How are the buses now? How about in June?

[JennyMP03]

For my 2008 trip, we stayed at AKL during the first week of August and thought the bus system worked very well. We didn't wait too long for any bus and rarely had to stand. We found them very convenient and liked not having to drive.

We stayed at POP for the last week of September 2013. I thought less people would be about, but we waited often and for long periods of time. We ended up standing much of the time, too.

I don't know whether the difference was going from a Deluxe to a Value resort, if attendance was up last year, or if the bus system changed somehow. But I did read there were going to be some new policies regarding ECV loading. I definitely don't want to initiate any debate on that front because I know it can be a heated one, but I'm wondering if the bus system will be reasonable enough for two adult women during the first week of June (staying at POP again).

Have changes been implemented recently? Are the buses more or less convenient now? I'd personally love to use the buses, but we'll have our car there if we need to drive. Just want to hear others' recent experiences with it.

 

[siskaren]

You probably just had better luck with the timing at AKL than you did at Pop.

 

[2Tiggies]

^^^ What she said.

We haven't found the bus service to be any better or worse based on resort level. A lot of it is just luck.

 

[mesaboy2]

You probably just had better luck with the timing at AKL than you did at Pop.

^^^ What she said. We haven't found the bus service to be any better or worse based on resort level. A lot of it is just luck.

 

[JennyMP03]

Oh well. Thanks! We'll just see how it goes and try to keep a sense of humor either way.

 

[2Tiggies]

Oh well. Thanks! We'll just see how it goes and try to keep a sense of humor either way.

The bigger your capacity to apply sense of humor, the quicker you'll reach your destination

Honestly, we've had few issues, a few really ridiculous waits for no apparent reason, but on the whole the buses are generally quite good. Often the key is to not let one long wait taint your overview of an otherwise efficient service. And if you have to be somewhere important (ADR, or heart set on rope drop) just be there early enough to allow for delays so that a longer wait or a bus full on arrival doesn't ruin your plans.

 

[goofy4tink]

The last week in Sept is historically the start of Food and Wine. That may very well have contributed to bus issues. Pop, in my experience (stayed there 6-7 times at various times of year) has had some of the best bus transportation of any resort I've stayed at.
June is really starting the busy time of year. Add in Star Wars weekends, and you could have large crowds. I'm heading down on June 1-10. I figure it's going to be pretty crowded.

 

[DebbieB]

AKL is going to be more crowded since Kidani was added in 2009.

 

[Ed J]

This is a stock answer for the buses, but if I were you I'd be riding the bus to MK, and driving to the rest of the parks. Our last trip (last month) it was feast or famine. We either waited < 10 minutes for a bus to arrive at the bus stop at the resort or a park, or it was well over half an hour. I'm not really a fan of the Disney buses.

 

[kristin08]

We stayed at POFQ in 2010, AKL in 2011, BWV in 2012 and POP last year. POP was BY FAR the worst bus experiences we ever had. For us the AKL buses were loads better, faster and less crowded and more frequent. I am not sure how much of it was timing either. We always rope drop so are at the bus stop no less than one hour before park opening. Only at POP were the buses full at that time of the morning. Once in the afternoon we had to wait over 35 minutes for a HS bus while seeing multiple for every other resort. Hope you have a better experience this time.