Bus Service at POFQ

[DSLRuser]

I am not sure how or why everyone gets so upset about the Disney bus system. But my overall impression over the last 25 years is nothing but positives.

yes, it is not ideal to show up at a resort bus stop, just as your bus is pulling away. But that is life. And in that moment, the 20 minute wait for the next bus seems like forever. But in most cases, it is actually much less then 20 minutes.

i also agree that getting on a way, full to capacity +10 more people bus leaving a crowded park at night is not ideal. But it is 10 minutes. To me that is so much better then parking a car and driving back to a resort. Things would be much better if EVERYONE had some manners and let woman, children, and elderly have the seats. Or smaller kids should sit on a grown ups lap. I fear for the future when i see grown adult men, sprawled out looking at their phone in a seat, while standing right next to them is a woman with a stroller in one arm and a toddler in the other. But that is a different thread.

And if it takes an extra buss to clear the que, again....20 minutes at most is not that big deal.

Pretty simple.....manage you time and be sure to give yourself time to use the buses on a worse case scorner. Plan for 20 minutes not 10, and you have no issues.

 

[DSLRuser]

There are no buses "dedicated" to any resort, they are all waiting on the dispatcher to tell them where to go to next.

l.

Sort of true. There are many bus "lines" or "routes". usually these routes have 3-4 dedicated buses on that route. 1 would be picking up at the resorts, while 1 may be on route to the park, while a 3rd may have just left the park and is on route to the rsort.

What also does happen is, at MK for example. If the dispatch tower sees bus stop #12 with 2-3 buses full of people in it's que, they can call an audible and have another "on demand" bus go pick that crowd up, and then assume that lie. When the next bus arrives from that line, after it drops off, it move into the "on demand" role.

Now there are all sorts of logistics that make that system work and we wont go into those, but in general thats how it is done.

 

[Minnesota!]

Thank you, I think we have gotten spoiled, we typically stay at CSR, and the bus service has always been amazing, and last year we stayed at SSR and the bus service was really good there also. Just wanting something a little different this time, and love the boat ride to DS.

Now see - CSR is the resort I will never stay at again based on the busses. Both times we stayed we had absolutely HORRIBLE bus service.

 

[Bostonbeans99]

I am not sure how or why everyone gets so upset about the Disney bus system. But my overall impression over the last 25 years is nothing but positives.

yes, it is not ideal to show up at a resort bus stop, just as your bus is pulling away. But that is life. And in that moment, the 20 minute wait for the next bus seems like forever. But in most cases, it is actually much less then 20 minutes.

i also agree that getting on a way, full to capacity +10 more people bus leaving a crowded park at night is not ideal. But it is 10 minutes. To me that is so much better then parking a car and driving back to a resort. Things would be much better if EVERYONE had some manners and let woman, children, and elderly have the seats. Or smaller kids should sit on a grown ups lap. I fear for the future when i see grown adult men, sprawled out looking at their phone in a seat, while standing right next to them is a woman with a stroller in one arm and a toddler in the other. But that is a different thread.

And if it takes an extra buss to clear the que, again....20 minutes at most is not that big deal.

Pretty simple.....manage you time and be sure to give yourself time to use the buses on a worse case scorner. Plan for 20 minutes not 10, and you have no issues.

Although I don't want to speak for everyone...I would think most people don't ride a bus on their daily RL commute.
We have our own cars & are used to zooming where we need to go.

On vacation... time is even more precious...hence the fact we complain if getting here to there isn't quick.

 

[DSLRuser]

Although I don't want to speak for everyone...I would think most people don't ride a bus on their daily RL commute.
We have our own cars & are used to zooming where we need to go.

On vacation... time is even more precious...hence the fact we complain if getting here to there isn't quick.

That is exactly why I love the bus system. Because I drive a 65 mile round trip commute. 45 mins in the morning and 60 mins in the evening (on good days).

On vacation......i just want to relax and not deal with traffic, idiot drivers who text and drive. the dummy who ran a red light and almost hit me.

We drive nice cars, i dont want to worry if i parked where i wont get a door ding, or did the kids leave a device out prompting a theif to break a window to steal said worthless (to me) device.

The bus system is awesome for soooo many reasons.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I am not sure how or why everyone gets so upset about the Disney bus system. But my overall impression over the last 25 years is nothing but positives.

yes, it is not ideal to show up at a resort bus stop, just as your bus is pulling away. But that is life. And in that moment, the 20 minute wait for the next bus seems like forever. But in most cases, it is actually much less then 20 minutes.

i also agree that getting on a way, full to capacity +10 more people bus leaving a crowded park at night is not ideal. But it is 10 minutes. To me that is so much better then parking a car and driving back to a resort. Things would be much better if EVERYONE had some manners and let woman, children, and elderly have the seats. Or smaller kids should sit on a grown ups lap. I fear for the future when i see grown adult men, sprawled out looking at their phone in a seat, while standing right next to them is a woman with a stroller in one arm and a toddler in the other. But that is a different thread.

And if it takes an extra buss to clear the que, again....20 minutes at most is not that big deal.

Pretty simple.....manage you time and be sure to give yourself time to use the buses on a worse case scorner. Plan for 20 minutes not 10, and you have no issues.

It may be that most people on the boards don't use public transportation or live in an area where public transportation is a big thing. I'm in South Jersey, on the Philadelphia border. Public transportation is very popular here. I have no issues waiting 15-20 minutes or more for a bus or train. We always give ourselves an hour to get anywhere at WDW.

