Is this not possible?

[constanze]

I was trying to set up my ADR's. We are staying at the GF. We thought we'd try for breakfast at Tusker House one morning early when it opens around 8:05. The CM told me the earliest bus leaves at 8am and we'd never make it. He said we should have an ADR for at least 9 am.
Does this sound right? We wanted an earlier time, so we'd be done around park opening.

 

[annnewjerz]

In short, no...that doesn't sound right at all. At most Disney resorts (I've never stayed at GF but can't imagine it'd be different) the busses start running somewhere around 6:30-7:00am (give or take depending on what time the parks open I would guess). I would definitely call back to speak to another CM because you should have more than enough time to get over to AK by 8:00am if you leave early enough.

Also---if you don't have a car, consider taking a cab. Most places on the WDW property can be gotten to for $10-$20 each way. We took the bus from the Boardwalk to the All-Star resort last trip and it was about $11. If for some really odd reason the bus wasn't running (which again, I doubt)...if you really want to be there for an early ADR it's still possible

Good luck!

 

[TaraPA]

I thought resort-to-park busses only ran 1 hour prior to park opening? Maybe not. But if they do, then you wouldn't make your 8:05am ressie at Tusker House if you're using a Disney bus (since AK doens't open til 9am - UNLESS it's an EMH morning day, then busses would start at 7am). If that's the case, then you'd have to take a cab.

 

[annnewjerz]

I thought resort-to-park busses only ran 1 hour prior to park opening? Maybe not. But if they do, then you wouldn't make your 8:05am ressie at Tusker House if you're using a Disney bus (since AK doens't open til 9am - UNLESS it's an EMH morning day, then busses would start at 7am). If that's the case, then you'd have to take a cab.

Now that you say that, I'm not sure. I know for an 8:05am ADR at Crystal Palace when the park opened at 9:00am we got on a bus around 7:00am (which would be 2 hours prior to park opening).

I'm guessing that maybe Tusker House for breakfast would have 8:05am ADRs also even if AK opens at 9:00...right? We don't have experience with anywhere in the park for breakfast at Crystal Palace but it seems silly that CP would let guests in for an ADR earlier than the park opened, but places like the Princess Breakfast in Norway, Tusker House, etc. wouldn't do the same.

Regardless, the moral of this story is...where there's a will, there's a way!!

 

[tarheelmjfan]

There's character meal buses that run early for this purpose. I wouldn't depend on them though. Last Oct. we were at the bus stop once @ 7:10 (1st time) & once @ 7:00 for our 8:05 ADRs. The early bus never showed, during the time we were waiting. Fortunately, a bus came by & the driver said he'd take us to MK. That wasn't where he was headed, but he felt sorry for us. (We were the only people on the bus.) The 2nd time we arrived at the bus stop 10 minutes earlier. Still, there was no early buses that stopped by our hotel (Dolphin). We had to wait for the AK bus, & were late for our ADR. I don't know if the fact that we were staying at Dolphin Resort made a difference or not. I do know that in the future we'll plan to take a cab.

 

[Alice28]

I think it's worth it to keep that reservation time, and just bite the bullet and pay for a cab. We had a before-park-opening ADR time at Tusker and it was LOVELY going in before the mobs, walking thru AK with it so quiet. Delightful!

 

[siestakey]

We have gone to numerous early meals/tours before park opening. There are early buses and we've never had a problem with an early bus not showing.

 

[My Grandpa]

From our experience with the character breakfast there 4 years ago (and that's a liftime in Disney operations) our bus from AKL went early, we entered early and had an 8 or 8:15 ressie. Don't know where to send you .... but try calling a CM at your resort. Good luck and have fun!!!

 

[constanze]

It ends up that when you're a resort guest they do have special character busses that are alerted of our reservations so the busses will be at particular resorts to pick folks up 45minutes-1hour before the ADR. I think I'm going to keep my early ADR, and when I check in to the resort, try to confirm...
Thanks for all your help! You guys are great!

 

[kaytieeldr]

According to "those who know" over on the Transportation Board (aka some Disney bus drivers), buses to the Magic Kingdom start at 6:30; buses to the other three parks start at 7. This early, they run about every half hour - i.e. not as frequently as when the parks are open, or about to open.

I don't know why tarheelmjfan had such bad luck with early buses - there certainly SHOULD have been buses at the Dolphin/Swan, especially since this early it's probably the same bus that picks up at the Yacht Club, Beach Club, and Boardwalk, and even with all those stops, it shouldn't be full (and if it was, it was the driver's responsibility to call for another bus).

 

[monami7]

Whatever you so...I would not drive. we drove over and they actually would not physically let us in until it was 5 minutes past! The guard said this was normal and that that was the time they let people into the parking lot! There were busses driving right on past us!!! I was SOOOOOOOOOOOO mad it nearly did ruin my morning!
Good thing Daisy was there to save my day!

