Monarail Resorts...Don't think I would stay there

[crelange1]

This is just an observation from my trip last week. We stayed at ASMu, but had many meals at Poly, GF, Contemp. If you are going to a park on the monorail, service is great. But if you are going to another park, the bus service is sooooo slow. The fact that all three resorts share busses makes for long travel time. We waited outside the Poly for 30 min. for a bus to Downtown Disney. Based on this, I would definitely think twice before staying at one of these hotels in the future. We got around the world faster from our value resort which had its own bus.

 

[disneyholic family]

This is just an observation from my trip last week. We stayed at ASMu, but had many meals at Poly, GF, Contemp. If you are going to a park on the monorail, service is great. But if you are going to another park, the bus service is sooooo slow. The fact that all three resorts share busses makes for long travel time. We waited outside the Poly for 30 min. for a bus to Downtown Disney. Based on this, I would definitely think twice before staying at one of these hotels in the future. We got around the world faster from our value resort which had its own bus.

we've stayed at the GF numerous times and love it.....we drive to get to DTD...

 

[boomhauer]

Interesting thread.

I agree with the OP. Bus service on the 3 monorail resorts is very slow. It would seem since you're paying top dollar, they would have their own buses, but surprisingly, no.

We're still looking forward to our 1st stay at the Polynesian in July. We were actually discussing this very issue the other day. Do we rent a car? We obviously won't need one for Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and those are the 2 parks we spend the most time in. However, with a 7 year old and what will be, twin toddlers, the buses would be VERY difficult for Animal Kingdom, MGM and DTD.

 

[LoveKermit]

FWIW, we always rent a car because my DH hates the busses (even pre-stroller).

But I would have been willing to monorail to EPCOT and boat to MGM (takes 30 minutes), but my DH doesn't like that long boatride either.

And AK....need I say more?

But again, just my humble opinion.

 

[rcraw45425]

Having stayed at all three monorail resorts the only really long wait times we ever experienced was for DTD and MGM from the Poly and that was because we arrived as the bus was pulling away. Our bad luck.

ETA the worst transportation we ever experienced was at POFQ. We waited 45 minutes for the boat to DTD, and there were always issues with the buses to the parks. Give me a shared monorail resort bus over that any day!

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

We just returned from our first stay at the Poly and had a wonderful time but we hated the buses!! The bus service was absolutely horrible - we waited 30 min for AK, and DTD buses and 20 min for MGM. We loved the Poly and if we ever stay at a monorail resort again we will have to make sure we drive our car or rent a car because of the poor bus transportation. However I think next trip we would like to try the Boardwalk or Beach and Yacht Club resorts

 

[MrsJ Henry]

I think you really have to evaluate what parks you are going to go to and what kind of vacation you want to have.
We are looking to stay on the monorail this time since we now have a toddler and will be spending most of our time at MK. We will be going to Epcot for one evening and MGM for one evening. So it made perfect sense for us to stay at the Poly. (I've been struggling with this for a long time since we LOVE the YC)
Now when we were going just as a couple I don't think we would have ever stayed on the monorail. It just would not have worked for us since we were looking for a different type of vacation.

 

[spiceycat]

the values have the best bus service.

all the deluxes have pretty bad bus service. they share. Now the epcot resorts don't share at busy times - but definitely do in the non-busy times.

if sharing the buses bothers you write to WDW. they can't change a policy that they don't know bothers the guest. Next time also before you leave speak to the manager - tell him/her that you don't appreciate sharing a bus.

generally I just plan my trips if the MK is the main one - then VWL (hopefully one day CRV), if Epcot then either BCV or BWV - if AK then AKV.

if everything then either OKW or SSR. bus service everywhere from them.

