Pros and Cons of Disney busses for transportation??

[jgorman9]

We have been to Disney numerous times but have always driven. We are thinking about flying this time since we can get airline tickets for about $100 per person but, my husband isn't to crazy about the idea of having to ride the Disney buses to get to and from the parks. We will be staying at the Beach Club Villas so we can take the ferry boat to MGM and walk to Epcot.

Do you like or dislike the buses and why?

How long do you have to wait for the buses to pick you up at the hotel? How do we know what bus to get on for the water parks or Disney Market Place.

Thanks for any help!!

 

[Dan Murphy]

I find the buses work fine. I have waited zero time, LOL, ran to catch it, to maybe 10 minutes or so at the outside. All the buses are labeled as to where they are going.

 

[TheWeasel]

I love not having to get in to a car the entire time we are there. No worry about keys, the hot car or finding a good parking spot. The buses run roughly every 20 minutes, so depending when you get to the stop that's the most you are going to wait. Sometimes you may have to stand depending on how crowded the bus is, but with where your staying I would definitely rely on Disney transportation.

 

[kydisneyfans]

The positive:

convenience-they pick you up and drop you off, no need to drive and park a vehicle.
you do not have to use your own gas
the "Disney feeling" of riding the bus to the parks with other families.

The negative:

crowding-most busses are packed like sardines-who wants to stand on a bus to ride after 14 hours on your feet in a theme park.
unreliable arrival times-we have waited over 45 minutes on multiple occasions to a bus-we have even taken busses to neighboring resorts and hiked to ours as we were tired of waiting.

 

[ItGirl753]

I only stayed on property once, but I loved the buses. I was there at a slow time so they weren't very busy. I thought they were so convenient and will only do it that way again, even though my grandparents' house is empty only 30 min away from Disney!

 

[jimmalru80]

We use the WDW bus system 98% of the time. If we have to be somewhere at some EXACT time, we use a cab. It worked for us for our previous nine trips.

 

[dvc at last !]

We fly to Orlando, take the shuttle to WDW and use the transportation on property...
we have always had a good experience.

 

[cristbaby]

We always drive to Disney and we park the car at whatever resort we happen to be staying at and then we take the buses for the entire trip. Great way to go everywhere on Disney property.

 

[mking624]

Pros:
FREE
You don't have to worry about driving on vacation
You don't have to worry about trying to find a parking spot

Cons:
The wait for the bus
It can sometimes be crowded (but honestly, if you've been on your feet all day, another 20 minutes of standing on a bus isn't gonna break you)

 

[Foofness]

My reply mimics ItGirls... We were there for a week for our honeymoon and enjoyed more good things about Disney transportation than bad ... we also went during the off season... I only remember one ride that we had trouble finding seats, but we did find two eventually... We will be flying down and using Disney transportation from the time we get off the plane to the time we get back on it for home... I'd say give it a try... What do you have to lose?... I think you'll have a wonderful trip either way...

Have fun and lots of perfect weather!...

 

[michvin]

that we have had a problem. For some reason, when we were at Wilderness Lodge at Coranado Springs, we couldn't get back to DTD for a long, long, long time. But besides that, we really like them. Always clean, and easy. My husband likes the vacation feeling of not having to drive and with the kids and car seats and all that, the buses are really nice.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Taking Disney Transport Buses from the Contemporary - Disney MGM Studios & Animal Kingdom has never been a problem for my family & I. However we never take them to Downtown Disney, because for some reason we found they take much longer & trying to take one back to the Contemporary we always have seen more All Star Resorts, Port Orleans, Pop Century & Caribbean Beach Buses before the next Contemporary bus would show up. So whenever going to Downtown Disney we take my Dad's Jeep when we drive down in August & rental car when we fly in December.

 

[missymouse]

I agree with what everyone has already said. We took Disney Magical Express from the Orlando Airport to the resort. Each of those buses stops at no more than 3 resorts. Luckily we were the 1st stop.

The CBR Internal Shuttle was the one I became most frustrated with and that was mainly because our first room was so far away from everything including the bus stop and our timing was always such that we would see the bus just leaving Trinidad South as we were rounding the corner which meant we would be waiting 20-30 min. for the next bus.

The only other time I became frustrated is waiting for the bus to DTD, obviously we just missed it but had to wait about 45 min. that one time.

All the other times we waited no more than 10-15 min. and occassionally we would arrive at the bus stop right when the bus pulled up.

Coming home from the parks can get a bit crowded but it wasn't a huge deal.

I think for us relying on Disney transportation was great because we didn't even have to think for a moment about how to get there or worry about getting lost.

 

[GarrettJD]

We always use Disney buses and haven't had a problem with them. The Disney bus system is incredibly efficient given the volume of people that get moved around every day. It's much more efficient than the metro bus here in Memphis, which I had to ride for several years before I got my vehicle.

We've only stayed at the Value resorts, so we take the bus everywhere. The upside to this is that the Valure resorts seem to have more efficient bus transportation than the Moderates and Deluxes.

 

[Michele]

Having used buses on all previous trips while staying on site, we got a great rate in December and decided to try renting a car. I could not believe how much time this saved us. We are one of those families that never has the luck. Like seeing the MK bus pull out right as you are heading to the stop wanting to go there. And going in September, staying at YC, the bus stops at all 5 epcot area resorts, then Blizzard Beach before heading to AK. This took about 1 hr 15 min, from YC to AK. With a car it's about 15 min. 1 hour can get you a lot of other things done in the park.

The parking with a car is SO easy, you don't drive around the lot looking for a space. They direct you to the place they are parking, everyone in line going in parks in the same section, trams are waiting right there to take you right to the park. On the way out the tram ride is a little longer because they more stops, because the people leaving parked in all different places.

I do have to say we went in December, so didn't realy have the HOT car to deal with, it might be different when we go back in Sept but we plan to rent again.

 

[CanadianPaco]

We've done both and have to say that having the car was very nice. Yes, we didn't use it every day to every park. But we had options. When we stayed at All Stars, we found the buses to be great. Less so at Pop. But that was our impression. I like having options! Time saving was worth it though!

 

[Puffy2]

In all honesty, you will wonder why the heck you ever bothered to take the car. For the amount of time you will spend getting your car, driving it, parking farther out in the lot and walking to the park - you could have just taken one of the hotel buses.

The buses come about every 20 min (sometimes sooner). It's a great system. Especially with staying at an Epcot resort - you really won't need the car unless you plan to leave Disney property.

 

[pixiedust23]

one of my favorite perks is that you can have a glass of wine or 2 or 7 with dinner and there is no problem getting back to your room!

 

[LUVMICKEY]

We have always used the bus transportation. Even when we drive to Disney we park the car and that is where it stays until we leave for home. Even if we have to be someplace in a hurry, we call a cab so DH dosen't have to do any driving. It's just what we prefer and we have never had any problems with it. However, I have to say, if your trying to get a bus back to your resort from DTD, it does take a little longer for some reason. We are okay with that, but some people prefer not to wait.

 

[bobcat]

We usually drive down and park the car for the week. I love not having to find a parking place. Also the MK bus drops you off right at the gates, no riding the monorail or the ferry.

The longest wait we always have is DTD.