Disney Transportation to parks etc.: lessons learned and strategies moving forward

[999DoomBuggies]

This is my first thread of several threads addressing strategies and lessons learned from my most recent visit to WDW. In this thread I will address Disney transportation to and from parks.

Disney Transportation:
Disney transportation is very similar to a cattle call. If you are staying onsite, you will more than likely take the Disney bus system. Bus stops are conveniently located 790 miles from your room if you are staying at Port Orleans Riverside. When going to the parks expect to wait a long time for bus pickup for Epcot, HS, and AK.

When waiting for a bus at Port Orleans expect to be treated as someone that has just announced they have AIDs and the year is 1985 (basically completely shunned), sorry if I offend anyone here, I take that stuff seriously too but this is what kept running through my head at the time. Expect to wait at least 20 minutes for a bus. Sometimes you will get lucky and the bus will come within a reasonable time.

When boarding buses, in all cases, what you will find is the desire for cast members to stuff as many humans onto a bus. When leaving theme parks, you will be initially corralled into a holding stockade and then prodded onto a bus where you will be stuffed inside. The similarities between disney transportation stuffing 700 humans onto one bus and ruthless human trafficking rings cannot be denied.

Side note, if you are a capable male then stand up and give females, children, and those with mobility issues your seat. I cannot believe how many times I watched adult males not give up their seat. In once case, my wife heard a male say that he would give up his seat if he did not have a stroller. The lady had a stoller too and ended up standing, whatever, just saying, be a gentleman.

Expect to spend a minimum of 15 mins on a bus to go pretty much anywhere in Disney, especially if staying at Port Orleans.

Strategy going forward: my suggestion is to rent a car to get to parks and maintain some level of human dignity, especially if you have young kids like me. Renting a car will be the most consistently steady and likely quickest method to get to the important parks if staying anywhere the monorail does not reach. Rental cars in Orlando are extremely cheap.


My next thread will focus on Marathon week crowds, a review, what to expect, and how to navigate. FYI, I am available to do trip report interviews or whatever just message me.

 

[ucfknight]

Disney Transportation:
Disney transportation is very similar to a cattle call. If you are staying onsite, you will more than likely take the Disney bus system. Bus stops are conveniently located 790 miles from your room if you are staying at Port Orleans Riverside. When going to the parks expect to wait a long time for bus pickup for Epcot, HS, and AK.

That's pretty funny... because I had the the exact opposite experience. I stayed at Port Orleans Riverside January 4 - January 8. Buses to Epcot, DHS, and AK were all plentiful. They came every 5 to 10 minutes and were always half full at worst.

Buses to the MK, however, were horrid. They came every 20 minutes at best, and they were always stuffed to over capacity.

There was one time we waited 35 minutes before a bus for MK finally arrived, and that was in the early evening on a night when there were EMH at MK. You would think they would run extra buses to MK in those circumstances... but no.

In that 35 minutes we waited before an MK bus finally came pick us up, the following buses stopped at our stop:
3 different Epcot buses (with no more than 5 people each)
3 different AK buses (with no more than 3 people each)
3 different DHS buses (with no more than 12 people each)
3 different Downtown Disney/Typhoon Lagoon buses (all completely empty)

By the time a MK bus arrived, my stop completely filled it.

 

[xie]

We used to regularly fly to Orlando, take a Mears car to the resorts, and use Disney's onsite transportation. We finally had enough bad experiences with horribly long waits, stuck on broken down buses (yep it definitely happens), etc. that we stopped using the buses at all.

We either rent a car while there or we drive down and use our own car. It's a ton faster for us to get around than using Disney's transport, parking is free if you're staying onsite, and you save 1 or 2 hours a day vs. taking Disney's transport. That's 1 or 2 more hours of your day devoted to doing what you want to do as opposed to waiting for Disney's cattle cars. At the end of the week, by driving yourself, you've probably gained 8-10 hours of playtime (or sleep time, depending on how you look at it, lol) - or the equivalent of another day of fun.

Unless your idea of fun is waiting for and riding buses.

We do still occasionally use the water taxis, but you have to be careful with those too; at a few times of year with certain resorts, they are pretty slow to show up. Although we haven't had nearly as many problems with the boats not showing up overall, and we've never experienced a broken down boat.

 

[999DoomBuggies]

That's pretty funny... because I had the the exact opposite experience. I stayed at Port Orleans Riverside January 4 - January 8. Buses to Epcot, DHS, and AK were all plentiful. They came every 5 to 10 minutes and were always half full at worst.

Buses to the MK, however, were horrid. They came every 20 minutes at best, and they were always stuffed to over capacity.

There was one time we waited 35 minutes before a bus for MK finally arrived, and that was in the early evening on a night when there were EMH at MK. You would think they would run extra buses to MK in those circumstances... but no.

In that 35 minutes we waited before an MK bus finally came pick us up, the following buses stopped at our stop:
3 different Epcot buses (with no more than 5 people each)
3 different AK buses (with no more than 3 people each)
3 different DHS buses (with no more than 12 people each)
3 different Downtown Disney/Typhoon Lagoon buses (all completely empty)

By the time a MK bus arrived, my stop completely filled it.

agree with your magic kingdom experiences in terms of cramming people in, way worse than the buses for other locations. HS took 45 mins for those of us that did not go earlier to rope drop. Epcot took a good 25 mins.

Extra buses will never happen. Disney could care less.

 

[ArwenMarie]

We always rent a car, no matter where we are staying. We either walk to the park if we are lucky enough to be staying at BLT or an Epcot resort, or we drive.

