CBR Buses to and from parks. What to expect in Sept?

[crazymomof4]

So DD15 and I are in charge of "convincing" the rest of the family (aka: "the guys") which resort to stay at for our Sept 2016 trip.
Here is our WDW history: DH and I stayed at CBR waaay back on it's OPENING DAY! The resort wasn't even complete yet! That was 1988 and 4 kids ago!
Since then we've stayed off-site, Ft. Wilderness cabins, POFQ, POP and most recently BC.
WE LOVED BC!
For our upcoming trip though, we are considering other options so the kids can experience different WDW resorts.
CBR is in the running but I am afraid the time waiting for the bus and then the many inner-resort stops will be a turn-off since we were spoiled by the location of BC. While at BC, especially on really hot days, we enjoyed leaving the parks for 2 hrs or so to swim at the resort pool and then returned to a park.

I try to take the threads on disboards complaining about the buses with a grain of salt, since there are both good and bad reviews and we won't necessarily get the "worst-case scenario" on our trip.

What is the *realistic* general opinion of the bus situation at CBR to and from parks?

EDITED to add: BWI is the deluxe that is also on the short list, with CBR.

 

[minnie mum]

What is the *realistic* general opinion of the bus situation at CBR to and from parks?

I would say they are no better or worse than any other resort. We've stayed at CBR several times and never had a bus problem. The internal stops take about 10 extra minutes, if you board at the first stop.

I doubt that the buses are any different in Sept than they are the rest of the year.

 

[crazymomof4]

I would say they are no better or worse than any other resort. We've stayed at CBR several times and never had a bus problem. The internal stops take about 10 extra minutes, if you board at the first stop.

I doubt that the buses are any different in Sept than they are the rest of the year.

Thanks for your reply.
I only mentioned Sept bc it's WDW's lowest crowd period (well, the very beginning of Sept is) and I thought that might affect the busing situation for good (less volume of people using buses?) or for bad (less buses out on the route due to it being the slow season?)

 

[IsThatYouTigger]

We stayed there last October for 4 nights and only had 1 bad experience. We were heading to Beaches and Cream taking a bus from CBR to HS. We allotted 60 minutes (90 is recommended so part of this is our fault) to get there and were super excited when a bus was there as we walked up and walked right on (we stayed in Jamaica). We then spent 50 minutes on CBR property because at the 2 remaining stops people with scooters were getting on and poor things just could not get them parked on the bus and the bus driver seemed to only make it worse. So it just added a lot of time to our trip since we still had to get from HS to BC. The hostess at Beaches and Cream took pity on us and still sat us thankfully even though we were VERY late. The more stops the more variables that come into play. Honestly, my husband and I really enjoyed our stay there and with the one exception actually said that we had better bus experience there than anywhere else we have stayed before. When we have kids it is definitely on our list of places to stay with a check mark in the column of decent buses.

 

[Meldev]

We stayed September 2014 - during free dining. CBR was booked solid. We were in Jamaica south ('upgraded' at checkin, I tried to decline but no other connecting rooms available) - Anyway I think where you get on the bus can alter your view of their bus system. Being last stop (on and off most times) wore on us.
The resort is lovely, really loved the main pool for our family, but the bus experience we had was enough for my DH to cross CBR off the list.
We're trying CSR for first time next week.

 

[crazymomof4]

We stayed September 2014 - during free dining. CBR was booked solid. We were in Jamaica south ('upgraded' at checkin, I tried to decline but no other connecting rooms available) - Anyway I think where you get on the bus can alter your view of their bus system. Being last stop (on and off most times) wore on us.
The resort is lovely, really loved the main pool for our family, but the bus experience we had was enough for my DH to cross CBR off the list.
We're trying CSR for first time next week.

This really may explain the reason why there are such differing opinions on the CBR buses! Thanks for this input!

 

[goofyintoronto]

We stayed September 2014 - during free dining. CBR was booked solid. We were in Jamaica south ('upgraded' at checkin, I tried to decline but no other connecting rooms available) - Anyway I think where you get on the bus can alter your view of their bus system. Being last stop (on and off most times) wore on us.
The resort is lovely, really loved the main pool for our family, but the bus experience we had was enough for my DH to cross CBR off the list.
We're trying CSR for first time next week.

CSR has the best bus system out of any resort we've stayed! Its wonderful! the longest i've waited was 10 minutes...and I never had to stand. not even after wishes! Love that place.

