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

[disnut8]

Jseriously, 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.

Nail hit on head.

But for others who don't plan down to the last minute, buses to Magic Kingdom are fine. This was a specific instance with a specific plan and it didn't go according to plan.

 

[heybravo626]

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.

There are more of us out there. We have had so many bus frustrations at several different resorts that we always rent a car. The extra money for the car is worth the time lost waiting on transportation over the course of the trip.

It's far worse when you are trying to get from resort to resort to eat, etc. After a 2 hour transfer from resort to resort on buses a few years ago, I vowed to never again be stuck without a car.

 

[kjs1976]

@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.

No other issues with busses. The other park busses came within 5-10 min of us getting to the bus stop. Also the longest we had to wait when leaving a park was EPCOT about 20 at 2 in the afternoon. There was one family before us in line who said they had been waiting a good 10-15 min before we got there. We only shared once with Riverside and that was coming back from HS around 2:30 in the afternoon.

The resort never seemed that busy. Spent around 2 hrs in the pool two afternoons and it was much more crowded when we've stayed in Aug. Usually grabbed my coffee and beignets at the food court at 7 and it wasn't busy. Our last day we at breakfast about 8:15 and the food court was jam packed! I was so surprised that many people were going to parks that late or not at all. That was the only time I felt it was crowded.

We did not go over to Riverside this trip, but have on trips past. Feel free to PM me if you have any other POFQ questions and I'd be happy to answer!

 

[kjs1976]

This was the first trip NOT renting a car. We did not make any ADRs this trip so did not figure we needed to spend the money on renting a car. Would have only used it that MK day, potentially. After 15 min we might have run over to use the car. But then you have to consider driving, parking, and getting on ferry or monorail to MK anyway.

Taxi idea is a good one. Shoulda thought of it but by that time u r hoping every bus that comes by is an MK one and that's all you think of.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

No other issues with busses. The other park busses came within 5-10 min of us getting to the bus stop. Also the longest we had to wait when leaving a park was EPCOT about 20 at 2 in the afternoon. There was one family before us in line who said they had been waiting a good 10-15 min before we got there. We only shared once with Riverside and that was coming back from HS around 2:30 in the afternoon.

The resort never seemed that busy. Spent around 2 hrs in the pool two afternoons and it was much more crowded when we've stayed in Aug. Usually grabbed my coffee and beignets at the food court at 7 and it wasn't busy. Our last day we at breakfast about 8:15 and the food court was jam packed! I was so surprised that many people were going to parks that late or not at all. That was the only time I felt it was crowded.

We did not go over to Riverside this trip, but have on trips past. Feel free to PM me if you have any other POFQ questions and I'd be happy to answer!

@KJS1976

Thank you so much for your response. That just about covered my questions about POFQ. Were the three non-MK parks busy at all?

 

[kjs1976]

@KJS1976

Thank you so much for your response. That just about covered my questions about POFQ. Were the three non-MK parks busy at all?

Nope. Every morning everyone waiting got a seat and there was no standing on the way there. Some people had to stand on the way back from parks later at night. But I was impressed by how kind everyone was. DH always gave up his seat for a kid/mom and I always put DD 6 on my lap to make room. Other people were also kind and did the same thing. Side note, on the bus to MK right as we crossed by Bay Lake a little girl threw up on her mom from being car sick sitting in the back of the bus. One mom quickly handed over her wet wipes and said "here, keep them!" And another mom whipped out a disposable poncho and told her to put it around her legs incase she got sick again. She didn't throw up much, but it got on her shirt and a little on the mom. Everyone so so kind to them on a packed bus, where she had just gotten sick. It was really nice to see that from people. Guess we've all had kids, have had it happen to us, know that can happen in the blink of a eye!

 

[katt789]

We never had a problem with the busses at POFQ, the biggest issues was that during non peak times, they shared with riverside, we loved the resort. Sorry you had a crappy experience.

