Greyhound Bus as a budget tool

[doubletrouble_vb]

Has anyone ever tried taking the bus to disney? From Atlanta if I buy the tickets 7 days in advance on the internet they are $41 one way. According to AAA it would cost me $36 to drive one way. Since I would be the only driver the overnight bus is starting to look mighty tempting right now. It leaves at 11:30PM and arrives around 81/2 hours later. That's 90 minutes longer than it would take me driving by myself and then there is the transit to Disney but it does have the advantage of a) being overnight so I'm sleeping, b) me not driving and c) having just about a full day at Disney without being whipped from the drive.

Opinions? Comments? To fly at this point would be about $335 to $366.

 

[Free4Life11]

Sounds good to me! Does the AAA figure in wear and tear on your car or is it just gas? Honestly, $6 more to not have to drive is worth it if you ask me. Plus the time difference doesn't seem big at all.

 

[RaySharpton]

Has anyone ever tried taking the bus to disney? From Atlanta if I buy the tickets 7 days in advance on the internet they are $41 one way. According to AAA it would cost me $36 to drive one way. Since I would be the only driver the overnight bus is starting to look mighty tempting right now. It leaves at 11:30PM and arrives around 81/2 hours later. That's 90 minutes longer than it would take me driving by myself and then there is the transit to Disney but it does have the advantage of a) being overnight so I'm sleeping, b) me not driving and c) having just about a full day at Disney without being whipped from the drive.

Opinions? Comments? To fly at this point would be about $335 to $366.

It sure is expensive just to fly to Orlando from Atlanta. I guess that they know they can just charge more with no other options.

I have thought of driving Greyhound, but I thought that it would take longer to get down there.

I say go.

Have you found out where Greyhound bus stops near WDW? How far is it from where you get off the bus to WDW?

Please let us know how your Greyhound experience is? I might want to try this if I'm staying on WDW property the whole time.

Sincerely, Ray

 

[juliegirl]

But there are other factors to consider as well.

Is it just you going, or others too? I would probably not take the bus if I was travelling with kids say 10 or under.

If there are more than just you going, the car trip will be $36 no matter how many people you bring (food is variable, of course) but the bus at $41 each, for a family of 3-4, might not be the best option.

Personally, I know I would not get a 'good' night's sleep on a bus surrounded with strangers. To me that is almost worse than not sleeping at all.

Let us know what you decide though, I am intrigued. It is something I would definitely consider if it wouldn't be such a long trip for me.

Julie

 

[my3kids]

How much will it cost to get from the Greyhound station to Disney, then back again. Plus, don't forget the return trip fee to Atlanta. I could see not flying, but can't really understand not driving myself. That's just me though. I could never sleep with strangers around as someone else said. Plus, are you making stops all night picking up other people? That would be a lot of announcements during the night unless it is an express trip.

Some things are worse than spending a little more money and inconvenience. I would put Greyhound right up there on the list.

 

[Savin4Disney]

I took the Greyhound from Milwaukee to Albany, GA. It was about 27 hours and I did it with a 7 year old. Most of the travel was at night so he slept. I actually slept too. It was not that bad. When they did meal stops I made sure we got off and he ran around. Most of the time they stopped at places with playgrounds. McDonald's etc. I had books and paper for him. We played games. The worse was the last meal stop which was 15 min from our stop. So we had a 45 min meal stop right before our stop.

People are actually pretty nice.

 

[we3disneygo]

On my very first trip to wdw my grandpa and I took the greyhound bus from Peoria, IL........it was a long trip but one i'll never forget. Grandpa saved his money from his SS check and took me to see the mouse!!! I was in the 7th or 8th grade. He loved all things Disney....every Sunday he'd call and tell me what the program on tv was going to be about.....

 

[lbgraves]

We took Amtrak to FL from NC to save some time & money since we would be traveling at night. First of all, you are on their schedule, not your own. There can & will be stops...sometimes longer than expected...which means that you could be on that bus longer. We arrived in FL 7 1/2 hours late...with a 4 & 6 yo who were both ready to get off the train. If you sleep thru an earthquake, you might get a good night's sleep on the bus. If not, you will arrive in FL tired & want to take a nap right away.

 

[Tinkerbelle32]

If you do take the Greyhound just be careful. My friend too the Greyhound from Illinois to our old home in San Antonio. She had a horrible experience. The first part of the trip was not even on Greyhound, it was some partner of theirs. She said it was so uncomfortable. The bus then broke down and they spent hours waiting for a new bus. She finally got on an actual Greyhound for the rest of the trip. There were some very unsavory people on there. One man was drunk and still drinking on the bus and coming on to her. I wouldn't be able to sleep either. What ever you decide, just be careful!! Tink

 

[poohj80]

Even though it would be less stressful not to drive, how much stress might you go through if the bus breaks down, you end up sitting next to someone you wouldn't prefer to sit next to for 8 hours, if the bus takes longer than expected, etc? I would prefer to take my own vehicle so I can stop whenever I want and bring as much stuff as I want (does Greyhoudn limit the number of bags liek an airline?). Plus I prefer to have a car on property to get around.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

I probably should have prefaced this with the fact that I've taken Greyhound before so I know the issues with problematic people on the bus. There are unsavory people in all forms of travel so I'm not too worried about that. I am traveling by myself...since I drive a fairly economical vehicle (330 miles on 11 gallons) even adding one person completely eliminates any financial advantage. However as the sole driver traveling with the faster but not the fastest traffic hitting 75/80 mph for 7 hours on end is highly stressful. I'm thinking the bus might be an improvement on that.

