Port Orleans Riverside Bus Service

[Koz]

Some of you are starting to cause me to second-guess just how good the bus service is at POR. In the past, we've stayed at Pop (Great Service), CBR (Lousy) and WL (amazing boats/bus service).

I'm hearing more and more that buses to the parks have been terrible as of late. Not only arriving full but at long intervals, sometimes over 30 mins. We're a rope drop family, and for a 9AM rope drop we won't leave any later than say, 7:45-8AM to get there in time. With 3 kids under 7, I don't want to wait 30 minutes for anything, including a bus.

That being said, we landed a great deal for POR, $3,100 for 8 nights (River View/Royal) with a combo of 30% off and free dining. Starting to question whether we're better off heading back to WL (Courtyard/bunk), even though the cost will be another $1,400, simply because of the convenience attached to the boat ride and VERY frequent bus service.

What do you guys think? Leaving that early do you see us as having alot of problems? I hate walking away from a great deal!

 

[Missytara]

You can expect the following:

1. During busy times, buses will be busy. During slow times, buses will be more efficient.
2. Bus wait time and bus service is often based solely on a perception, not based on reality.
3. It is best not to choose one resort over another, solely based on bus service.
4. Bus service can be good or bad at any resort.
5. At POR, many people don't utilize the slightly off-times and the bus loop to their advantage.

I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[OThopeful35]

I agree with the previous poster. Bus service can be a hit or miss at ANY of the resorts and it depends on the time you go. We had great bus service when we stayed at POR. Have fun!

 

[OKW Lover]

Add me to the chorus of voices saying (essentially) the bus service at POR is no worse than any other resort. Seriously. Your experience may be great. It may be poor. There's just no way of knowing.

 

[blue65829]

Having stayed at both POR and WL I think POR has better bus service. We waited at least 30 minutes on at least a couple of mornings at the WL for buses to Epcot and HS. Of course everyone has different experiences. I'm sure there are people who stayed at WL during the same time frame as us who had much better bus pixie dust!

 

[jamimb]

We have stayed at all the values and all the moderates and the one time we stayed at POR the bus service was terrible! Worst we have ever experienced at any resort. We were almost late for a BBB reservation even though we were at the bus stop over an hr before or ressie time. We were running down Main street to make it on time. On our last day we waited almost 40 minutes for a bus to Epcot and finally just hopped in our car so we wouldnt miss rope drop. That being said we thought POR was a fabulous resort and we are styaing there again this July but if bus service is more important to you than money saved by staying at POR I would definetly change resorts. It can't be a coincidence that so many people complain about the bus service at POR!!!

 

[Koz]

Having stayed at both POR and WL I think POR has better bus service. We waited at least 30 minutes on at least a couple of mornings at the WL for buses to Epcot and HS. Of course everyone has different experiences. I'm sure there are people who stayed at WL during the same time frame as us who had much better bus pixie dust!

Ok, and I'm the opposite, where it seems as though every bus was waiting for us @ WL.

Given the fact that we're an "early" family, the buses certainly aren't that crowded, (we NEVER go to EMH), I'm thinking that if we keep our 60-75 minute schedule prior to RD, even if there's a bit of a wait, it's not going to be terrible. I haven't heard anything bad specific to returning from the parks, outside of the obvious like following fireworks etc.

 

[jsw1114]

We just came back from POR in sept and I thought the buses were really good the longest we waited was maybe 20 min they did get packed at times but one night the line from MK was so long we jumped on the French quarter bus and walked over to POR

 

[Sue M]

Any resort can have that wait when you are going to one park, and you see 5 busses to another park stop. I've had that on occas at every resort, mod. or deluxe. I'd say 90% of the time, the busses are great, but you can run into glitches at any resort and I wouldn't say one is any better then another. Sometimes you just have bad luck, and that's what you hear about. When people are unhappy they complain, but you don't hear about the 90% of the rest, who had great service.
POR is a great resort so I wouldn't worry. And you can take a lot of cabs for that $1400

 

[nigel-bigel]

5. At POR, many people don't utilize the slightly off-times and the bus loop to their advantage.

Would you please elaborate on this?

