Changes to Bus transportation to Water Parks starting May 29th and Preferred Parking

[Jadyreen1282]

Still going. It's no bigger hassle than getting to hddr or MBBBQ. So lighten up people. Nothing to see here.

 

[capegirl]

Parking at water parks has always been free to all. As far as it sounds this is them now charging for the closest spots ... maybe a new toll booth up by the nice spots with barricades???

Am sure it was added to work in conjunction with the buses no longer going direct .... and now more cars. So lot fills up and and now the late guests have to pay to park. Brilliant!

Yes, well planned on Disney's part. Boy they are really trying to squeeze every possible penny out the guests. At least the parking is still free. I wouldn't pay a dime to park at TL or BB.

 

[Chant124]

Renting a car now....Waiting for two transfers after hot day at water park not the best way to spend my time...Better to come and go as you want anyways.

 

[yulilin3]

Like @lovethattink said there's only a couple of resorts that go straight to BB, no transfer needed. All Star, AKL and Coronado

 

[lovethattink]

Like @lovethattink said there's only a couple of resorts that go straight to BB, no transfer needed. All Star, AKL and Coronado

And that could change, so be sure to check the signs at your resort and water park.

 

[McDISer]

I just noticed they also added preferred parking at both water parks. Now you can park for free or pay $15 to be closer to the entrance. These will be added, for Typhoon Lagoon on June 19th and Blizzard Beach June 5th

Crazy. I know it is still free to park at either Water Parks, but seriously? These parking lots are not that big.

Now that Disney has preferred parking at every park, I feel they should section off the last parking section for people that want to park the furthest away from the park as much as they can and let them park for free. They shouldn't be able to have it just one way. WDW is totally giving a convenience to people that want to pay, so I should be given a break, for being totally inconvenienced by being the furthest away from any park.

 

[coley444]

Does anyone have any updates to share regarding their recent experience since the busing change?

I have plans to go to TL in Nov from CSR.

Getting there sounds straight forward since I'm planning to be there when the park opens, so I shouldn't need to transfer buses. I'm aware my route there would be CSR > DS > TL (with no transfer likely since it's before 1 pm).

I'm confused about getting back to CSR from TL though. Would it be direct? Would I need to transfer at DS?

Would it be one route before 1 pm and a different route after 1 pm? Or is the 1 pm element pertaining to TL arrivals only.

It's confusing.

 

[bryanb]

I'm at Disney World now, and as promised, I'm reporting back on my experience.

As many as you know, Disney Springs is located very close to Typhoon Lagoon. The new transportation hub just opened there, which increases the capacity of this area significantly.Going to the park in the morning is fairly straightforward, but it will take an extra few minutes to stop at Disney Springs, which I realize is annoying to some folks. In practice, I didn't find that it added enough time to the trip to warrant changing your plans.

After 1:00pm, the bus system is a HUGE improvement over the old way. In the past, you'd have to transfer busses at Epcot, whether you were going to TL or returning from TL. The drive to Epcot itself wasted a lot of time in your journey, and you would have to get on crowded Epcot busses. With Disney Springs service, the busses are a lot less crowded in my experience since far fewer people are going to DS until the evening.

Does anyone have any updates to share regarding their recent experience since the busing change?

I have plans to go to TL in Nov from CSR.

Getting there sounds straight forward since I'm planning to be there when the park opens, so I shouldn't need to transfer buses. I'm aware my route there would be CSR > DS > TL (with no transfer likely since it's before 1 pm).

I'm confused about getting back to CSR from TL though. Would it be direct? Would I need to transfer at DS?

Would it be one route before 1 pm and a different route after 1 pm? Or is the 1 pm element pertaining to TL arrivals only.

It's confusing.

Don't worry, it's hard to picture but won't be confusing once you get there. When you leave TL, there are busses queued up to take you to Disney Springs. They seemed to come continuously (unlike a resort bus, where there are 10-20 minutes between departures), so they were always boarding. Once you arrive at Disney Springs, a cast member immediately asked where I wanted to go, and directed me to the correct bus lane.

