SOG buses, and a stroller question

[lizhall]

Can someone share some info about the bus transportation at Shade of Green? Since they run on a set schedule (every 1/2 hour or hour, something like that?) do they tend to fill up? Is there the chance that it will fill and then we'd have to wait another 1/2 hour until the next one? Also, we will have a stroller with us (renting a min city gt single)- is it very difficult to manage a stroller on the buses? We will be there the last week of January.

 

[BabyFu18]

I've never been in January so I don't know how crowded the buses get, but I go in the summer and the buses do get crowded but as long as the strollers are folded it shouldn't be a big issue.

Otherwise, I think we've only had to wait on a second bus a couple times and that's generally going from the parks or TTC back to SOG at a really busy time.

 

[stm61]

Can someone share some info about the bus transportation at Shade of Green? Since they run on a set schedule (every 1/2 hour or hour, something like that?) do they tend to fill up? Is there the chance that it will fill and then we'd have to wait another 1/2 hour until the next one? Also, we will have a stroller with us (renting a min city gt single)- is it very difficult to manage a stroller on the buses? We will be there the last week of January.

We've never been in Jan, but I've read that, except for holiday weekends, the main problem is tour groups. Since the tour groups seem to be mainly from Brazil, they won't be staying at SOG. We only go during slow times of the year, but we never could keep the bus schedule straight. We did ok leaving SOG, but usually took a bus or monorail from the park we were in to Ticket & Transportation Center and got the SOG bus back from there. Sometimes we took a bus to the Poly and walked back to SOG from there. I think the buses leave the parks once an hour, but it's not on the hour. It's like 20 till or 10 till or something odd like that. The TT center buses run every 15 or 20 minutes. Also, since SOG is not a Disney resort, the buses pick up out in the charter lots at some parks. AK and HS are ones that I think use the charter lots. The TTC buses are Disney buses and usually pick up close to the front of the Disney bus lots.

Strollers are always a pain on the buses. They have to be folded, you can't leave the kid in them on the bus. That means holding onto kids, the stroller, and packages all at the same time, which is even more fun if you don't get a seat and have to balance everything while standing. The bigger the stroller, the bigger the headache. My youngest is 7, and he's the youngest of 7 and definitely did not get a new stroller lol, so I'm not familiar with the different brands/styles of today's strollers. I would suggest getting the smallest stroller that will fit your needs, and make sure it's easy to fold, light weight, and takes up as little space as possible when folded. Have the stroller empty and folded before the bus pulls up so you don't hold up the line when the bus arrives.

 

[sndral]

Strollers are always a pain on the buses. They have to be folded, you can't leave the kid in them on the bus. That means holding onto kids, the stroller, and packages all at the same time, which is even more fun if you don't get a seat and have to balance everything while standing. The bigger the stroller, the bigger the headache. My youngest is 7, and he's the youngest of 7 and definitely did not get a new stroller lol, so I'm not familiar with the different brands/styles of today's strollers. I would suggest getting the smallest stroller that will fit your needs, and make sure it's easy to fold, light weight, and takes up as little space as possible when folded. Have the stroller empty and folded before the bus pulls up so you don't hold up the line when the bus arrives.

Hoisting a stroller up and down bus steps get's old, I imagine, I watch people w/ those huge models and marvel at the damage being done to backs hauling those things up and down bus steps. Last time we went, this couple had one of those humongous strollers, the husband started trying to fold the thing up as the poly boat approached - I think the poor dad would still be there trying to fold that monstrosity up if my son hadn't given him a hand (or he'd have given up and chucked it into the lagoon,) my son doesn't know strollers, but he's very good at mechanical stuff, even w/ the 2 of them working on it, the boat had to wait awhile, nobody minded, but dad (and mom) where uptight about it.

 

[mum2four]

We stayed at SOG two years age in May (moderate crowds). We only had to wait for a second bus one time and that was at park closing. That was also the only time we had to stand on the bus. The buses were fairly full in the morning before park opening (especially MK) but we never had to stand in the mornings. There were some times during the middle of the day going to/from the parks that we were the only family on the bus!

We used two umbrella strollers during that trip and had zero problems getting them on/off the bus. I don't think I would like to try it with a full size stroller though. I would recommend the smallest stroller you can bring.

Also, keep in mind that if you miss the SOG bus, you can always hop a bus to the Poly and walk back to SOG from there. You can also walk to Poly to catch the monorail. It's about a ten minute walk, but if everyone in your party is mobile, we found it to be a nice option.

Have a fun trip!

 

[JKMastalski]

We were just at SOG in Sept/Oct for 9 days and the only times the bus was ever crowded was leaving parks, especially when they were closing. The buses leaving SOG were never crowded, there is a set time schedule, so we always made sure we were down there about 10 minutes early. Keep in mind too, you can always take the 10 minute walk down the path to the Polynesian and ride the monorail or take buses from there as well!