5 resort bus?!

[LockShockBarrel]

Just got back from a generally great trip. I wanted to warn/inform you guys of what became known to me as the worst bus ever. I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet but we ran into a bus that was servicing 5 resorts, being the Swan, Dolphin, Beach, Yacht and Boardwalk. I didn't see any buses that were going to just one of these places, or even just the Swan and Dolphin or just the Yacht and Beach clubs. We ran into this the first night as we headed over to Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club, PLUS a driver change, and ended up being 20 minutes late for my ADR and again on Monday as we went over the Flying Fish, we left at 7 for an 8:10 ADR and ran into this stupid bus again, and ended up being 15 minutes late for this ADR. I understand it wasn't super busy and they were probably trying to conserve gas and time and all that but 5 resorts!? Really!?

I hope for EVERYONE that this goes away soon, or at least during any busier time.

 

[vicki_c]

Yes, that does happen at some times of year/day. That actually gets talked about quite a bit here - the bus service around the Epcot resorts and how it works (or doesn't) at various times.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

I never really started looking on this board until a few weeks ago so I obviously missed any mention of this. I was a good Disney bus rider...I gave myself an hour for transportation and just was getting more and more frustrated on those buses. Luckily I only had to take that bus twice but man what a pain!

 

[Tiggr88]

It never ceases to amaze me that the worst bus service is for the deluxes.

 

[aubriee]

When I was at the YC in early Dec all five Epcot resorts shared a bus. When I was at BW a few years ago (in early May) all five resorts shared then too. I thought it was just normal.

 

[ancestry]

When I was at the YC in early Dec all five Epcot resorts shared a bus. When I was at BW a few years ago (in early May) all five resorts shared then too. I thought it was just normal.

Ditto. Whenever we have stayed at an Epcot resort we have had the same experience. I thought it was normal as well and we have stayed there during the busy summer season.

 

[goofy4tink]

At park opening and closing, the buses have two distinct routes....BW/S/D and YC/BC. That's just the way it is. At less busy times of day, they can be combined. I routinely stay at BWV and haven't been on a ton of buses that make stops at all 5 resorts.
The deluxe resorts do not have the worst bus service. It just seems that way. The moderate resorts have mulitple bus stops within each resort..with the exception of POFQ..but even that resort is routinely lumped in with POR buses.
The values really have the best service because they have so many guests that more buses are run there. The AllStars buses either service all three AllStar resorts, or they break into two routes...Movies and then a run for Music and Sports.
Pop has. without a doubt, the best service onsite. No other stops.

To the OP...where were you coming from when you were headed to Cape May and then to Flying Fish??? Just curious.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Disney Deluxe Service in action.. (Charge more, provide as little as you can get away with!)

 

[Brian Noble]

This is pretty common, unfortunately. It may often be faster to just get off at whatever the first stop is on the route, and then walk to the hotel that is your ultimate destination---especially if you are the "last drop".

I'm staying at BWV later this month, and am seriously considering just skipping AK (or maybe only going once) just to avoid the bus trip.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Yeah, if you don't spend a lot of time on this board you couldn't know but probably the best way to get to the Beach Club would have been: bus from where you were to DHS, then walk or Friendship Boat to the Beach Club. Ditto for Flying Fish, except of course your destination would have been Boardwalk.

 

[goofy4tink]

Disney Deluxe Service in action.. (Charge more, provide as little as you can get away with!)

Deluxe resort has nothing to do with 'deluxe' bus service. It does have to do with an 'alternative mode of transportation' to at least one park. GF??? Boat or monorail to MK, monorail to Epcot. Same with Polynesian and CR.
BW/BC/YC?? boat to Epcot and DHS or walking.

Although AKL and WL are sort of deluxe, they don't charge the same rates since they don't have the terrific alternative modes available.

It gets tiring to listen to people say that because they are paying deluxe rates they should have better bus service. The level of resort you are at does not matter when it comes to bus service. It's pretty much a level playing field. The deluxe resorts tend to have more resorts on a route simply because it doesn't make sense to run buses for just a few people at a time.

What are you paying for at a deluxe resort??? other types of transportation (boat, monorail, foot), elaborate theming, more varied types of restaurants (food court to signature dining), terrific pools, better room amenities, larger rooms, etc.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Deluxe resort has nothing to do with 'deluxe' bus service. It does have to do with an 'alternative mode of transportation' to at least one park. GF??? Boat or monorail to MK, monorail to Epcot. Same with Polynesian and CR.
BW/BC/YC?? boat to Epcot and DHS or walking.

Although AKL and WL are sort of deluxe, they don't charge the same rates since they don't have the terrific alternative modes available.

