Bus or Drive

[RebeccaLovesDisney]

Last time we went to WDW, we didn't have a car and took the busses everywhere. It worked fine, only a couple times did we have to wait long for a bus, but this trip, we will have a car.

So, I'm starting to wonder if on certain days, it would be better to drive rather than take the bus. Based on the following schedule, which days do you guys think it would be better to drive than take the bus:

Day 1: POP - MK EE - MGM (Fantasmic) - POP
Day 2: POP - MK - Epcot (Illuminations) - POP
Day 3: CSR - AK - CSR
Day 4: CSR - MGM - Epcot - CSR
Day 5: CSR - Epcot - MK (Wishes) - CSR

Thanks for any advice you can give! I can't believe we're almost there!

 

[macraven]

Originally posted by RebeccaLovesDisney
Last time we went to WDW, we didn't have a car and took the busses everywhere. It worked fine, only a couple times did we have to wait long for a bus, but this trip, we will have a car.

So, I'm starting to wonder if on certain days, it would be better to drive rather than take the bus. Based on the following schedule, which days do you guys think it would be better to drive than take the bus:

Day 1: POP - MK EE - MGM (Fantasmic) - POP
Day 2: POP - MK - Epcot (Illuminations) - POP
Day 3: CSR - AK - CSR
Day 4: CSR - MGM - Epcot - CSR
Day 5: CSR - Epcot - MK (Wishes) - CSR

Thanks for any advice you can give! I can't believe we're almost there!

had to quote your post in order to anwer correctly.
for the day you go to AK, why not take the bus?
leave right before the crowd or soon after to catch the bus back to your hotel.
if you are not planning to park hop that day, you don't have to rush against time and lose time waiting for busses.

Day 1 i would do the bus to mk ee and then bus back to pop to get the car.
the rush after fantasmic is bad, long waits for the busses back to pop.
day 2 i would probably drive to mk and leave the car there.
take the monorail to epcot and after illuminations, return to ttc by monorail or bus to get your car.
day 3 take the bus
day 5: definetly take the bus back to the hotel after wishes. if you have been at the parks from the time they have opened you will be tired by the end of wishes.
when i saw wished last month, i waited until the end before i left. very long waits for the bus back to the hotel.
the next two times i saw it i started to go to the entrance of the park near the last 3 minutes of it. saw the last moment of wishes as i was exiting the park to go to the busses. wisest thing i did all day........beat the crowd and saw the entire wishes program.

 

[RebeccaLovesDisney]

Thanks macraven - Your suggestions make a lot of sense, especially with park-hopping. I definitely don't want an hour wait at the bus stop at the end of a long day waiting for a bus back to the resort.

Good idea about getting to the entrance of the park before Wishes is over. Hopefully we can do that too. Problem is, we've never seen Wishes and might not be able to tell when it's almost over!

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by macraven
Day 1 i would do the bus to mk ee and then bus back to pop to get the car.
the rush after fantasmic is bad, long waits for the busses back to pop.

Trying to deal with traffic leaving the Studios can be a nightmare. My mother and I took the bus back to Pop Century after Fantasmic, and the bus was just leaving. 5 seconds later, another bus was there, and we walked on and got a seat. After our bus left, there was another bus that pulled right in.

 

[macraven]

Originally posted by RebeccaLovesDisney
Thanks macraven - Your suggestions make a lot of sense, especially with park-hopping. I definitely don't want an hour wait at the bus stop at the end of a long day waiting for a bus back to the resort.

Good idea about getting to the entrance of the park before Wishes is over. Hopefully we can do that too. Problem is, we've never seen Wishes and might not be able to tell when it's almost over!

the first time i saw wishes last month was on a saturday. extremely packed house that day and night. i stood at the end of the street right before the group right at the front of the castle. i waited till the end of everything before i left.
let me tell you it took me one hour to get back to my room. the crowds were rude and unbearable. i went to the side where caseys was and then walked thru all the stores to get to the exit. from there beared left to the bus area. had to wait 25 minutes for a bus as the line had ten million people in front of me.

the next two nights i saw wishes was the tuesday and thursday. i stood in the middle of the main street and about close to the ending i walked thru the stores to get back out to the exit. the streets again were too crowded to get thru.
as i was walking outside the entrance area, the finale started. i could see it all from where i was. i had a two minute head start to get to the bus at that point. a bus was waiting and left as soon as i got on it. did the same routine on thursday.
let me tell you this, i didn't miss anything by taking off minutes before everyone else did. you can catch a break by doing it this way. it was a madhouse on the saturday i stayed to past the ending. cms had batton type flashlights to wave the crowd in the exit direction. people with strollers pushed their way thru and lots of tired and cranky people wanting to leave all at the same time.
walk to the exit near the ending of wishes. stop by the railway station and turn around to see the finale and then run like the devil to the bus stop............you get the best of both worlds that way.

 

[CarolA]

My one Disney rule is NEVER drive to the MK. I hate that whole take the tram, take the boat/monorail thing. And getting out at closing is horrid. Disney buses are much better to the MK.