Bus Service at OKW

[Pa@okw95]

I should know better than to post this but like I said in another post the bus service at OKW is an insult. Someone posted after me that the most she had to wait was 2 minutes for a bus her last trip. What can I say to that!! The last bus ride I made from a park other than MK was from AK. I waited a full 30 minutes for the bus to take off, I actually timed it because I wanted to see how long this would really take. The bus arrived 20 minutes after I started to wait for it then we sat there for another 10 minutes in the bus, so it was 30 minutes before the bus left AK. Then we stop at one of the water parks on our way back. The actual time when I arrived at OKW was about 50 minutes- I got off the bus at the first stop rather than go around OKW. Had I stayed on the bus to my stop at OKW the whole trip would have been about 55 minutes or longer. Now that is an insult as far as I am concerned. I want to add there were no people on the bus that needed special attention. This happened last July. Now I have been a member since 95 and made about 15 trips down there to OKW I could tell you stories a lot worse than that. I have been through many talks with management over the years down there about the bus service. One of the problems is they cut back the service during a certain time period during the day. Since I stay at the parks about 2 hours max, I always catch the bus service coming back when it is at its worse. I have waited twice for 45 minutes over at MGM, once another customer almost go into fist a cuffs over this, another time one customer got so mad at a pick up at OKW that the bus driver slamed the door shut with the guy's child on the bus and the angry gent outside the bus. I do not care to put myself through these situations I take my car everywhere and about 1/2 the trips to MK I will take the bus-that is the only case.

 

[Basser]

I have made many trips to OKW and always use the buses. I believe the longest wait I have ever had is 20 min. and this was be cause I just missed the one before. I love the bus system and enjoy not having to spend my trips driving around WDW. I use the time wait *** for buses people watching. I go to OKW to relax and leave my pressure filled life at work for however long I am at WDW. I never make reservations for diner, because I don't want to spend my trip on a clock and find that by doing this my trips are far more enjoyable.

 

[dianeschlicht]

About 5 years ago, we had a trip where we waited 20 minutes or more for buses nearly every time we went out the door, but the past two years our bus experiences at OKW have been exceptional! Two trips this past year, and the longest we waited was 10 minutes, and that was when we watched the bus we wanted drive away as we were approaching. It is true that the buses run less often in the mid afternoon, but even with that, we didn't wait more than 10 minutes coming from the parks back to OKW for a rest. We have had guests with us drive and leave when we left for the bus stop. We arrived on the bus LONG before they did. Getting in from the parking lot is the problem there. The only place I think it is sometimes a problem with the bus is to Animal Kingdom from OKW and back. We often wait longer there for a return bus, and the bus always stops at Blizzard Beach, so that takes extra time too. I just don't think the bus is an issue at all any more from OKW. BEsides, the accommodations make up for it.

 

[MAC3]

On my last 2 trips to OKW, I experienced the same thing but only with the AK bus. While waiting at AK for the OKW bus to come (many buses came & went for the other resorts). We waiting both time 30 minutes! (both in 2002 & 2003, both trips in July)

Thank God my DH wasn't with us he would have lost his mind.

I thought that was appauling also. But that was the only park it happened at. I guess it might be a good option for me to take the car this time!

Thanks for the reminder,
Lisa

 

[jarestel]

Well, I have to say that somebody has posted transportation horror stories about every resort or park at WDW at one time or another. For every OKW bus story , there's a matching BWV or BCV bus nightmare, or VWL boat ride that took "forever". I realize sometimes guests may have to wait a little longer than it takes to drive your personal car to a park, or maybe have to make a few extra stops to-from the destination, but all in all, I think WDW transportation does a fine job moving as many people as they do every day. I'm another one that's always arriving just as my bus is pulling away, but even so, most of our waits are less than 20 minutes. I'm on vacation, not 20 minutes late for work so the time isn't even that important.

 

[PamOKW]

Originally posted by jarestel
Well, I have to say that somebody has posted transportation horror stories about every resort or park at WDW at one time or another.

