How is the CBR Bus Service? As bad as POR?

[hopskip]

I was planning on making ressies for early Nov. at POR, but I have been reading a lot about the bad bus service there- and I may change my mind. I will be about 6 months pregnant with a 4 year old in tow and DO NOT want to have to worry about crowding into standing room only buses that may or may not stop for us! How is the bus service at CBR? Any advice for me? (If it boils down to me having to rent a car-- I think I'll go ahead & pay the extra $$ for the Beach Club!) Thanks.

 

[LucyStorm]

Hi Hopskip!

I was at POR in early November last year and the longest I waited for a bus was 5 minutes. I never had to stand on the buses, and I got on at the next to the last bus stop. Early November is a low crowd time, so you may not have the same experience with the buses that people are having during the peak season. I have stayed at both CBR and POR, and much prefer POR. CBR was way too noisy for me after a day at the parks. The food court at POR is much nicer as well.

Have a great day and feel free to PM me if you have any more questions I could answer for you.

 

[Kermit]

I also prefer the buses at POR. We've only stayed at FQ, but I've never seen the buses get so full that they couldn't get people at all of the stops. I know it does happen, but I've never seen it. CBR has 7 stops and seems to take forever.

I think it's important to remember that all of the buses are run from one central location. They aren't run by the resort. Therefore, if the buses are are crowded at one resort, they're probably crowded at all of them or Disney would allocate more buses to that resort. Some resorts may have some problems with the way the buses are set up (e.g., how all the hotels on the Boardwalk share the same buses), but as long as a good structure is set up, crowding only happens when there are just too many people for the amount of bus drivers.

 

[seashoreCM]

I don't know for sure but I believe that not all drivers know all the routes. So if one of the CBR buses breaks down and there is a surplus POR bus whose driver doesn';t know how to get tto CBR, that bus won't come over to the waiting CBR crowds.

Also a surplus bus whose driver knows the way may have to be dispatched to rescue pasengers from a broken down bus at the side of the road somewhere before boarding more from the resort or park bus platforms.

On another thread someone mentioned that there have been more breakdowns lately due to reduced bus maintenance.

Especially when two parks close at about the same time, there will always be times when people leaving at closing time will have to wait for several buses to come and go before they get on.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[hulabird]

It depends on when you go, we go to CBR in August during value season and never have problems with the buses, in fact we stay in Jamaica and are always the first stop. During busy peak times it makes sense for it to take a bit longer since there are more people using Disney transportation.

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says................................ We were at WDW last November, and though we did not stay at Port Orleans, we did get to use the WDW busses on fifteen different occasions. Only once did we wait for twenty minutes. Twice was up to fifteen minutes. They were under ten minutes on 12 of 15 rides!
Maybe we were lucky, but on the trip before, we left MK with all the crowds(I wasn't thinking!) and there are a couple hundred people waiting for the All Stars bus! And the bus is just leaving. I'm thinking this will take forever, less than two minutes later another bus pulls up, wow!! No, in less than five minutes after that TWO more buses pulled up at the same time!!! Close to 200 people in line and we were out in about 7 minutes!! That's Disney Magic!!!

 

[karen1]

We also stayed in Jamaica at CBR last June and thought the buses were wonderful! We were the first stop all 7 days except for one afternoon trip (I believe to DD). I'd much rather have a seat and spend afew extra minutes on the bus making the ohther stops then standing for the whole ride tothe parks.

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says............................What am I thinking??!! We have stayed at Dixie Landings twice at that time of year!! I can only guess that a few people had a bad trip or two, but see my prior post about how well the busses run. The only time you may even have a hint of a problem is if you go when everyone else does! Dollar for dollar I believe this is the best value at WDW. By the way Disnee Dad always gives up his seat!!

 

[wdisneelvr]

I stayed at CBR this past March in the Martinique bldgs and had great bus service. We never waited more than 5-10mins for one. The buses come around very frequently. Ususally the most crowded buses are the early AM ones that are going to MK. The bus rides back to your resorts when the parks close are the longest waits. I usually try to duck out of the park before that happens.

Happy Trails!