 

[Mcbruns]

the values have the best bus service.

all the deluxes have pretty bad bus service. they share. Now the epcot resorts don't share at busy times - but definitely do in the non-busy times.

if sharing the buses bothers you write to WDW. they can't change a policy that they don't know bothers the guest. Next time also before you leave speak to the manager - tell him/her that you don't appreciate sharing a bus.

generally I just plan my trips if the MK is the main one - then VWL (hopefully one day CRV), if Epcot then either BCV or BWV - if AK then AKV.

if everything then either OKW or SSR. bus service everywhere from them.

I think the values have the worst bus service. I have never seen longer lines for buses than at the values! Before ME, we always rented a car. If we were to stay value again, we would definitely rent one.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

WOW how can I be reading the there is a Bus problem at WDW now that the new system is in place .

I agree the DTD buses from everywhere are just bad. I think they do this to discourage the parking at and then riding into a resort for transfer.

I had no problems whatso ever at the POFQ buses in Oct , SSR was Ok in DEc and this June from the BCV they were well Lost and confused most of the time.

The bus drivers didn't seem to want or understand what the system was telling them. They just wanted to go where they were use to going. I even mentioned that the display was reading S/D and he insisted on going to BW and wondered (OutLoud) why he didn't get the greeting upon arrival. Then he turned around as I told him his display only had S/D and BC on it when we boarded no BW. We also had a few that didn't know what entrances to use to get into those resorts and had to make u turns in areas not made to do so with a bus.

 

[mbtileguy]

WOW i was thinking of paying the big bucks to stay at one of these resorts , my thinking was you will be paying big bucks so the buses will be beter than the other resorts.........but i guess every resort has a bus problems which i just dont understand ! they can make you feel like you are surrounded by priates are really in space or flying through california on a
hand glider, but they cant get people from one place to another for $400.00 a night in a timely manner i makes me mad , it was so bad on our july trip to pofq that my 12 yr old dont want to go back any time soon. lets face it we all know they need to have more buses more often and what does that mean to disney $$$$$ and they are cheap they really dont care about there guests i have complained to them till i was blue in the face they dont get it.
they have been saying they are fixing the bus problem but thats bull.
just add 2 buses to every route and it will be fixed. they have the money they just dont care . heck i would even pay a bus tax to go towards them buying more buses and paying more drivers. figure it out if they added a surcharge for every resort guest of say $5.00 per day times all the guests i am sure they could buy more buses and drivers the five bucks or so is not alot when you are paying $ 400.00 a night or $3.00 for a bottle of water.
its not rocket science.

 

[spiceycat]

I think the values have the worst bus service. I have never seen longer lines for buses than at the values! Before ME, we always rented a car. If we were to stay value again, we would definitely rent one.

next time, time it with a stop watch. yes, there are a ton of people at the value resorts. but WDW also gives them more buses.

at Pop the most time we waited for a bus to anywhere was 10 minutes. Now coming back from the MK it was 18 minutes - but you should have seem the line in front of us.

the lines at the value resort are long - but when one bus can't take everyone generally there is another bus waiting before the first bus leaves. Love that!!!

 

[spiceycat]

I had no problems whatso ever at the POFQ buses in Oct , SSR was Ok in DEc and this June from the BCV they were well Lost and confused most of the time.

The bus drivers didn't seem to want or understand what the system was telling them. They just wanted to go where they were use to going. I even mentioned that the display was reading S/D and he insisted on going to BW and wondered (OutLoud) why he didn't get the greeting upon arrival. Then he turned around as I told him his display only had S/D and BC on it when we boarded no BW. We also had a few that didn't know what entrances to use to get into those resorts and had to make u turns in areas not made to do so with a bus.

yes I have that problem at both SSR and OKW. the OKW wanted to go back from the Epcot through MK. the SSR wanted to get to SSR through DD from the Mk..... Disney seems to give the worst bus drivers to DVC. or that is my opinion.

the value resort bus drivers so far have not gotten lost - at least not when I was on them.

Once this bus driver won't listen say he knew he where he was going and ended up in Kissimmee.....

either WDW needs to spend more time training the new bus drivers to make sure they understand where they are going. Or putting in more controls. So they can't get lost.

if they get lost, then retrain them again.
a lot of the bus problems are the new drivers.