As for crowds, I was there last week and it was INSANE, luckily I wasn't doing many rides, but at some point the wait for SMALL WORLD was above an hour!! There were tons of big groups, school groups, high school kids, etc, and a lot of obnoxious parties, but I still managed to have some fun!

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

We never had a problem with the busses at POFQ, the biggest issues was that during non peak times, they shared with riverside, we loved the resort. Sorry you had a crappy experience.

As for crowds, I was there last week and it was INSANE, luckily I wasn't doing many rides, but at some point the wait for SMALL WORLD was above an hour!! There were tons of big groups, school groups, high school kids, etc, and a lot of obnoxious parties, but I still managed to have some fun!

@Katt789

Did you visit any of the other parks or just the MK. If so, how busy were the other parks?

 

[hakepb]

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.

Fwiw you can walk from DTD to SSR and OKW (but possibly only from dRD West side right now)

 

[PinkBudgie]

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!

Oh! Glad I could help! I hope you had a fun trip. We are also doing DME. We just didn't want the added stress of trying to find our way around a new state after flying all day. Although we might pick up our own luggage since we get in a little after 6pm.

We are rope drop people so definitely want to be at the parks early.

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.

Thanks for that info! I like having a back up plan. We would use the taxi if we needed to. I'll be sure to pay attention to where the taxi pick up is just in case. We have one day where we booked an ADR for the breakfast buffet at The Wave at 8am. I was thinking we could take the bus to MK and walk to The Contemporary from there, but maybe we should just take a Taxi that day. Also have a tour at MK another day. Wouldn't want to miss that either!

 

[surferdave]

Whenever I read here about how wonderful the bus system is and the waits for buses are short I become convinced that I must be going somewhere different on vacation. In the last ten years we've made four on site trips, staying at POR twice, POFQ once and CBR once. I've always found 20 minutes to be the minimum that I wait for my bus to show up, with 45 minute waits not out of the question. The most frustrating wait had to be a morning of EMH at MK, when we were at the stop over 30 minutes early and watched bus after bus headed for the parks that would be closed for another hour and a half go by before a bus finally showed up and got us there about 15 minutes after rope drop.

 

[MamaMeggie]

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.

I'm planning on taking a taxi from POR for our first morning at MK since we have breakfast at 8:05. I know you can't park right at MK, but I was assuming a taxi could drop passengers near the gates. Wrong?

 

[ellone]

I've found the buses to DTD to be the worst (at any resort we've stayed at). We didn't even go last trip because I just didn't want to wait so long for a bus there and back. As for MK, we've stayed at BLT the last couple trips and find the ability to walk over so convenient. Our AK and HS days we did have to wait a while for buses though (both non emh mornings).

 

[OnceUponATime15]

I'm planning on taking a taxi from POR for our first morning at MK since we have breakfast at 8:05. I know you can't park right at MK, but I was assuming a taxi could drop passengers near the gates. Wrong?

The taxi will drop you of at the ticket & transportation centre if you ask to be taken to the MK... You would then need to take the monorail or ferry over to the MK.

Ask to be taken to the CR and then walk over to the MK.

 

[maxiesmom]

Whenever I read here about how wonderful the bus system is and the waits for buses are short I become convinced that I must be going somewhere different on vacation. In the last ten years we've made four on site trips, staying at POR twice, POFQ once and CBR once. I've always found 20 minutes to be the minimum that I wait for my bus to show up, with 45 minute waits not out of the question. The most frustrating wait had to be a morning of EMH at MK, when we were at the stop over 30 minutes early and watched bus after bus headed for the parks that would be closed for another hour and a half go by before a bus finally showed up and got us there about 15 minutes after rope drop.

Twicw I've taken my dad to WDW. And on both trips we had excellent bus service. As in walk up to the bus stop and here comes your bus good. The buses are all about timing and how lucky you are.

