piratesmate
<font color=red>Drah-gun! I don't do that tongue t
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2001
- Messages
- 7,720
Overall, we waited more often for buses than on our last trip. (But then, we didn't wait more than once for more than 5 minutes on our last trip.) The problem was more in how often buses arrived at AKL for someplace other than AK & BB! Because these parks are so close, buses come for them about twice as often as for anything else. Even so, that wouldn't be too bad if it was actually a 20 minute schedule. We often waited more than the 20 minutes at the hotel. It wasn't as bad at the parks when waiting to be picked up.
We encountered quite a few people who held up the bus by running up to catch it (in the parks) asking if it was going to AK. Sometimes (late at night) the drivers would take pity on these people who had their cars parks at AK & take them along. Unfortunately, they would stop at AK before returning us to AKL. It may have been more convenient for the driver, but it didn't seem fair to those of us anxious to get 'home.' The bus sign board is a 2 parter for AKL. It flashes 'Animal Kingdom' & then 'Lodge' by itself. Of course, people get confused - or only see the first part.
We had real trouble one night getting to & from the Contemporary for PS. We wanted to take the MK bus & then the monorail over. We were leaving AKL ~1.5 hours before MK closed, but waited a really long time for the bus. I think it was ~40 min. When a bus finally came, we were the only ones on it. The driver, Carlos, took us directly to the Contemporary instead of making us transfer. What a sweetie!
We were exactly on time for the PS & had to wait ~30 min to be seated, which kept us long at dinner. We had expected to take the monorail back to TTC & then get a bus to AKL. However, the monorail wasn't running at that point. (It should have been, but I don't know what happened.) We stood outside waiting for a bus to ANY park so that we could get back. The only ones that arrived were for DD & I know that trip is really, really long! Eventually, a bus dropped some people off, but said he was done for the evening. We were considering calling a taxi when the driver, Ed (another sweetie), came back. He had called dispatch to ask if he could take us home! (DS & his fiance had been with us & left an hour earlier from dinner because DS wasn't feeling well. A CM at the hotel told them to take the bus to DD & then another back. They arrived at the hotel only 10 minutes before we did!)
Buses to DD are terrible all over the world, & it was no different at ALK. We weren't aware that all buses have a scheduled departure time from PI. Our bus was supposed to run to Marketplace, Pleasure Island, West Side, Typhoon Lagoon. After waiting 40 minutes (others had been there over an hour!) the poor driver arrived having been to lunch. She took the flak for someone else. Anyway, many of us on the bus had tickets for the 3:00 Cirque & were really pushing the 2:30 check-in time. We were told they would sell our tickets if we weren't there by 2:40. The driver stopped at TL first because of the scheduled departure thing. She would up leaving the PI stop ~4 minutes early because she almost had a mutiny. Coming back was another nightmare! It took us 1.5 - 2 hours to get from West Side to Epcot!
I should state again, the overall it wasn't as great as last time, but it wasn't awful either. The few times we had trouble, however, were really bad! We had looked into getting a rental car, but would have required a mini van for the 6 of us & DH thought $400 was too much money. If I'd been in charge, we would have just called a taxi instead of suffering those few times. It couldn't have come to as much as the rental car - could it?
We encountered quite a few people who held up the bus by running up to catch it (in the parks) asking if it was going to AK. Sometimes (late at night) the drivers would take pity on these people who had their cars parks at AK & take them along. Unfortunately, they would stop at AK before returning us to AKL. It may have been more convenient for the driver, but it didn't seem fair to those of us anxious to get 'home.' The bus sign board is a 2 parter for AKL. It flashes 'Animal Kingdom' & then 'Lodge' by itself. Of course, people get confused - or only see the first part.
We had real trouble one night getting to & from the Contemporary for PS. We wanted to take the MK bus & then the monorail over. We were leaving AKL ~1.5 hours before MK closed, but waited a really long time for the bus. I think it was ~40 min. When a bus finally came, we were the only ones on it. The driver, Carlos, took us directly to the Contemporary instead of making us transfer. What a sweetie!
We were exactly on time for the PS & had to wait ~30 min to be seated, which kept us long at dinner. We had expected to take the monorail back to TTC & then get a bus to AKL. However, the monorail wasn't running at that point. (It should have been, but I don't know what happened.) We stood outside waiting for a bus to ANY park so that we could get back. The only ones that arrived were for DD & I know that trip is really, really long! Eventually, a bus dropped some people off, but said he was done for the evening. We were considering calling a taxi when the driver, Ed (another sweetie), came back. He had called dispatch to ask if he could take us home! (DS & his fiance had been with us & left an hour earlier from dinner because DS wasn't feeling well. A CM at the hotel told them to take the bus to DD & then another back. They arrived at the hotel only 10 minutes before we did!)
Buses to DD are terrible all over the world, & it was no different at ALK. We weren't aware that all buses have a scheduled departure time from PI. Our bus was supposed to run to Marketplace, Pleasure Island, West Side, Typhoon Lagoon. After waiting 40 minutes (others had been there over an hour!) the poor driver arrived having been to lunch. She took the flak for someone else. Anyway, many of us on the bus had tickets for the 3:00 Cirque & were really pushing the 2:30 check-in time. We were told they would sell our tickets if we weren't there by 2:40. The driver stopped at TL first because of the scheduled departure thing. She would up leaving the PI stop ~4 minutes early because she almost had a mutiny. Coming back was another nightmare! It took us 1.5 - 2 hours to get from West Side to Epcot!
I should state again, the overall it wasn't as great as last time, but it wasn't awful either. The few times we had trouble, however, were really bad! We had looked into getting a rental car, but would have required a mini van for the 6 of us & DH thought $400 was too much money. If I'd been in charge, we would have just called a taxi instead of suffering those few times. It couldn't have come to as much as the rental car - could it?
