Caribbean Beach Resort - bus to Magic Kingdom

[cate2]

Have you had good experiences traveling to Magic Kingdom via the Disney bus service?

We'll have a car with us but I'm wondering if it would actually be easier and perhaps faster to take the bus on our Magic Kingdom day rather then drive.
We'll be there the first week of September - I don't know if that makes a difference.

 

[Accident]

Have you had good experiences traveling to Magic Kingdom via the Disney bus service?

We'll have a car with us but I'm wondering if it would actually be easier and perhaps faster to take the bus on our Magic Kingdom day rather then drive.
We'll be there the first week of September - I don't know if that makes a difference.

We're staying at CBR this trip (a couple weeks away) and we plan to use the buses and have every time in the past. It can go either way but I like not having to be awake enough to drive and do it safely. We're also from the NYC area so a car is not part of our normal day when not at disney. Some people love their cars but we like being lazy and letting someone else worry about where we are going. the bus service is great so even if your the last person leaving the park they will have a bus to take just you back to the resort and not leave you stranded.

Where a car comes in really handy is resort to resort and early morning breakfast or tours. It can take a lot of extra time to bounce through another location to get to a resort for a meal/visit. Also the official Disney small print on their transportation is allow up to 90 minutes to get where you need to be. For an 8am breakfast, that's really early to be waiting for a bus and hoping it comes in time. We don't do the early breakfasts but if a bus doesn't come in a couple minutes for us when we head to a morning tour, we get a taxi over to it. We only do 1 tour a trip if we even do one so not a huge expense to us. The tour costs far more

 

[minnie mum]

We've never had any problem with the buses when we've stayed at CBR. For any of the parks. Taking the bus to MK from any (non monorail) resort makes more sense, since you are deposited just outside the gates, skipping the requirement of taking the monorail or ferry from the TTC.

Just allow sufficient time. Ridership is highest just before and after park opening and closing, and buses fill up quickly. Not to worry, if a bus fills before you board, another bus will be dispatched to pick up the excess. The extra bus usually arrives in just a few minutes.

 

[goofy friend]

I stayed there twice (total 16 nights) with no major bus problems, a couple of times the wait time was longer than it should have been but that can happen anywhere.

 

[5kidsmommy]

How much does a taxi cost? We have a prepare breakfast ADR at Magic Kingdom and I'm thinking the taxi might be the best way to go. How much should I budget for that? And how much time should I allot?

 

[dansdad]

How much does a taxi cost? We have a prepare breakfast ADR at Magic Kingdom and I'm thinking the taxi might be the best way to go. How much should I budget for that? And how much time should I allot?

Buses start rolling at 6:30AM for early ADRs. We've always taken the bus for pre park opening ADRs. The bus will drop you off at the gate. A taxi will drop you off at the TTC and you'll have to take a boat or monorail over to MK. Or you'll have to take a taxi to the Contemporary and walk to MK.

A taxi from CBR to the Poly was around $16. With having to allow for getting from the TTC or the Contemporary to MK, I would allow 35-40 minutes via taxi.

 

[danceintherain]

When we stayed at CBR, we didn't have any problems with the bus to the Magic Kingdom. I think our 'problem' bus that trip was Epcot, of all places, but it was during F&W soo...

 

[Kevin355]

In over 60 days of staying at CBR, we have never had 1 problem going to MK. And as a previous poster stated, the buses start @ 6:30AM.

 

[5kidsmommy]

Buses start rolling at 6:30AM for early ADRs. We've always taken the bus for pre park opening ADRs. The bus will drop you off at the gate. A taxi will drop you off at the TTC and you'll have to take a boat or monorail over to MK. Or you'll have to take a taxi to the Contemporary and walk to MK.

A taxi from CBR to the Poly was around $16. With having to allow for getting from the TTC or the Contemporary to MK, I would allow 35-40 minutes via taxi.

Wonderful!!! We will make sure to be out there in time for the first bus. While we have the car we really don't want to use it. I love Disney transportation.

