story, but we were trying to go to MK, and so was the third family. I think the driver should have told them to get off at MK and take the monorail. We did get to MK by 7:45 AM but I wasn't very happy about the detour.