 

[Loopster]

We went to TL on June 3 from POR. Here's our experience: Got on the Disney Springs bus in the late morning. Thought we'd have to stop at DS first, but to our surprise they dropped us at TL first before heading to DS. I was thrilled with that!

Leaving was a different story. At the time they had the "resort bus listings" out there listing each resort and what number stop to go to (hopefully they've changed this now). I thought, "wow, this is better than I thought...guess we don't have to go to DS after all!" We all head to our stop (last one on the right, nice long walk) and wait there with a bunch of other people (there were a bunch of people at all the stops on that side). Then at some point after waiting a while a CM came up to us and said that everyone must get on a DS bus and transfer from there. So we all picked up our things and shlepped back to the other side, past the resort bus listings sign. There was a transportation person in front of the DS bus saying "everyone going to a resort needs to go to DS on this bus." This was several yards past the bus sign and way past the exit. I told the guy he should not be standing there, but at the EXIT of the park to direct people, or the middle before the two sides split, not to the far left, way past the bus listing sign directing only half the people. I also said they really need to remove that bus resort listing sign because there were so many people waiting at their individual resort stops. He didn't have much to say in response to that. We got on the bus and transferred to DS. When we arrived at DS, the POR bus stop was on the complete other side of the U shaped bus area...and the bus was already at the POR stop. By the time we got off the TL bus and had to walk all the way around the U shape to the other side, the resort bus had pulled away. Had to wait FOREVER for the next bus. It was way over an hour from the time we left TL until we finally got on the POR bus. The good news is we saw busses constantly coming from TL to DS when we were waiting. If I had to do it again I'd uber it for sure. Or would bring a change of clothes and change before leaving the park and have dinner at DS to break it up a little better.

 

[blackpearl77]

We went to TL on June 3 from POR. Here's our experience: Got on the Disney Springs bus in the late morning. Thought we'd have to stop at DS first, but to our surprise they dropped us at TL first before heading to DS. I was thrilled with that!

Leaving was a different story. At the time they had the "resort bus listings" out there listing each resort and what number stop to go to (hopefully they've changed this now). I thought, "wow, this is better than I thought...guess we don't have to go to DS after all!" We all head to our stop (last one on the right, nice long walk) and wait there with a bunch of other people (there were a bunch of people at all the stops on that side). Then at some point after waiting a while a CM came up to us and said that everyone must get on a DS bus and transfer from there. So we all picked up our things and shlepped back to the other side, past the resort bus listings sign. There was a transportation person in front of the DS bus saying "everyone going to a resort needs to go to DS on this bus." This was several yards past the bus sign and way past the exit. I told the guy he should not be standing there, but at the EXIT of the park to direct people, or the middle before the two sides split, not to the far left, way past the bus listing sign directing only half the people. I also said they really need to remove that bus resort listing sign because there were so many people waiting at their individual resort stops. He didn't have much to say in response to that. We got on the bus and transferred to DS. When we arrived at DS, the POR bus stop was on the complete other side of the U shaped bus area...and the bus was already at the POR stop. By the time we got off the TL bus and had to walk all the way around the U shape to the other side, the resort bus had pulled away. Had to wait FOREVER for the next bus. It was way over an hour from the time we left TL until we finally got on the POR bus. The good news is we saw busses constantly coming from TL to DS when we were waiting. If I had to do it again I'd uber it for sure. Or would bring a change of clothes and change before leaving the park and have dinner at DS to break it up a little better.

This was the same thing that happened to us (we went on june 8th). But at least for us right when we exited TL there was a CM telling us to get on the first DS bus. So maybe they listened to you on that one?! But the bus listing signs were still up... So we had the same exact DS experience as you. We were staying at CBR so we had to walk all around the U shape to the other side. And our bus was there. And there was no way you could run and meet it - just too far. I think we waited an hour for the next bus to come. Huge line formed behind us. We had dinner reservations that night at 6:45. We packed up our stuff at TL at 3:30 thinking that would be enough time. We didn't get back to CBR until 5! We took the quickest showers EVER! They need to have more resort buses leaving DS.

 

[Masonmj84]

From now on, I just plan on taking Uber back and forth to the water parks.

Problem solved.

 

[dledger]

This is somewhat related: I am planning on going to TL in two weeks on our trip. I understand the process of switching at DS for my resort. we are staying at POR and I'm curious how far the new bus loop is from the boats? I'm thinking it might be a nice way to switch it all up for us to take the boat back instead of the bus?

 

[Wood Nymph]

This is somewhat related: I am planning on going to TL in two weeks on our trip. I understand the process of switching at DS for my resort. we are staying at POR and I'm curious how far the new bus loop is from the boats? I'm thinking it might be a nice way to switch it all up for us to take the boat back instead of the bus?

We just got back from our stay at POR. The new bus depot is somewhat in the middle of Disney Springs, close to the Boathouse Restaurant. The boat dock for POR is at the Marketplace, which would be at least a 10 or 15 minute walk from the bus depot. On the other hand, boats are nicer than buses.

 

[mgpan]

Exactly Hopperfan! Make the transportation so time consuming and frustrating (and remember they aren't taking anything away, just modifying based on guest feedback and demand i'm sure LOL!!!) that you will want to drive yourself and then pay to park!

Uber is going to be my friend this trip to get many places on and off property. WDW will probably like it if enough of us do this they can cutback on busses, drivers and fuel! However, when folks find out how easy and inexpensive Uber is, they'll discover how easy and quick it is to get off Disney property for a great meal at a great price and not be stuck to Disney dining options. And, I wonder how much more it would cost and time it would take to not use WDW transportation/transfers and go right past TL or BB to Volcano Bay when it opens in 2017?

Does Disney not remember one of the reasons they started Magical Express in the first place was to keep people and their wallets/pocketbooks in the WDW bubble? They shouldn't want guests investigating other transportation options because they might discover how easy it is to get off property that way.

 

[heidijanesmith]

This was the same thing that happened to us (we went on june 8th). But at least for us right when we exited TL there was a CM telling us to get on the first DS bus. So maybe they listened to you on that one?! But the bus listing signs were still up... So we had the same exact DS experience as you. We were staying at CBR so we had to walk all around the U shape to the other side. And our bus was there. And there was no way you could run and meet it - just too far. I think we waited an hour for the next bus to come. Huge line formed behind us. We had dinner reservations that night at 6:45. We packed up our stuff at TL at 3:30 thinking that would be enough time. We didn't get back to CBR until 5! We took the quickest showers EVER! They need to have more resort buses leaving DS.

Was there any cabs there? We always take a cab to TL and bus it home. Now it seems like we will need to take a cab home as well, I do not mind paying for a cab as they can be a huge time saver.

 

[blackpearl77]

Was there any cabs there? We always take a cab to TL and bus it home. Now it seems like we will need to take a cab home as well, I do not mind paying for a cab as they can be a huge time saver.

I didn't notice any cabs. I'm sure there were. I'm going to remember that for next time and take a cab back. It was a long walk carrying bags and towels (towels for the cold bus) and my kid piggy back on my back not realizing until after that my coverup dress was stuck under him so everyone saw just my bathing suit bottoms (and how embarrassing since you get dropped at ds where there are people in regular clothes shopping wondering why are they in bathing suits?? But it just looked like a dress so basically I just flashed the whole crowd at the bus stop!!!) hahahahaha

 

[heidijanesmith]

Ha! Great story

I am from a very small town, so we don't have Uber, I have no idea how to do it. Cabs have worked well for us in the past at other locations, so I am going to hope there are cabs there.

 

[dledger]

We just got back from our stay at POR. The new bus depot is somewhat in the middle of Disney Springs, close to the Boathouse Restaurant. The boat dock for POR is at the Marketplace, which would be at least a 10 or 15 minute walk from the bus depot. On the other hand, boats are nicer than buses.

Exactly! DS has been a pain in the past waiting for buses (in my experience) so I figure it could be a nice relaxing way to get back to the resort. Also, i can almost guarantee I won't be freezing cold on the boat! We have plans later that night as well so we aren't in a huge rush.