54 Minutes

[ammo]

It was 54 minutes from the time I arrived at the BWV bus stop last Thursday evening until I arrived at Downtown Disney. 8:39 to 9:33.

This was the first trip that we regularly used bus transportation (although we routinely take the boat from VWL to MK). We occassionally got lucky and caught a bus quickly, but we had one 40 minute trip to AK in addition to the DTD nightmare.

I know some people love the transportation and some have never had such a ridiculous wait, but I refuse to spend 54 minutes waiting to ride Peter Pan or Soarin', so why spend that much time to travel a couple of miles in a bus? I'm glad the buses are there, but it's back to the car for us!

 

[Muushka]

Wow, that is a loooooong time. We pretty much drive everywhere but MK.

 

[BroganMc]

Hmm, I wonder if the new satellite tracking system is a flop or if this was a resort issue. When I did my transportation experiment last May my longest treks were SSR to AK (about 25 minutes) and MGM to EPCOT via ferry (about 30 minutes). Both irritated the heck out of me since it seemed unreasonable. (AK's trek stopped at Blizzard Beach first. EPCOT was just a really slow ferry route.)

 

[wild4dis]

I got a car about 10 years ago when at WDW for a work convention and have used one ever since on all our family trips...the ease of heading to a dinner only 20 mins before your ADR, instead of 60+ minutes, traveling to any resort to visit or shop at your leisure, not having to hold little kids and stuff, while standing on a bus after the fireworks with eveyrone else is WELL worth the extra expense !!

 

[Island Mouse]

I don't think I could ever stay at WDW without having a car. It is so convenient at times when Disney transportation is inconvenient (Going from your resort to another resort for Dinner, etc.). And usually we spend less than $20/day including tax on a rental car which makes it well worth it for us just to have the convenience. We may not use the car everyday, but we definitely get our money's worth.

 

[lovinthemouse]

We have had both short and long waits for buses. We use our car for most of our trips.

 

[disneynutz]

We started using a car last year and it's hard to break the habit. Renting a car to buy groceries at Publix or going out for a cheep meal off site makes it will worth it. We also like to go from resort to resort and taking the bus can eat up a couple of hours. You can rent a car cheaper than taking a taxi.

 

[Sammie]

For Downtown Disney that sounds about right. Always long waits to go there and it is Spring Break.

The AK wait is a little long. There is a phone at every bus stop, if a bus does not come within 25 minutes of arriving at the stop, call.

 

[Disneyhappy]

Dh won't even consider going witout a car at WDW. He is not a patient person but then again, neither and I! We always drive to DTD and water parks. We also drive to the parks on occasion (except MK). If staying at a resort with valet, driving is even easier!

 

[dianeschlicht]

It is probably more a result of where you were staying. We were at AKV and OKW the begining of the month, and we commented after 11 days how we had never waited more than a couple of minutes for a bus the whole trip. We use Disney transportation all the time (hate to do the parking lots), and this was by far our best bus service ever!

 

[Coach81]

This past Feb. we had really only one bad experience with the bus transportation. From epcot back to OKW around lunch one day. It was over a hour, we were very upset, but that was the only real problem we had with it.

We will continue to use the Disney bus system, especially as gas is now flirting with the $4 mark per gallon.

 

[jarestel]

There are 2 types of WDW guests using Disney transportation... 1) those who have had transportation horror stories and 2) those who are going to have them. It's the nature of the beast, but fortunately transportation, for the experienced guest, is generally predictable. Not necessarily fast, but predictable most of the time.

Whenever time is of the essence, we drive or take a taxi. Otherwise, we're happy enough with the laid back pace of Disney transportation.

 

[dianeschlicht]

There are 2 types of WDW guests using Disney transportation... 1) those who have had transportation horror stories and 2) those who are going to have them. It's the nature of the beast, but fortunately transportation, for the experienced guest, is generally predictable. Not necessarily fast, but predictable most of the time.

Whenever time is of the essence, we drive or take a taxi. Otherwise, we're happy enough with the laid back pace of Disney transportation.

That's mostly true. When we are at Disney, we assume the bus will get us to the parks in a reasonable time, and that is usually the case. Once in awhile we will experience a longer than normal wait, but it isn't the norm, and you just take it in stride and move on. The problem is that if you have to endure a long wait like the one the OP did, you tend to remember those most. In 11 years of membership, I can tell you we have had 3 overly long waits, and yes, I remember all three of them clearly! My point is that those are the exception rather than the rule, but our memory of them is enhanced. BTW, we NEVER take a bus to DTD. That is ALWAYS a slow trip, no matter where you are coming from. I doubt I have ever waited less than a half hour at the DTD bus stop, and I usually give up and take a boat back to OKW or hike over to SSR and take the boat or bus from there to wherever I am going.

