Poor Bus Transportation - Updated with Pictures

[IDoDis]

Great trip report! I'm sorry you had such a bad time with the transportation. We were there from May 23-31st (stayed at POP) and had absolutely no problems with the buses (including Memorial Weekend). The longest we waited for a bus was 15 min. at MGM because the bus was pulling out just as we turned the corner to see the bus stop. Usually we only waited 5 to 10 min. for a bus. We started out allowing for extra time, but didn't need it. We'd leave our room at Pop Century at 5:00 and arrived at our MGM restaurant for 5:30 ADRs. We DID NOT visit the the parks on EMH days though. Those bus lines were always the longest, while our bus lines were minimal. It wasn't worth the crowds to do the EMH and we still had plenty of time to see and do everything (especially since the parks we chose were less crowded). We also had earlier ADR's so there was never a crowd or wait to eat.

Hopefully you will have better luck next time should you decide to visit again!

 

[Kellyscrapbooks]

When we went in April our transportation problems were HUGE. We added it all up the last day (while waiting for a bus) and realized that due to the time we spent waiting for the buses we could have spent another entire day in a park. We will never ride their buses again. That being said, I loved the monorail too!
I guess sometimes it just seems to happen that way, but we were there for a week too, and we only once had less than a 40 minute wait to get on the bus (that's not counting the travel time to the park or hotel) One day, trying to get to MGM, we waited over an hour for one just to arrive. It happens I guess, I'm sorry it happened to you too, I was hoping it was just a fluke for us.
I'm glad that most people seem to have no issues with the transporation, we just know we won't use it again. I'd rather drive!

 

[brumley5]

Our first stay was at the Carribean in mid Dec 2001; I noticed that even where you caught your bus made a difference if you got a seat or not. Although most of the bus rides were not too full during that time period.

Fast forward to my planning for our trip in May 2004 and lots of viewing on this board, I believe I found what the wait/ bus ride times are like to/from hotels and parks and etc. (DTD,etc.) I thought that was great to know beforehand.

There were pros & cons just like there is for this post but I finally decided to rent because of the cost of the car rental versus

---- the cost per day if we possibly decided to do taxis instead of the
bus system
---- the parking was free at the parks (that was a perk at the time for
Disney Vacation Club owners) as well as the hotel.
---- we were staying at the Boardwalk so we could do a grocery stop as
soon as we picked up our car rental at the airport.
---- having our own car got us to the hotel from the airport that much
faster! (We'd taken a shuttle in '01 where we were the LAST stop!)
---- the convenience and choice to hop in the car or walk/take the bus
sytem to anyplace.

Of course, this only works out as long as you rent early enough before your trip to get a good rate! ( I rent early on and then check periodically as time goes on & sometimes you do find lower rates - if you don't then at least you will have locked down a lower rate to begin with as the rates get higher the closer you are to your date.)

We are due back at the Boardwalk this Mon June 19th through the 26th and have again decided to rent a car. Husband has a convention at the Grand Hyatt so some days he'll drive himself and we'll walk to Epcot or MGM or even walk through through Epcot to get to the Transportation Station to go to MK and some days we may just drop him off and use the car to go to AK or MK and so forth.

I figure with it being June and the heat and the majority of kids are out of school (and therefore more families taking vacations) then we will not want to deal with the buses!!!!

 

[joyeric]

We just spent 8 days at POR and can not complain once about the bus system. My DH and I loved not having to worry about directions or traffic, and we never waited more then 15 minutes for any bus we used.

 

[DeterminedOne]

This thread got me to thinking about why I love the monorail resorts. More transportation options creates less hassle, especially when trying to get from resort to resort. All you have to do is take a boat to MK (or walk from Contemporary) and catch a resort bus from there. This was one of my biggest arguments when trying to get DH to switch our ressies from YC to Poly. I know the deluxe resorts are expensive, but the location and transportation options can't be beat!

