MK: if you're not first, you're last

[kjs1976]

Just back last night from a sun-fri stay last week. Got to all the parks early each morning by being to the bus stops around 7:50-8 and busses came within 5-10 min, was one of the first 10-20 in line, got through our fav rides with time to spare...EXCEPT at MK due to bussing. We got to the POFQ bus station at 7:55 and a bus did not come until 8:30. I was furious! The bus stand was soooo unbelievably packed and over flowing into the other bus stand by that point. Our one full day there and I couldn't believe our luck. Then someone on a scooter had to load so that took even longer. By the time we actually got to the gate they held us before letting us scan our band because the welcome show had started...which, coincidentally, is my fav and I had to do everything in my power to calm down just in order to enjoy it. While we did get onto PPF, Pooh, tea cups, and barn stormer as planned, we were delayed at least 10-15 min making more of a wait for other rides. We had planned to try to get over to astro orbiter before our ETWB FP, but the wait was already 20 min, which was too much to fit it in, walk over to belle, and go through that attraction.

The whole time I kept thinking of the Ricky Bobby line from Tallesega nights, "if you're not first, you're last." seriously, for those of us that a plan down to the last min to get on certain rides in a certain time frame, it really does make a difference. On our arrival day, we went to MK about 5. I had made FP there and we did go into stand by lines that were 20 min or less for rides like buzz, Indy, ,and dumbo which got shorter after 7:30. But if we had tried to squeeze in those extra 5-7 rides we were able to do the first night, it would have been crazy and we would have had longer waits. And we went on the day recommended to go on easy WDW and touring plans for the least amount of crowds! Let me tell you, I have not seen MK that crowded since the early 1990s before fast pass. And we have gone every year, except last yr, since 2001. Jungle cruise with a 70 min wait?!!!??? whoa, that tells you something right there about crowds and how FP+ is working.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I had bad luck on one of our MK days in January at POFQ, too. Still loved POFQ, and we only take the bus to MK, but that day we waited for more than 30 minutes for a bus at a very busy time. A lot of people waiting were angry, and some were getting verbally abusive of the CM at the bus stop.

The entire experience was sad, but seeing MK as we finally pulled up was all it took to forget about it and move on.

 

[PinkBudgie]

We are staying at POFQ this June. Why would no bus come for so long? Is that normal?
This whole bus system sounds frustrating. At DLR we walk everywhere- from our room to the parks and park hopping back and forth. We always stay walking distance and I have vowed to never take a bus at DLR again. (We have taken our car, but still prefer walking) At WDW we will not have our car and do not plan to rent one so we are dependent on the buses.
Was 8:30 the first MK bus of the morning? That just seems really late. I would be stressed too. Do they have a bus time schedule listed somewhere?

 

[Betty Rohrer]

pp: in that respect WDW is nothing like Disneyland, you can not walk to any parks except from a couple of resorts. with MK being the worse because even driving, you have to take either the monorail or the ferry boat. you can not see the park from parking lot and it is not possible to walk from there even if you wanted to. there are a few Epcot resorts that you can walk from

 

[kjs1976]

We are staying at POFQ this June. Why would no bus come for so long? Is that normal?
This whole bus system sounds frustrating. At DLR we walk everywhere- from our room to the parks and park hopping back and forth. We always stay walking distance and I have vowed to never take a bus at DLR again. (We have taken our car, but still prefer walking) At WDW we will not have our car and do not plan to rent one so we are dependent on the buses.
Was 8:30 the first MK bus of the morning? That just seems really late. I would be stressed too. Do they have a bus time schedule listed somewhere?

PinkBudgie-hi! You helped me when planning our DL trip in 2012 (plus, we call our DD6 Budgie!) so feel free to ask and I'd love to help you, too! Bussing was spot on for POFQ, except for MK. My advice would be to get to the bus stop on your MK day extra early just in case. There is not a bus schedule, like with public bus transportation. Most buses come every 20 min, with some coming in quicker intervals. What we experienced with the MK bus was unusual. The bussing to and from the resorts works really well, for the most part. This I was our first trip not renting a car ever (in 14 trips in 12 yrs) and it was fabulous. Loved DME too! We didn't have to worry about our luggage on either end and we to our resort and checked in (online check in) less than and hr, which has never happened when we've retrieved our luggage, picked op our rental, parked, checked in, and got our luggage to our room.

