PBH Transportation Question: Help!

[JMB]

My family's first trip is coming up in 3 weeks, and I'm worrying about using our time wisely. We're staying in a Club room at the PBH (don't have an assigned room yet).

Here's the question: How long will it take us to get from the hotel to the parks via water taxi (which I assume is the fastest w/o a car)?

Related question: Does it make sense to plan on leaving the park to go back to the hotel for a short break in the late afternoon if the park is open only until 8pm?

Thanks for any info. you could give!

 

[calgarygary]

The water taxi will take maybe 5-10 minutes to get to the parks and because you are so close, it makes complete sense to return to the rooms if you want a rest or a swim. Unless you are leaving Universal property to shop or visit other parks, there will be no need to take your car out of the parking lot.

 

[Motherfletcher]

We have raced to the Studios from the club lounge and the resort bus won hands down. I've seen where the boat has a half hour wait for the next boat to dock. The distance from the club to the boat dock and from the CityWalk docks to the park is substantially greater than from the club to the bus stop and the bus drop off to the turnstiles. The bus picks up near the entrance to the lobby to the left as you exit. There are normally several taxis sitting in the loop. The bus is may be the only transportation if it is raining and it is air conditioned. The bus drops off near the Studios entrance behind Hard Rock.

We leave the park between 11 and noon to return to the hotel because that is the peak arrival time and the parks start to fill up. We return after a nap or swim around 3 to 4 when most are starting to leave the parks.

 

[The DVC Doctor]

subscribing

 

[JMB]

Thanks for the responses.

I have seen complaints that the buses are a problem, because they run on an infrequent/mysterious/unreliable schedule. Is that a problem? How regularly are buses and water taxis supposed to make the trip (and what do they really do)?

Thanks again!

 

[Motherfletcher]

The bus runs a route to all hotels and the US drop off. The boat runs from the resort boat dock to the boat dock at CityWalk. The bus runs a fifteen minute loop and they differ from the boat in that they can take you directly where you are going. The boat can fill up but the bus only does when it is raining. Sometimes they run 2 boats.

 

[goofy!]

The bus runs a route to all hotels and the US drop off. The boat runs from the resort boat dock to the boat dock at CityWalk. The bus runs a fifteen minute loop and they differ from the boat in that they can take you directly where you are going. The boat can fill up but the bus only does when it is raining. Sometimes they run 2 boats.

I don't know if things have changed since then, but when we were at PBH in November, it was posted that the busses only ran every half hour. We never waited more than 10 minutes for a boat - except at park closing. Then everybody files out of the parks and stands in line for the boats. While the boats still were running every 10 minutes, it might take 3 boats before it is your turn to load. If that is the case, we usually walk the 15 minute walk back to the hotel.

We also raced the busses one night. We picked it up at the loop by the Studios. We boarded and the rest of our party hiked back to the PBH. After stopping first at RPR, then HRH, by the time we got back to our room (quite the hike from the bus drop off to the west wing), the party that had walked had returned and were completely showered.

So, in our case, the busses were a hit and miss thing. The one thing I did like is that occasionally, when the boat lines at the end of the day were long, there was a transportation supervisor in line with us. He would announce when a bus for PBH was waiting in the loop. If we wanted to leave the boat line and head over to the bus, he would radio the bus and let them know that x amount of people were heading over to the busses and to wait for them. It was very nice to have a choice.

 

[Motherfletcher]

Going to the park from the hotel should be different. The bus will be empty. Its unlikely that someone would be going to another resort unless they would be going to have breakfast. The bus schedules could have changed or they may change for peak times. When we rode there was a bus for every hotel. They had the hotel ads shrink wrapped on the sides.
Coming home at night is a lot different, I've even seen the PBH boat stop at HRH. I know a captain that was wrote up for that but they stopped. Coming home (to the resort) at night on the bus is different too.

 

[JMB]

Thanks again, Everybody!

I'd be happy to hear others' experiences, too.

It sounds like there are a number of variable, but all this info makes me feel like I can make some judgments based on them.

 

[robvia]

When people like me say shuttle buses are spotty at best, I'm talking about offsite hotel shuttle buses. The onsite buses are a different story and run on a regular basis. Of coarse there will be peak times when everyone crowds the buses or boats.

The walk from USF to the west wing of the PBH is 13 minutes. The boat is faster if you don't have to wait that long, but the walk isn't that bad if everything is crowded.

As to leaving in the afternoon even if the parks close at 8pm, yes, it's still a good idea to go back to your room and rest. People have this idea they need to spend an entire day in the park. I find that 3-4 hours is plenty, then my feet need a rest. And if you notice, the most packed time of the park is 11am-4pm. The attack plan I tell everyone is to show up early, stay until 1pm, go back to your room and rest, then return at 4-5pm.