Treehouse Villa Bus Transportation

[DopeyDave]

Anyone have recent experience with the Disney Bus transportation from the Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs? Is it half decent, or more of a pain? Thanks in advance.

 

[juncker]

You're best off walking over to the Grandstand. This avoids the transfer and is the first SSR stop so it isn't full and you get a seat.

This strategy works well if you get a southern tree house.

 

[Coach81]

Anyone have recent experience with the Disney Bus transportation from the Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs? Is it half decent, or more of a pain? Thanks in advance.

We never used it for out stays... we just drove or walked..

 

[udflyer00]

DopeyDave,

We've only stayed at the Treehouse villas once, this past July, but here are my thoughts. Our 1st day at the resort we basically hiked along the connecting path through the woods to SSR, which wasn't a bad walk, but in the humidity it was rough. So then we started to catch the bus. Busing times from THV to the Hospitality area was decent, but then it's the last pickup in the resort so by the time the bus gets to this stop early in the morning a lot of the busses are filled. Then after a long day at the park you basically repeat the process. Park back to SSR Hospitality House, exit bus, then wait for the THV bus, and when you are waiting for a bus after midnight on a long day at the park it seemed like it took forever to come. What we discovered that worked 100 times better in my opinion, unfortunately it was our last 2 days, was to drive our car from our THV into SSR and then make an immediate right and park near that bus stop, which happens to be the 1st stop in the resort. So we were able to easily get a seat, and then after a long day we got off at the 1st stop and BAM there was our car and we were promptly on our way back to THV.

Since there are 6 of us driving is our only affordable option to get to WDW from Ohio so we really like the Disney Busing as nothing is better than Free, but these past few years we've been using the buses less and less, unless we are going to Magic Kingdom. It is a lot faster and you get free parking at the Parks so we usually just drive to all the parks except MK. Nothing beats getting dropped off or picked up right outside the gates.

Sorry for the tangent there, but I hope that helps you out with our busing experience at THV. We loved the area, but driving to that 1st bus stop really was the way to go!!

 

[GrumpyInPhilly]

DopeyDave,

We've only stayed at the Treehouse villas once, this past July, but here are my thoughts. Our 1st day at the resort we basically hiked along the connecting path through the woods to SSR, which wasn't a bad walk, but in the humidity it was rough. So then we started to catch the bus. Busing times from THV to the Hospitality area was decent, but then it's the last pickup in the resort so by the time the bus gets to this stop early in the morning a lot of the busses are filled. Then after a long day at the park you basically repeat the process. Park back to SSR Hospitality House, exit bus, then wait for the THV bus, and when you are waiting for a bus after midnight on a long day at the park it seemed like it took forever to come. What we discovered that worked 100 times better in my opinion, unfortunately it was our last 2 days, was to drive our car from our THV into SSR and then make an immediate right and park near that bus stop, which happens to be the 1st stop in the resort. So we were able to easily get a seat, and then after a long day we got off at the 1st stop and BAM there was our car and we were promptly on our way back to THV.

Since there are 6 of us driving is our only affordable option to get to WDW from Ohio so we really like the Disney Busing as nothing is better than Free, but these past few years we've been using the buses less and less, unless we are going to Magic Kingdom. It is a lot faster and you get free parking at the Parks so we usually just drive to all the parks except MK. Nothing beats getting dropped off or picked up right outside the gates.

Sorry for the tangent there, but I hope that helps you out with our busing experience at THV. We loved the area, but driving to that 1st bus stop really was the way to go!!

We're staying at the THV in 2 weeks. Great suggestion. Thanks!

 

[kruegeme]

Just returned from THV two weeks ago and we were staying right by the north shuttle station (could actually see the bus stop from the window of our villa). When heading to the parks, unless we heard the bus coming, we would walk over to the Grand Stand bus station. As previously mentioned, this normally meant you were one of the first groups on the bus. When coming back from the parks, we would get off at Grand Station and walk. This wasn't because the buses weren't running consistently but we didn't want to wait 20 minutes to then maybe have to wait another 20 minutes at another bus station. The Grand Station is the first stop within SSR so it was quicker to exit here then make all the other stops and then having to maybe wait for the shuttle again. Just a personal preference. We did use the shuttle multiple times to go up / back to the main pool.

 

[Lady V]

How many parking spots are at each cabin?

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

How many parking spots are at each cabin?

There are not parking spaces specific to any tree house. The parking spaces are on the street in the loop around the tree houses. Disney will ask you to park only one car in the THV area. If you have a second car, you're supposed to park it in the Grandstand area. There are not a lot of parking spaces in the THV area, and Disney relies on the fact that many people use Magical Express and don't have a car. Parking is all first-come/first-serve, and is frankly one of the frequent complaints you'll hear about the tree houses.