We LOVED everything about POFQ this time...once again! Every cast member we interacted with was amazing...so happy, friendly and helpful. Hopefully, you will love your stay there as much as we always do!

 

[Sandy Fisher]

We've never stayed at Port Orleans, but we regularly stay at Caribbean Beach which holds a LOT of people. We found out from years of experience that there are usually MORE Magic Kingdom buses than anything else. In fact one time we were waiting to go to Epcot (got to the bus stop before 8:00) and we saw 2 buses for each park and then a third for MK before an Epcot bus rolled up. BUT, we have never gone over anything that approaches the crowds at spring break.
The buses sometimes can be extremely frustrating. There were even times when we'd board the Epcot bus, fully intending to go to Magic Kingdom. It was never as crowded and when we got to Epcot we just took the monorail to MK. Worked sometimes.
It's the details that make you crazy!! We don't plan our days by the minute, but we do like to go early and ARRIVE early.

 

[handicap18]

We are staying at POFQ this June. Why would no bus come for so long? Is that normal?
This whole bus system sounds frustrating. At DLR we walk everywhere- from our room to the parks and park hopping back and forth. We always stay walking distance and I have vowed to never take a bus at DLR again. (We have taken our car, but still prefer walking) At WDW we will not have our car and do not plan to rent one so we are dependent on the buses.
Was 8:30 the first MK bus of the morning? That just seems really late. I would be stressed too. Do they have a bus time schedule listed somewhere?

There is no bus time schedule listed anywhere. Typically its about every 15-20 minutes. During peak times of the day it can take a bit long sometimes. I have stayed on property at WDW 5 times so far. 3 times at All Star Movies and 2 times at Port Orleans Riverside. During those times I think maybe we had 2 or 3 times where there was a 30 minute wait for a bus. I love the bus system and would never stay outside the park except for maybe if the hotel was free.

There are 24 resort hotels at WDW. You can walk to the MK from the Contemporary (we've done it twice). From the Boardwalk, Yacht Club & Beach Club you can walk to EPCOT. You can also from the Swan and Dolphin, but yo have to walk through either the Boardwalk or the Yacht Club & Beach Club resorts. There are no resorts you can walk from to either Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom or Downtown Disney. Same is true for either of the water parks.

Disneyland Resort occupies 500 acres of land with 2 theme parks, 3 hotels and a Downtown Disney area.

Walt Disney World Resort occupies well over 30,000 acres of land with 4 theme parks (Animal Kingdom itself is 500 acres), 2 water parks, 24 hotels, a Downtown Disney area, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Disney Quest, 8 golf courses and several additional recreational activities.

 

[jcemom]

You can walk to the MK from the Contemporary (we've done it twice). From the Boardwalk, Yacht Club & Beach Club you can walk to EPCOT. You can also from the Swan and Dolphin, but yo have to walk through either the Boardwalk or the Yacht Club & Beach Club resorts. There are no resorts you can walk from to either Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom or Downtown Disney. Same is true for either of the water parks.

You don't have to go through the Yacht/Beach from the Swan/Dolphin to get to Epcot. You do walk past them, but not through them. You can walk to Hollywood Studios from the Boardwalk, Yacht/Beach, and the Swan/Dolphin.

 

[wencherous]

There is no bus time schedule listed anywhere. Typically its about every 15-20 minutes. During peak times of the day it can take a bit long sometimes. I have stayed on property at WDW 5 times so far. 3 times at All Star Movies and 2 times at Port Orleans Riverside. During those times I think maybe we had 2 or 3 times where there was a 30 minute wait for a bus. I love the bus system and would never stay outside the park except for maybe if the hotel was free. There are 24 resort hotels at WDW. You can walk to the MK from the Contemporary (we've done it twice). From the Boardwalk, Yacht Club & Beach Club you can walk to EPCOT. You can also from the Swan and Dolphin, but yo have to walk through either the Boardwalk or the Yacht Club & Beach Club resorts. There are no resorts you can walk from to either Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom or Downtown Disney. Same is true for either of the water parks. Disneyland Resort occupies 500 acres of land with 2 theme parks, 3 hotels and a Downtown Disney area. Walt Disney World Resort occupies well over 30,000 acres of land with 4 theme parks (Animal Kingdom itself is 500 acres), 2 water parks, 24 hotels, a Downtown Disney area, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Disney Quest, 8 golf courses and several additional recreational activities.

