Bus service getting worse?

[Shannon G]

Staying at Coronado Springs for a couple of nights, and bus service has been terrible compared to most of our prior trips. We'be actually only used the buses a few times, but waits have been 25 - 30 minutes every time. Currently up to 25 minutes waiting for a bus back from Disney Springs...

 

[bigbabyblues]

I can't speak to anything current, but in 10 trips, we have found the buses to and from Disney Springs to be terrible no matter what.

 

[nursejackie]

I'm afraid this is why we have a car. The few times we needed to use the bus, it always seemed the park we were going to had a bus drought, while the other parks were well serviced. I know it's bad luck, but it's soul-destroying when you are going to Epcot and three MK buses arrive in succession.

 

[steg]

This past May bus service to and from Boardwalk was the second worst we've experienced ever (worst was SSR Congress Park in 2013) and we're used to SSR and AKL with regards to bus transportation standards.

 

[Shannon G]

I guess we've been lucky on most of our past trips - we've had some waits of 20 minutes or so, but those seemed to be the exception rather than the rule. Since this was our first time at CS, I thought maybe it was an issue with the resort, especially when we were waiting to return from Disney Springs and 3 Yacht & Beach Club busses came & went in the time that we were waiting for a bus back to CS.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Up until about 4 years ago, we drove to WDW and left our car parked until we went home. Now, we use our car for everything except MK. Either the buses have become less convenient or I've gotten old enough that I don't want to wait.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Yes, we have noticed that the bus service has been getting worse & worse. We gave up using them a few years ago & now always rent a car. Interestingly, we've really enjoyed our trips so much more by having a car and not being "stranded" on property.

 

[bluezy]

I've seen people post this type of thing numerous times over the last 5+ years, so during our 2015 trip, I kept track of how long we waited for buses. We were there in late June -- so a busy time. We use the buses exclusively for all of our transportation. We use the buses at least 4 times each day, sometimes more. Our findings were that 90% of the time we waited less than 10 minutes for a bus. The longer waits were almost always at the end of a night at park closing (when we would expect to wait longer) as well as during or immediately after a heavy rain storm when people are leaving the parks in droves. I kept track of wait times during our 2016 trip as well and found similar results.

We found that DS/DTD consistently had 15+ minute waits. We've also had terrible luck at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We've never stayed there but go there for a meal or just to look around on nearly every trip. We never had less than a 20 minute wait there and in 2016 we waited over an hour for a bus to DHS.

I think that sometimes the wait for a bus feels much longer than it actually is. There have been times that we're standing there in the heat after a long day of walking around the parks and it feels like we've been waiting for 20 minutes. Then I check the time and realize it's been 7 minutes. Exhaustion skews our perception of things. On my first trip to Disney as an adult (2001), we stayed at ASMo. I had done some reading before our trip and knew to be at the bus stops at least an hour before park opening in order to avoid long bus waits in the morning. I also knew that if we weren't attending the night time shows at a park, we should make sure to exit the park at least 15 minutes before the end of those shows to avoid those crowds. We felt the bus service was excellent that trip and rarely waited more than 5-10 minutes for a bus (I wrote a trip report but never posted it, so I documented the generalized wait times in that report. I would never be able to accurately remember something from 16 years ago). When we got home, I read a trip report from someone who was at ASMo the exact same days we were and he complained that the bus service was awful the whole week -- that he waited 20-30 minutes on a regular basis and always had to stand because the buses were so crowded. I found it interesting that we were there at the exact same time but had very different experiences. Timing is everything.

 

[Spencer Wright]

In my opinion there has been a slight but noticeable decline (this is from staying strictly at AKL the past few trips).

The morning seems great but the evening can be a 15-30 minute wait quite often. We are trying the BC for something new, and also to provide access to the Minnie Van service. I am looking to cut out little extra's here and there to possibly use the service once per day on the trip.

 

[kydisneyfans]

OKW bus waits were an absolute nightmare during our trip last month.
Ironically, Disney Springs was the most reliable bus, we often took it from the back of the resort to the front.

We went with Uber on several park trips, the 30+ minute waits became insane.

 

[Spencer Wright]

OKW bus waits were an absolute nightmare during our trip last month.

...

We went with Uber on several park trips, the 30+ minute waits became insane.

There do appear to be certain resorts where on the boards I see various degrees of complaint in regards to transit. OKW and GF appear to be two where may guests will even rent cars and avoid the transit all together!!