Downtown Disney Hotel Transportation

[vette9898]

Does anyone know how good the transportation from the hotels (especially Doubletree) to the theme parks is? Is it as good as Disney's hotels transportation? I will be staying at the Doubletree and they really cannot give me any set times except around every 30-35 minutes at the opening and closing of the parks. During late morning and early afternoon around every hour.

 

[disneybred]

We stayed at the doubletree in 2000 and the transportation was so-so. You really need to leave plenty of time to get where you want to go because you have no idea when the busses are going to come.
If you want to go to a water park, I suggest using a car if you have one. There are supposed to be certain times when a water park one comes, but for us, it didn't come, and when we went to go and ask if it was coming, they were no help at all. We had to call a mears shuttle to get us there. To get home, I know we hopped on a disney bus to go to downtown disney and get a bus from there. ( i don't remember if we didn't want to wait for the bus to come or if it wasn't there) At DD, the busses are not as frequent as Disney busses, so we ended up walking back to the Doubletree.
(at DD, you could be waiting for a while for a bus to come)

So pretty much, the transportation is ok, its usually gets you where you want to go, but if you have a priority seating, then just make sure that you leave plenty of time to get there.

 

[disneybred]

sorry, two more things.....

when you are picked up at the parks, the bus is kind of far. I think it might have been Epcot, it was in the parking lot between other busses so there really was no place to form a line. There were lots of us standing there in a large clump in the parking lot for a long time waiting for the next bus to come. They don't come very fast, so if you stay till the park closes, you might be waiting a while.
also, I think it was when we did E-ticket night, we waited for the bus, and when it finally came (remember its spot is not with the other disney buses, but more in the parking lot..i thinks spot 32 or 39 or something) the driver just walked out of the bus. We sat there for a while for him to come back and take us back. We were like the only ones there in the parking lot. All the other buses had their people and were gone.

Sorry if this is kind of putting a damper on your trip, but its better that you know now that the transportation might not be too great and to plan ahead than to be surprised and miss something.

And the transportation could have gotten better...u never know.
And there were sometimes that it worked ok for us....the whole bus experience wasn't terrible.

 

[ncgolfer]

My family stayed at the courtyard at DTD in Dec. 2001. I must agree with Disneybred about the bus service. You can basically take the schedule they give you of the buses and throw it in the garbage. The buses were very nice but were also very sporadic and packed with people standing most times. You are dropped off in the middle of a parking lot and basically have to wait for the bus in the middle of a parking lot with no cover from the sun or the rain. We also rode the buses from the parks back to DTD and walked to the hotel. I have read that the DTD buses only go to the resorts now and you have to transfer at a resort to get to the parks. This may not be quicker than the DTD buses but the schedule should be followed more closely.

If choose to use the DTD buses just be patient and allow plenty of time to get where you want to go. Enjoy your trip.



PS - The doubletree is the 4th pickup on the DTD bus route. If the buses seem to be full walk up to the courtyard because it is the 2nd stop and the buses usually aren't full yet.

 

[ncgolfer]

My family stayed at the courtyard at DTD in Dec. 2001. I must agree with Disneybred about the bus service. You can basically take the schedule they give you of the buses and throw it in the garbage. The buses were very nice but were also very sporadic and packed with people standing most times. You are dropped off in the middle of a parking lot and basically have to wait for the bus in the middle of a parking lot with no cover from the sun or the rain. We usually rode the disney buses from the parks back to DTD and walked to the hotel. I have however read that the disney buses no longer go directly to the parks and you have to transfer at one of the resorts . This may not be quicker than the DTD buses but the bus schedule should be followed more closely.

If choose to use the DTD buses just be patient and allow plenty of time to get where you want to go. Enjoy your trip.



PS - The doubletree is the 4th pickup on the DTD bus route. If the buses seem to be full walk up to the courtyard because it is the 2nd stop and the buses usually aren't full yet.