ART or Bus

[jenpok]

Does anyone have experience with staying off site and taking busses or ART to the parks? We are going with a larger group/family and our mom wants to rent a house so we can all stay together. Has anyone done this with good results???

 

[mystic_path]

Ive never taken a bus from a hotel so unfortunately I cant help you there, but I have taken the ART shuttle. Its OK just OK IF you have a smaller group. Its helpful in the sense that you can take a shuttle from your closest hotel bus stop to the park and it will drop you back off near or at your hotel, and its also a nice break on the feet at the end of the long walking day. BUT I find there are more cons then pros... The cons are that the ART shuttles come every 15 minutes, but realistically it comes every 20-25 and some times its full, meaning you gotta wait for the next shuttle. ART stops running for an hour around 1:00 for lunch so if you want to go back to your hotel for a nap or a swim, you either walk it, cab it, bus it, or wait until its running again. Also ART stops running an hour after park closing. All ART shuttles drop you off at the Disneyland bus loop at the front gates, and there each shuttle is assigned a post number. You need to remember that number as well as the number on the bus when you want a ride back to your hotel. Also its kinda hard when after park closing you want to wander DTD when knowing you are really strapped for time when you need a ride back to your hotel before the shuttle stops running.

So if your going with a larger group of people I would look into my number one choice... a closer hotel But if you dont want to do that, then id suggest renting a car.

 

[avalon451]

Please read (and have your mom read) this thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199862 Hydroguy's Hotel Rule

You really want to consider staying close by. Can you imagine with your large group, when one family with little kids really needs a break for naps/swimming, but the rest of you want to stay longer? "No no no, everybody's got to stick together"... hmmmm... a hotel across the street would work so much better. Just request connecting rooms, or rooms close to each other. Maybe the Queen Suite at Howard Johnson's so you can at least gather in one room with a kitchen for meals. That way everybody can walk back when they want to, without disrupting everybody's day.

Just my opinion. Don't fool with ART, especially with a large family group.

 

[SANDIEGOFAN]

The only bad experience we had with the ART was at closing, during the summer. It was a mob scene at the loading area and a very rude ART employee was threatening people with kicking them (us) out of line if they (we) didn't stay single file. Didn't go over so well with a few people that demanded her supervisor's name. The ART shuttle was so packed that we practically had strangers sitting on our laps. Whew, sorry for the rant.

Anyway, we plan on using the ART for our Jan and Feb trips. That being said, we would have stayed across the street from the main gate but the deal we got on our hotel was too good to pass up.

 

[Queenbillabong]

We've stayed and used ART one time and a hotel shuttle one time. Both were fine - you just have to know the scheduled pick up and drop off times. Of course, it is more convenient if you stay close, but it's not too bad if you stay a bit further away.