CSR Transportation Very Disappointing

[Ktharee]

Just returned from a 9 day stay at CSR, a resort I love! We've been using Disney transportation now for the last 6 trips (at various resorts) and I always recommend it to others. I will not be doing so any longer. The wait times were ridiculous. Transportation world wide was just a disgrace. For example, Friday night was EMH until midnight at Epcot, so after Wishes, a whole load of people get on the monorail to head to Epcot for the last few hours. We get to the TTC and the monorail is shut down. They direct us to buses. The transportation MANAGER is telling everyone on line that Epcot is closed. I tell him, the park has EMH until midnight. He has to check his paper and says "oh, you are right." 45 minutes later a bus to Epcot shows up. THE MANAGER doesn't know there is a park open late? Absurd. By the time we get there, there is less than an hour to go until EMH is over. So disappointing. Not to mention 40 minute waits at the resort for Magic Kingdom buses in the morning. People getting angry because they are now really late for ADR's. We ended up taking a taxi back to the resort twice because of the long waits. The bus drivers are nothing special anymore. Every one of them used to be so nice, now most of them are just grouches. Looks like we'll bring our car next time. Anyone else experience this?

 

[LeslieLou]

First, I'm sorry you had a bad experience and thanks for sharing!

We did have a bad time getting back to BCV last year after EMH from Magic Kingdome. Every other bus would come except for that one! After what seemed like forever (an hourish) the manager got 2 buses to come at once. There was 1 bus that came before that, but there were too many people in line. Basically, they didn't have enough bus to take care of the # of people.

We will have our car with us this time! (But, we'd probably still use Disney transportation 100% again if flying made sense for us)

 

[saskdw]

Just returned from a 9 day stay at CSR, a resort I love! We've been using Disney transportation now for the last 6 trips (at various resorts) and I always recommend it to others. I will not be doing so any longer. The wait times were ridiculous. Transportation world wide was just a disgrace. For example, Friday night was EMH until midnight at Epcot, so after Wishes, a whole load of people get on the monorail to head to Epcot for the last few hours. We get to the TTC and the monorail is shut down. They direct us to buses. The transportation MANAGER is telling everyone on line that Epcot is closed. I tell him, the park has EMH until midnight. He has to check his paper and says "oh, you are right." 45 minutes later a bus to Epcot shows up. THE MANAGER doesn't know there is a park open late? Absurd. By the time we get there, there is less than an hour to go until EMH is over. So disappointing. Not to mention 40 minute waits at the resort for Magic Kingdom buses in the morning. People getting angry because they are now really late for ADR's. We ended up taking a taxi back to the resort twice because of the long waits. The bus drivers are nothing special anymore. Every one of them used to be so nice, now most of them are just grouches. Looks like we'll bring our car next time. Anyone else experience this?

No, we've had outstanding bus service at CSR. We were just there last Christmas from Dec. 14th-28th, the busiest time of year and service was excellent. The situation is you experienced at MK is going to happen when the whole park rushes out after the fireworks, I would never try to catch a bus at that time. Either leave early, wait until rush is over, or expect a long wait. There aren't enough buses to move all those people in 10 mins and that has nothing to do with CSR.

 

[KatMark]

I'm not happy to hear this. We are not renting a car until the last day of our trip before we head to Marco Island and planned on strictly using the buses which we don't normally do. I hate to have to pay more for a rental car. Now you have me thinking.

 

[saskdw]

I'm not happy to hear this. We are not renting a car until the last day of our trip before we head to Marco Island and planned on strictly using the buses which we don't normally do. I hate to have to pay more for a rental car. Now you have me thinking.

I wouldn't panic Kat. All we use is the buses when we are there and have always had good service. 20 minutes is the accepted normal wait time, but 80% of the time it's under 10 mins.

 

[DebbieB]

The Epcot monorail closes one hour after regular park close, regardless if there is EMH or not.

I stayed at BWV 3 weeks ago and just used the bus to MK. Service was pretty good.

 

[KatMark]

I wouldn't panic Kat. All we use is the buses when we are there and have always had good service. 20 minutes is the accepted normal wait time, but 80% of the time it's under 10 mins.

Thanks; we are staying at OKW and we had pretty good bus service in January and I'm hoping the time we are there in September will be a little quieter as it is before F&W.

 

[Ktharee]

No, we've had outstanding bus service at CSR. We were just there last Christmas from Dec. 14th-28th, the busiest time of year and service was excellent. The situation is you experienced at MK is going to happen when the whole park rushes out after the fireworks, I would never try to catch a bus at that time. Either leave early, wait until rush is over, or expect a long wait. There aren't enough buses to move all those people in 10 mins and that has nothing to do with CSR.

