Do moderate and deluxe buses.....

[Disneyland1084]

Get people to the parks in a timely manner most of the time? I remember someone on a post a couple years ago complained that Caribbean Beach would take around 40 minutes to do the loop around the resort picking everyone up. On average, how long does it take the buses from the resorts to pick everyone up at all the stops before they're on the way to the parks?

 

[Bjkandma]

Depends on time of day and number of people boarding. Scooters? Strollers? At each stop. That's why I stay at value. Even if they share a bus (All Star) it's only 3 stops at most (If people are waiting).

 

[sponica]

I feel like there's no easy answer to that....I mean going to AK from POFQ, my bus got stuck in traffic.

When I stayed at POR, I had a preferred building, which meant I was closest to the south depot, which was the last stop on the circuit.

To be honest, bus lines/waits are the things I remember the least unless something goes extremely sideways (like when the bus didn't do a pickup from Epcot back to POFQ for more than 30 minutes and it was late evening)

 

[Brett Wyman]

Don't leave Deluxes out of that mix. They may have dedicated buses during heavier times but shared routes at slow times and LONG waits between buses during the slow times as well. We had an absolutely miserable experience waiting for a Beach Club bus once around 2pm.

Shared buses.

• All-Star Sports, All-Star Music, All-Star Movies
• Pop Century, Art of Animation
• Fort Wilderness, Wilderness Lodge
• Contemporary, Polynesian, Grand Floridian
• Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club, Beach Club, BoardWalk
• Jambo House, Kidani Village

 

[Moliphino]

Don't leave Deluxes out of that mix. They may have dedicated buses during heavier times but shared routes at slow times and LONG waits between buses during the slow times as well. We had an absolutely miserable experience waiting for a Beach Club bus once around 2pm once.

Shared buses.

• All-Star Sports, All-Star Music, All-Star Movies
• Pop Century, Art of Animation
• Fort Wilderness, Wilderness Lodge
• Contemporary, Polynesian, Grand Floridian
• Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club, Beach Club, BoardWalk
• Jambo House, Kidani Village

I have never seen Pop and AOA share buses, and I've stayed at Pop often.

 

[WEDWDW]

I have never seen Pop and AOA share buses, and I've stayed at Pop often.

It is VERY rare.

Also the All-Star Resorts usually only share during the late Morning/early Afternoon hours.

 

[Jacq7414]

We’ve stayed at WL and haven’t had issues with buses. We have shared with Fort Wilderness during early morning Epcot and the contemporary on the way back. It wasn’t that long though and I find it easy to get to the bus stop from our hotel room

 

[Lumpy1106]

Get people to the parks in a timely manner most of the time? I remember someone on a post a couple years ago complained that Caribbean Beach would take around 40 minutes to do the loop around the resort picking everyone up. On average, how long does it take the buses from the resorts to pick everyone up at all the stops before they're on the way to the parks?

We hated CB for that reason - the buses were awful. We have heard similar things about Saratoga and didn't buy DVC there based on that alone.

 

[nikkita]

We stayed at carribean and POR and only issue we had was requesting a CM to call a bus to pick is up from blizzard beach

 

[Lewisc]

Best bus service. POFQ one bus stop and generally doesn't share. AKL 2 stops and doesn't share. POP and AoA each have only one stop and doesn't share. All Stars don't seem to share as much as they used. to.

FWIW my doesn't share comments excludes rare cirumstancesn

 

[SteveH]

• Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club, Beach Club, BoardWalk

During our last stay Jan 2018 the bus service was only between Boardwalk/Swan/Dolphin

 

[OKW Lover]

The moderate and deluxe buses get people to the parks exactly the same as the value and villa (DVC) resort buses. No difference in frequency, time, cleanliness or courtesy.

 

[Mousemommy1]

I have had good and bad experiences with buses at all levels. It doesn't come down to just one level of resort. We were just at AOA and had really good luck with the buses our whole trip, but we have had miserable bus service at Beach Club before. It's all luck of the draw.