 

[GillianP1301]

The whole "luck" factor, is exactly why I drive to the parks. I know myself and I know that waiting for a bus would just annoy me the longer I was sitting there waiting and that could very likely put a damper on my day, or at least part of it. So for me, it's not worth taking the chance that a bus may be only 5, or maybe 10 because I know it could just as easily be 30 or more, you just never know. In most cases, I can be in my car and already at the parking lot in the same time I'd be sitting waiting for a bus. To each their own, of course, and if I had a more laid back personality and knew I wouldn't get annoyed if I were waiting 20 - 30 minutes for a bus, then I'd have no problem using the free transportation.

 

[Toffeewoffy]

We had terrible trouble with the buses in February. We were staying at CBR (Martinique - first stop), and it didn't matter where we wanted to go, we would sit there and sit there while bus after bus came for absolutely everywhere else! The worst was trying to get to DTD for an ADR. We'd given it an hour as DTD is only 10 minutes' drive from CBR, but no buses came and we ended up waiting about 35 minutes and then got stuck in the most unbelievable traffic holdups, first to get into the Marketplace stop and then to get back out, up the road and into the Pleasure Beach stop. We were 40 minutes late for our ADR. When we had to return to Marketplace to pick up our giftcard, we didn't wait for the bus - and apart from DD grizzling the whole way because her feet hurt (she was in a vile mood all evening), it took half the time than waiting for a bus back.

Me being in a scooter didn't help, because that took nearly 5 minutes each time to get it on board and strap it in - especially as some of the drivers made a right faff of getting the ramp out in the first place.

It's put me right of using the buses, I have to say. Even putting the scooter into the car and then putting it back together again at the other end didn't take anywhere near as long as using the free transport - and this was supposedly a quiet time of year! God only knows what it's like at peak season!!

 

[akclayton]

We stayed in February at POFQ and the MK buses were the worst. We've stayed here 2 other times and never had any problems with any bus. This time, the MK stop seemed packed every time we were at a bus stop. Each time we were waiting on an MK bus, we saw 2 or 3 of each other bus. It was crazy. We also wanted to get there for the opening show so our DD(2) could see it. It took us 50 minutes from the time we got to the bus stop to MK. We were at the bag check when it was going on and couldn't see.

 

[surferdave]

Twicw I've taken my dad to WDW. And on both trips we had excellent bus service. As in walk up to the bus stop and here comes your bus good. The buses are all about timing and how lucky you are.

Even if I faithfully climbed on the first bus that showed up, merrily assuming Disney knew where I wanted to go better than I did, I would have never experienced anything like that. But I have seen 3 buses that no one wanted to get on headed to the same park before even one bus going somewhere anyone at the stop wanted to go.

 

[maxiesmom]

We had terrible trouble with the buses in February. We were staying at CBR (Martinique - first stop), and it didn't matter where we wanted to go, we would sit there and sit there while bus after bus came for absolutely everywhere else! The worst was trying to get to DTD for an ADR. We'd given it an hour as DTD is only 10 minutes' drive from CBR, but no buses came and we ended up waiting about 35 minutes and then got stuck in the most unbelievable traffic holdups, first to get into the Marketplace stop and then to get back out, up the road and into the Pleasure Beach stop. We were 40 minutes late for our ADR. When we had to return to Marketplace to pick up our giftcard, we didn't wait for the bus - and apart from DD grizzling the whole way because her feet hurt (she was in a vile mood all evening), it took half the time than waiting for a bus back.

A couple FYIs for you: First, Martinique is not always the first stop at CBR. Sometimes Jamaica is. During my stay Jamaica was the first stop more often than Martinique. It could be the bus you needed was full before it hit your stop, so it just went to the parks.

Second, Disney suggests you budget 90 minutes to make it to an ADR elsewhere on property. Usually is is over-kill, but going to DTD you do want to budget those 90 minutes. Transportation to/from DTD is always bad, no matter where you are staying.