POR: Hints for buses?

[theresamom]

I bought our package today!!!!!!! YAY!!!

We are staying at POR for the very first time. We've always stayed at values, but we are splurging a bit this time. Staying in a Royal Guest Room.

I starting reading up on POR and I've heard much much much about the poor bus service.

So, do any of you have any "bus hints" that will help with any potential problems?

Should we always go to the bus stop right outside the food court, etc (South Depot)? What about the bus stop nearest to our room (potentially the East Depot)? I've even heard that it makes more sense to walk to POFQ because they either have their own bus with one stop or they are the first stop between the two resorts?

Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[softballmom3]

We stayed at POR last thanksgiving and found the depot outside the food court to be horrible. Waits were the longest, more people and really more rude people.

From our room the north location was the closest and we hardly ever waited for a bus. However some of that could have been some rooms were still out of service due to refurbishment.

We always saw tons of people at the depot near cs.

 

[butsy113]

I would like to know too. Getting ready to book POFQ.

 

[mad madam mim78]

The west depot is almost always the first stop. Don't do the south depot. It seems to go west north east south. West and north are good ones from our experience.

 

[GusGus77]

We were recently there and nearest the east stop being in the royal guest rooms. Overall the stop was ok, but it was often we waited 20 min for a bus. I would not go to the stop by the food court. For most of the parks it is the last stop being picked up. East tended to be second to last or last. East was also the last drop off stop. Kinda annoying some nights. But def. not enough for the long walk from the food court stop. We actually ended up driving a lot to not deal with the bus there as it was quicker to drive most days.

 

[theresamom]

The west depot is almost always the first stop. Don't do the south depot. It seems to go west north east south. West and north are good ones from our experience.

Oh boy! Not good news for us... our nearest bus stops are east and south.

 

[butsy113]

I've even heard that it makes more sense to walk to POFQ because they either have their own bus with one stop or they are the first stop between the two resorts?

Can anyone tell me the answer to these?

 

[a1tinkfans]

pofq has always had there own pick ups, drop offs (from parks) sometimes stopped there before POR
That being said, we LOVE por and despite the write ups here, we have had very good luck with the buses...and we always use the south one for pick ups....walking thru the general store for easier access, depending on where we are...
We always book preferred rooms (AB section, requesting bldg 18/14 which are now designated) so that has always worked in our favor too...close to stop main bldg ect etc.
I have to say that the people here on the DIS are really not the "whole" of all the the visitors...so their/our experiences, good and bad may not always be the most accurate KWIM? We are all prob a small fraction of the visitors Overall...
I would seriously say, dont panic, dont stress, the buses work just fine many more times than not,
Now having said that, there are glitches at times, like at very popular times, ...so if you want to avoid lines that are Xtra longer, go at off times, OR show up plenty early...we have taken the bus to POFQ from MK as it came faster and we just walked to POR, its on a lighted walk, about 12ish minutes...because we did not want to wait....the buses to the resort seems to change the stops, some starting at south, some ending at south, so ya just dont know....
Overall, we like the convenience of the buses...they are FREE/included, they are cool and comfortable, they are Clean and we just like the whole "feel" of them....
Have a great trip, POR and POFQ are both great resorts...

 

[OThopeful35]

We had very good bus service at POR and POFQ

 

[afnaechiquita]

In my last trip, I waited 30+ minutes for a bus at the north depot (which I also never managed to successfully find as I would swear the arrows on the signs all pointed the wrong way...) to MK one afternoon

It all varies on what park you're planning to go to, time of day, etc. If I wasn't trying to be adventurous and make my way to the north depot, I only ever went to the one outside of the lobby, and very rarely had to wait longer than 15-20 minutes or face a crowded bus.

 

[Sue M]

Can anyone tell me the answer to these?

No I don't feel it's worth it to go over to FQ for a bus. By the time you walk over there you could be on a bus and off to the parks!