CBR is kind of a different story though, because that internal loop does add some time to getting to the parks for sure. One of the many reasons that it's our least favorite resort.

 

[Eeyore daily]

I've stayed at POP and they shared with Art of Animation one night, POFQ shared with POR, and when I visited the Boardwalk they shared with all the Crescent lake hotels. It happens. When we stayed at Caribbean Beach I didn't experience any issues from what I can recall but we were in Martinique (not sure) so one of the first bus stops. Coronado wasn't bad either. Just depends on if the park is popular that day + scooters.

 

[SharonZ]

Bus issues aren't exclusive to any particular hotels.

 

[Lewisc]

The moderate and deluxe buses get people to the parks exactly the same as the value and villa (DVC) resort buses. No difference in frequency, time, cleanliness or courtesy.

Basically true, but not completely. A guest staying in the Martinique village at CBR is going to have a ride around CBR (15-20 minutes) before even leaving the resort. A guest at POP will already be in EPCOT or DHS in that amount of time. A guest in one the last villages, I think Aruba, might not get a seat. Bus could even be fill before it gets to the last stop. Similar issues a CSR and POR.

Disney buses to run every 20 minutes. Anecdotal observation suggests Disney tends to shrink the interval if the number of guests waiting appears to be a full bus load. That's the reason why it appears to some of us that the buses at POP run more frequently.

After park closing Disney may combine buses. An example. In May I stayed in AK for the AP preview of RoL. I think we left at least 2 hours after regular parking closing. Bus for POP and AoA was combined and boarded from stop 2. Bus pulled up as we made it to the stop. 2 of us boarded for POP and 2 for AoA. Bus immediately left. I assume it was needed elsewhere for park closing.

 

[Sarahslay]

Don't leave Deluxes out of that mix. They may have dedicated buses during heavier times but shared routes at slow times and LONG waits between buses during the slow times as well. We had an absolutely miserable experience waiting for a Beach Club bus once around 2pm.

Shared buses.

• All-Star Sports, All-Star Music, All-Star Movies
• Pop Century, Art of Animation
• Fort Wilderness, Wilderness Lodge
• Contemporary, Polynesian, Grand Floridian
• Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club, Beach Club, BoardWalk
• Jambo House, Kidani Village

Every time I've stayed at either Contemporary or GF they did not share buses (except for the dreaded return trip to the airport on ME) and I stayed at both multiple times since this May. Usually it's Poly & GF (with GF being second), and Contemporary with WL. Also, when I stayed at YC recently they shared with BC while Boardwalk shared with S&D, those buses never shared. AoA and Pop also have never shared on any trip I've ever been on except for the ME bus.

 

[nkereina]

a couple years ago complained that Caribbean Beach would take around 40 minutes to do the loop around the resort picking everyone up.

Caribbean Beach used to have 7 bus stops that park buses would have to loop through before heading to the parks. Even at that time, it never took 40 minutes. We got on around stop 2 and it took maybe 15 minutes. Add a few minutes if they needed to load an ECV. But in recent years, they've split up the bus stop routes so that the buses service different sets of stops. So, for example, if you get on at Stop 1, it may only circle through Stop 4 before heading out. Stops 5 through 7 would get a different bus. So that's a big improvement.

On average, how long does it take the buses from the resorts to pick everyone up at all the stops before they're on the way to the parks?

It will vary by resort and number of bus stops. We like to stay at Coronado Springs and book a preferred room so that we're near bus stop 2, which is the first pick up. It's taken no more than maybe 10 minutes to circle through the rest of the stops. It's really not even a factor in terms of planning - we still estimate the general one hour rule when needing to get to a park, and its always worked out fine for us.

 

[Lewisc]

I stayed in CBR in August. I stayed in Barbados. The buses made all the stops. Probably different at park opening.

 

[nkereina]

I stayed in CBR in August. I stayed in Barbados. The buses made all the stops. Probably different at park opening.

Yes, perhaps its just at peak times. I'd also wonder how/if this will change once the Skyliner is open.