It gets tiring to listen to people say that because they are paying deluxe rates they should have better bus service. The level of resort you are at does not matter when it comes to bus service. It's pretty much a level playing field. The deluxe resorts tend to have more resorts on a route simply because it doesn't make sense to run buses for just a few people at a time.

What are you paying for at a deluxe resort??? other types of transportation (boat, monorail, foot), elaborate theming, more varied types of restaurants (food court to signature dining), terrific pools, better room amenities, larger rooms, etc.

What are you paying for?? IMHO not much. Compared to other "deluxe resorts" Disney does not measure up. Sorry but "pretty" is not the only measure of a deluxe resort. Deluxe resorts provide deluxe SERVICE not "look it's cute" LOL! (And I think the monorail is one of the worst transport options out there. Once you get past "look how cool" you discover it's PACKED, NOISY and slow "holding for clearance" is NOT a magical phrase to me!)

 

[goofy4tink]

What are you paying for?? IMHO not much. Compared to other "deluxe resorts" Disney does not measure up. Sorry but "pretty" is not the only measure of a deluxe resort. Deluxe resorts provide deluxe SERVICE not "look it's cute" LOL! (And I think the monorail is one of the worst transport options out there. Once you get past "look how cool" you discover it's PACKED, NOISY and slow "holding for clearance" is NOT a magical phrase to me!)

Couldn't agree more. BUT....that is Disney's definition of 'deluxe' not AAA or Fodors!! We all agree that Disney's idea of a 'deluxe' resort isn't the same as a deluxe resort in NYC or Rome!!

Disney has three classifications...value, moderate and deluxe. Their value resorts certainly aren't on par with other 'value' resorts. For example...a Motel 6, a true value hotel, is not going to cost anywhere close to what POP costs..it's going to be appreciably cheaper.
We all just have to understand Disney's classification system...right or wrong, it is what it is.

 

[maxiesmom]

A couple of things about this: First, POFQ doesn't always share a bus with POR. Actually for my last to stays at POFQ we had our own bus all of the time. Granted, those were busy times of year, but I just wanted to point that out.

Second, your info on the All Star Resorts is incorrect. I have stayed at the All Stars 4 times now, the last stay just this past December, and I can tell you without a doubt each resort has their own bus way more often than they share.

Also, while Pop may not share a bus, that resort is much larger than any individual All Star, meaning that you may end up waiting longer for a bus that has room on it than you would at an All Star Resort. Too me, that makes all of the Value resorts pretty darned equal as far as bus service goes. Having one stop doesn't mean a whole lot if it takes you multiple busses to get going anywhere.

I do agree the bus service at the Boardwalk area resorts needs to be improved.

Sorry, I'm not trying to be hostile. But I wanted to share my own bus experiences at the All Stars.

 

[Lewisc]

Disney Deluxe Service in action.. (Charge more, provide as little as you can get away with!)

The Disney deluxe hotels aren't really deluxe, by industry standards however your point isn't valid. Value hotels generally give you a lot. Deluxe hotels generally offer (for a price) more. Hotels like courtyard by marriott give you a free breakfast and free internet. Real deluxe hotels offer room service, charge for the internet and might not even have a value restaurant.

Although AKL and WL are sort of deluxe, they don't charge the same rates since they don't have the terrific alternative modes available.

WL offers boat service to the MK. The standard rooms at WL and AKL are smaller then the rooms in the other deluxe hotels. Price a deluxe room at WL or AKL and the room will be similar in size to the other deluxe hotels and the price will be similar.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

PLEASE DO NOT TURN MY THREAD INTO A BUS ARGUMENT!! I'll ask for it to be closed if it continues and that would suck because someone like me who didn't know about this issue will be missing out.

Anyway, I was coming from OKW, and I even asked on the "how to get from point a to point b" thread how I should do it and I was a twit for not listening. I asked the concierge just to see what they'd say and got "Well there's this way, and this way and here's another way but really they're all about the same". Then another guest overheard us talking and said "We stay here all the time, we take the DTD boat from OKW and grab a bus down there to those hotels and never have a problem." I stupidly went with what these guest told me and took the little boat to Pleasure Island and got on the bus down there to the Beach Club. The bus was labeled "Rapunzel" and we didn't know what that meant, so we said "Are you going to the Beach Club?", the bus driver said "Yeah, the Rapunzel thing is just a code for us." I thought we'd just lucked out and got a Beach Club bus, figuring the worst it would be is that it was a Yacht and Beach club bus. On this original trip, we didn't know it was going to 5 resorts. By the time my meal at Flying Fish rolled around, I thought that it must have been a random thing and it couldn't possibly happen again. Wrong. These people have stayed at OKW dozens of times, how could they be wrong?! And well....you know the rest of the story.

