JSG
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2001
- Messages
- 52
We JUST got back and I thought I'd add my recent experiences with the buses.
I am also from NYC (don't own a car, totally rely on public transport) and also debated renting a car vs. not renting a car FOREVER. In the end, renting (with gas, tolls, tax) probably would have cost double what Tiffany cost ($95 with tip) and I opted to save the money. My husband and I had been before and relied on Disney transport . . . this time we were with my cousins, 11 and 13. We stayed at All Star Sports, and I had always heard that the All Star resorts have very active bus service.
In the end, I probably would still have chosen to not have the car . . . but we did hit a few very unpleasant waits and I did hear a lot of complaints from my traveling companions.
Most of the time, when we were traveling with the flow of traffic (to a major theme park in the morning or back to the resort at night) the buses generally came quickly. Especially at closing time the All Star buses just kept coming one after another to accomodate the large crowd. We did have one or two very annoying waits, almost always in the morning . . . but generally buses were pleantiful when we were going in the same direction as hundreds of others. The buses picked us up right at the hotel and took us as close to each park's entrance as possible . . . no trams back and forth, no parking lot lines. That's always a plus.
We also had a very easy time on the day we started in the MK, then took the monorail to EPCOT, then took the monorail to the Contemporary for dinner, then finally back to the MK to catch a bus back to the All Stars. If you're going from one monorail resort to another, it's really not hard at all.
The one disaster we had was on our first afternoon when we weren't with the general flow of traffic. It was terrible, too, because it was our first experience (other than lunch) at WDW and the kids were tired. We went from All Star Sports to Typhoon Lagoon and probably waited 45 minutes-1 hour for the right bus to finally arrive . . . then when it did the loop it made was endless.
We thought that was horrid, but it was even worse when we went from Typhoon Lagoon to Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner at Boma. Buses came for EVERY OTHER RESORT except AKL. I had heard that the AKL bus service is terrible, and it seems to be true. It was really bad and by the time we got to dinner everyone was in meltdown mode and it really put a crimp in dinner (we took a cab home). That was the one time we really, really would have benefitted from the car . . . otherwise, the waits were small or nonexistent and the longer waits were not THAT bad.
I am also from NYC (don't own a car, totally rely on public transport) and also debated renting a car vs. not renting a car FOREVER. In the end, renting (with gas, tolls, tax) probably would have cost double what Tiffany cost ($95 with tip) and I opted to save the money. My husband and I had been before and relied on Disney transport . . . this time we were with my cousins, 11 and 13. We stayed at All Star Sports, and I had always heard that the All Star resorts have very active bus service.
In the end, I probably would still have chosen to not have the car . . . but we did hit a few very unpleasant waits and I did hear a lot of complaints from my traveling companions.
Most of the time, when we were traveling with the flow of traffic (to a major theme park in the morning or back to the resort at night) the buses generally came quickly. Especially at closing time the All Star buses just kept coming one after another to accomodate the large crowd. We did have one or two very annoying waits, almost always in the morning . . . but generally buses were pleantiful when we were going in the same direction as hundreds of others. The buses picked us up right at the hotel and took us as close to each park's entrance as possible . . . no trams back and forth, no parking lot lines. That's always a plus.
We also had a very easy time on the day we started in the MK, then took the monorail to EPCOT, then took the monorail to the Contemporary for dinner, then finally back to the MK to catch a bus back to the All Stars. If you're going from one monorail resort to another, it's really not hard at all.
The one disaster we had was on our first afternoon when we weren't with the general flow of traffic. It was terrible, too, because it was our first experience (other than lunch) at WDW and the kids were tired. We went from All Star Sports to Typhoon Lagoon and probably waited 45 minutes-1 hour for the right bus to finally arrive . . . then when it did the loop it made was endless.
We thought that was horrid, but it was even worse when we went from Typhoon Lagoon to Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner at Boma. Buses came for EVERY OTHER RESORT except AKL. I had heard that the AKL bus service is terrible, and it seems to be true. It was really bad and by the time we got to dinner everyone was in meltdown mode and it really put a crimp in dinner (we took a cab home). That was the one time we really, really would have benefitted from the car . . . otherwise, the waits were small or nonexistent and the longer waits were not THAT bad.
