buses at the ASMO

[transnet87]

Hello, Can anyone tell me about the waits for buses at the ASMO. I have a trip planned with my DGD who is 3 next month. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

I just stayed next door at the AS Music.

We experienced waits from anywhere from 0 to 30 minutes. Gotta love it when the bus is already waiting when you walk out to the bus stop!!

The bus service to the major parks was the most reliable. Generally 10 minutes or less (although the AK bus took a full 20 before it arrived for us).

You will have exclusive bus service to and from Epcot and MK, but may have to share buses with the other two All-Star resorts at AK and DHS, especially on the return trip.

For the waterparks or DTD, you will share with the other two All Star resorts and the bus service will be hit or miss. The worst bus service is to DTD so if you have ADRs at DTD, plan at least an hour one way (up to 30 minutes waiting for the bus and another 20 to 30 to get there) and cross your fingers that you get lucky on the wait.

Keep in mind, that the All Star Movies is the third bus stop at the All-Stars so you will most likely have to stand to go to DTD or the waterparks as the bus will be relatively full from the other two resorts.

 

[Amy&Dan]

That sounds about like my experience at Music in June. For sure going to DTD is always the biggest pain on the busses, be it the All Stars or the other resorts. When you add the stop at Typhoon Lagoon, it just seems to take forever and it seems like they have the fewest number of busses going that route from all the resorts.

My experience has been that when the All Stars share busses, its often just Music and Sports that share with no stops at Movies. But for sure, during peak times, going to the four parks, sharing isn't going to always happen by any means.

I would always allow one hour to make ADR's at the parks to be safe, longer if its a restaurant clear back in the far corner of the resort at say Epcot or AK.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

That sounds about like my experience at Music in June. For sure going to DTD is always the biggest pain on the busses, be it the All Stars or the other resorts. When you add the stop at Typhoon Lagoon, it just seems to take forever and it seems like they have the fewest number of busses going that route from all the resorts.

My experience has been that when the All Stars share busses, its often just Music and Sports that share with no stops at Movies. But for sure, during peak times, going to the four parks, sharing isn't going to always happen by any means.

I would always allow one hour to make ADR's at the parks to be safe, longer if its a restaurant clear back in the far corner of the resort at say Epcot or AK.

On our trip, we always stopped at the Movies as well so all 3 shared. The only exception was the MK, Epcot and DHS buses in the morning when each of the 3 resorts had their own bus. MK and Epcot also had exclusive buses at closing, but Epcot shared a bus when we left around 5:30 pm. MK always has an exclusive bus for each of the 3 resorts returning to the resort even if you leave at 1:00 p.m.

 

[Amy&Dan]

On our trip, we always stopped at the Movies as well so all 3 shared. The only exception was the MK, Epcot and DHS buses in the morning when each of the 3 resorts had their own bus. MK and Epcot also had exclusive buses at closing, but Epcot shared a bus when we left around 5:30 pm. MK always has an exclusive bus for each of the 3 resorts returning to the resort even if you leave at 1:00 p.m.

Too funny, several times we boarded a bus at Music with guests on it from Sports but didn't stop at Movies. One time in particular was going to Epcot, a man and his daughter from Sports were on already, I chatted with him and found out he used to live in the same part of metro Denver we do. So that one stuck out in my mind.

And a few times midday coming back from MK, we did share a bus. Not a biggie since the bus, even with the three resorts sharing, was mostly deserted.

My main point in all of this is to say the All Star busses were always great for us during our most recent 9 night stay. We didn't always share, not even close and the waits were generally minimal. DTD/Typhoon Lagoon being the exception. But that happened at the next resort (OKW) too.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Too funny, several times we boarded a bus at Music with guests on it from Sports but didn't stop at Movies. One time in particular was going to Epcot, a man and his daughter from Sports were on already, I chatted with him and found out he used to live in the same part of metro Denver we do. So that one stuck out in my mind.

And a few times midday coming back from MK, we did share a bus. Not a biggie since the bus, even with the three resorts sharing, was mostly deserted.

My main point in all of this is to say the All Star busses were always great for us during our most recent 9 night stay. We didn't always share, not even close and the waits were generally minimal. DTD/Typhoon Lagoon being the exception. But that happened at the next resort (OKW) too.

Unfortunately, we experienced just the opposite on our 8 night stay ending this past Monday. We always stopped at the Movies and one time we even went back and picked up some more from the Sports (after picking up some from the Movies). We must have just had the worse set of luck as most of our waits were long. And when we left the MK at 1:00 pm one day, we still had to wait for the AS Music bus (two AS Sports buses came and one AS Movies before the AS Music bus showed up). We saw lots of empty buses just sitting there until we and two other families were picked up for a trip back to the Music.

