BWV buses

[gabbysmom04]

when you stay at bwv do you share the bus with BWI ? Also, can anyone tell me how long it takes to get to AK or MK from BWV? I know I can walk to MGM and epcot. Thanks!

 

[Deb & Bill]

You will probably share a bus with Swan, Dolphin, Yacht, Beach, Beach Club Villas, Boardwalk Inn and Boardwalk Villas. At some times during the day, they separate the buses to BW/S/D and Y/B.

Probably about 10 minutes to each of them.

 

[gabbysmom04]

I am shocked to hear that you would have to share buses with all of those resorts. I have stayed at the beach club and we never shared a bus with anyone.

 

[byoung]

I stayed at Beach Club Villas and Boardwalk Villas had to share buses.

 

[jekjones1558]

Anybody's guess. Sometimes the bus is only BW and Swan/Dolphin. Sometimes BW and BC. Sometimes all of the above. Sometimes a trip to MK can take a good 30 minutes, after boarding, if all stops are included. I LOVE BWV for many, many reasons, but buses are not among them. We drive to AK and take the bus to MK only because driving and then switching to monorail or ferry is an even worse annoyance than the unpredictable BW bus route to MK. Bus service to OKW, our other favorite, is better, IMHO.

 

[Bugeye]

There was a thread some time back about WDW fooling around with the bus routes because people were complaining about how long the trip was and how crowded. Perhaps the mix mentioned above is the result and is adjusted to volume/time of the day.

 

[tjkraz]

when you stay at bwv do you share the bus with BWI ?

Transportation at all DVC resorts is identical to that offered to cash guests. There aren't even separate bus stops or any acknowledgement of a difference. Bus service at the Boardwalk is for both Inn and Villa guests. The same holds true at the Beach Club and Wilderness Lodge.

As others have said, routes in the Epcot area tend to change, and are not always very good. Perhaps Disney views this as a fair trade off for the close proximity to Epcot and MGM.

We stayed at the Boardwalk back in May and always shared routes with the Dolphin and Swan. Sometimes it wasn't bad...other times it was a nightmare. Try this route for size:

Boardwalk
Swan
Dolphin
Typhoon Lagoon
Downtown Disney Marketplace
Downtown Disney Pleasure Island

Geez, talk about your World tour.

We never had any stops at the Yacht or Beach Club resorts, but as recently as a year ago there was a pretty big ruckus in this forum about busses being shared among all of those Epcot resorts.

 

[jackmac]

Busses at Boardwalk are always a problem. It takes forever to get to DD, MK, and AK. Coming back is the same. Often times it is quicker to get off at the Swan and walk back to Boardwalk. The bright side of Boardwalk is walking to Epcot and MGM, where we spend most of our time anyway.
Boardwalk is a fun, exciting area. I prefer it to all other areas, even with the wait for the busses. Hopefully Disney will do something about this in the future.

 

[gabbysmom04]

thank you for everyones help. I will just have to leave a lot of travel time to get to MK and AK.

 

[jade1]

Actually when we went last year we were the last to get on (BWV) and there was always room, then Swan (or Dolphin) was the first off on the return trip and we just got off there and walked over the bridge to BWV-never had one stop at ANY other bus stop or resorts to or from either park then walked to the other 2.

 

[tjkraz]

Actually when we went last year we were the last to get on (BWV) and there was always room, then Swan (or Dolphin) was the first off on the return trip and we just got off there and walked over the bridge to BWV-never had one stop at ANY other bus stop or resorts to or from either park then walked to the other 2.

The routes do change throughout the day, although I have no idea how they are determined.

Our worst experience back in May was actually not the cumbersome DTD/TL loop previously described, it was a trip on a MK bus. We just missed a bus at the Boardwalk and only waited 15 minutes for the next one, which isn't unreasonable. However it then took nearly 45 minutes to make the trip from BW to MK. That included about 5-7 minutes we were stuck unmoving at the Swan because a delivery truck parked in the bus lane. Even without that delay we had total trip time (including the wait at the stop) of 50+ minutes on a half empty bus around 5pm.

I won't even bore you with the details of our 90 minute journey from DTD to BW a few years back.

BW is great if you spend most of your time at EP or MGM and don't mind the walking. But the bus service always seems to be memorably poor.

 

[InstImpres]

I just complained about this in the online survery I was sent. To me it is too many stops but my biggest complaint is we are first to be picked up and last to be dropped off. We should be first on and first off or last on and last off. Seems we spend longer on the bus than anyone else. (It's also a pet peeve of mine that we are the furthest bus stop at MK)

 

[dianeschlicht]

Every time I hear about the buses from BWV, I am so glad our home resort has dedicated buses to the parks.

 

[smraynor]

get the rest of those monorails built connecting all the resorts!

 

[tjkraz]

get the rest of those monorails built connecting all the resorts!

Oh, yeah. Switching trains at the TTC to reach any destination on property. 250,000 people passing through the TTC (albeit expanded) on a busy summer day. Thanks but no thanks.

It recently took us over 30 minutes to get from Epcot to the Contemporary using the monorail. And that was on a slow May morning.

The thought of monorail service throughout the property may conjure romantic visions of getting round the way Walt intended. It may even be more energy efficient. But unless you are headed to a destination on the same loop as your resort, I don't see any way a monorail would get you from Point A to Point B quicker than dedicated bus service.

That's what BWV needs--dedicated busses to MK, AK and DTD/TL.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I agree, Tkraz. The monorail would NOT be a solution to the bus. Anyone who has taken the monorail from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom understand that, when it takes quite awhile to accomplish that feat.

 

[Blue&Gold]

DW and I have decided that we'll drive from BWV to AK in the future and we're still weighing the pros and cons of driving to MK... I can't imagine taking the bus to DTD. We need all the trunk space for the stuff we buy!

 

[InstImpres]

DW and I have decided that we'll drive from BWV to AK in the future and we're still weighing the pros and cons of driving to MK... I can't imagine taking the bus to DTD. We need all the trunk space for the stuff we buy!

We always drive to AK since the lot is so small there and DTD to be on our schedule. With MK, I don't think driving is a time saver (since it means tram and monorail or boat) just probably less frustrating since I don't think the bus should make that many stops. That said we do not drive to MK, too many waiting spots.

 

[osprey84]

That was my biggest complaint back in August 2003. By the time the bus got to BC/BCV stop they were 2/3 full from Swan and Dolphin. By the time we got to BW/BWV stop it was standing room on the bus. It sounds like they are trying some changes with having the route run different locations but then you may run a risk of getting on a bus that may not be stopping at your resort. Being a DVC member gets us a lot of perks but I feel that the transportation in the park for DVC members should be a perk too.

 

[twinklebug]

You will probably share a bus with Swan, Dolphin, Yacht, Beach, Beach Club Villas, Boardwalk Inn and Boardwalk Villas. At some times during the day, they separate the buses to BW/S/D and Y/B.

Probably about 10 minutes to each of them.

I'll confirm this as we stayed late for EMH at MK one evening and had a ~very~ long trip back to the BWV (the last stop). We were also concerned that the driver was a bit lost as the turns he took listed anything but the resorts he was headed to on them. It seemed to take a small forever to get to the first stop... or maybe I was just tired myself.