Is BWV Bus Transportation Really That Bad?

[diznyfanatic]

I had to chuckle at Rink's BWV report but it really got me wondering. Several times while we were waiting for our OKW bus last week we noticed that the BWV buses had just about every WDW stop displayed it seemed. BWI, BC, YC, S&D, Blizzard Beach (or was it Typhoon Lagoon?). The lines and buses appeared to be filled to overflowing.

As we will be staying at our BWV home for the first time in April (sigh...Spring Break time no less), I just have to know...

Are the BWV buses really the bus ride from Hell and if so, any way to avoid having to spend half your day seeing the World from a BWV bus window if you do a lot of park hopping?

Normally we just keep our car parked unless we need to make a grocery run, but if the BWV buses are really that bad we will reconsider driving to the parks.

Obviously, I'm not worried about getting to Epcot or even MGM, but it's just really convenient to be able to come back to our room for lunch or dinner for for naps for the kids from MK or AK and just hop on a bus.

Thanks!

 

[mbhoxsie]

Personally, I don't think they are any longer than some of the other bus routes out there...

Yes... There are seven resorts on one route... BWV, BWI, BCV, BC, YC, Swan and Dolphin, but during busy times, I think WDW transportation tries to split the route up a bit...

The most I think we have waited for a bus is about 25 mins or so...

 

[Dis13]

On our way to the MK from Downtown Disney, I decided to take a detour to show my DD the model rooms at the Boardwalk. The plan was to go to BWV, walk over the BCV and take the bus to the MK from there.

Well, first we stopped at Westside (where we waited about 10 minutes for a driver change), then we passed right by the Boardwalk and stopped at Typhoon Lagoon, after that, we stopped at the Swan (next stop was the Dolphin). At that point, we had enough! We got off the bus, cut through the Swan and walked over to the Boardwalk. (All this took about 45 minutes!)

We decided to skip BCV and catch the bus from the Boardwalk to MK - about a 5 minute wait for the bus, then, guess where we stopped -- YES - THE SWAN!!!! Then the Dolphin!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! We were convinced we were going to be on the bus for the rest of the afternoon, going in circles!!!

It probably would have been quicker to walk over to the Beach Club and catch the bus from there (assuming, of course, that it had already stopped at the Yacht Club!)

I can understand bus sharing between two resorts, but the Boardwalk is supposed to be a Deluxe hotel and 45 minutes to get there is a bit much!

On the other hand, I've never had much luck with the transportation to/from Downtown Disney. It took us about 45 minutes to get there from WL as well (that bus stopped at the Grand Floridian - go figure!)

 

[paults]

we were there this OCT and yes they are crowded. whenever we came back form the park we got out at the Swan and walked to the BWV. Now it was hot some days and we would have liked to stay on the bus till it got to BW but for some reason the AC wasn"t working real good and the bus was crowded. We were on a lot of buses that week and quit a few had little or no AC.

We came back from DTD one afternoon and a Transit CM was on the bus with us. This bus was not crowded (maybe 12 people) but it was warm in side the bus and the temp that day was a record 92.
I made it known it was hot in the bus when we got off at the SWAN to walk to BW. I'm sure the Transit CM heard me because he was sitting right next to my DW when we got off.

 

[juju]

Just returned last week and not that busy. The bus was never a problem. The MK bus would stop at BWV, Swan and Dolphin only. The AK bus stopped at the Epcot resorts including Swan and Dolphin and make a stop at Blizzard Beach as well. On the way back, we got off at the Swan and walked over to BWV since that would have been the last stop. Didn't ride the bus to Downtown.

 

[tjkraz]

I hate the BW busses. We've had trips to the Magic Kingdom that took an hour (with minimal wait time at the bus stop--it was mostly travel time.) That was for a mid-May trip around 4pm (not busy season, not a busy time of day.) We have also had trips where it took 90 minutes to get back to BW from the MK at closing (clearly not enough busses running to service the crowd for the multiple resorts; driver also seemed to take a really bad route.)

Oh, almost forgot another one--took over an hour to get from DTD to BW on another slow season / mid afternoon trip. Most of that was wait time--I think we waited over 30 minutes for a bus to arrive.

I know most people can only share their own limited experiences, but given that we've only used the BW busses 5 or 6 times and have so many memorably-poor experiences, I've obviously drawn my own conclusions.

All things considered I prefer to drive at WDW. And that's not particularly easy at the BW due to the distance of the self-park lot and wait time generated by using valet. Those are the main reasons we are starting to favor OKW and SSR -- the ease of accessing our vehicle.