I don't have a long commute to work (only about 7 miles) but I feel like a chauffer to my kids. Plus the grocery shopping, doctor appts., etc. I'm sick of driving so I don't drive on vacation. My SO does a 1.5 hour+ round trip commute to work daily so he doesn't like to drive on vacation either. I actually refuse to drive on vacation. I haven't rented a car in 10 years. We use public transportation, a driver (when doing all inclusive resorts) or Uber for any vacation we take.

 

[tjmw2727]

Our last stay was split between POFQ and CSR and we found the bus service great at POFQ and had numerous issues at CSR! Only one stop at POFQ and we never waited or had to stand. CSR had many stops and since ours was the last we often had to stand.

IMHO you just never know with the buses, one day you catch them right the next your waiting the full 20 sometimes more. While I do avoid resorts with more than one internal stop (if I can) other than that I choose based on the resort not the buses.

 

[sponica]

The bus system is awesome for soooo many reasons.

Except for when it isn't...granted that excessively long wait at Epcot is the one time that truly sticks out in my mind in all my experiences with disney busses. If it was just my husband and I A) we wouldn't have been leaving that early and B) we probably just would have requested an uber.

I would have been thrilled with a 20 minute wait for a bus, but once the wait crosses the 45 minute threshold my patience wears thin. I'm not a mass transit user now, but I was in the past. So I understand the system has its quirks. At least when there would be a service disruption on the subway line, I could find a tweet or something telling me so. If you're at a park, it's like a black hole of when will the bus get here....

 

[Bostonbeans99]

It may be that most people on the boards don't use public transportation or live in an area where public transportation is a big thing. I'm in South Jersey, on the Philadelphia border. Public transportation is very popular here. I have no issues waiting 15-20 minutes or more for a bus or train. We always give ourselves an hour to get anywhere at WDW.

I don't have a long commute to work (only about 7 miles) but I feel like a chauffer to my kids. Plus the grocery shopping, doctor appts., etc. I'm sick of driving so I don't drive on vacation. My SO does a 1.5 hour+ round trip commute to work daily so he doesn't like to drive on vacation either. I actually refuse to drive on vacation. I haven't rented a car in 10 years. We use public transportation, a driver (when doing all inclusive resorts) or Uber for any vacation we take.

Yes mi*vida*loca that was my exact point. Thanks for adding your post & experiences.

Personally I have a dozen shopping retail stores and 4 grocery stores within a 3 minute drive of my house
I don't know what it is like to stand or sit & wait on a bus or other modes of transportation to take me down the road. I get in my car and boom I am there within minutes.

I don't mind a 20 min wait for WDW transportation....but others that aren't everyday non car travelers probably are....or at least that is who is possibly complaining a little more than the others.

 

[Bostonbeans99]

That is exactly why I love the bus system. Because I drive a 65 mile round trip commute. 45 mins in the morning and 60 mins in the evening (on good days).

On vacation......i just want to relax and not deal with traffic, idiot drivers who text and drive. the dummy who ran a red light and almost hit me.

We drive nice cars, i dont want to worry if i parked where i wont get a door ding, or did the kids leave a device out prompting a theif to break a window to steal said worthless (to me) device.

The bus system is awesome for soooo many reasons.

Oh I agree! We love to park our car first day at WDW & never get in it again until checkout day!
Not driving to us is part of the fun and relaxation of the vacation!

I'm just saying it's more than likely a lot of people on these boards aren't frequent passengers of a bus service in their town.

 

[SpaceMtnGirl]

We just stayed at POFQ for the first time 4/28-5/5. We had the best luck with buses there any resort we've tried yet. I loved that the buses were never crowded. The exception was AK where POFQ/POR share a bus stop.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

We always had impeccable service with the buses. I mean, they are FREE public transportation so you do have to "wait for the next one" but I don't want to drive on vacation and neither does DH.

 

[buzznina]

I am not sure how or why everyone gets so upset about the Disney bus system. But my overall impression over the last 25 years is nothing but positives.

yes, it is not ideal to show up at a resort bus stop, just as your bus is pulling away. But that is life. And in that moment, the 20 minute wait for the next bus seems like forever. But in most cases, it is actually much less then 20 minutes.

i also agree that getting on a way, full to capacity +10 more people bus leaving a crowded park at night is not ideal. But it is 10 minutes. To me that is so much better then parking a car and driving back to a resort. Things would be much better if EVERYONE had some manners and let woman, children, and elderly have the seats. Or smaller kids should sit on a grown ups lap. I fear for the future when i see grown adult men, sprawled out looking at their phone in a seat, while standing right next to them is a woman with a stroller in one arm and a toddler in the other. But that is a different thread.

And if it takes an extra buss to clear the que, again....20 minutes at most is not that big deal.

Pretty simple.....manage you time and be sure to give yourself time to use the buses on a worse case scorner. Plan for 20 minutes not 10, and you have no issues.

I could not agree more, very well said and I also agree about how "common courtesy" is pretty much a thing of the past.
When we first started going to WDW, and since we always drive there, we use to drive to the parks. But we have not done that in many years now, because we found that "any" time saved was very small. Plus, we had to deal with a hot car and other drivers not knowing where they are going, I much rather be "standing" on a packed cool bus. Plus, we have met some great people and had wonderful conversations.

 

[disneyinthespringtime]

we stayed a little over a month ago and the buses seemed great. Usually waited 5 - 10 minutes; waits were longer and more like 15 min or so returning from the park. everyone boarding got a seat except for when it was a post-fireworks return bus. We did not stop at POR at all on the way there or back.

For references, we traveled at 7:30 or just before most of the time (for 9:00 park opens). Coming back we did mid-day once at 2ish, early evening around 5:00 and 6:30, fireworks (nutso but as we expected).