Another Great Trip to the Poly, but...

[Panlow]

We just got back from a 7 day adventure at the Poly on Sunday and our experience was a little different. Our bus routes was only fair except for the MGM bus, which has always been a pain for me. It took forever to get back to the Poly after Fantasmic and we left early. I did spend most of my time standing up because the Poly bus is also the CR and GF bus...

We stayed at the Poly the 2nd week of June. It was our first stay at Disney, and the only less than magical part of the trip were the bus rides. We took a taxi to the AKL for breakfast, which was quick and painless, then a bus from AKL to the AK, which wasn't a bad wait, and was an OK ride. I thought, these busses are going to be great. However, The bus from AK back to the Poly, and from the Poly to MGM were slow and packed, and after coming back from MGM on the EMH night, my enthusiasm for the bus system quickly diminished. If you can budget for it, plan for a couple of cab rides

 

[richardsa98]

OOHHH! I am right there with you on that one! The first time one of those buses has aserious accident, a lot of people are going to be hurt!!!!

 

[byoung]

What's remarkable is how the bus service can run so hot and cold for people. We've been lucky I guess to have never waited more than 10-15 minutes or so. How can this be so good for some yet so eratic for others? you bet I'd be steamed too. 45 minutes is way out of line.

I agree we seem to never wait for over 20 minutes.

 

[hmp2z]

Since my husband and I live here now, we have a lot of time on our hands What we did one day was spend a full hour at various parks, and counted how many buses arrived from each resort. I'll post the outstandingly good & bad ones here:

The GF transportation came in the worst, with only 2 buses per hour, each spaced approximately 40-50 minutes apart (depending on the day).

Fort Wilderness had the best bus system, with 6 buses running per hour, and most buses not even near capacity.

The All Stars got second best, with 5 buses per hour. These had more people in them than did the Fort Wilderness buses.

The other deluxes had 3 buses per hour, so were worse than the All Stars, but better than the GF.

The moderates had 3-4 buses per hour (depending on the resort), and POP had 4 buses per hour.

Cheers!
Heather W

 

[tammy1210]

1. Are we better off taking our car to all the parks, if not all, which ones?;
2. If we do drive to the parks, at closing time is it faster to get back to your resort by car versus bus/boat? I always thought if we drove we would end up sitting in traffic at closing time.;
3. I have a handicap pass so will this make parking easier, i.e. closer to entrances at the parks?; and
4. This year I PROMISE myself that I will do the EMH at night at MK, never have in all my trips there. Would the boat/bus be faster then the car to get back to WL, if I make it till 1:00 in the morning? I have no idea how big the crowds are during this.

Sorry so many questions.

When we went in 2004 we flew and depended on Disney transportation - I was very disappointed then - with many of the same reasons mentioned here - but, mostly the waits. We ended up taking taxi's a few times to get to ADR's on time and without wasting a lot of time. When we went in June we rented a car - a standard SUV for 7 days through Dollar cost us $275 and it was money well spent - I actually did feel free! I could go wherever whenever - no one should feel like a prisoner on their Disney vacation!

Anyway - some of your questions:
I would drive to all of the parks - we got to all of the parks at opening - we had the AAA pass so except for MK the parking was usually right behind handicapped parking - so yes, your tag will help you lots. When they're directing you in, if they don't notice your tag just stop and tell them and they'll tell you where to go.

We didn't close the parks - we were at Epcot for Illuminations and lots of people leaving afterwards - still, no waiting in traffic - dh and I marveled about how well organized it all was.

 

[maxiesmom]

I agree that the bus service could be better, especially at the boardwalk resorts. Why they have these resorts all share a bus is beyond me.

But then again, Disney does not consider any of its transportation an exclusive right of on-site guests. Anyone who gets on a bus can ride, no ID needed. Same thing with the monorails. What I am trying to get at is if part of what you are paying for your room is NOT considered to be going towards transportation, then you are in essence getting free transportation. And the bad bus transportation is a case of getting what you are paying for. I'm not saying it is right, but this is another way to look at it.

If I am in a big rush to get anywhere on Disney property, I don't hesitate to call a taxi. I would rather spend the $20 and get where I need to be on time, rather than sitting waiting for a bus while my blood pressure rises.

 

[mickeymedic]

I have had generally good experiences with the Disney bus system. However, this might be at least partially because DH and I tend to go during the off-season (September and February are our favorite months to be at WDW.)

For as much as I've seen people complain about the bus service at POR, I must say that we've never had a problem there. We occasionally shared a bus with POFQ, but not always. We rarely waited more than 10-15 minutes for a bus.

We stayed at POP once - for 2 nights. I don't remember how long our waits were, but I don't remember feeling inconvenienced at any point by the bus service.

When we stayed at GF, we spent most of our time at Epcot and MK. I do remember waiting a while for busses when we were traveling to/from AK and MGM. Although, I think once we started our day at MGM, then rode the boat from MGM to Epcot (you can do that, right?) for the evening. Then rode the monorail back to our resort.

Our first stay onsite ever was CBR. If I recall correctly, we had to ride an "internal" bus to Port Royale then wait for another bus to take us to whatever park we were going to for the day. I thought that was a bit excessive. Perhaps if we had been staying at an "island" that was closer to Port Royale we could have eliminated the first bus trip. I remember waiting more than 45 minutes for a bus to MK. Busses kept coming for all the other possible destinations, but not MK. That was probably my only bad experience with the Disney bus system. Other than that, I have been perfectly happy to use the busses.

 

[ihearttink]

When we went in 2004 we flew and depended on Disney transportation - I was very disappointed then - with many of the same reasons mentioned here - but, mostly the waits. We ended up taking taxi's a few times to get to ADR's on time and without wasting a lot of time. When we went in June we rented a car - a standard SUV for 7 days through Dollar cost us $275 and it was money well spent - I actually did feel free! I could go wherever whenever - no one should feel like a prisoner on their Disney vacation!

Anyway - some of your questions:
I would drive to all of the parks - we got to all of the parks at opening - we had the AAA pass so except for MK the parking was usually right behind handicapped parking - so yes, your tag will help you lots. When they're directing you in, if they don't notice your tag just stop and tell them and they'll tell you where to go.

We didn't close the parks - we were at Epcot for Illuminations and lots of people leaving afterwards - still, no waiting in traffic - dh and I marveled about how well organized it all was.

Thank you Tammy. I was going throught the Unofficial Guide last night and they have a chart regarding travel time on bus/boats & monorails. Looks like cars beat the buses everytime.

 

[mandy200587]

several years ago they use to give you a bus schudele and have a phone by the buses so you could call the garage. That has changed though.