Beach Club Bus Service

[coachlevy]

Hi! I'm thinking about using the bus service at BC, but it sounds difficult, especially for visiting Animal Kingdom. I've stayed there many times before but always rented a car. I'm traveling with my husband and 2 kids (4 and 1). Should we rent a car or try the buses? Thanks.

 

[spiceycat]

would go with the buses - but for your age kids would go for a MK resort not a Epcot resort.

you will be spending alot of time at MK. besides riding the monrail to Epcot would probably be fun for them.

the bus to AK is long - but that is because AK is not close. besides it stops at BB before going to AK.

 

[madalex]

The bus service to BC is no better or worse than at other resorts. It is a long bus ride to AK, but this is true for every resort (except AKL, of course). The bus ride to AK is even longer from the MK resorts. I would not choose any resort based solely on transportation options as, in my opinion, they all tend to even out in the end anyway.

 

[Pakey]

I've stayed at BC/YC many times and have never thought the bus to AK was bad at all. The bus to MK, that's another story.

 

[disneydee6]

Bus service there is decent. You get the luxury of a walk to epcot and a boat ride to DHS, but MK and AK is gonna be a bit of a ride (about 30 min ride). the SERVICE is good though, timely and usually not exceptionally crowded.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We usually stay at BC/YC in the summer and at that time the bus to MK was only for BC and YC. Even the signs at the bus lines at MK have separate areas for BC/YC and another one for Swan/Dolphin/BWI. The bus ride to AK is long no matter where you stay - it always stops at BB too.

We never use a car when we are at Disney, even when we drove down.

 

[madalex]

Bus service there is decent. You get the luxury of a walk to epcot and a boat ride to DHS, but MK and AK is gonna be a bit of a ride (about 30 min ride). the SERVICE is good though, timely and usually not exceptionally crowded.

It is not a 30 minute ride to MK or AK from YC/BC. Actual drive time is about 12 - 15 mins to MK and a little longer for the drive to AK. If you count the time it takes to stop at any other resort and bus loading and unloading time, it might take 30 minutes to get from the resort to the park, but the drive time alone is not that long.

 

[vicceja]

BC is our home away from home and we never found the bus service to be any worse than any of the other resorts. I have three boys and never had an issue. I'm thinking about 15 minute drive....Good Luck!

 

[Chee Chick]

I didn't have any issues with the buses when I stayed at the Beach Club. It was during a less crowded time of year, though.

 

[brergnat]

What's difficult about sitting on a bus? You'll be fine. Your kids will love the buses (well, at least your 4 year old will).

At worst, the ride takes a bit because you might have to stop at BWI first, then Blizzard Beach, then AK. However, that sharing only happens during the less busy times.

Even then, it's much better to use the buses with young kids, because then you don't have to worry about caseats. Plus, rental cars are getting INSANELY expensive in Orlando...

 

[pixarmom]

We never use a car when we are at Disney, even when we drove down.

Same here - even if we come from somewhere else in Florida, and happen to have a car, we don't use it at Disney.

We have 3 boys, and when our oldest was little, the Disney bus was one of his favorite rides! I love not having to get them in and out of the car - especially our pre-schooler. No car seats, no feet dragging - when we see the bus to the park we're headed for, they are very quick to hop on! It's a huge part of the vacation for me!

Sure, you have to wait sometimes and sometimes the bus is a little crowded. But we've found that it's no different at BC than other resorts and we always leave plenty of time to get where we're going. So if rope drop is at 9am, we're at the bus stop by 8am. It doesn't take an hour to get to AK or MK, but then we don't have to worry about it. And they had a fun beanbag toss up at the bus stop at BC in March - the kids loved it.

 

[bmoc_ny]

I have used the Buses up until 2002 that year we rented a car for some reason and have every trip since. I will rarely drive directly to a park, for example we were staying at riverside and were going to MK, we had dinner ADR at whispering canyon so we drove to WL took the boat to MK spent the day boat back to WL for dinner. After dinner we hung out at the WL for their evening activities. we have also driven to GF had breakfast them monorail to MK. Epcot or studios we would drive to BWI. Even better when we are staying at a deluxe resort and have already paid the Valet parking fee at our home resort that carries for the rest of that day. Just the thought of leaving Mk at 11.00pm with the rest of the world and having to wait 2 or 3 buses then be crammed in with the biggest strollers I have ever seen in my life (seem to be the size of a mini copper). I would much rather wander to the monorail take it to the GF hand the Valet my ticket and be on my way...........

