Getting around Disney isn't always easy.

[Disneypal]

I wanted to let everyone know how our recent trip went and to plan plenty of travel time to get around Disney during your upcoming trips. There are still buses but they are running much slower than in the past. Time between buses was running from 20-30 minutes. Traveling to the parks wasn't as hard as getting to the other resorts. Then some bus routes have been cut totally. You can now only travel to Epcot and MGM from the Boardwalk, Beach Club, Yacht Club, Swan and Dolphin by boat or walking only there are no buses. There are also no buses to West Side but they do still have buses to Market Place and Pleasure Island. Some routes have been combined but the only one I know for sure is Boardwalk and Coronado Springs. The drivers aren't as friendly. They tell no jokes, give no tips and only a couple gave us park hours. Traffic was fairly heavy and while we were there we saw 2 accidents involving Disney buses (I did not see any injuries though). The buses were not crowded except at night when parks were closing. I did ask one driver if these changes were due to Sept. 11 or permanent cuts and he said it depended on the crowds but some changes would be permanent. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon and the routes will be up and running quick and smooth.

 

[CarolA]

I don't think there have been buses from Yatch/Beach/Boardwalk to Epcot in quite a while. I am pretty sure they cut those out prior to 9/11.

 

[CarolMN]

I don't think that there have ever been buses from the EPCOT resorts (YC/BC/BWI/BWV/Swan/Dolphin) to EPCOT and there haven't been buses to MGM for some time. At least I don't remember that there were buses to either park when we stayed at the BC in 1999.

I think the bus top at the West Side was discontinued before 9/11, too. IMHO, that isn't much of a loss. The PI stop is closer to most of the West Side shops/restaurants than the West Side stop is anyway. We had to wait a very long time for a bus from the West Side stop when we used that stop after Cirque du Soleil. I think we would have been better off walking over to PI than waiting at the West Side as the buses didn't even stop there if they were full.

Sorry to hear the drivers weren't very friendly.

JMHO. YMMV.

 

[ducklite]

There hasn't been a bus to Epcot or MGM from the Epcot area resorts for at least six years now. And the West Side stop was closed a full year ago now.

Sounds like either the OP didn't bother to look at the WDW transportation guide, or had a really old guidebook (or a really bad one) or just made a lot of assumptions.

Anne

 

[Disneypal]

When I said things had changed I was talking about my past experiences at Disney and not just talking about the conversation with the driver. We took buses to West Side (to get to Disney Quest)from Yacht Club last year. I agree that the Pleasure Island stop is better for the shops, food and Pleasure Island but it is further from DQ. I also must say though that not having the West Side stop made things go faster since it is one less stop. As for the Epcot resorts not having buses for six years all I knew is that I had taken a bus to MGM from the Boardwalk on one of our previous trips. When I was talking to the driver and he was explaining to me some of the changes we were not only talking about these 2 things. He had explained that Disney was in the process of calculating how many buses they really need, how often they needed to come and which parks and resorts need the most buses. I know he is right because everyday I went to the bus there was a CM there with a piece of computer equipment and they would ask where you were going and how many in your party. Hope this clears things up!