Experience with buses to/from water parks in the past year?

[Shanti]

Last summer we relied mainly on cabs to go to & from the water parks. This year I'd like to stick with Disney buses, but have heard about them requiring a transfer at Downtown Disney or Animal Kingdom in the afternoon. Can't find any recent info on this. Does anyone have any experience in the past year with the following?

• How early do buses to Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach begin arriving at the resorts? We'd like to be at the water parks 20-30 minutes before rope drop. Do the buses begin running early enough for that?
• Will the return buses in the afternoon drop you at your resort without you having to transfer, or do you have to get off the bus & catch another bus at Downtown Disney or Animal Kingdom?

We'll be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is close to Blizzard Beach (our favorite), so would love convenient, reliable bus service to the water parks. If your reports are bad, though, we'll bite the bullet & stick with taxis. Don't want a 10-minute trip to balloon into an hour.

 

[joelkfla]

I don't have any experience riding the buses to the water parks, but lots driving them.

Going to the water parks in the a.m., the buses start running from the resorts about 1 hour before opening. From AKL, the DHS buses stop at BB. Earlier than 1 hour before BB opening, the DHS buses will not stop at BB, but if it's right around 1 hour before opening and BB is not on the bus' marquee, you can ask the driver; some drivers will drop you off earlier. (That's less likely to happen if there are many Guests on board going to DHS.)

From AKL & all other resorts, in the a.m. the DS buses drop off at TL. Again, the first bus stopping at TL will usually leave the resort about 1 hour before TL opens. Up until 11am, buses stop at TL before DS.

Going back to the resort in the p.m., buses run direct from BB to the resorts. From TL, after 2pm all buses go only to Epcot, where Guests must transfer to a bus or monorail to their resort.

 

[Shanti]

I don't have any experience riding the buses to the water parks, but lots driving them.

Going to the water parks in the a.m., the buses start running from the resorts about 1 hour before opening. From AKL, the DHS buses stop at BB. Earlier than 1 hour before BB opening, the DHS buses will not stop at BB, but if it's right around 1 hour before opening and BB is not on the bus' marquee, you can ask the driver; some drivers will drop you off earlier. (That's less likely to happen if there are many Guests on board going to DHS.)

From AKL & all other resorts, in the a.m. the DS buses drop off at TL. Again, the first bus stopping at TL will usually leave the resort about 1 hour before TL opens. Up until 11am, buses stop at TL before DS.

Going back to the resort in the p.m., buses run direct from BB to the resorts. From TL, after 2pm all buses go only to Epcot, where Guests must transfer to a bus or monorail to their resort.

Thank you for the expert information!