bus transportation

[disneynewbeemom]

How bad are the buses? It seems from the resort board that everyone is complaining about bus transportation. How is it from the fort?

 

[ftwildernessguy]

It all depends on your level of patience and a little luck (and pixie dust?). I tend to be a bit impatient and don't like to wait, but I do okay with the Disney busses for the most part. They do come pretty regularly. Considering the area the bus system covers and the number of people they have to move, I really think Disney does a pretty good job, certainly much better than the bus system in my city.

 

[mrzrich]

We always use the buses and have never rented a golf cart at FW. That said, we are not commando tourers, so waiting 5, even 10 minutes for a bus does not bother us. I went with my BIL once and he was cursing after a two minute wait.

It really depends on your touring style. I personally find the FW buses very convienient. I would suggest you familiarize yourself with the route and how it works.

Also, not renting a cart means we can afford to stay twice as long or visit twice as often

 

[disneynewbeemom]

Thank you! This makes me feel much better! We are bringing our bikes, so we figure this should also help a little.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Bikes are a great way to get around FW. We always bring ours. There are racks all over the important areas of FW - like the trading posts, marina, outpost and settlement bus stops, TE, pool, etc.

 

[ashleypmo]

I don't think 5 or 10 minutes would bother me waiting for the bus. Is that really all it is? I've heard horror stories of not being able to get to the parks before opening, and truthfully, that is the one thing that my decision whether to stay at FtW (cabins) is hingeing on. We'll be traveling w/ 4 kiddos, ages 2-12, and my mom, and I like to get to the park before opening (whether the rest of the crew is happy about it or not ).

So truthfully, is it really no big deal? Thanks!

 

[Escape Artist]

We were just there for 13 days (left June 6th), and were pretty lucky with the buses.

We used the internal and external buses several times per day, and only had two long waits inside FW and a few outside the fort. We never had a long wait when trying to get to a park for opening. I even caught an EPCOT bus one morning before it was scheduled to start running! (I was trying to get to a Segway tour, and thought I would have to take a character breakfast bus. Boy was I surprised to see an EPCOT bus that early!)

Our two long waits were at Downtown Disney (one destined for FW, the other one Swan/Dolphin.). All our long waits were in the slow hours in the mid-afternoon, or late at night. Mornings were never a problem! (We often drove to AK and EPCOT though, since we booked thru AAA and had Diamond Card parking. That was much faster!)

We rented a cart for fun one day, but didn't use it much for transportation. Also, walking seems to be pretty underrated as a way to get around within FW. We were on the 2000 loop and walked to the pool, in addition to biking to Outpost, Meadow and Settlement, and riding the buses all over. If you can't wait to catch a bus to where you're going, you can usually catch a bus that goes nearby and walk the rest of the way. But note that if you start walking, you usually get passed by the bus you were waiting for all along!

With little kids, they may not want to bike back to your site after a long day walking around the parks. I know my 5yo didn't. In that case, the buses are a godsend. They're also great when your group wants to breakup for awhile. Nobody gets stranded when somebody else takes the only car. There's always a bus coming.

Waits for the boats weren't too bad either. When there were crowds, it was amazing how fast they sent another boat to come and get us. We even had one captain race another boat from the Wilderness Lodge dock to FW. That was a fast run!

Have fun, no matter where you decide to stay!

Sue in Texas

 

[ashleypmo]

Thanks Sue! I feel so much better now! I was quite stressed before, and have been staying up late every night (gee, kind of like right this moment ) trying to figure out where we would stay since we need accomodations for 7. Now maybe I can get some sleep )!
Ashley (also in texas!)

 

[Escape Artist]

Thanks Sue! I feel so much better now! I was quite stressed before, and have been staying up late every night (gee, kind of like right this moment ) trying to figure out where we would stay since we need accomodations for 7. Now maybe I can get some sleep )!
Ashley (also in texas!)

Howdy Texan!

As long as you plan enough time for your connections (i.e. wait for internal bus, ride internal bus, wait for external bus, ride external bus, clear bag check, scan tickets enter park, walk to rope for rope drop), you should have no trouble getting there for openings. My biggest trouble was getting my whole family moving in the mornings, and that's why we started using the car sometimes! When it was just me and a kid or two, we made it just fine.

Sue in Texas
...who rarely needs an alarm clock and especially loves FW and Disney parks in the early mornings...

 

[terri01p]

We were at the Ft for the first time in April, and we thought the transportation, bottom line " sucked ", now I know by stating that there are going to be those that flame me and start singing praises of the Ft...but the campground to me WAS top notch, couldn't ask for nicer but the transportation when we went was just terrible, you have to wait on one bus to take you to the main bus line of the campground, you won't wait to long for this bus about 5 to 10 minutes, and then get off and wait for your bus into the parks, unless your very lucky and/ or very patience, this ended up to be quit a wait everytime , some people love riding the bus and count it as part of their fun, to us it just became a pain and ended up to be easier to drive. People that say they only had a 15 minute wait everytime , I think have to much " pixie dust " in their eyes because when we went the campground was not even full and we waited 30 minutes PLUS everytime. So just prepare yourselves, and don't think your just going to hop on and off the busses the minute you get to the bus stops, that just unrealistic, and it's not fair to lead you otherwise.