 

[LIFERBABE]

I had some time to kill this last Saturday (Oct 28) so around 11am I departed from the BWV to catch the bus to MK. It took 35 min to get to MK.
Our route was BWV to the Swan. The Swan pickup filled all the remaining seats. Then to the Dolphin, where we picked up another busload complete with strollers and babies and several people got up to offer their seats as it was now SRO.

As for those that say, wait for another bus if 1 is full, I think the Dolphin people would have a long wait.
I really dont think it is fair, that you pay to stay at a Disney Deluxe resort and then people who are not even staying at a Disney resort fill the busses and common courtesy and safety concerns dictate you give your seat to the woman carrying the newborn or the small children. So basically, if you are staying at BWV, you will get a seat, but look to give it up by the 2nd stop or be viewed as a rude person. Disney should not put its guest in that position but Im sure our dues would suffer if they changed it.

We left the Dolphin only to make a complete circle around the BWV, looping past the S&D again (even the S&D people were complaining about the loop and they just got on!!) and then to MK.

We used Valet the 2 days we were there, but they were not the most magical bunch and I really would not want to do that for a week or more.

I think the BWV is gorgeous and I really like the location. It was great boating into Epcot IG, but with my family, we dont do Epcot more than once a trip, so the transportation issues to other areas and the parking situation weigh heavily with us.

 

[kidsister]

I don't do buses.
I'm a car addict. With a car I can get to /from most any resort -park in 10 minutes.

I took a bus last trip from MK to Pop and it was fairly painless, but felt oh so long...much longer than when I drive.

Seems like they could offer a dedicated express bus from BW to from MK on the hour. And express to/from Swan/Dolphin on the half hour. And then fill in the rest of the times with the 'stop everywhere' bus. If I knew I could get an express bus on the hour, but would have deal with a 'commuter' any other time, I think I'd make sure I was there on the hour. People who don't really care, could get there whenever they wanted and do their 'waiting' on the bus.

 

[Slakk]

The bus is one reason I don't plan on staying at BWV again. I stayed there last January and it took forever to get people crammed....I mean loaded from the Swan and Dolphin then in the evening the buses were slow to show up at MK during a EMH.

I like having a bus for one resort.

 

[WDWorld2003]

Yes, they really are that bad. We've stayed at SSR and Port Orleans and bus service there was much better. It seems to take forever to stop at all those resorts after a long day at MK or AK. I don't understand why there isn't a dedicated bus just for the Boardwalk and for the other resorts. These have to be some of the more expensive resorts on property so you think there would be a larger budget for transportation

 

[kathleena]

No they are not really that bad. We stay there most visits and rarely have any issues - Dec, May, Oct, Mar are the usual months.

Having stops at BWV, S, D, YC and BC is no worse than stopping at all five of the OKW stops. Or all five of the POR/POFQ stops. Or having the WL bus go to FW and then all the way over to the GF before going to Epcot.

But regardless - every MK bus I have taken the past few years has only been BW/S/D. Only the AK buses have been all five resorts.

Just a comment on something I read up above. If you leave DTD West Side, you will pass TL before you even get close to the BW. You must have passed something else, or either that the driver was really screwed up. What normally happens is after TL, you do go past the first entrance to Epcot Resorts BLVD (where you would see the BW) and then go in the next entrance to go to the Swan first. So the normal route is West Side, then TL and then the Epcot Resorts. And all DTD resort buses stop at TL anyway.

 

[DVC Grammy]

I had to chuckle at Rink's BWV report but it really got me wondering. Several times while we were waiting for our OKW bus last week we noticed that the BWV buses had just about every WDW stop displayed it seemed. BWI, BC, YC, S&D, Blizzard Beach (or was it Typhoon Lagoon?). The lines and buses appeared to be filled to overflowing.

As we will be staying at our BWV home for the first time in April (sigh...Spring Break time no less), I just have to know...

Are the BWV buses really the bus ride from Hell and if so, any way to avoid having to spend half your day seeing the World from a BWV bus window if you do a lot of park hopping?

Normally we just keep our car parked unless we need to make a grocery run, but if the BWV buses are really that bad we will reconsider driving to the parks.

Obviously, I'm not worried about getting to Epcot or even MGM, but it's just really convenient to be able to come back to our room for lunch or dinner for for naps for the kids from MK or AK and just hop on a bus.

Thanks!

As you can see from all the responses, the answer is "yes", "no", or "maybe" ! A lot depends on when in the year you are going, what time you want the bus, where you want to go and other variables. We just returned from a (mostly) BWV stay, and the bus service was mostly acceptable. Sometimes the buses were for only BW, S, and D; other times, the BC and YC were included. We generally got off at the Swan, either with the bus or the boat, and just walk over to the BW. It's a nice, short walk (and helped us burn off some of those WDW calories !)