 

[Tigger1221]

Whatever you so...I would not drive. we drove over and they actually would not physically let us in until it was 5 minutes past! The guard said this was normal and that that was the time they let people into the parking lot! There were busses driving right on past us!!! I was SOOOOOOOOOOOO mad it nearly did ruin my morning!
Good thing Daisy was there to save my day!

I think you got a bad guard. We always drive to our early reservations and have never had trouble parking.

 

[thatgirl23]

If all these busses supposedly starting running at 7am, then I'd like to know why in December '08, the first bus for AK didn't come until 7:45am? Our reservations were for 8:05am and by time we picked up the other All Star and got to AK, we were late for our reservation. We had been out waiting for a bus since 6:30am and not one bus for AK came until that one at 7:45am.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I don't know. I don't work for Disney. The information I posted above has been provided by Disney bus drivers in the past, on the Transportation board.

If you want a definitive response, you would need to discuss it with Management - Resort, Transportation, or both.

Did any buses come for any parks? Did any buses come for any parks a second time while you waited? I would have gone to that bus driver and said you'd seen X buses for one park but no buses for 'your' park, and asked her/him to get one dispatched.

 

[MrsJ Henry]

We have also done the early morning meals and never had a problem with bus transportation.
This time we have Crystal palace at 8:15 and the park opens at 9.
We will be coming from AKL.

 

[thatgirl23]

kaytieeldr - my comment wasn't directed at you. I'm sorry if you took it that way.

It was just in frustration because I see posts all the time say the busses start running before 7am or at 7am. We caught a bus to MK for CP ressies at 6:40am the day before our ressies at Tusker. We must have seen at least 4 or 5 busses for MK early breakfasts, as well as 2 for HS and 2 or 3 for EPCOT all while we were waiting for the AK bus. We did go up to one of the drivers as well as into the desk in the lobby but got nowhere with both. The driver said that there should be a bus on the way, but wouldn't call for one or check. The lady at the desk inside was short and rude, telling us to just take a cab. I'm hoping things go better in May.

 

[monami7]

I think you got a bad guard. We always drive to our early reservations and have never had trouble parking.

We do at every other park but every line at AK was being held until their magical time. It really was frustrating. We even told them about our ADR...He didn't seem to care?

 

[Tiger926]

We do at every other park but every line at AK was being held until their magical time. It really was frustrating. We even told them about our ADR...He didn't seem to care?

Now that I read this, it would seem to me that before park opening ADRs at AK may be a problem.

We had an ADR about 30 mins before park opening at AK in May. We were staying at AKV, so no worries about transportation. We got there and parked, went through bag check, so far so good! And then, things started to happen. Went to ADR clipboard CM and was told, yes you are on list, go to that line and get into park. Went over there, and the CM supervisor would not let us through as he said the park was opening "soon" so no need. He made us go to back of regular line and wait. Guests made comments to us about cutting in line, by the way. We then went in at rope drop - we hate rope drop, and purposely did not want to be a part of the mob and pushing scene with a 3 year old. We finally were able to squeeze through crowd and found another breakfast ADR CM, who apologized profusely and ran us over to the restaurant. She immediately alerted manager, who came to our table to get whole story. Our server also apologized and said the manager was taking care of it. Manager came back and told us that there was some serious miscommunication and that we should have been let in - no kidding!

Server told us it happens frequently at AK, and manager then gave us Fastpasses for the day that we didn't use as we don't go on big rides. It was nice to hear an apology, but after so many hours logged in the parks, I know they dropped the ball somewhere and we went on our way. First timers could have been seriously inconvenienced or made anxious about missing their ADR due to what happened - we are veterans who know that this kind of thing happens, but what we experienced outside of the gate and inside at rope drop put us out of sorts for a bit, so we went back to resort to collect ourselves, have a swim and went back a few hours later.

Moral of my story is that sometimes Disney does drop the ball and so if people are reporting no busses, late busses or being held back at gates, I am hear to say it definitely does happen!

Good luck to all having early morning ADRs - incidentally this was our only time with this issue as we've never had it at any other park.

Tiger

 

[NMW]

We have done early breakfasts in AK every trip and have never had a problem getting an early bus to get to our breakfasts on time. This was from the Epcot resorts (BC/YC/BW). We are pretty much on the bus with people that also have early breakfast ADRs. We walked right in and a person with a clip board checks to make sure you really DO have the ADR and then they let you head over to the restaurant. Really quick and easy. I would not drive.

Last trip we took a cab to our early breakfast at 'Ohana, but took the MK bus for our 8:10 breakfast at Crystal Palace no problem.