I have to agree with this. My worst bus story was coming home from the GF to OKW via DD. The ride from the GF to DD was horrendous and the bus driver insulting. I've had good and bad at every resort. One time I thought I'd have to book a room at WL since it took so long for a bus to arrive!

The overall bus system at WDW is a tough one. They keep working on it but it does require patience.

 

[mikesmom88]

I have a horror of a transportation story. One year, we wanted to go to WL from teh AK and got on the WL bus but the driver (who must have just came on duty and been new) went to Fort WIlderness instead. When the passengers informed her of her error, she proceeded to go back to the AK and start all over again. She almost had a mutiny on the bus.

To be perfectly honest, that has been my only trouble with the bus transporatation (even at OKW) but I am like the others who have stated they are on vacation, don't get aggravated. It can be very annoying when you need to get to a reservation or a dinner show and the bus takes forever, but we always drive to WDW and anticipate when the car is a better option than the bus.

 

[DisneyPhD]

Our one time trip to OKW aug 2003, we had an very dispapointing time with the busses. The worst being a 1 hour wait (no joking) for AK along with 30 or more other people. But that wasn't our only problem, everyday it was something, sometimes just bad timing, mostly poor drivers who got lost (not kidding) One even took us to the AK car parking lot and then let us out. Another went to MK, missed the drop off, took us back out to Con, tried to turn around, blocking the road and had to go down to what might had been cast member parking. This was our 1st day at MK and 2 year old DD was dying to get off the bus, and couldn't understand why we couldn't.

All in all my biggest problem is the lay out. (and this can't be fixed) Going in and out, back and forth and turing around in parking lots. No most other resorts do share a bus with a near by resort, I still think all the stops at OKW makes the trip almost double. Even PO and CS have a better layout and just goes around the resort, not in and out, back and forth. Infact our room was so close to the main road we heard busses wizzing by until after 2:00 in the morning, and the whole room shouck. (and we leave near train tracks, so it isn't like we are used to total quiet!) In all our WDW trips, this was really the only time I would consider the busses downright bad (most of the time we love them.) For one night of our trip we stayed at AKL, and our luck was MUCH better there for busses.

I think almost every bus to AK from any resort seems to be a trouble spot. They all stop regually at BB, and that takes more time. AK, DTD and water parks are really the only places I would drive myself if we had a car. Going from resort to resort is a pain at almost any resort with out a car.

Many of the bus complaints are during the summer (this was the only time we had even been in the summer, and probally will be the last.) I wonder if all bus transportation is worse during the summer?

I hope that SSR resort does not have the same layout and the busses are better there.

I was warned by members here to have a car if you stay at OKW. We didn't listen. If we ever find ourselves staying at OKW in the future, we will rent a car. I still like the busses, but it gives you an option if you are fed up with busses.

 

[FredS]

We've spent many days at OKW and have just never had a problem with the buses. Maybe we waited 15 minutes at the longest for a bus leaving the resort. Five to 10 minutes seemed more typical.

I have had problems at both Epcot and AK in getting a bus returning to all resorts. Last year I was in line waiting at Epcot for probably 45 minutes and in that time ONE bus came to pick up and it was not (unfortunately) for us, but another resort. The point being that only one bus came during that entire time, so it wasn't just OKW but obviously all resorts were not getting regular pickup service at Epcot.

Boardwalk and Beach Club absolutely take the cake for consistently poor bus service, both at the resorts and at the parks. I despise taking the bus from MK in particular. I have heard that they have changed the service in the last couple of weeks to split up the BC/Boardwalk/Swan/Dolphin/ends of the earth route. Hopefully that will not be a problem when we return later this year.........

 

[Pluto4Pres]

The bus system is so complex it's bound to have occasional problems. The only trip we went on that I really felt that the whole system was subpar was when we went for New Year's 99-00. I think at that time Disney had just finished some major expansion (AK etc.) and there were some serious growing pains that were compounded by the huge crowd. I can remember thinking then that Disney was letting my investment go downhill.