 

[bobbiwoz]

We only used a BWV bus to go to MK for our MNSSHP. It was a week ago Monday, and didn't take long at all. In fact, we got there before we could use just the MNSSHP tickets, it was about 3:30. Luckily, all of us had already used a ticket that day we had gone to Epcot in the morning. I don't think it took more than 1/2 hour from the time we got on the bench at BWV to wait, until we pulled up at MK.

We were very lucky on the way back too, DH ran to alert the bus driver of our near arrival. The doors had just closed, but driver saw us and we hopped on, and there were even seats for us.

Bobbi

 

[diznyfanatic]

Looks like we have a split opinion going on. Looks like the best advice to reduce at least part of the journey is to get off at the Swan and walk to BWV.

While the bus transportation was efficient and timely at OKW last week, I couldn't help but feel we did some unnecessary backtracking with all of the stops at OKW. However, having only stayed at OKW twice and being unfamiliar with the layout and best routes, I admittedly don't know what I'm talking about really.

It just felt like the longest part of the trip to the parks was actually getting out of OKW or waiting to get off at Turtle Pond!

However, aside from one additional stop at Typhoon Lagoon on one trip back from AK, we didn't share the OKW bus with any other resort which was nice.

I would have to say the best bus service we've ever experienced based upon our on site stays was actually at CSR this past Christmas. CSR had it's own dedicated bus, so no sharing and waiting and travel times to each park were not that long.

I'd have to rate the AKL buses next highest followed closely by VWL. We didn't experience any issues or overly long wait or travel times with either although VWL does share with FW.

How long has BWI and BWV had to share bus service with all of these other places? Has Disney ever made adjustments to their bus schedules and routes?

I don't want to go looking for problems before we ever stay at our BWV home, but knowing how heavily we currently depend on Disney transportation, I certainly hope we don't encounter the issues many of you already have.

 

[jade1]

When we stay at BWV two thirds of our week have no buses at all (EPCOT/MGM). We make 1 AM bus trip to AK and the bus to MK has always been last on straight to MK and we are the first off and walk from S&D. Occasionally we are EPCOT and the monorail over to MK for the evening so in our opinion BWV is by far the best for bus transportation, because it is mostly avoided.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

We love the BWV's. But Boardwalk transportation is the ONLY thing I really despise about the resort!

HBC

 

[crisi]

When we stay at BWV two thirds of our week have no buses at all (EPCOT/MGM). We make 1 AM bus trip to AK and the bus to MK has always been last on straight to MK and we are the first off and walk from S&D. Occasionally we are EPCOT and the monorail over to MK for the evening so in our opinion BWV is by far the best for bus transportation, because it is mostly avoided.

Knowing how to work the buses and being willing to do a little walking can make a big difference - particularly at BW/BC. We've been known to change plans to pick up Fastpasses for Soarin because we can catch an Epcot bus from the AK but the BW bus looks like it will have a line.

We also suppliment with cabs. We fly, so we'd need to rent a car. A few cab fares over the week is cheaper than renting a car for the week and we don't have to worry about driving - which we don't enjoy.

 

[DVCPAT]

We love the BWV's. But Boardwalk transportation is the ONLY thing I really despise about the resort!

HBC

I agree, I think Disney should remove the Swan /Dolphin from the bus routes.

 

[keishashadow]

We thought the buse service @ BWV was badly scheduled last June, until we stayed @ BCV in Oct.

In June the driver told us that the buses were typically assigned to 1st pick up @ BW, then S & D, lastly to YC & BWV stop. Since they were usually full by the time we left the BW, they rarely made it past the Swan...driver would call for reinforcements.

In Oct., all buses to & from the BCV stopped @ both Swan & Dolphin...so they're getting served by both BW & BC buses?

Even if we assumed that we just missed a bus for pick-up to or fro, I wouldn't expect more than a 1/2 hour to 45 trip...we did have a few that topped an hour (in the afternoon/evening - non-peak times).

 

[cobbler]

I haven't stayed at the BW yet but do travel there by bus to do things. I hate the busses to the BW/BC area. ESP if you are using DTD as a transfer.

I went to meet a friend for lunch on the BW a few years ago when I was at Riverside and I took the bus to DTD for a transfer. BIG MISTAKE. Ok get on at Marketplace, then off to the West Side (driver change), TL, Dolphin, Swan, YC, BC, then the BW. Hokey Pete it took me forever to get there and I ended up being (I kid you not) almost 1 hour late!

One of the things I don't look forward too because we go during non peak times so normally we have to make all the other resort stops first. Makes me crazy.