The situation at Magic Kingdom was only one of the bad experiences I had and I did not intend to take a bus, we were forced to. There were many unhappy guests at CSR over the last 10 days. I realize you stayed there before and had a great experience with the buses, so have I. This time, beginning 10 days ago, it was terrible. I was very surprised and disappointed. Perhaps just bad luck.

 

[Ktharee]

The Epcot monorail closes one hour after regular park close, regardless if there is EMH or not.

I stayed at BWV 3 weeks ago and just used the bus to MK. Service was pretty good.

This rule makes no sense at all. Why they wouldn't want to funnel as many people as possible to the park to spend money up to the very last moment is beyond me. And to top it off, the transportation manager at the TTC not knowing Epcot was open late, made a lot of people angry. He failed to call more buses to the TTC until we told him the park was open until midnight. Not the service I've come to expect from Disney due to the price we pay.

 

[DebbieB]

This rule makes no sense at all. Why they wouldn't want to funnel as many people as possible to the park to spend money up to the very last moment is beyond me. And to top it off, the transportation manager at the TTC not knowing Epcot was open late, made a lot of people angry. He failed to call more buses to the TTC until we told him the park was open until midnight. Not the service I've come to expect from Disney due to the price we pay.

They claim they need time for maintenance. This started last fall. Also applies to the MK express monorail.

 

[Ktharee]

I'm not happy to hear this. We are not renting a car until the last day of our trip before we head to Marco Island and planned on strictly using the buses which we don't normally do. I hate to have to pay more for a rental car. Now you have me thinking.

I can tell you this Kat, many times I wished we had a car. Not just at CSR. If you don't HAVE to be somewhere, it really doesn't matter, you can wait. But when you have reservations or you are trying to make a show time, the wait is nerve racking and when you are at the 30-40 minute mark and at bus stop 4, you know you aren't making it on the next bus either. Every other trip we've taken the bus service has been fantastic, never ONCE thought we would ever need our own vehicle. The service had declined in my opinion from what I was used to and I'm not a newbie. They needed more buses, better management or both this past week. I hope it's just a fluke and our bad luck in those cases. I love the convenience of the Disney bus system, but if what we experienced is the new norm...that's why I asked if anyone else had the same experience. I hope everything runs smooth as silk for you on your trip coming up!

 

[Ktharee]

They claim they need time for maintenance. This started last fall. Also applies to the MK express monorail.

Maybe I should start a change.org petition for that nonsense. I feel if the park is open, all forms of transportation should be available, especially for the prices you pay for that EMH premium. At the very least, they should announce it somewhere that monorail transportation has limited hours. I did not hear nor see that anywhere obvious. In fact, one person that was ahead of us at the turnstile complained to the CM about the monorail being down, she said "it should be operating, we are open until midnight tonight." Grrrr....it used to be such a well oiled machine. Maybe I'm getting old and cranky.

 

[Ktharee]

First, I'm sorry you had a bad experience and thanks for sharing!

We did have a bad time getting back to BCV last year after EMH from Magic Kingdome. Every other bus would come except for that one! After what seemed like forever (an hourish) the manager got 2 buses to come at once. There was 1 bus that came before that, but there were too many people in line. Basically, they didn't have enough bus to take care of the # of people.

We will have our car with us this time! (But, we'd probably still use Disney transportation 100% again if flying made sense for us)

Thanks LeslieLou! I definitely has my husband and I thinking of driving next time in case we find the bus service to be poor again or we plan on utilizing PM EMH. We are in NC, so it's not a bad drive. I don't think we would RENT a car, we would just allow for an extra 1/2 hour more than usual to get where we need to be.

 

[maxiesmom]

( Anyone else experience this?

Nope. We stayed at CSR this past March, and I can't say enough good things about the buses. I don't think we ever waited more than 12 minutes for a bus, no matter what time of day it was.

I'm sorry you had such a bad time with transportation. I ran into that when we stayed at the Beach Club, and it really left a sour taste in my mouth for that resort. I know, I know, you can have bad transportation at any resort, but it does leave a bad impression of the resort at which you had the bad experience.

 

[notaclue]

We've stayed at the Poly twice and had issues with the monorail both times. Once we got stranded at MK during a fierce rain storm and the monorail had problems; a 'security' problem and a medical problem with a passenger. Once we were going from the Poly to MK to keep an ADR and after waiting 30 mins for the monorail we raced back thru the Poly and took the boat. I'd never trust the monorail to get me anywhere that I had to be at a certain time.

 

[roydavid7771]

So sorry you had such a bad experience. The only time I ever experienced poor bus service was coming home to BC from DTD and even then it was just over 40 minutes for a bus. On our last trip, we watched Wishes from teh TOTW Lounge at BLT, and rather hoof it back to MK for the buses, we just hailed a cab to take us back to the BC.