 

[cate2]

We're going to try the bus as well!

Something new and I'm thinking a lot less stressful - last year the monorail went down on our way to the magic kingdom (everyone on the ferry) and on the way going back.

Thank you for all of your responses.

 

[mickeynut1]

We're going to try the bus as well!

I don't think you'll regret using the buses. We've only stayed at CBR once (we were there for 12 days) and we had a great experience with the buses. CBR is centrally located so it doesn't take very long at all (IMO) to get to your destination (even with the multiple internal stops). We loved everything about CBR, but we thought the transportation was especially great!

 

[Accident]

How much does a taxi cost? We have a prepare breakfast ADR at Magic Kingdom and I'm thinking the taxi might be the best way to go. How much should I budget for that? And how much time should I allot?

I actually don't remember but I want to say it was around $10-15. Assume there is some delay to get a cab, and a cab to MK you don't get dropped at the bus stop so you have the monorail or boat ride across. I would make sure you had at least an hour to get there.

Contemporary might be the better place to get a taxi too since you can walk across the street and into the entrance without the wait for a boat/monorail.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I've had problems. I was there for the 24 hour day (May 22). Got to the bus stop at 5:40 for the 6 AM opening and found a rather large group waiting. One of the guys said that he'd been there since 5 AM...which makes me think that no buses had come to that stop at all, and it was 20 minutes to park opening! We had a rental car and just drove.

We went back to the resort mid-day to rest, and then headed back to the bus stop to try it again. There were not many people waiting. A bus pulled up, let a few people off, but wouldn't let any of us on because it was overcrowded. Again, we got in the rental car. YMMV, but I had 2 bad experiences in 1 day and didn't even try the bus after that.

 

[Serenebean]

We also had no problems with the busses at CBR. We aren't early risers and I don't think we ever ran into a problem getting on the first bus that arrived. It does depend on which area you are in though. I think we were the first pick up, so by the time the bus got around to the last one those people might have waited.

 

[RedOne3781]

I've stayed at CBR many times. Most recently in Oct 2014.

We always have a rental car, and often drive to all the parks. Except Magic Kingdom. I avoid driving to MK if at all possible when staying on property. Taking the bus there is a lot faster, because you don't have to park, get on a tram and then the monorail or ferry. Just hop on a bus, hop off a bus and you are there. Easy peasy.

I usually stay in Jamacia and from the time I get on the bus til I get off the bus is about twenty minutes or so. Maybe a half hour. But it goes quickly. The ride can be a bit longer, depending on where you are staying at the resort.

I guess the point I am trying to make is for me it seems like it takes roughly the same amount of time, whichever way you choose to go. But taking the bus seems to be more direct and less of a hassle.

That being said, once in a while we will drive to MK and take the ferry from the TTC, because there is nothing quite like watching the castle slowly coming into view. So I guess my real advice is drive once. Take the bus the other times, if you are visiting that park more than once during your trip.

 

[astronautmom]

We just stayed at CBR and had no problem getting to the MK on the bus in time for our breakfast reservation. I want to say we made it to the bus stop at Centertown at 7:30am and were at the gate at 8am.

 

[Fizban]

We had major problems the whole week when we stayed there earlier this year. We even had a couple wait times just for a bus to show up that exceeded 40 minutes (nevermind the full ones that came and couldnt let us on).

 

[Lee & Kerry]

Another vote for not having any problems, staying there September and October trip and planning taking the buses to all the parks.

 

[Accident]

Does anyone know the bus pattern at CBR? In other words, what stop is the first that all buses start at?

 

[cleophus12]

The bus problem at CBR is not an MK bus problem. I have to say that transportation is the reason we only stayed there once in spite of the fact that we liked the resort very much. If were lucky enough to get on a bus that wasn't full, it took forever to get out of the resort because of all the other stops. That said, there were several times we had to stand and watch a full bus pass us by, thus making us later getting into the parks than we had planned.