It isn't the money...even by myself the immediate capital outlay driving (excluding wear and tear) is less than the bus. And to answer the earlier question I used the AAA fuel calculator so it doesn't include things like tolls or wear and tear.

This thread is helping me think things out...for example my DBro was a big fan of driving trips until one July 4th their Saturn got hit while parked at family gathering. They drove from NJ to Atlanta and had to drive back with the damage. I once had a car break down on me at 10 oclock at night in 10 degree weather north of Albany,NY...by yourself with your cellphone dying due to the cold is kind of scarey. Speeding tickets also help make any savings vanish (To clarify I might get one every 5 or 10 years and only once in my life on an interstate...on the the 4th of July!!!).

If I go through with this I'll post the details. Maybe I'll make the whole thing an adventure in bus travel and see if I can take mass transit when I get there.

I find it surprising this is the only semi-express bus to Orlando...the others make more stops. Seems like there is a business opportunity here...somehow. An overnight bus with comfy recliner seats running Thursday through Sunday stopping at Disney then a beach area.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Okay this is what I have so far...

Arrive at 7:50
--catch Lynx #25 at the corner of Colonial & John Young Pkwy. Bus comes at :04 and :34 after the hour. Take this bus to Lynx Central...about 15 minutes.

--catch Lynx #50 at Central. Bus comes at :15 and :45. Bus arrives at the TTC about 45 minutes later.

So that makes a 2 to 3 hour trip to Saratoga unless I leave my stuff at MK and explore there first...a good chance I will do that since in theory I can't check in until 4pm anyway. This is only a 4 day trip 11/2 thru 11/5. I have to make the decision today since the fare will shoot past anything I'm willing to pay for such a journey under 7 days out.

 

[poohj80]

Also remember you'll have to do all this in reverse on the way back and allow extra time for missing any connections.

One more question - how much luggage do you plan to take and how much more might you be bringing back? I can't imagine hauling a bunch of bags and such through that many transfers.

 

[pearlieq]

On my very first trip to wdw my grandpa and I took the greyhound bus from Peoria, IL........it was a long trip but one i'll never forget. Grandpa saved his money from his SS check and took me to see the mouse!!! I was in the 7th or 8th grade. He loved all things Disney....every Sunday he'd call and tell me what the program on tv was going to be about.....

That is so sweet! He sounds like a great man...

 

[mum4jenn]

I took the Greyhound from Milwaukee to Albany, GA.

HEY!!!! I was BORN in Albany GA and lived there most of my life. We were flooded in 1994 and FEMA bought us out so we moved to Leesburg in 2000.Did you live here once before or have relatives here?????

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Also remember you'll have to do all this in reverse on the way back and allow extra time for missing any connections.

One more question - how much luggage do you plan to take and how much more might you be bringing back? I can't imagine hauling a bunch of bags and such through that many transfers.

Well again its just me and its only a 4 day trip so I can fit everything I need into one bag or a backpack. I'd buy whatever food I needed from SSR because it wouldn't be much more than a loaf of bread and milk...I'd pack cereal, sugar, extra coffee and maybe peanut butter & jelly. The point is that it is the F&W so in house eating isn't on the agenda and the amounts of travel food would be small.

Well...the downer at this point is I stupidly kept inputting 11/2 as my departure date when it was actually 11/1...so the busfare shot up from $41 to $70 something. I may still do it just for the experiment. If I buy two one ways it would be cheaper than a R/T...about $110 versus $141...still within my tolerance limit...especially for experimental purposes.

Editted to add... The real question is how much do I plan on bringing back!

CHANGING MY MIND... Okay I got the final little details...Greyhound's website sure could use some work. Mon - Thu travel is $41. Fri - Sun travel is $49. Both of these fares are with 7 days advance purchase. Standard Fare is $70.50 Mon - Thu and Fri - Sun $75.50. So now I've gone past that significant $120 mark (after taxes) where bus fare starts to look like airfare. I'm probably going to see what I can come up with via priceline and if I can't find anything then go ahead and drive myself. For $40 I can do something nifty like leave Tuesday night, find an inexpensive hotel and stop and finish the drive the next day. I still may try this in December if I manage to get DVC reservations early in the month.

 

[ErinC]

Just out of curiosity I did a travelocity search for airfare(no dates included). I'm feeling your pain about the high airfare. But it did offer the option of flying into Tampa for a whole lot less than orlando. I know that then you would have to rent a car instead of using ME, but I just thought I would mention it. Maybe airfare will drop. Hope it works out.