ASMu

[Mulan82]

I'm posting this here because I posted it on the Transportation board and I personally don't think anyone really goes to that part of the site very often and I was trying to get more point of views...



Please tell me if I am missing something here.

I have read that AS resorts share buses. Now, with that said.

We stayed at ASMu in Sept of 2008. We never had to share a bus with either AS resort. At all the parks we had our own bus stop. They had ASSports and ASMovies as one stop and ASMu as their own.

I told my friend this who was going to WDW the following October. She was staying at ASMu too. SHe said that she had to share buses the whole time.

Am I missing something here?

We might book at March 2010 trip at ASMu but I am wondering if we will have to share a bus with the rest of the AS resorts or if this was just timing on our part?

I will add that it didn't matter what time of the day it was, we always had our own bus. and it was September during free dining and it was pretty darn crowded.

 

[CarolAnnB]

I think it depends on how crowded it is. We have gone in April two different years and once in June and stayed at All Stars and never shared busses, they were too full after just stopping at one resort. But in slower times I have also heard that they share.

 

[Mulan82]

anyone else?

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

CarolAnnB is correct. The bus loops are dependent on crowd size and are altered to meet demand.

 

[wideeyes]

We were there last september and buses didn't always share, only a few times when it was not very busy. Also MK never shared a bus.

 

[Manda]

I was there in June and sometimes they were shared and sometimes they weren't. It was never a problem though even when they were shared. Honestly, the transportation was great there. A whole week w/o a major bus complaint - I've always had at least one major annoyance on my other trips. And we use transportation a lot - we park hop repeatedly (3 parks in a day is not uncommon for us) and take mid-day breaks at the resort. So, we spend a lot of time riding around on the transportation. I really wouldn't worry about it.

 

[wideeyes]

it was never a problem though even when they were shared. Honestly, the transportation was great there.

I agree, I was worried about it after reading all the comments on here however I found them great.

 

[Mulan82]

Hmm.. thats weird.

We never shared a bus. Never.

Any time, any park we went to.. we never shared a bus.

Odd. Maybe I had some extra pixie dust that time!

I mean, I have no problem sharing a bus. I was just wondering if there was a special reason for that! Thanks for all the replies!!!

 

[momto6princesses]

We just got back from ASM last week and we shared buses the entire time and I was really frustrated at times because we have 5 kids under 7, and we ended up standing with the girls about half the time. With All Star Music being the second stop it was already quite full by the time the bus arrived for us and thats why we had to stand. In hind sight if I was staying again at a All Star resort i would pick sports.

 

[darkkskyzz]

Staying at ASMu in Dec
My parents are staying at ASMo

Think it will be busy enough that there will be no bus sharing...or should we all just try to get on the same bus together?

 

[KSDisneyDad]

We just got back from ASM last week and we shared buses the entire time and I was really frustrated at times because we have 5 kids under 7, and we ended up standing with the girls about half the time. With All Star Music being the second stop it was already quite full by the time the bus arrived for us and thats why we had to stand. In hind sight if I was staying again at a All Star resort i would pick sports.

We have stayed at all three resorts (Movies 3 times, Sports 3 times and this was our first full stay at the Music). In the past, we rarely shared buses and even rode buses instead of using the rental car on certain days if we knew we weren't leaving at park closing. This trip we decided to forgo the car and regretted it the entire time.

We just finished with an 8 night stay (returned Monday 8/17). We had to share buses most of the time with the major exceptions being Magic Kingom (always had our own bus both to and from), Epcot (had our own bus going to Epcot but shared once on the return trip and another time had our own bus at closing), DHS (had our own bus going to DHS, but shared on the return). For AK, BB and DTD/TL, we always shared both coming and going.

I appreciate your concerns as we had them as well. After standing for 20 minutes, you still get onto a full bus and have to stand some more. And then they head to Movies to cram even more people on the bus!!

If you're okay with 20 to 30 minute waits at an unshaded bus stop in mid-August with a 10 to 20 minute bus ride standing because you're the second to be picked up, then I guess the bus service is for you. We thought the bus service was horrible. Even my kids wondered why we returned the car after the first day. They were sick of waiting for buses and having to stand on a crowded bus, especially when we tried to head to DTD for a few hours (count on 2 hours just for the transportation to and from DTD!!!!).

To be fair, there were about 4 or 5 times where we walked right up and caught a bus. We used the buses for at least two round trips each day and overall were quite frustrated. The only time we had seats were the mid-day trips.

Staying at ASMu in Dec
My parents are staying at ASMo

Think it will be busy enough that there will be no bus sharing...or should we all just try to get on the same bus together?

When in December? If you go before 12/20, you probably will share buses for AK, DTD and maybe even DHS. After that date, it'll be so crowded at WDW that you will probably get your own bus. Since you're so close, if you want to stick together, I'd suggest one family walking over and joining the other at the bus stop unless you prefer just to meet somewhere in the park later.

 

[momto6princesses]

I am right there with you, we stood alot and having our 5 little girls who were tired already, have to stand again after getting on the bus, after they had stood in line to catch the bus, soured things drastically for us. I think if we were told when we booked about the shared buses we would have probaly did something differant. We learned the bus system isn't nearly as good as it was a couplel years ago, we will either stay at a differant resort next time or rent a car.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Since returning, I've posted a few times about how much the bus service to/from the AS Music was horrible. I still stand by that, but I will say we did have one positive thing occur on the bus system. We met and had great conversations with a lot of different people from across the world. We talked to former cast members, first time visitors, families like us and adult only groups. Once you're on the bus, it can be very enjoyable even if you're standing. The only exception is at night when everyone is tired and even a little "grumpy", plus they turn off the lights.

 

[tnd]

In January 2009 (after New Years), we only shared in the middle of the day when the bus was pretty empty. Park openings and closings always seemed to have separate ones.

 

[maxiesmom]

I am right there with you, we stood alot and having our 5 little girls who were tired already, have to stand again after getting on the bus, after they had stood in line to catch the bus, soured things drastically for us. I think if we were told when we booked about the shared buses we would have probaly did something differant. We learned the bus system isn't nearly as good as it was a couplel years ago, we will either stay at a differant resort next time or rent a car.

Honestly, it doesn't matter so much if your resort shares a bus or not. The buses are usually packed. Plus there are only 2 resorts that don't either share a bus with another resort, or have multiple stops within the resort. CSR for example dosn't share, but has 4 stops all its own. The Animal Kingdom Resort and The Pop Century are the only resorts that don't share and only have one stop. But those are not small resorts either. The Pop on its own is 50% larger than any individual All Star resort. The only way to be sure you won't get on a full bus is to have your own car and not use the buses.