I do not mean to be argumentative, but transportation issues do arise, regardless of the money anybody pays. They happen regardless of the level of resort you are staying at and there will be times when CM's will be ill-informed, or worse, not informed. I'm sure they are doing their best, and I try to remember that while I'm on vacation. I certainly empathize that you want nothing to ruin your vacation, but after all, you're in WDW! Smile and enjoy it!

 

[aubriee]

The situation at Magic Kingdom was only one of the bad experiences I had and I did not intend to take a bus, we were forced to. There were many unhappy guests at CSR over the last 10 days. I realize you stayed there before and had a great experience with the buses, so have I. This time, beginning 10 days ago, it was terrible. I was very surprised and disappointed. Perhaps just bad luck.

I wonder if it could have been just timing. We were just at CSR May 5th-12th and didn't have a problem. In fact, both the morning and also the evening we caught the bus to MK, it was pulling up as we walked out to the stop. We didn't have to run, but did have to speed up our walk and got right on. We were laughing about our good timing and how lucky we were both times. Now my friend had a rental car, so the only times I used the buses that trip were those two times to get to MK. However, I was also at CSR this past Nov 26th-Dec 4th and had great transportation then too. I was solo that trip, so used the buses exclusively. Then my husband and I took our grandson down there Feb 4th-11th and stayed at POFQ for that trip, again using the WDW transportation exclusively. Transportation was fine over there too. Never waited more than maybe ten minutes for a bus during any of my last three trips (Nov 26th-Dec 4th at CSR, Feb 4th-11th at POFQ, or May 5th-12th at CSR). I was in building 9A at CSR in Nov/Dec and in building 8B May 5th-12th, so used bus stop four both trips.

 

[NML11383]

The Epcot monorail closes one hour after regular park close, regardless if there is EMH or not.

I've never heard of or seen this rule in action, is it something very new (ie within the last year) ? I've used the monorail to/from Epcot for EMHs from the Poly everytime we've stayed there, even once at around 2am!

If this is true that is really going to influence our July plans...

 

[saskdw]

I wonder if it could have been just timing. We were just at CSR May 5th-12th and didn't have a problem. In fact, both the morning and also the evening we caught the bus to MK, it was pulling up as we walked out to the stop. We didn't have to run, but did have to speed up our walk and got right on. We were laughing about our good timing and how lucky we were both times. Now my friend had a rental car, so the only times I used the buses that trip were those two times to get to MK. However, I was also at CSR this past Nov 26th-Dec 4th and had great transportation then too. I was solo that trip, so used the buses exclusively. Then my husband and I took our grandson down there Feb 4th-11th and stayed at POFQ for that trip, again using the WDW transportation exclusively. Transportation was fine over there too. Never waited more than maybe ten minutes for a bus during any of my last three trips (Nov 26th-Dec 4th at CSR, Feb 4th-11th at POFQ, or May 5th-12th at CSR). I was in building 9A at CSR in Nov/Dec and in building 8B May 5th-12th, so used bus stop four both trips.

I've read many complaints on the bus service over the years, although it seems the vast majority find it adequate. I've narrowed the complaints down to a few things:

1) Some bad timing or luck.

2) There is the odd breakdown, mix-up, or problem that causes a lengthy wait. Wouldn't expect this to happen more than once a trip.

3) This is a big one: Some people actually have no concept of time! I've actually been standing at a bus stop many a time and over heard people talking how it's taking forever and they've been waiting over half an hour. I've been standing there the whole time they were and look at my watch and they have actually only been waiting 8 mins...lol. I'm serious! This isn't an isolated incident either, it's happened many times. Then those people come on here and tell everyone the bus service is terrible and they waited 45 mins for every bus...lol.

4) Expectations and planning. To some the allotted 20 min wait is too long in their eyes so they won't use the bus. Planning is a big one too. Don't expect to come out after the fireworks with 20,000 other people and hop right on a bus, probably won't happen. We would either leave before the fireworks or plan to stay until after the mad rush. It's like going to the food court at a busy resort at 12 noon and complaining it's too busy and the service is terrible. We do the smart thing and go at 1:30pm and get great service! I hate crowds and waiting so we plan smart! But you have to have realistic expectations as well, it is WDW afterall. There is lots of people and some waiting.

 

[saskdw]

I've never heard of or seen this rule in action, is it something very new (ie within the last year) ? I've used the monorail to/from Epcot for EMHs from the Poly everytime we've stayed there, even once at around 2am!

If this is true that is really going to influence our July plans...

I believe it started last fall around Oct or Nov.