Here Now: Buses Are Very Unreliable

[Disney_Princess83]

Just a warning for everyone who is coming right now. We have found buses to be incredibly unreliable this trip. We have found wait times of 60 minutes plus to be very average to get to the Parks or Disney Springs to be common place most mornings and evenings for the past several weeks.

Today, it took us 2 hours to get from Disney Springs to Grand Floridian due to the bus not turning up to DS. We had been intending to drop into MK to get Starbucks and Sorcerer Cards but we gave up and just stayed at the GF for the evening.

This evening, we waited 50 minutes for the Disney Springs bus to arrive at the Grand Floridian. It never turned up so we ended up just taking a taxi. The Valet said this happened every evening and they had already had 4 other families take taxis this evening due to the buses not turning up.

I would recommend driving if possible otherwise I'd allow 2-2.5 hours to get anywhere on property.

 

[holden]

This is exactly what we rent a car if we stay longer than a couple of nights. If it’s a short trip, we use Minnie Vans or Uber.

 

[Disneylover99]

This is why I prefer staying at a value resort if I'm relying on buses.

 

[coolmark18]

We stayed off site for my last trip but used buses for park hopper and I dont think we waited more than 15minutes! What a shame your experience was so different. 50 minutes is madness!

 

[stlfly]

Just a warning for everyone who is coming right now. We have found buses to be incredibly unreliable this trip. We have found wait times of 60 minutes plus to be very average to get to the Parks or Disney Springs to be common place most mornings and evenings for the past several weeks.

Today, it took us 2 hours to get from Disney Springs to Grand Floridian due to the bus not turning up to DS. We had been intending to drop into MK to get Starbucks and Sorcerer Cards but we gave up and just stayed at the GF for the evening.

This evening, we waited 50 minutes for the Disney Springs bus to arrive at the Grand Floridian. It never turned up so we ended up just taking a taxi. The Valet said this happened every evening and they had already had 4 other families take taxis this evening due to the buses not turning up.

I would recommend driving if possible otherwise I'd allow 2-2.5 hours to get anywhere on property.

I hear this so often and it just baffles me. I use the buses almost exclusively for transport (for the last 20+ years that I've been going) and have only once waited what I felt was a "too long" amount of time. I have way more problems with the monorail and don't use that nearly as often.

 

[mom2rtk]

I hear this so often and it just baffles me. I use the buses almost exclusively for transport (for the last 20+ years that I've been going) and have only once waited what I felt was a "too long" amount of time. I have way more problems with the monorail and don't use that nearly as often.

No need to be baffled. OP had a different experience from you. It happens.

@Disney_Princess83 those waits are crazy. Sorry you encountered that!

 

[loves to dive]

Sorry you are having such wait times, it must be an off week. We drive down but use the Disney transportation to get to and from the parks and have had long waits every once in awhile at every resort - yes the value resorts too - but it's the exception and not the norm. I will say, one of the reasons we don't go to Disney Springs is that I have never been that I didn't have to wait at least a hour for a bus, either leaving there or going there, the waits have always been long. Since you can get just about everything you can buy there in the parks and there are plenty of other food offerings at the resorts and parks, it's just not worth the hassle getting there and back for us.

 

[Skippyboo]

Was it just the Disney Springs bus route or all of them? I waited 40 plus minutes for the AKL bus at DS last September after eating at Cape May. I didn’t book my ADR early enough to use Epcot or HS to get back to AKL so I had to connect through DS. When I went back to DS later in my trip, I just drove and parked in the parking garage.

 

[fla4fun]

Disney Springs buses (both to and from the resorts) seem to often have much longer wait times than the park/resort buses. I don't know why, but they do. If I am going to have a transportation hiccup, it's almost always a Disney Springs bus.

However, I was at Pop for 11 days last month, and even the Disney Springs buses were running correctly. I think the longest I waited for a bus was 10 minutes, and most of the time the bus was either already there, or just pulling in. Sorry your experience hasn't been the same.

 

[CarolMN]

It's not at all unusual to have longer waits for the buses to and from Disney Springs. But since they are seldom full, I suppose it's not all that surprising.

