IMPORTANT Downtown Disney Bus Changes!

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

As of today, there will no longer be service from the Disney-MGM Studios to Downtown Disney. As some of you might recall, there was a test route that was one-way only from Studios to Pleasure Island. That service has been discontinued.

Guests who are staying at a Disney Resort may go back to thier resort, and transfer to a Downtown Disney bus from there. Guests who are not staying at a Disney Resort will either have to take thier own car, or take a taxi.



On the plus side... Hoop-Dee-Doo folks will be glad to know that Resort Buses now pick up after the show at the Outpost Depot. Formerly, we'd run a few floater DTD buses, but now the buses go straight to the resorts. (This isn't an official service, but something the dispatchers will do... can't guarantee it'll be available every night)

 

[clkelley]

It is quite easy to do the following from the parks to get to Downtown Disney:

MK - Walk to Contemporary or monorail to first resort stop (can't remember if it's CR or GF and take a DD bus from there.

Studios - Boat or walk to Beach Club and take a DD bus from there.

Epcot - Boat or walk to Beach Club from International Gateway and take a DD bus from there.

Animal Kingdom - Take a bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and then take a DD bus from there.

There is no need to go back to YOUR resort.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by clkelley
It is quite easy to do the following from the parks to get to Downtown Disney:

MK - Walk to Contemporary or monorail to first resort stop (can't remember if it's CR or GF and take a DD bus from there.

Studios - Boat or walk to Beach Club and take a DD bus from there.

Epcot - Boat or walk to Beach Club from International Gateway and take a DD bus from there.

Animal Kingdom - Take a bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and then take a DD bus from there.

There is no need to go back to YOUR resort.

Personally, I would suggest Old Key West as the transfer point. Less crowded by far.

 

[Harambe]

That is super news about the Hoop Dee Do!

 

[Pumbaa_]

If you go to OKW, can you use the boats to go to DTD?

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by Pumbaa_
If you go to OKW, can you use the boats to go to DTD?

I have just been informed by management that you may only travel back to your own resort to transfer. Thier words, not mine...

 

[betterlatethannever]

Originally posted by Chip 'n Dale Express
I have just been informed by management that you may only travel back to your own resort to transfer. Thier words, not mine...

You can only go back to your own resort from the MGM?

What will that do to resort hopping?

How would that even be possible to enforce?

 

[seashoreCM]

Psst...

Don't look now but, intuitively, if you have to transfer, you select a transfer point so the total trip is as short as possible.

We realize that providing non-stop service from any point to any other point drastically increases the complexity of the system and is impractical for now. But if, with no controls, certain locations in the existing system are favored as transfer points, it makes sense to simply adjust service levels accordingly.

Management's involvement should be restricted to deciding whether certain travel patterns that form naturally would be more efficiently served with non-stop service. In turn, service frequency for other users adjacent to the transfer point will drop back again.

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

 

[Pumbaa_]

well we all know that isn't going to happen! As well aas the fact that being onsite guests allows for full use of the all WDW transportation. Thus, limiting guests to only go back to their resorts is not required. (and not enforceable either)

BUt it is understandable that you must repeat what you are told. I will just take that for a yes

 

[clkelley]

That may be the policy, but totally unenforcable. It is our normal practice to leave a park at closing (especially when a park closes early) and go to a resort for dinner, then after dinner, go to Pleasure Island.

Even when I stayed offsite once and was using the offsite bus service, I would use Disney transportation to eat dinner at the resort of my choice, then go to Pleasure Island, then take their PI shuttle back to my hotel.

At this point, there is very little enforcement of off-site guests using resort transportation (I have seen Disney staff requesting to see resort IDs for the resort monorail and resort launches at MK), so I can't imagine Disney to provide the staffing to force onsite guests to return to their resort when leaving a park.

There is no way they will be able to prevent guests from walking to the Contemporary from MK or walking to the Epcot resorts from International Gateway or from the Studios.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Indeed, it's not really enforcable. The whole purpose of the rule is to help minimize clogging of Caribbean Beach, the Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge, the Epcot Resorts, and Animal Kingdom Lodge. The resorts have enough traffic as it is, they don't need additional traffic.

However, that being said, I personally still don't think one should have to go allllllllll the way back to AK Lodge to get to DTD. Using OKW as a transfer point is advantageous in all respects... it's a midway transfer point that minimizes travel time, and the bus is never crowded, so you don't take away space from that resorts guests. But of course, I don't "officially" recommend that... I'm just saying... "if"...