We did get lucky a few times, but most of the time we didn't. The not knowing how much longer it would be is what we didn't like. The worst waits were BB and the DTD/TL buses with the shortest waits for the MK and DHS. I think we must have walked up as the only AK bus running to/from the AS Music was leaving as that wait was the longest of all.

BTW....what part of Denver are you from? We live in Thornton (closest major intersection is 144th and Colorado).

 

[SmallWorld71]

I've stayed at Movies, Music and Sports 2x each. More often than not, they did not share buses unless it was a quiet time like the middle of the afternoon. I've always been either during summer or a school vacation though, don't know if they share more during off season or not. Either way, the sharing takes less time than it does at most mods and deluxes.

Anyway, for the most part, the waits were around 15-20 minutes with some shorter if we were lucky and a few that were longer. We had bad luck with Epcot on our last trip for some reason.

The biggest downside of the buses IMO is that the lines are not in the shade and it will likely still be quite hot when you are there. You may want to be prepared with a hat and/or sunglasses as well as a cool drink. We are not morning people, but like to get to the parks at opening. Usually, we pass the time waiting for the bus by putting on sunscreen, doing DD's hairand finishing our breakfast.

 

[transnet87]

Is there really no shade / cover at the bus stop area? Sometimes the temps reach in the 90s, they honestly allow people to stand and wait for the buses out in the open for up to 45 minutes. Are there benches?

 

[Amy&Dan]

Nope, no shade. Now there are some benches sort of behind the que area and a shaded cover leading into the main doors of the resot and gift shop. So if you have members of your party that cannot stand for long they can wait there while you wait in line. I know I had my mil do that in June. We were there during a heat wave in June and we managed.

Bottom line, if you want covered bus stops, you have to pay for a higher cost resort with that amenitie.

One thing I do like about the value bus stops is that they are first come first served. Just like a ride que, you wait in line. At the mods and deluxes I can't tell you how many times we have waited for a bus, been there first, then along comes a huge bunch of people just as the bus comes up, they get on first. Sometimes to the tune of my family having to wait for another bus even though we were there first. The value ques even the playing field!

KSDisneyDad: We live way out southeast, near E470 and Smoky HIll Road. So a long ways from you guys!

 

[PoohsFan1]

The worst bus service is to DTD so if you have ADRs at DTD, plan at least an hour one way (up to 30 minutes waiting for the bus and another 20 to 30 to get there) and cross your fingers that you get lucky on the wait.

We experienced this same situation when we were staying at WL this past March. We would get top notch bus service to all the parks, but for some reason whenever we wanted to go to DTD, we would be waiting for a bus for 30 minutes or more. One time we counted a DHS bus come about 5 times before our DTD bus came (it became a joke with everyone else who wanted to go to DTD)....luckily we didn't have any ADRs that we had to worry about, or we would of been in trouble. So I guess it really doesn't matter how much you pay for a resort, DTD buses are going to be slow regardless.

 

[maxiesmom]

We experienced this same situation when we were staying at WL this past March. We would get top notch bus service to all the parks, but for some reason whenever we wanted to go to DTD, we would be waiting for a bus for 30 minutes or more. One time we counted a DHS bus come about 5 times before our DTD bus came (it became a joke with everyone else who wanted to go to DTD)....luckily we didn't have any ADRs that we had to worry about, or we would of been in trouble. So I guess it really doesn't matter how much you pay for a resort, DTD buses are going to be slow regardless.

All the resort buses to DTD, well, suck. But if you stay at POR or POFQ they have boat service to DTD, which is much quicker!That is actually one of my favorite things about staying at a Port Orleans resort.

 

[bratmomma]

Keep in mind, that the All Star Movies is the third bus stop at the All-Stars so you will most likely have to stand ............ as the bus will be relatively full from the other two resorts.

We stayed at ASMo in 2005 and this was my experience EVERY TIME I GOT ON THE BUS. It didn't matter where I was going or what time of day. The buses were packed and we stopped at each one of the AS resorts. Often we waited a long time for buses at park opening and other event times. I imagine it was because the buses were full before getting to our resort, and had to bypass us.

I LOVED staying at ASMo and would stay there again if they got their own buses to and from the parks, or if we had our own car. It was a major deciding factor when choosing to stay at POP this time. I understand POP has more rooms than each of the AS resorts, but not more rooms than all three put together.

I know others may disagree, but this is my opinion based on my personal experience.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Is there really no shade / cover at the bus stop area? Sometimes the temps reach in the 90s, they honestly allow people to stand and wait for the buses out in the open for up to 45 minutes. Are there benches?

Yep, no shade: