CSR: Car or no car?

[jds]

We'll be staying at CSR for about a week next month, and I'm trying to decide whether we'll want a rental car or not. I'd love to hear about people's experiences with bus transport, both from CSR to the parks and back, and from MCO to CSR and back (DH and I will be leaving on different days, so even if we rent a car, he'll probably have to take a bus back to the airport when he leaves...).

If you rented a car while you stayed at CSR, did you appreciate the added convenience of being able to drive to the parks (as well as to anyplace off Disney property), or did the car wind up sitting in the parking lot the whole time you were there? Is it still possible to drive to (and park at) other resorts these days? (Years ago, we always parked at the Beach Resort--even when we weren't staying there--when attending Illuminations at Epcot, since it was so much easier to walk back to our car from there than if we'd parked at the main parking lot--or to take a bus or the monorail back to wherever we were staying...)

FYI, it will just be the two of us (no kids this trip), and we typically visit two parks/day, returning to our hotel room for an afternoon rest. We sometimes like to dine at other resorts, so I'm thinking a car would really come in handy for that... We don't have a package deal, since this is partly a business trip, so we need to pay for the room separately (and got a good conference rate)...

Any suggestions and advice will be much appreciated!

 

[gatorfreud]

It could have been a fluke, but we had the best bus service EVER at CSR! We hardly waited for a bus, and it always seemed to be waiting for us when we got out of the parks. We did have a car, but we didn't use it.

Enjoy!

 

[LoraJ]

Had the worst bus service ever at CSR. Like you, we like to park hop. Decided to try out the bus one day. We had the worst luck with buses. We went to MGM in the morning. I can't remember how long of a wait that was, I think it was around 20 minutes. Went from MGM to AK. Had to wait 30 minutes for the bus. After a couple of hours at AK, we wanted to head back to the resort. Once again, had to wait 30 minutes for a bus. And the bus didn't even go back directly to the resort, we made a pit-stop at Blizzard Beach and had to wait 10 minutes there.

After that, we were done with the Disney Bus transportation system.

We love having a rental car. Save so much time when it comes to transportation. And it's great if we want to go buy bottles of water or sunburn remedies and just drive off to a store outside property.

We also go to Universal for a day, so it's good to have a car for that.

ETA:
Since you will be dining at other resorts, you will definitely be saving lots of time with a car.

 

[ReadingMama]

We loved the buses at CSR!!! We never waited long for one, they were usually 1/2 empty and coming back they always seemed to be at the parks, while other resorts had lines for their buses. The best part about staying at CSR in my opinion. We did have a car, but did not use it. We only ate in parks so did not try to go from CSR to another resort via bus.

 

[Lilolvr]

Never a problem with CSR bus service. Its the best I've experienced at CSR.

 

[DCPrincess]

We had a wonderful experience as well with the CSR buses and with the bus from the airport when we went last May. Depending on the resort, it can take a lot longer on the bus system so one night we took a cab back from the Animal Kingdom Lodge. There were tons of cabs waiting there - and taking one or two cab rides btwn resorts is a lot cheaper than a rental car for the whole visit!

 

[Mickey23]

CSR buses are the best! We had a terrific experience with them.

 

[Cindy B]

Best service I have ever had. There were times when we were the only family on the bus-- a private bus ride!