 

[maxiesmom]

PLEASE DO NOT TURN MY THREAD INTO A BUS ARGUMENT!! I'll ask for it to be closed if it continues and that would suck because someone like me who didn't know about this issue will be missing out.

I'm not trying to turn this into a bus argument, and I'm sorry if it came off that way. This is a "Just the facts" sort of place, and I was just trying to get the facts right. Please don't yell at me!

Actually the fact is that bus service from any Disney resorts is chancy. Somedays you will have awesome service where a bus shows up right when you walk up to the stop. Somedays you wait and then get to ride around a while touring other resorts. It can and does happen at every single Disney resort. Except at Pop you can get the waiting but not the tourning part of it.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

PLEASE DO NOT TURN MY THREAD INTO A BUS ARGUMENT!! I'll ask for it to be closed if it continues and that would suck because someone like me who didn't know about this issue will be missing out.

Anyway, I was coming from OKW, and I even asked on the "how to get from point a to point b" thread how I should do it and I was a twit for not listening. I asked the concierge just to see what they'd say and got "Well there's this way, and this way and here's another way but really they're all about the same". Then another guest overheard us talking and said "We stay here all the time, we take the DTD boat from OKW and grab a bus down there to those hotels and never have a problem." I stupidly went with what these guest told me and took the little boat to Pleasure Island and got on the bus down there to the Beach Club. The bus was labeled "Rapunzel" and we didn't know what that meant, so we said "Are you going to the Beach Club?", the bus driver said "Yeah, the Rapunzel thing is just a code for us." I thought we'd just lucked out and got a Beach Club bus, figuring the worst it would be is that it was a Yacht and Beach club bus. On this original trip, we didn't know it was going to 5 resorts. By the time my meal at Flying Fish rolled around, I thought that it must have been a random thing and it couldn't possibly happen again. Wrong. These people have stayed at OKW dozens of times, how could they be wrong?! And well....you know the rest of the story.

You posted on how bad the bus was and then don't want anyone to say anything. Probably should have never put your fingers on the keyboards.

IMHO expecting to CONTROL the flow of messages on a board is impossible. And asking for it to be closed because "i don't the other post" They really do that? Amazing!

 

[Syndrome]

Just got back from a generally great trip. I wanted to warn/inform you guys of what became known to me as the worst bus ever. I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet but we ran into a bus that was servicing 5 resorts, being the Swan, Dolphin, Beach, Yacht and Boardwalk. I didn't see any buses that were going to just one of these places, or even just the Swan and Dolphin or just the Yacht and Beach clubs. We ran into this the first night as we headed over to Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club, PLUS a driver change, and ended up being 20 minutes late for my ADR and again on Monday as we went over the Flying Fish, we left at 7 for an 8:10 ADR and ran into this stupid bus again, and ended up being 15 minutes late for this ADR. I understand it wasn't super busy and they were probably trying to conserve gas and time and all that but 5 resorts!? Really!?

I hope for EVERYONE that this goes away soon, or at least during any busier time.

I had the unfortunate experience of that bus last summer. But worse.....
While staying at the Beach Club, it was a nice relax/non park day for myself, and 2 sons. About 10:30 am, we decided to hop the bus (first and only time using the bus this trip), to downtown disney. We had an ADR for T-rex at 12:30. The bus finally showed up after about 1/2 hr. Nice and empty. Then the bus proceeded to stop at........

Starting from Beach Club.......
Yacht Club
Boardwalk
Dolphin
Swan
Caribbean Beach
Typhoon Lagoon
Then finally to Downtown Disney.

We barely made our reservation at T-rex by minutes.
It took SO long to get to DD, even though its pretty close. The bus was full by the time it got to Swan/Dolphin.

It was the worst bus trip we ever had at Disney. Seems like this particular bus route is known to be one of the longest with the most stops from what I have heard. To add insult to injury, we even had a car but decided not to use it because DD was so close to Beach Club. Didnt figure on a bus trip like that !!!!
Warning to other bus riders going on that trip !!!!

Syndrome

 

[Brian Noble]

The buses to/from DTD are among the worst on property---and if you use DTD as a transfer point, then you pay that cost twice.

I suppose that's not surprising, as there are fewer guests going between the resorts and DTD than there are the resorts and the parks. I don't think I've ever gone to DTD without driving or taking a boat. I've come back "home" (to OKW) on the bus once or twice, but that was after a long night at the Adventurer's Club, by which time my wife and I weren't exactly feeling much in the way of pain, if you get my drift.

For the most part, for resort-to-resort trips that aren't "local" (i.e. within the EP area, on the Monorail, or on a boat loop---no transfers), I would either drive or take a cab. I might make an exception for the Contemporary (walk from MK's bus stop). I *might* even entertain a bus to DS followed by the boat/a walk for the EP-area resorts, but probably not.