bus transportation questions

[disneydreamer6]

Planning our first Disney trip this September/October. So very excited. Trying to get some last details figured out. We will have to take Disney transportation while we are there because some of our party is flying in. We will be staying at Port Orleans Riverside so it's bus transportation from the hotel. I had posted a question originally in a different board because I didn't see this one. Someone said plan 45 minutes to get to the parks. Someone said an hour. What should we plan on? We have an 8:40 CRT reservation and we'd like to get there early enough to walk leisurely through the park since we will have 2, 4, 7 and 9 year olds. Plus, my mom will likely have to use a wheelchair of some sort. (Still figuring that out.) We also heard about the Padawan thing at Hollywood Studios that we know you have to be there at rope drop and get straight to the sign up place and maybe still get the kids in. So we want to be there on time for that too. We would like to make it for rope drop whenever we can, but those 2 are most important to us. So should it be an hour before? How often do buses go through? Also, is it very hard to take a wheelchair on one of the buses? Do they all take wheelchairs or will we have to wait for certain buses? Would that change the time to plan to leave for the park?

 

[Missyrose]

Planning our first Disney trip this September/October. So very excited. Trying to get some last details figured out. We will have to take Disney transportation while we are there because some of our party is flying in. We will be staying at Port Orleans Riverside so it's bus transportation from the hotel. I had posted a question originally in a different board because I didn't see this one. Someone said plan 45 minutes to get to the parks. Someone said an hour. What should we plan on? We have an 8:40 CRT reservation and we'd like to get there early enough to walk leisurely through the park since we will have 2, 4, 7 and 9 year olds. Plus, my mom will likely have to use a wheelchair of some sort. (Still figuring that out.) We also heard about the Padawan thing at Hollywood Studios that we know you have to be there at rope drop and get straight to the sign up place and maybe still get the kids in. So we want to be there on time for that too. We would like to make it for rope drop whenever we can, but those 2 are most important to us. So should it be an hour before? How often do buses go through? Also, is it very hard to take a wheelchair on one of the buses? Do they all take wheelchairs or will we have to wait for certain buses? Would that change the time to plan to leave for the park?

When someone says plan for an hour, it's not because it will take you an hour to get from POR to MK, it's because you likely will have to wait for a bus.

I had a pre-opening breakfast at CRT last October. I got to the bus stop at 6:25, since the early buses start running at 6:30. And we didn't get an MK bus to show up until 6:50. They let us through the turnstiles around 7:20 a.m., then into the park at 7:45.

Hope this helps!

 

[jmartinez1895]

As pp said, the time frame of an hour is to give you time to wait for the bus, let everyone get loaded, drive time, then unload.
As for wheelchairs, all the buses have either a ramp or lift and can accommodate a wheelchair. The driver will see that you have a chair in your group and will open the back door and lower the ramp/lift. Once in the bus your mom will either need to transfer to a seat and then you can fold the chair, or the chair can be strapped into the wheelchair spot and she can stay in the chair. If the chair is not designed for bus travel the straps might bend the frame so be sure you find out before.

 

[DisneyAmour]

We also heard about the Padawan thing at Hollywood Studios that we know you have to be there at rope drop and get straight to the sign up place and maybe still get the kids in.

The best way to sign the kids up would be to make 8:00 am ressies at H&V for breakfast. You can leave and take the kids over to ABC right after. We do that every time we plan to goto Hollywood Studios.

 

[goofy4tink]

Buses start running from resorts to the parks by 6:30am every day. These buses tend to run a bit less frequently than the regular buses do...maybe every 25 mins or so. Once you get to about an hour before park opening, the buses come more often..probably every 15 mins. The buses will have their destination listed on both the front and side of the bus...at the roof-line.
For an 8:40 ADR at CRT, I would be out at the MK bus stop by 7:30. If you just miss a bus, it will be about 7:45ish before the next one comes. The buses at POR make several stops within the resort before heading to the park. As long as you are at MK by 8:15 you will have plenty of time to get into the park and then take your time getting to the Castle!

I like to leave my resort about an hour before I 'have' to be someplace.

 

[disneydreamer6]

The best way to sign the kids up would be to make 8:00 am ressies at H&V for breakfast. You can leave and take the kids over to ABC right after. We do that every time we plan to goto Hollywood Studios.

Yeah. The park opens at 8 the day we have reservations at H&V so we did lunch instead. So dh has agreed to get to park really early and wait with the 2 older kids ahead of the rest of us if he has to. He might actually drive that day just for this I'm thinking.