We walked from Beachclub to HS once. It was just DH and I, it was a bit of a hike though, definitely not a 5-10 minute walk.

 

[mexican-mouseketeers]

I have stayed onsite many times and the buses are mostly great, but sometimes there are glitches in their dispatch system and they miss sending buses to a hotel or park, happened to us once about 6 years ago, we were the first in line at the ASMu for the Epcot buses a good hour before the park opened and we waited more tan one hour for a bus to come.

I feel OP´s pain, because by the time the bus came, there was also a long scooter line.

Of course many many buses came and went, I remember that by then also came about 4 buses for Typhoon Lagoon that left empty every time, but none to Epcot.

But that is the only terrible experience that I remember from taking many many buses

 

[mom2rtk]

We have had great luck with buses in the past. Of course it helps that we tend to stay during low crowd times and we typically choose Pop for its dedicated bus service.

That said, I always budget in a small amount of "emergency taxi" money. I'm not sure of the bus stop layout at POFQ, but I typically have a "drop dead" time in my mind where I will bail and take a taxi if one doesn't show up in time. It gives me a small sense of control in those situations. I think I've only done it once, but it feels good to know I have a plan if I need it.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

@kjs1976

It sounds like you had a wonderful trip(except for the MK bus issue)!

We've never stayed at either of the Port Orleans resorts. Did it seem like it was fully booked? Were you able to wander over to Riverside? Also, how crowded did the three non-MK parks seem? I'm assuming you didn't hit the water parks.

 

[LucyBC80]

Never had problems with buses from POFQ to MK, they were plentiful on my last visit, specially early morning. AK is another story though, I try to be extra early and prepare myself to wait but last trip we had HUGE trouble getting to our 8:05AM ADR even tough we got to the bus stop around 7AM.

 

[jeffbear]

I do think this is going to be a continuing issue as the FP+ system puts even more pressure on being at MK at rope drop. Disney really needs to respond to that with more buses in the routes early in the morning ... more than they already have.

 

[karly05]

Oddly enough, my only bad bus incident this year was Friday morning at POFQ trying to get to MK for RD. It was probably a little after 8 - I was not as early as planned. (Oops, to clarify, this was early February.)

There was an Epcot bus stopped interminably at the first station, and when the MK bus came, it could not or would not go around the Epcot bus to the second (MK/DHS) station (no idea why, but there must have been some problem). I (and several other parties) finally bailed and walked to POR for a bus, so I don't know the ultimate outcome.

I had no other issues with the buses at POFQ, though, last year or this, including another morning/RD trip to MK on this trip, and 2 MK RDs in 2013.

mom2rtk, I like your contingency plan - I do think it helps just to have an option in mind even if you don't use it.

 

[Planogirl]

I must be the rare person that prefers to drive to MK. I don't much care for the buses and I love the ferry first thing in the morning. It might take longer at times but at least we control when we go.

 

[zippeedee]

We waited 46 minutes for an MK bus from POFQ this past Tuesday morning. Our 7:45 arrival time just barely got us there in time for the opening celebration. At least the crowd filled the bus so we didn't go over to Riverside. It was our first morning and SO frustrating! We only waited about 15 minutes on Wednesday.

 

[Disneychick75]

OP, if we haven"t rented a car, we take taxis to the parks in the mornings. For the MK, we have them drop us off at Bay lake Towers and we walk.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

Hate waiting for a bus at Disney. Consider a cab for your early morning parks. We are staying at Yacht Club end of this month and will take a cab to both Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. Will take about 10 minutes and cost roughly $20 with a tip. Will take a bus back to the resort when we aren't in such a hurry.

Loved being able to walk everywhere at Disney Land. Just doesn't work at Disney World. Though we will be able to walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios from Yacht Club.

 

[luvthemouse71]

We have had great luck with buses in the past. Of course it helps that we tend to stay during low crowd times and we typically choose Pop for its dedicated bus service.

That said, I always budget in a small amount of "emergency taxi" money. I'm not sure of the bus stop layout at POFQ, but I typically have a "drop dead" time in my mind where I will bail and take a taxi if one doesn't show up in time. It gives me a small sense of control in those situations. I think I've only done it once, but it feels good to know I have a plan if I need it.

I do this too. Only had to use a taxi a couple of times, but it's worth it in some instances. I will have my dad with me this trip, and he has leg/knee issues at times.