Having said that, I also liked CBR a lot. Its a gorgeous resort. We never had issues with the bus, never waited too long....and we normally go in August! I'd stay again in a heartbeat.

 

[nkereina]

We stayed November 2014 during free dining. While I'm a firm believer that any resort can have good or bad bus service on any given day, we had horrible bus luck at CBR. I don't think they were running enough buses for as busy as the resort was. The buses would come every 15-20 minutes (sometimes longer), but there would be large crowds that have gathered in the interim. At one point, the bus stop behind Old Port Royale was so packed that people were waiting in the parking lot behind the depot. And since there is no formal line at the moderate bus depots, it was an ugly scene whenever a bus pulled up and some people waltzed on before others who had been waiting for a while. And needless to say, buses were packed to the brim. The resort also has 7 bus stops, but that wasn't a factor because most buses were full after 2-3 stops, and then could proceed to the park. Again, this was just our experience in our 6 days at CBR. And I attribute it to the resort being full.

If you can swing the extra cost, BWI is completely worth it. Only need to bus to DTD, AK and MK. If you have hoppers, we also love staying in such close proximity to Epcot for additional dining options.

 

[Meldev]

Maybe it's more the resort's capacity that skews their view? I agree with NKereina about maybe not enough buses when resort was full - I stood more often than not (and stood holding a sleeping nearly 3 year old at times) Not complaining, at least I would get on, just pointing out that when we did get on it was often so full already.
I'd go back to CBR only in preferred room and if I had a car most likely.

 

[nkereina]

I should add that the resort itself is beautiful, we enjoyed the food court, and the main pool. Room and housekeeping were good. But the buses seem to operate the same way the buses at POFQ would, which is a much smaller resort. Didn't work well in my own experience.

 

[linny172]

We are here now, and considering how many people are here I think the bus service has been good. Haven't had to wait more than 15 minutes for a bus. We are in Jamacia, and it is usually the first stop. Now depending what time you leave the parks, it could be a different story. But they do the best they could to get the bus in and out of there.

 

[Kevin355]

Stayed at CBR in September. The buses were excellent. I believe the longest wait was about 5-7 minutes and always had a seat. The bus to Disney Springs (DtD) was a little messed up because of traffic, but no issues whatsoever.

 

[jolene63]

We stayed September 2014 - during free dining. CBR was booked solid. We were in Jamaica south ('upgraded' at checkin, I tried to decline but no other connecting rooms available) - Anyway I think where you get on the bus can alter your view of their bus system. Being last stop (on and off most times) wore on us.
The resort is lovely, really loved the main pool for our family, but the bus experience we had was enough for my DH to cross CBR off the list.
We're trying CSR for first time next week.

We also stayed in Jamaica this past September and will probably never stay at CBR again because of the buses. The first day, it took about 11 minutes to circle the resort before leaving. The second day it took 23 minutes to circle the resort. Everyone on the bus was so frustrated. We never took the bus again after that. We decided to drive because we just didn't want to have to deal with circling around the resort. All our past trips were at Pop Century so we weren't use to multiple bus stops. We decided we are staying at BWV next year so we can walk to two resorts. Good luck deciding on your resort.

 

[Lee & Kerry]

So DD15 and I are in charge of "convincing" the rest of the family (aka: "the guys") which resort to stay at for our Sept 2016 trip.
Here is our WDW history: DH and I stayed at CBR waaay back on it's OPENING DAY! The resort wasn't even complete yet! That was 1988 and 4 kids ago!
Since then we've stayed off-site, Ft. Wilderness cabins, POFQ, POP and most recently BC.
WE LOVED BC!
For our upcoming trip though, we are considering other options so the kids can experience different WDW resorts.
CBR is in the running but I am afraid the time waiting for the bus and then the many inner-resort stops will be a turn-off since we were spoiled by the location of BC. While at BC, especially on really hot days, we enjoyed leaving the parks for 2 hrs or so to swim at the resort pool and then returned to a park.

I try to take the threads on disboards complaining about the buses with a grain of salt, since there are both good and bad reviews and we won't necessarily get the "worst-case scenario" on our trip.

What is the *realistic* general opinion of the bus situation at CBR to and from parks?

EDITED to add: BWI is the deluxe that is also on the short list, with CBR.

We stayed there September 2015 for twelve nights, never had a problem getting to or coming from the parks no matter what time of the day or night it was