I always have used the North or East Depot and like them much better then the Main Depot which is always so crowded compared to these. I have never thought POR had bad bus service. 99% of the time busses ran well, there was the morning that it seemed 10 of every bus went by except for the one we wanted, but I've had that experience at just about every resort. Always seems to be one glitchy morning.

 

[Gorechick]

I just responded to this on the POR thread as well. We were in a RR in Parterre Place in August and we used the South Depot. It was neither a far walk or very crowded. If you end up in Oak Manor on the side near Magnolia Terrace, East Depot might be an option as well. East was much farther than walking over the Oak bridge to South. If you are on the River Side in either RR building, I'd go with South.

 

[mamamary]

I know when we stayed at POFQ we pretty much always shared buses with POR and we were almost always picked up first. Sometimes it would be standing room only by the time the guest from POR got on.

 

[Tink415]

It definitely would not make sense to walk to POFQ , unless you wanted to do extra walking for some reason. I also don't think you can count on any one stop at POR being more advantageous than another stop, all the time. We use whatever bus stop is closest to where we're leaving from at the resort, or where we're going to when returning to the resort. IMHO the bus service at POR is generally excellent, with an occasional glitch, same as at any other resort.

 

[Prose]

We were there a couple of weeks ago and never had problems with the buses. We were in Oak, so used either the South Depot or the East. I think it is HIGHLY dependent upon what time of day you are using the buses. Int he mornings, we'd grab breakfast then head straight to the South Depot - we'd shoot for getting on a bus about 45 minutes to an hour before park open, and never had problems with crowded buses. We'd take a bus back to the resort around 2pm, then bus to wherever our ADR was around 5pm. In general, we'd catch the evening bus at the East Depot. The only lines we ever had were headed back to the resort at park close.

We normally ate breakfast around 7am, as soon as the food court opened and saw no crowds. We slept in a bit one morning and ended up eating closer to 8:30 and it was a madhouse. I would absolutely recommend eating and getting on a bus as early as possible if you want to avoid crowds.

Pick up pattern seemed to generally be South-West-North-East, and drop off was West-North-East-South for some reason. It did vary at times.

If you are in Oak, I would say that the walk to the South and East Depots is just about the same in terms of time. the walk from the Mansion to the South Depot is definitely prettier and very relaxing.

 

[nkereina]

As you can tell just by reading this thread, there is no rhyme or reason to the bus patterns. Some days, South gets picked up first, some days its last, etc. It's up to the driver's discretion and the needs of the resort depending on crowd levels, time of day, etc.

Bus service can be awful or amazing at any resort at any time. Drivers don't stay with the same resort so how can it stay it bad? Its always changing.

We used the South depot last year at POR most times and although its the most crowded, it receives buses most frequently. An MK bus will come to south depot and fill up, and then another MK bus will be dispatched to hit the other depots (during busy times).

 

[mad madam mim78]

This last trip we did a couple of nights catch the bus from the park to POFQ and walked to riverside cause the bus lines were so long. I don't recommend. It wasn't the longest walk but after a long day it seemed eternal.

 

[I Love Pluto]

No bus issues here at all. We stay in AB section of POR & use the South Depot. There was never a problem - and this was in April & again in August.

Going back again right after Thanksgiving. We are excited!

 

[Dixiemom]

This is why we drive to the parks ourselves (with the exception of EMH at MK)......but of course if you don't have a car you can't do that.......

 

[buzznina]

We have stayed at the different levels of resorts and have had good and bad bus days at each. I still pick disney's transportation over me driving to the parks.
First; we never try to leave a park right after fireworks, you are going to wait no matter what resort you are at and it will be standing room only. Also; we have jumped onto the POFQ bus from a park and just walked or took the boat to POR. For us it's a nice relaxing walk next to the river. But, we do not have an issue with walking at the resort even after a full day at the parks, we enjoy it
It will be nice once all the bus stops get computerized, I saw an article on it and it said that the bus stops will have a computerized screen and it will tell you which bus is coming next, with an estimated time.