 

[sam_gordon]

Was it just the Disney Springs bus route or all of them?

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[Summer2018]

Sorry you are having such wait times, it must be an off week. We drive down but use the Disney transportation to get to and from the parks and have had long waits every once in awhile at every resort - yes the value resorts too - but it's the exception and not the norm. I will say, one of the reasons we don't go to Disney Springs is that I have never been that I didn't have to wait at least a hour for a bus, either leaving there or going there, the waits have always been long. Since you can get just about everything you can buy there in the parks and there are plenty of other food offerings at the resorts and parks, it's just not worth the hassle getting there and back for us.

I feel the same way. DS is not on our itinerary in July.

 

[fla4fun]

I feel the same way. DS is not on our itinerary in July.

I don't take DS off my itinerary completely, but I usually go on one of my non-park days when I don't have anything else scheduled. I just plan on eating at DS and then getting back whatever time the bus manages to get me there. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't have any issues last month, and didn't really for my September or December trips either - but I have had issues with DS in the past where I didn't think I was EVER going to get back to my resort. It's still not bad enough that I will consider driving there though . . .

Sometimes I wonder if they have congestion in another area (at a resort or park) if they just pull buses off DS routes to clear the congestion without taking into account what it's doing to DS. That's the only explanation I have been able to come up with. Especially considering that the drop off and pick up points aren't the same, they could drop guests at DS, and then just turn around and head somewhere else and no one would know. I have seen buses making the loop through the stops with the Disney Springs sign on the front instead of another destination and wondered why that would be.

 

[Disneylover99]

Was it just the Disney Springs bus route or all of them? I waited 40 plus minutes for the AKL bus at DS last September after eating at Cape May. I didn’t book my ADR early enough to use Epcot or HS to get back to AKL so I had to connect through DS. When I went back to DS later in my trip, I just drove and parked in the parking garage.

OP mentions 60+ minutes average wait times to parks and Disney Springs for several weeks.

 

[1911]

the bus system is very dynamic from what I have observed.I like to listen to the dispatch radios when I am close enough to the driver to hear. from what I gather they do redirect more busses to areas that are congested. They will ask for busses in a general area and redirect them from there.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Well the buses do run to the water parks as well as Disney Springs especially in the first half of the day and they seem to take a round about way to/from Disney Springs so that's really no surprise
Also when heading too and from the parks at non peak times you'll tend to wait longer because they try to wait for the buses to fill up a bit before heading to the resorts.
And it can depend on your resort as well. Some resorts are known for buses taking longer. It took much longer for buses to come and for us to get to the parks when staying at POR but at POP they run so smoothly.
Overall I like the buses and much rather take a bus than a car.
I sayed offsite in April 2017 and forgot how much of a hassle it is to drive.

 

[bumbershoot]

I hear this so often and it just baffles me. I use the buses almost exclusively for transport (for the last 20+ years that I've been going) and have only once waited what I felt was a "too long" amount of time. I have way more problems with the monorail and don't use that nearly as often.

Just as your experiences baffle me.

you have good luck, others have bad. I walk out to a bus stop just as a bus for my destination has left. You come out 40 minutes later as the bus for our destination finally pulls up, but you haven’t had to wait because you got there at the perfect time, while I have waited.

 

[maxiesmom]

The buses to/from Disney Springs are typically not the greatest. Though I can't imagine waiting 2 hours for any bus. After 40 minutes, it is time for Uber/taxi. Less if I'm feeling impatient.

 

[stlfly]

Just as your experiences baffle me.

you have good luck, others have bad. I walk out to a bus stop just as a bus for my destination has left. You come out 40 minutes later as the bus for our destination finally pulls up, but you haven’t had to wait because you got there at the perfect time, while I have waited.

It only baffles me because I am possibly the MOST unlucky person on the planet and it feels impossible that I've just lucked out

 

[CrankyDad]

We just got bAck from jan2018 trip. Buses rocked. Zero issues. We did DS twice. No wait. Stayed AOA.