 

[John VN]

Thanks Sue! I feel so much better now! I was quite stressed before, and have been staying up late every night (gee, kind of like right this moment ) trying to figure out where we would stay since we need accomodations for 7. Now maybe I can get some sleep )!
Ashley (also in texas!)

I would caution you about getting your hopes up for timely transportation.

Having been to FW 40+ times in the last 5 years, we have experienced the good and bad many times. Figure 3 to 7 days/stay with 4 to 6 uses of the bus system/day, that's alot of bus waiting and travel time.

The good is when you get to the loop bus stop and the bus is just getting there.

The bad is when the bus is pulling away when you are 100' away and the driver doesn't see you and the next bus comes a couple of minutes to 15/20 minutes later.

The good is when you get to the Outpost Depot or Settlement Depot and the bus to your destination is there waiting or just pulling in.

The bad is when the bus to your destination can be seen by you as you arrive and it is pulling out. The next bus could then be from a couple of minutes away to a 25 minute wait.

Numerous times we have walked from our loop bus stop, in the middle of FW, to the Outpost and the Settlement Area and have not been past by our bus.

Also, I had the relatively short ride from EPCOT back to FW take forever one time because instead of driving the 35mph to 40mph speed limit the driver drove no faster than 15mph. My 3yo DGS was sleeping in my arms and thus it seemed like time was standing still.

Note: The new satellite link for the bus system is meant to make the system more efficient.

Be prepared and everything will be fine.

Have fun.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

I think, in general, if time is an issue the following would work well, and is what we generally do:

Within the fort, use your bikes.

To MK - take the boat

To MGM, AK - take the car

To Epcot - take the car or if you want a different experience, take the boat to CR, the resort monorail to TTC, the Epcot monorail to Epcot.

To DTD - take the car

The quickest way to the parks is by car, but then you deal with parking, taking the trams, etc.

 

[CarolinaBlue]

We were just there during Memorial Day week and didn't have any bad experiences with transportation at the fort. The longest we waited for a bus was 15 minutes. It was the Epcot bus in the afternoon. We did drive to Downtown Disney the Saturday night before Memorial Day because we went to see Pirates 3 and figured the wait for a bus back to the fort would be bad. We took the bus everywhere else. Much better service than at CBR.

 

[ashleypmo]

I'll have to give it a little more thought, because DM prob won't be up to riding a bike, and we'll have 2 little ones who are too young for bikes. Do they rent toddler seat attatchments or pull behinds for the bikes???

Next question (I'm so darn needy): showers. We'll have 7 people in our cabin, and 6 of them are night-shower people. I'm thinkin' 1 shower, 6 people, getting back late from the parks that just doesn't add up! So I'd like to send some of the crew down to the comfort stations to shower. One, are they just for tent campers, or can cabin residents use them as well? And two, as far as location, I'm not familiar w/ the layout of FtW as far as where the cabins are vs. the tent loops: Would the showers be walkable from any of the cabin areas?

 

[terri01p]

I'll have to give it a little more thought, because DM prob won't be up to riding a bike, and we'll have 2 little ones who are too young for bikes. Do they rent toddler seat attatchments or pull behinds for the bikes???

Next question (I'm so darn needy): showers. We'll have 7 people in our cabin, and 6 of them are night-shower people. I'm thinkin' 1 shower, 6 people, getting back late from the parks that just doesn't add up! So I'd like to send some of the crew down to the comfort stations to shower. One, are they just for tent campers, or can cabin residents use them as well? And two, as far as location, I'm not familiar w/ the layout of FtW as far as where the cabins are vs. the tent loops: Would the showers be walkable from any of the cabin areas?

I think I can set your mind at ease about the showers, they are all pretty much centrally located, that being said, we have a tt with a nice big bathroom and I never go to the bathhouse while camping, on our first day at the FT I went and checked out their bathhouse and was pleasantly suprised how very clean and nice it was, so I did end up using the bathhouse a few nights of our stay, I never one time had to wait on a shower and it never seemed overly crowded at all. Also I know they have a tent camping area but you will see tents all over the place so there is alot of balance, as far as the bathhouses go, you won't be disappointed and the laundry is right there, so you can pop on a load of cloths go shower and be done with it all. I really liked this.

 

[John VN]

For ASHLEYPMO

Except for the 2100 loop of cabins that is close to the 1100 RV loop, there are no comfort stations for cabin loops.

 

[stacktester]

I think, in general, if time is an issue the following would work well, and is what we generally do:

Within the fort, use your bikes.

To MK - take the boat

To MGM, AK - take the car

To Epcot - take the car or if you want a different experience, take the boat to CR, the resort monorail to TTC, the Epcot monorail to Epcot.

To DTD - take the car

The quickest way to the parks is by car, but then you deal with parking, taking the trams, etc.

I like that idea FW Guy of going to the CR then to Epcot. I will ride a bus to MGM and AK but refuse to go to Epcot on one because of the return trip and having to go to the WL. It's a big mess from Epcot that I don't look forward to. I don't like Epcot much anyway so it's least important on our list. Soarin and Test Track and maybe a meal in the nations and we're gone.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

I like that idea FW Guy of going to the CR then to Epcot. I will ride a bus to MGM and AK but refuse to go to Epcot on one because of the return trip and having to go to the WL. It's a big mess from Epcot that I don't look forward to. I don't like Epcot much anyway so it's least important on our list. Soarin and Test Track and maybe a meal in the nations and we're gone.

No stops to listen to Off Kilter ?