 

[ps17]

To the OP : Would you still take a car to the MK? Doesn't this mean that you have to park, take a tram, and then another boat or monorail ride?

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I just got back from a trip to AKL and never was on a bus that was more than 1/2 full. It was a very good experience. We rented a car last summer and never used it. What a huge waste of money.

 

[ucfknight]

We used to regularly fly to Orlando, take a Mears car to the resorts, and use Disney's onsite transportation. We finally had enough bad experiences with horribly long waits, stuck on broken down buses (yep it definitely happens), etc. that we stopped using the buses at all.

We either rent a car while there or we drive down and use our own car. It's a ton faster for us to get around than using Disney's transport, parking is free if you're staying onsite, and you save 1 or 2 hours a day vs. taking Disney's transport. That's 1 or 2 more hours of your day devoted to doing what you want to do as opposed to waiting for Disney's cattle cars. At the end of the week, by driving yourself, you've probably gained 8-10 hours of playtime (or sleep time, depending on how you look at it, lol) - or the equivalent of another day of fun.

When we went last week, we had our own car with us. The only park we used the buses for was MK because the MK bus drops you off right at the entrance. If you drive your own car you have to deal with parking, then the ridiculously slow tram (remember when they used to pull up, load people, and then take off?), and then ferry/monorail. All in all, you're talking 30-40 minutes between getting to parking plaza and getting to entrance gate. We took the bus to MK 3 times from Port Orleans Riverside. Total time (waiting for bus and travelling) ranged from 35 minutes to an hour (the time we had to wait 35 minutes for the bus). Which was way slower than we figured, but we still probably only lost 10 to 20 minutes of time each time we used the bus to get there.

At all other parks, it is much quicker to take your own car, park, and walk (or take the tram if in a very far parking lot).

 

[abinormal]

I think I must not know how to search for rental cars. $250 is the best I can find.

 

[999DoomBuggies]

To the OP : Would you still take a car to the MK? Doesn't this mean that you have to park, take a tram, and then another boat or monorail ride?

absolutely would drive to the magic kingdom. After discussions with folks from several other resorts and then my experience taking disney transportation from the dorm room port orleans resort we stayed in, I would have no problem driving and parking (this is what we usually do). In my experience, this is much faster than taking a bus to the park and a human being can maintain some level of dignity through the process.

 

[ucfknight]

Extra buses will never happen. Disney could care less.

You'd think they'd care more.
After all, time sitting at a bus stop is time you aren't using to buy "Disney Parks" t-shirts or $10 turkey legs.

 

[999DoomBuggies]

I think I must not know how to search for rental cars. $250 is the best I can find.

airport locations? I was able to find a rental car (midsize) for 8 days for $190 total out the door without insurance.

 

[jade1]

lessons learned and strategies moving forward

So now:

We split stays with BLT and BCV/BWV, so we hardly ever use a bus any more, except for ME.

 

[abinormal]

airport locations? I was able to find a rental car (midsize) for 8 days for $190 total out the door without insurance.

Yes, airport. How can you get one from anywhere else if you're flying in?

 

[xie]

When we went last week, we had our own car with us. The only park we used the buses for was MK because the MK bus drops you off right at the entrance. If you drive your own car you have to deal with parking, then the ridiculously slow tram (remember when they used to pull up, load people, and then take off?), and then ferry/monorail. All in all, you're talking 30-40 minutes between getting to parking plaza and getting to entrance gate. We took the bus to MK 3 times from Port Orleans Riverside. Total time (waiting for bus and travelling) ranged from 35 minutes to an hour (the time we had to wait 35 minutes for the bus). Which was way slower than we figured, but we still probably only lost 10 to 20 minutes of time each time we used the bus to get there.

At all other parks, it is much quicker to take your own car, park, and walk (or take the tram if in a very far parking lot).

If we drive to MK and we aren't at a MK resort, we go to rope drop. And that means you are parking at the very front of the lot (right behind the handicapped rows). All you have to do is take the sidewalk under the bridge and you're at ticketing, a shorter walk than anything you'll do inside the park. No tram riding involved.

You then have to take either the ferry or the monorail to the MK gate, but either are nice rides usually. We mostly take the ferry.

We would still rather do this than take buses. We have had some real... experiences on the buses.

If we are at an MK resort (we stay at Fort Wilderness a lot) then we just take the resort launch to MK.

 

[Ed J]

Yes, airport. How can you get one from anywhere else if you're flying in?

Take ME to a resort and there are rental company's on and around Disney property that you can take Disney transportation to or they will send a shuttle for you so you can rent a car. Better deals are usually at the airport though.

I don't think we ever paid more than 250 for a full size and most of our trips when we rent a car are 10 days +.

I liked the OP's story, and I agree, the busses for the most part suck :thumbsup:

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Here is the info about renting a car once you get to Disney

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2927109

 

[mejo]

I love Disney Transportation, I have driven but when you drive you have to step out of the Disney Bubble.
You are right they do pack people in but you just talk to whoever you are standing next too and it makes it a quick ride.


As far as men giving up their seats, you have to remember they have been walking all day too, they are tired as much as you are. Plus you don't realize that most of the men are the ones that have to carry the kids and stuff and to handle the strollers and before FP+, they were the ones doing the running.

I am a woman and not married but this was just my observations.

 

[ncc1701]

Guess we have been lucky as our bus experiences at POFQ have gotten better over the years. But we use public transit for work every day so a being stuffed into a bus going to the MK sure beats stuffed into a train going to/from work.

 

[LMichelleee]

After reading this I am even more confused as to what I want to do. We will be staying at coronado for 5 nights last week of April. I have been going back and forth trying to decide if we should rent a car or rely on Disney transportation.