 

[coachlevy]

Thanks for all the info. We're going to use the bus service and hope for the best.

 

[CathieArms]

I was at BC last July with my (then) 4 year old. We *loved* being so close to Epcot, and we spent a lot of time there. I found that MK was too much of a sensory overload for him at that age. Don't get me wrong; we loved MK...but we spent wayyyyyy more time at Epcot where we could more casually see some of the other characters and enjoy the countries.

I found the bus rides to be fine EXCEPT at park closing times or later in the evenings. At those times, the buses were standing room only and it was awful. The way we handled it was that we'd go to MK/AK/HS in the mornings and come back to the resort by about 2 or 3. We'd rest for a couple of hours, and then go to Epcot for dinner and the remainder of the evening.

Really, at their ages, I think you'd be happy doing the "fun" parks in the morning, and then returning to your resort to rest a bit and then maybe doing Epcot. But, that's what worked best for us.

 

[CDizney]

Hi!
For the first time in over 12 years, I stayed on my last trip at the end of April 2010 with no rental car. I stayed at the BCV for 9 days and a rental car w/ discounts I could find would have cost me about 225 dollars for the time. I normally rent a car everytime I go because I am not a huge fan of bus service.

However, this time was much different and I did not miss having a rental car at all which I was very suprised about. The bus service was very on time, our buses always took us right to the park with no stops anywhere else for some reason, and our trip to Animal Kingdom was 10 or so minutes. Our return trip back to the BCV from AK was about a 25 min wait but once we got on the bus the bus took us straight back to BCV with again no stops. Again, my experience with taking the bus to MK was about 10 or so minutes and was prompt coming and going.

If you are staying at the Beach Club, Yacht Club, or Villas try not getting a rental car. I think you'll be impressed (I hope) as I was.

 

[Arkansan]

We're just back from the BC. (stayed 5/7-17/10) We used Disney transportation exclusively and never had a problem. We did need to wait for a 2nd bus on 5/13 after the MK closed, but that was every resort. We also waited for the monorail on 5/16 on our way out of the MK.

Also--the monorails shut down. At least with busses if it breaks down they can get another one quickly. On 5/16 it rained. Our plan was to take the monorail from MK to the Poly for dinner, then take the monorail to Epcot for a little while and walk through the International gateway to the BC and bed. Well, something electrical having to do with the monorail got struck by lightning and it shut down. They provided busses from the Poly. We took one to the TTC and then a bus to Epcot--no problems. On our way to Epcot, we saw the stuck monorail--so close and yet so far!

Have a great trip! The BC is great!

 

[maxiesmom]

I will say right off that is has been about 5yrs sense my stay at the Beach Club. However, the bus service was something that really turned me off staying there without a car.

It sounds like it was just bad luck, but we found the bus service to both AK and MK to be horrible. I honestly think they must have had new bus drivers who didn't know their way around, because it took 40 minutes to get to the Magic Kingdom after getting on the bus. And 45 minutes to get from the Animal Kingdom back to the Beach Club. One of my nieces even asked if the bus driver was lost or something.

I will say it was great walking to Epcot, which is my second favorite resort, after the Magic Kingdom. I dislike the Disney Studios, so being able to boat or walk there counts for nothing for me. Even liking Epcot so much I would much rather stay at a monorail resort than stay at the Beach Club.

Having said all that, guess where I have a reservation for this fall? The Beach Club. I let my youngest niece pick where she would like to stay, and the Beach Club was her choice. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that if we do end up going that the bus service has improved immensly over our last visit.

 

[damone]

We were worried about this at 1st as we're staying at YC in August. We just decided to put aside a couple hundred bucks and just take taxis to MK and AK.

 

[djp0630]

We stayed at BCV with a 4 & 1 year old a week ago and never had any problems at all with buses. We did a lot of early morning breakfasts and we literally were the ONLY people on the bus to AK (we stopped at other resorts) too. Never had to wait more than 10-15 minutes even before 8AM for a bus. I was worried, but found BCV to be great. You and your kids will love it!

 

[superwy]

I am grateful for this thread as we are planning our first stay at BC and are considering not renting a car this time. We have always rented a car and liked that freedom, but our kids are a bit older now (7 and 5) and we may not need a stroller or just a small one this year, so we are giving ME and the bus service a try. This is a lot of good info. Thanks.

Kim