Fast forward to OKW for New Year's 03-04, I thought the busses were fine. One 25 min wait at MGM was our worst experience. It was nothing. The only thing I do notice now is that the bus drivers are not as personable as the used to be. I can remember years ago the bus drivers would always engage in some friendly interaction with the guests. They would joke with the kids, tell funny stories and give tips on what to see in the parks. The drivers on this last trip were more business like - they were fine - it just wasn't like the old days. The one driver that did try to engage in conversation had such a thick accent I couldn't understand him.

Some trips we use the car more than others. Other than MK, if you are planning an dawn assault at the early opening park, sometimes it pays to take the car. Parking is free with your resort guest pass and generally you can get close to the gate. We have done this at AK, MGM and Epcot. Another thing we like to do when going to Illuninations from OKW is to valet park at BW or Dolphin and then either walk or take the boat to Epcot.

 

[meier56013]

We stayed at OKW in July 2003. I found the typical wait for a bus from the resort to any park was from 1 minute to 30 minutes(this happened twice). We did have a car, but I still think the 30 minute wait was faster than driving, getting lost, parking, taking(and waiting for) a shuttle or ferry, then walking to the gate. The only park we drove to was AK, before they opened, for breakfast. The bigger issue for us was the busses back to OKW from the parks. We often left in the rain, and had to wait at Epcot and MGM for a second bus, as the lines were too long. But the biggest problem is the DD ferry/bus deal. We twice took the ferry to DD and loved it. Both times it rained and the ferry does not run in rain, so we took the bus back. Both times we stopped at Typhoon Lagoon, which was closed for the storms, and spent over an hour getting in and out, to pick up a couple people. This needs to be changed or rearranged to have waterpark only busses. To me, it would make more sense for resorts to share busses to the waterparks and DD, then when it rains, fewer busses jam up the lots. Next trip, I'll settle for walking a mile in the rain back to OKW.

 

[spiceycat]

AK if far away - next time you are there with a car time your trip when you drive - add 10 minutes for the bus to go around the resort and then drive over - to the AK - due it at the same time you ride the bus (on different days) - it is not fair to ride the bus early in the morning or when the park is closing - and drive your car after the rush hour to the parks.

you might be surprised how long this takes - I drove myself there once - it was bad - the security gates were horrible they took twice as long as the MK - (don't know why) - the parking was further away (again don't know why - this was 8:00am) - so you had to ride their car tram - that took a long time - it is not a good design for buses or cars - I guess they won't you to park and drive further away from the animals - but I think they could have done a better job....It probably took around 45 minutes from the time I left BWV to get into the park...

So I will take the buses - the only park I don't take the buses is Epcot (Spicey is in their kennel) and I parking is very nice here.

 

[DisneyPhD]

I agree except for occasional problems, taking the busses are better then driving (since we also never rent a car, but take a town car service from the airport.) I wouldn't dream of driving myself to MK or Epcot, (it seem lke the traffic around Epcot is always heavy.) I think I might drive myself to MGM or AK (the place we always have bus troulbes with and it apears we are not alone in this). The water parks wouldn't be bad or DTD for that mater.

One of the reasons we love our WDW trip is because of transportation we get to leave car hassles behind. Out of 10 trips staying on prop and using busses evey time, the only time I remember feeling fed up was at OKW. (The constant rain very likely added to this.)

It is funny becuase in 2 trips at BCV or YC we never had any bus problems, but I hear many people saying they have. I don't mind the busses form BCV at all. Recenlty we stayed at VWL, once again not problems at all. It does stand out that OKW was repeated bad luck on our part.

One thing I didn't like about OKW was the HH main bus stop, out in the middle of the road (we have a 2 year old, so keeping her safe was an issue) and always in direct sun light, or little shelter from the rain (did I mentions this was Aug?)