 

[IDoDis]

The All Star resorts share the buses. I believe that Sports gets picked up first. That could be why you waited so long for buses. Pop Century is the only value resort that has its own bus so there was never a long wait (average 5 minutes) IF you don't go to the EMH parks. A lot of problems can be fixed by not doing EMH parks. Sounds like on some days you missed the EMH opening, but went to the EMH park anyways and then were back in your room in the evening and didn't take advantage of the EMH hours. Don't torture yourself by going to the EMH parks, as those are always the most crowded. Maybe next time you could plan your ADR's around the parks that are not EMH parks. Sorry it was so awful!

 

[TikiGoddess]

Hey H-Traveler!
Good report and your pics turned out great! Looks like you made a good investment in the new camera. Sorry to hear about your bad bus experience, we lucked out w/it when we were there, but from the comments it looks like it's hit or miss. I was glad to hear you liked El Rio del Tiempo...my kids love that ride. Woody (the oldest) yelled, "Hola! We're back!" every time we rode it. As if the CMs were just standing around waiting for our imminent return. A HUGE THANKS for the postcard. Woody and Buzz were beyond thrilled that the mouse asked after them. I still want to see the pic of Sam getting slobbered on by Pluto. Reading your report got me all geared up for our trip in January! Was Fantasmic better than Spectromagic? We ran out of energy last time before we saw it. Also, did you think the Fantasmic pkg was worth it? Well, I'll talk to you soon! Be sure and do your dining review...I'd like to read it.

Holly

 

[H Traveler]

Hey there TikiGoddess! Thanks for the post. I think Fantasmic was better than the SpectroMagic parade because you get to sit the entire time (for the parade we were standing at the railroad station for two hours) and all the views are good. Of course, the closer you sit, the better.

It was really neat how they projected images on the water mist, they also had floats go by in the lagoon with characters (like a parade on water), and at the end they lit the entire lagoon on fire with a large dragon coming out of the rock behind the stage. Really cool! I'll have to post some of my pictures in the new trip report, (day-by-day report). The dinner package allows you to sit in special reserved seating. Basically they roped off one side of the outdoor theater. If the park is busy I would definately take this option, but you should still get there about 30 minutes before hand.

The buffet at Holleywood and Vine was good. A lot of variety, meat and potatoes type stuff. Atmosphere could have been better. Basically, we chose the dinner package because we wanted the reserved seating and Hollywood and Vine was the least expensive option.

 

[Disneynut71]

Just coming home from Disney and using Disney bus system for 8 days. I have two kids and a stroller and let me tell you how fun it is to get on and off a bus. I have learned quickly how to use the system and how much time it will take to get to where I want to go.

I stayed at OKW. If I was eatting at a resort I took the first bus that came (DTD, MK, EPCOT, MGM) and then hopped to the resort after. To some areas you could use a boat or monarail instead of the boat.

Bottom line the bus is never the fastest and you have to plan for it. If you can't wait rent a car or you will only get mad in the end.

 

[H Traveler]

I am all about planning. (See first paragraph in trip report). I alloted at least an hour to get to restaurants from our resort. I just think it is ridiculous that it takes an hour and a half to get somewhere (using Disney bus transportation) that is only a mile away from our resort! (Boma for instance). I think it would be nice if Disney would design a pedestrian system that linked the resorts with the nearby theme parks/resorts. Maybe this is already in the works. It would have been good excercise to walk or ride a bike to dinner.

To all those who had no problem with the bus transportation, that is fantastic! I think it is definately a great service for those that have young children and/or don't mind the wait. For us however, we will wait for our kids to be old enough to walk and carry their own bags before we visit WDW again, and then we will rent a car!

Oh, and for all of you who can afford to stay in the nicer resorts , I don't think bus transportation is a problem for you. The resorts next to Epcot, for example, would have been a great place to stay for us, just not so affordable at this time. (This time was all about seeing the theme parks, not enjoying the amenities at our resort).