Was transportation better 10 years ago?

[Happyjen27]

I enjoyed my first stay at DisneyWorld this past week. I paid for a monorail resort because I wanted the convenience of the Monorail.

It really was convenient, when it was working.

My BIL/SIL stayed at Caribbean resort 10 years ago and remember the transportation being amazingly convenient. Never waited more than 10 min for buses.

This time, the wait for buses from DHS to Poly for was a 40 min wait (at about 10 AM). The wait for the bust for BIL to return to DHS after dropping off sick SIL was 38 min.

It was even worse when the monorail wasn't working. They never sent a bus to the Poly for MK transport. We had BBB reservation and were 2 hours before the park opened, so we couldn't take the boat.

So, was Disney better at transporting people 10 years ago? Or, is it better to stay at a resort where they bus you everywhere, so buses are always running?

 

[sam_gordon]

I enjoyed my first stay at DisneyWorld this past week. I paid for a monorail resort because I wanted the convenience of the Monorail.

It really was convenient, when it was working.

My BIL/SIL stayed at Caribbean resort 10 years ago and remember the transportation being amazingly convenient. Never waited more than 10 min for buses.

This time, the wait for buses from DHS to Poly for was a 40 min wait (at about 10 AM). The wait for the bust for BIL to return to DHS after dropping off sick SIL was 38 min.

It was even worse when the monorail wasn't working. They never sent a bus to the Poly for MK transport. We had BBB reservation and were 2 hours before the park opened, so we couldn't take the boat.

So, was Disney better at transporting people 10 years ago? Or, is it better to stay at a resort where they bus you everywhere, so buses are always running?

Just guessing, but I wonder how crowd levels played into it. ie: the more people at a specific resort, the more crowded the buses. The more resorts, the more busses needed overall.

 

[North of Mouse]

It's true there are more people to transport now, plus more hotels to pick up/deliver from.

We just returned from 10 days there and had no issues with the transportation. We never drive, that's part of the enjoyment for us to leave the driving to Disney. We have been going to Disney since they opened and have nothing but praise for the system.

I think they do a terrific job with all the people they *transport* in any given day. We seldom wait more than 10 min. for buses, most of the time less.

 

[Brian Noble]

I paid for a monorail resort because I wanted the convenience of the Monorail.
...
My BIL/SIL stayed at Caribbean resort 10 years ago and remember the transportation being amazingly convenient.

Perhaps paradoxically, the bus transportation to/from the Moderates can often be better than to/from the Deluxes, because the Moderates are larger, and so require more frequent bus transport. The Deluxes combat this in part by sharing routes, but that's only so helpful. This is one of the reasons that I always rent a car, unless I'm staying in the Epcot area. From there, the car isn't really helpful to DS or EP, it's about a wash more or less to MK, and that leaves only AK.

 

[sotoalf]

Many variables affect transportation. While it's true WDW has more hotels, when you visit, the time of day at which you leave for the parks, and/or whether the system is functioning at 100 percent capacity all play a part. I don't think it's a good idea to draw conclusions about how things may have changed in the last ten years.