 

[tomandrobin]

Overall, we love the disney transportation system. Our worst bus experience was when we stayed at the Swan Hotel. Those buses took forever, especially to DTD.

The one thing we find we don't like is the resort to resort transportation. Having breakfast/lunch/dinner plans at another resort can be problematic without a car. Especially early breakfast or late dinners at another resort.

Now the the boat ride from the Swan to DHS was fantastic!

 

[1000th happy haunt]

We were waiting once (I think it was October 2004) at Wilderness Lodge for a bus to the Studios. We saw two or three Animal Kingdom busses, and at least two Epcot and DTD busses come and go, but no Studios bus. We rented a car on the next trip, and have on every trip since.

I admit that renting a car makes it a lot easier to get to another hotel in the morning for a breakfast ADR. Not to mention trips to Publix and heading off site for one reason or another.

 

[photobob]

We always drive to WDW so we have a car available but rarely use it. We haven't had too many long bus waits but they happen. I guess reality escape of not having to drive is one of the reasons I use Disney transportation. I'm usually have a more patient, go with flow attitude there than I do anywhere else. That being said the DTD trip is usually the longest we may drive there this year. Bus transportation is my least favorite of Disney's modes which makes the Epcot resort area most attractive.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

Wow. I guess we have been so fortunate! We have never had long waits, regardless of where or when we've stayed. My biggest issue is there's no good way to get from one hotel to the other. We always take a bus from one resort to the nearest park and then catch another bus to the hotel/restaurant. That can take some time.

Since we mostly stay at OKW or SSR, I guess we've never had the challenge of getting to DTD. I've never tried to go late in the evening, though. With two younger kids (DS is 12 and DD is 5), we go to DTD for dinner (usually leave resort around 4 or 4:30), walk around and come back when the party's just getting started!!! Doesn't getting old stink???

 

[OurDogCisco]

We can't drive to Disney... We live too far away. I struggled trying to find a car rental for a reasonable price in Orlando. I can find cheaper prices in Hawaii than Orlando. I was able to rent a car for $320 for 11 days. To me it is expensive just to rent a car to go from resort to resort. However, this time we staying in a timeshare offsite so, a car will be necessary. We rented a car on our last DVC stay and honestly we didn't use it enough to make it worth the price. We went to the grocery store once (but with grocery services not necessary). We drove to 2 resort dining reservations. Then, we drove to Wal Mart once. We drove to AK & MGM but took Disney Transportation for MK & Epcot. We didn't wait long for buses. We were staying at VWL and during Christmas week. I wonder if the time of year also creates different problems. There were TONS of busses during the week we went. In fact, one day we went to AK and the parking lot was HORRIBLE. We got out of our car and started walking towards the tram and there were like 1000s of people doing the same thing. We turned around and went somewhere else. Apparently, that day AK did fill to capacity this was in Dec 2006.

I think, there are pros and cons to both ways but you have to do what works best for you. For us, since we really don't go anywhere else but Disney at the world we don't really need a car. Plus, we love ME to the airport. I love not having to deal with your luggage.

 

[DW Dad]

Actually I have been very surprised by the bus service so far this week. I haven't had any long waits the longest so far has only been about 20 minutes from Epcot to Saratoga. Other than that not to bad. This is a big difference from our trip last year when we routinely waited 40-50 minutes for a bus. I started taking my car last year. But so far this year haven't had too. It's just so nice not having to drive for a week.

 

[gppnj]

I'd let Disney know about this. People have to complain for them to know there's a problem.

It was 54 minutes from the time I arrived at the BWV bus stop last Thursday evening until I arrived at Downtown Disney. 8:39 to 9:33.

This was the first trip that we regularly used bus transportation (although we routinely take the boat from VWL to MK). We occassionally got lucky and caught a bus quickly, but we had one 40 minute trip to AK in addition to the DTD nightmare.

I know some people love the transportation and some have never had such a ridiculous wait, but I refuse to spend 54 minutes waiting to ride Peter Pan or Soarin', so why spend that much time to travel a couple of miles in a bus? I'm glad the buses are there, but it's back to the car for us!