 

[peachgirl]

We stayed at asm one night on the last night of our trip last year. Never again. It was the single worst bus service experience we ever had.

The best service we ever had was at WL during Christmas season. We never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus going anywhere, most times no wait at all.

I guess we're weird because we actually like the bus system and think it works pretty well. In all our trips to wdw, we've never used a car once we're on property, even when we drive. By the time you get to your hot, hot car then find a spot to park where you're going and get to the entrance, you could've been there on a nice, cool, bus.

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

Having stayed at all three monorail resorts the only really long wait times we ever experienced was for DTD and MGM from the Poly and that was because we arrived as the bus was pulling away. Our bad luck.

I agree! When we stayed at the Poly last month we only waited about 15 minutes tops for a bus to MGM. And even upon trying to leave the parks we only waited about 20 minutes tops.

When I do stay at a Value resort I do have my own rental car because the buses from/to those resorts seem to take five minutes short of eternity.

 

[maxiesmom]

We just returned from our first stay at the Poly and had a wonderful time but we hated the buses!! The bus service was absolutely horrible - we waited 30 min for AK, and DTD buses and 20 min for MGM. We loved the Poly and if we ever stay at a monorail resort again we will have to make sure we drive our car or rent a car because of the poor bus transportation. However I think next trip we would like to try the Boardwalk or Beach and Yacht Club resorts

You will want your car if you stay at a boardwalk area resort too. The bus service is known to be slooow. All of the boardwalk area resorts share busses. We had much better luck with the busses from the Poly than we did with the ones from the Beach Club. While we liked the resort itself, we said never again at the Beach Club unless we had a car.

 

[Sammie]

Bus service to Downtown Disney is bad anywhere you stay. I would never judge a resort's transportation by one incident.

During busier times of the year, the buses from the monorail resorts do not always share. We have stayed at all the Disney resorts and have found transportation to be similar at all locations. Very good at times, lousy at others.

Since transportation from any of them is inconsistent, I would never base my decision to stay there on that.

However when people say they had horrible service, are your expectations reasonable. Disney states buses rotate on a 20 min. schedule. So how can anyone complain when they waited 20 mins for a bus?

As to 30 mins, if that was consistent every time you waited for a bus I would say that was a problem. However if on one day you waited 10 mins. over the schedule time, I would say, big deal, something probably occured along the way to slow them up, possibly several strollers being loaded or possible a handicapped person.

I think some people need to relax and enjoy their vacation.

 

[raven69david]

the values have the best bus service.

all the deluxes have pretty bad bus service. they share.

AKL doesn't share buses; not sure about WL since i've never been to that resort. I'll be using the bus service at our 1 day stay at ASMo before continuing to AKL for 7 add'l days (added a day to our trip, but couldn't get AKL as that saturday 12/8 doesn't qualify for the 40% discount).

 

[Poohbear123]

Last Feb. and had great service via the Busses. I know they were having problems hiring Bus drivers, as some didn't pass the Drug Test, but in Aug. I saw better improvement for Sports busses, not a bad wait for them at all. I am staying at POP next Month and will report back about the Busses.

 

[disneyholic family]

Bus service to Downtown Disney is bad anywhere you stay. I would never judge a resort's transportation by one incident.

During busier times of the year, the buses from the monorail resorts do not always share. We have stayed at all the Disney resorts and have found transportation to be similar at all locations. Very good at times, lousy at others.

Since transportation from any of them is inconsistent, I would never base my decision to stay there on that.

However when people say they had horrible service, are your expectations reasonable. Disney states buses rotate on a 20 min. schedule. So how can anyone complain when they waited 20 mins for a bus?

As to 30 mins, if that was consistent every time you waited for a bus I would say that was a problem. However if on one day you waited 10 mins. over the schedule time, I would say, big deal, something probably occured along the way to slow them up, possibly several strollers being loaded or possible a handicapped person.

I think some people need to relax and enjoy their vacation.

well said