All Stars resorts question

[Nfatuated]

I am planning a trip to the World and am thinking of one of the All star props. I have been reading a guide that says by staying at one of the All star resorts it will take you and hour to get to any of the parks using the DW transportation system. Is this true? If not does anyone have approximate times. Also, does anyone have a prefrence of which resort they stay? does one get better transportation that the other? Any help on these resorts would be awesome! Thanks!

 

[MickeyMonstersMom]

There is absolutely no way, aside from an engine breakdown, that it would take that long. I've always been quite happy with the bussing from the All-Stars to the parks. Now, if you're trying to get to another resort it can take a while to travel to a park and transfer from there, but that would be the same from any WDW resort except moving among those on the monorail or within the Boardwalk area.

Approximate times: these are just guesses as it's been a year since I was last at ASMu, but I think it was 5-10 minutes to AK, 10-15 to Epcot and MGM, and 15-20 to MK.

 

[wdwgirl03]

I have stayed at All Star Movies and Sports, and I agree, there is no way the bus ride will take an hour. Unless they are including the waiting time in that, but even then it wouldn't take an hour. I liked both movies and sports, but the one thing I didn't like about Movies is that it is the last one to get picked up on the bus route, so a couple of times we had to wait for a second bus to come because the first one was full from the other All Stars!! Now, we were there over Spring Break, so it might not always be like that. Whichever one you decide on, have a great time!!

 

[krb6386]

The bus service is great at WDW. I have stayed at All Star Music and Port Orleans. When staying at the All Star resorts, the bus is the furthest away when getting in line for buses from the parks. When we went in April of 2003 the buses ran quite often and it didn't seem to take long to get to the parks. When we went in November 2004, we stayed at Port Orleans and we were disappointed with the way the bus would stop at our resort and then continue stopping at other resorts BEFORE going to the parks. That was a bummer and a delay! But other than that, it definitely pays to stay at WDW resorts and use their transportation!

 

[heartsy77]

We stayed at the All Star Movies in Feb 05 and loved it. The longest bus ride was to down town disney, which was like 40 minutes. All the other parks where like a 20 minute ride tops. However as much as we loved the Movies we will be staying at the Pop Century only beacuse the have they're own bus. If you stay in the Movies, Sports, or Music all three hotels almost always share buses, which means when the bus gets to your stop sometimes it's full, or you stand! The pop century is still a value resort and you pay the same as the Movies etc, but the conveince of not shareing a bus!! Good luch you'll love it!

 

[Daxx]

The pop century is still a value resort and you pay the same as the Movies etc, but the conveince of not shareing a bus!!

While you might not share a bus, there is often standing room only on the POP buses b/c they fill. And, since it's a new resort (and popular b/c of that), the buses are crowded.

On our last trip we stayed at POP. While waiting for one POP bus to come, we always saw several All Star buses waiting or leaving for the resort. Often, we'd see two buses for movies getting ready to load. It was frustrating to wait for a single POP bus while all the All Star buses were passing us by! Also, on POP, we often had to stand b/c of so many passengers getting on. In the morning, they loaded the buses to capacity to go to the parks and people also stood. No seat guarantees at all at POP. Going back to the resort, same thing ... unless you wanted to wait for the next bus.

Honestly, as far as standing room goes, it depends on the crowds at your resort.

And, according to the WDW bus drivers, as they pull in they're instructed to go to stops based on need. So, if there's a crowd for All Stars and not for POP, they'll load up All Stars first and get them out of the way.

 

[psmomma]

While you might not share a bus, there is often standing room only on the POP buses b/c they fill. And, since it's a new resort (and popular b/c of that), the buses are crowded.

On our last trip we stayed at POP. While waiting for one POP bus to come, we always saw several All Star buses waiting or leaving for the resort. Often, we'd see two buses for movies getting ready to load. It was frustrating to wait for a single POP bus while all the All Star buses were passing us by! Also, on POP, we often had to stand b/c of so many passengers getting on. In the morning, they loaded the buses to capacity to go to the parks and people also stood. No seat guarantees at all at POP. Going back to the resort, same thing ... unless you wanted to wait for the next bus.

Honestly, as far as standing room goes, it depends on the crowds at your resort.

And, according to the WDW bus drivers, as they pull in they're instructed to go to stops based on need. So, if there's a crowd for All Stars and not for POP, they'll load up All Stars first and get them out of the way.

I am glad to read your post... We are staying at Movies this June and we considered staying at POP so we wouldn't have to share the bus with other All Stars Resorts. I guess during the Summer Months there will be some waits (not an hour..thats a bit much) no matter where you are staying.

We ended up choosing Movies again this year because our DD loved the Toy Story Theme last year and wanted to do that again this year.

 

[Nfatuated]

Thank you for all the great responses! So overall neither Pop or All star have an advantage over the other in terms of transportation? Is paying for priority location worth it? I will be traveling with a two year old.

 

[YetanotherMouseFan]

It has been our experience that, whatever resort you are staying at, there always seem to be more buses coming for the other resorts. Especially, it seems, the resort you stayed at last trip!

 

[henrylovespooh]

We stayed at All Star Movies in February 2005 and had no problems with the bus transportation. In fact, we joked that we had bus kharma because every morning when we got in the line, the very next bus would be going to the park we were going to. We rarely stood on a bus and during peak times, like park closing, there were buses just for All Star Movies. Rides were 8 to 12 minutes long tops.

 

[letsgoagainsoon]

We have stayed at both the ASMov and ASMus neither seemed to have had a long wait for the bus--and we waited with a nine month old and 4 year old. No trip to a park took an hour, maybe a half hour to DD, was the longest. The wait after the fireworks to come back might be a little long, but we didn't mind. As far as which resort, we enjoyed both resorts, however we found music to be somewhat quieter and less kids, but we love them both! In July we will be trying PC!!

 

[cheerdancer11]

If you are there when it is busy, when everyone else seems to be going to the same park is you it will probably take an hour. We waited for two buses to leave to MGM before we realized it would be faster to hope over to MK-TTC and catch a bus from there. I HIGHLY recommend bringing a car if you like to get places faster. I usually waited 20-50minutes for a bus from Sports. If you're at movies or music your wait is longer since they pick up sports first, and will usually having standing room only left for the other two.

 

[goofy4tink]

We had no problems whatsoever with the buses when we were at AllStarMusic in Dec '03. It never took us more than 20 minutes to get anywhere. And we really only shared the bus with Sports. I think we actually stopped at Movies twice the whole time we were there.

When we stay at POR, there are always mulitple stops. Since it shares a bus with POFQ, there are about 5 bus stops. 4 in POR and 1 in FQ I believe. I think it's pretty much the same at all moderates...they are so spread out that they have to have multiple stops.

Our worst transportation? At the Polynesian. We always waited about 40 minutes to get a bus to MGM. Don't know why, but it was always that bus.