Bus route maps

[Princess Carrie]

I'm just wondering if Disney distributes any maps to guests showing bus routes. For example (although I can figure this out on my own), if I wanted to get from Pop to Poly, is there a map that I could reference to show me how to do this?

 

[JanB]

I have never seen a bus route map. Probably because the bus routes are pretty simple. From any given resort, the only place that a bus will take you is either a park or Downtown Disney. So DTD and the parks (including water parks) are the only real transfer stations.

So -- IN GENERAL -- from one resort to another, you can always ride a bus to a park or to DTD, then take a bus to the other resort.

However, in order to travel as efficiently as possible, you should also be familiar with the monorail and with various boat routes. Again, I am not aware of a single map that shows how all of the transportation options fit together.

Specifically, for Pop to Poly, you can take bus from Pop to MK, and then take the Resort monorail to the Poly.

But suppose you wanted to go from Pop to Boardwalk. You have a couple of choices. You can do bus Pop to Epcot and then bus Epcot to Boardwalk. OR you can do bus Pop to MGM and then either boat or walk MGM to Boardwalk.

Here is Transportation information, as described on DIS.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/Transportation/index.htm

And these are the only maps that I've ever seen.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/maps/index.htm

 

[ZekeKelso]

Disney does have a map. Unfortunately, it's pretty crappy. In particular, if you are traveling between two places that don't have direct transportation between them, Disney will usually tell you to take a bus to DTD and transfer to another bus there. There's almost always a better option.

To go from POP to Poly, your best route is to take a bus to the MK, then take the monorail or boat to Poly. But Disney's map won't tell you that.

 

[Princess Carrie]

Thanks for the info. For the most part, I think I should be able to get from point a to point b, but it would be nice to have a map, so that I could consider what the best option would be. Oh well.

Here's a question:

If the buses from the parks stop running 2 hours or so after the parks close, what if I want to go from resort to resort after that. Am I stuck cabbing it? I assume the buses don't run 24/7.

 

[bradk]

it depends on specifics, but DTD is always a viable option. the last bus leaves PI at 2 am.

i'd recommend picking up something like the passporter to help negotiate routes. there is the online transportation wizard but i stopped giving out the URL as every time i did, i'd get chastised that it's out of date.

it's actually not that hard to wrap your brain around and start making route-wise decisions. the bulk of it is just knowing the basics and the layout of the property.

 

[CleveRocks]

Just get yourself a map of WDW. Easy. No need for bus routes to be enumerated on any map. It's all very simple.

From every resort, you can get on one single bus to get to any single theme park, Downtown Disney and water park. That is, if you are leaving from your resort, you never need to transfer to a second bus to get to a park or DTD.

So if you are at Pop and want to go to Epcot, just go to the Pop bus stop (at the resort) and wait for a bus that says "EPCOT" on the front display. It will go to Epcot. If you at Pop and want to go to Magic Kingdom, just go to the Pop bus stop (at the resort) and wait for a bus that says "MAGIC KINGDOM" on the front display. Couldn't be easier, right?

Getting from one resort to another resort can involve a little more finesse to do it as efficiently as possible. But the general rule others have told you applies quite nicely -- take a bus from Pop to a park or DTD, and then from that park/DTD catch a bus to the other resort. You can look at the "bird's eye view" map of DTD to determine the most efficient park to use as a bus transfer point. For example, if you are at Pop and want to get dinner at Animal Kingdom Lodge, you would NOT want to take a bus from Pop to MK and then a bus from MK to AKL, as that would be very far out of the way. Looking at a map, it makes a lot more sense to get a bus from Pop to Epcot, MGM or AK, and from there catch a bus to AKL. Looking at a map of WDW, you'll see that Epcot, MGM and AK are more or less on the way between Pop and AKL, and that means it would be more efficient to use one of those as a bus transfer point rather than MK or DTD.

One other variable to keep in mind is making sure your intended bus transfer point will still be open when you want to use it. When all else fails, DTD is consistently open late all year round, even during slow times when the parks close pretty early.

There's the monorail that, resort-wise, serves only Contemporary, Polynesian and Grand Floridian. And there are a few boats here and there. But that's an advanced class ... try digesting the basics first!