Nicole

 

[ReluctantDisaholic]

When we were there this past March we didn't find the bus at POR any worse than anywhere else we took a bus - considering how busy it was, we never had much of a wait to any park in the morning. A couple of later nights leaving MK or Epcot there were really (realllllly) long waits heading back to the resort, but it seemed to be other lines as well and not just the POR one.

We loved it so much we're staying there again on our next trip.

 

[Prose]

We have been here at POR all week and have absolutely no complaints with the buses (well, except that they tend to be the temperature of a meat locker). In fact, the longest wait we have had for a bus so far was at AKL after dinner.

 

[goofy4tink]

People say that Pop has got some of the best bus service. Why? Because there is one bus stop for each park..period. And when you get on that bus, you go directly to the park..no stopping at other resorts. Yes, there may be more people at that particular bus stop due to the size of the resort, but buses tend to come fairly frequently.
Head over to BW and you'll wait for a bus to a park, and then make at least two addtl stops, possibly four addt stops, before heading to that park.
At POR, you have four stops within the resort...so even though you don't go to other resorts (other than possibly POFQ, which has only the one stop), you will make addtl stops within the resort. And depending on which stop you are at, you may make one addtl stop or three.
I have stayed at POR multiple times....I have never had a bus issue, not once. I have stayed at WL, and the same can be said.

Every resort is going to have a bus issue....it can happen at any time, anywhere. Do not choose a resort based on bus reports you see here. Everyone has a different idea of what 'excessive wait' time is. Choose a resort based on it's theming, or proximity to a park, or it's pool. But do NOT choose it based on it's buses.

 

[Missytara]

Would you please elaborate on this?

Nicole

Most of the people in the morning go to the food court first and then head out to the South Depot at the main building. There are three other stops.

In addition, you can adjust your time by 15 minutes later and the bulk of the crowd has left and you are in the half the crowd you could be earlier.

Also, utilizing the perimeter stops on the way back is a wonderful way of easing the burden, especially when they do the loop where the south depot is last.

 

[jsw1114]

Oh another piece of advice go to the food court early like 7:15 ish. Anything later is pure chaos in there. We would go get coffee go back to the room and then walk to the west depot

 

[Jewel3k]

We were there at the end of September and found most buses picked us up from the south depot in less than 10 minutes almost every single time. We had no problem making the 9 am rope drops by getting to the bus stop around 8 or our 8 am CRT ressie. We were there from a fri to a fri, and went back to the hotel for a break every day and then back to the park. We rode the buses a lot. The long waits we mostly after fireworks going back to the resort. Even then buses were constantly picking up people. I felt like we ran to catch a bunch of buses as they showed up as we were storlling up to the bus stops.

 

[lady_hlh]

We stayed POR in August and I thought the bus service wasn't as good as CSR, which is the only other mod that we've stayed at so far. We stayed in the royal rooms and most of the time we took the POFQ bus back from the park and walked back over the bridge because there was never a wait or line for their buses and the line was huge for POR. I think we would have been better off walking over to to get that bus in the AM too because those buses were also pretty bad. Next year we are staying at CR and I can't wait to walk in and out of MK. I love walking in and out of the parks, I think my dream trip would be a split stay between YC and CR.

 

[finngirl]

We just returned from POR last week. If you are going for rope drop, if you are at the South station by one hour before opening, you will have no trouble with the buses. If you go to the substations when it is busy, you may wait a very long time for a bus, since if it fills up at South, it just goes directly to the park, and doesn't always make the other stops (that happened twice while we were there). Also, for the first buses of the day, POR usually gets its own buses - they were always empty when they arrived, not full of POFQ people.

For the Magic Kingdom, POR always gets it own buses, and they do the route in reverse. It starts at West, and ends at South, so go to the closest substation instead of South for that park.

We never waited longer than 10 minutes, except once in the evening for a MK bus. It seemed there were a ton of AK buses, and no MK ones. That wait was only about 25 minutes, just 5 minutes over the maximum time Disney strives for. We probably just missed a bus and didn't know it. People complain about having 4 stops at POR, but honestly, it doesn't take that long, and you are on your way before you know it.