Rate the bus system

[Markstudy]

Rate the bus system at Disney World

1)Never had a problem
2)Needs work
3)Needs a lot of work
4)They have recently made improvements


I'm setting up a trip for my brother. He wants to use the bus system, he won't have a car.

He's not sure if he wants a deluxe (animal Kingdom) or a mod or value resort (trying to decide if he wants to spend more of his budget on dining or lodging?)

I thought it might be fun to have a bus system poll

 

[themudd4]

We have had a few problems but nothing that makes us not use them...
Yes I think they are making improvments.

We love not having to worry about how were going to get back and forth. We check in park our car and forget about it until we check out!!!

 

[blue_eyes5212]

I love parking the car and not having to use it again until it is time to go home!!!! Disney transportation does have its problems, just like anything else. I think its important to just be patient while waiting for the buses and plan to leave in plenty of time to make morning ADR's! I look forward to "letting Disney do the driving"!!!

 

[DizneeMommy]

We stayed at the Pop Century in June, and the bus system was terrific! A plus of staying at this resort is that there are NO stops between there and the parks--just straight there or straight back!

 

[plgrn]

There are lots of negatives about the bus system, but considering it's free and considering the magnitude of the parks and property they do a good job. Every visit there is a bus trip that irritates the crap out of us for various reasons, but it's usually only one ride out of the whole trip. Nothing irritating enough for us to stop using the whole service. The problems we run into are rude guests, a screaming child, a line of ECVs and their parties of 10 each or there being standing room only. Half of these problems are completely out of Disney's control and I doubt any improvement can be made in the other areas on such a large scale.

Overall, I give the bus system a B- and will continue to use it.

 

[plgrn]

We stayed at the Pop Century in June, and the bus system was terrific! A plus of staying at this resort is that there are NO stops between there and the parks--just straight there or straight back!

Amen! Pop's service is heavenly

Now Animal Kingdom Lodge...

 

[Markstudy]

I heard Disney was working on a GPS system, that would give you a clock at each bus stop, that would tell you how many minutes until the next bus pulls in.

Only thing I didn't like, was walking up and not knowing.... if we just missed the bus, or the next one was just 2 minutes away

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I voted for really liking it. I was at Sports for a week in early December and the only wait longer than 10 minutes was for a DTD bus. But come on, free transportation, don't have to worry about gas or getting lost or driving while tired or have to worry about having an extra drink. And every once in a while you get an awesome driver who will tell you trivia or give information on what your driving by. DisneyLand can fit inside the MK parking lot? Never been to Disney Land but it makes me appreciate how big the MK parking lot is...and how happy I don't have to look for my car in it cause I'm ridin on a bus

 

[marivaid]

It's fine, and getting better IMO.

Don't expect to get better bus service by staying at a more expensive resort. AKL has its own buses, but WL shares with GF (and sometimes CR), while BC/YC/BWI share as well. We waited 40mns once for a bus to MK from BWI before we gave up and got a cab instead.

 

[ktink]

We really like it. We had no issues at Pop or CSR. In fact, we had a driver during our stay at CSR in Sept 2005 that drove us directly to AKL for a Boma ADR instead of taking us to DTD. It was pouring down rain and we were the only ones on the bus. Then he picked up the folks at AKL that were heading to DTD. I know that certainly doesn't happen much but it was GREATLY appreciated.

 

[Sandy321]

POR we always waited, we'll never stay there again (or at any mod for that matter ) without a car - we stayed at POP - and we'd never use a car, the busses were there every 10 - 15 min in Sept - never crowded, at close of MK they had 4 busses loading the lines - continuous service - very pleasant! All the other places had lines, and one bus loading!!

We stayed WL and Poly - no bus problems!! close of Epcot while staying at WL was no problem!!

 

[ashef]

CSR has fabulous bus service. We were there last summer & never waited long for a bus and had no crowded buses -- most were half full or less.

On the other hand, when we stayed at POR a few years ago, the buses were awful. From the resort to the parks, we always had long waits and the buses were packed when they got to us.

 

[EnnEss]

It's a bus system. It is probably the best system I've ever been on, its reactive, most are not. People have to wait a long time when parks close, but if that's a problem there are always taxis.

It is faster to drive yourself, its about 40 a day more too. You could taxi twice and stay well under that, I usually use the busses at least four times a day, they are relaxing. I don't mind waiting 20 minutes for them the odd time. Once I waited a very long time, over 30, but it happens.

 

[sue1013]

I really think the main reason there are so many complaints about the bus system is most visitors are not used to public transportation. Delays happen alot. Another complaint that shows they have no idea about mass transit is how upset some seem to get if they have to stand. Commuting to the city for years standing is the norm getting a seat is a bonus!
Having said that I do not understand the complaints about waits at park closing times. When do you ever go to a professional sports game, concert, etc and not have huge delays when leaving??

 

[Buzz2001]

I've not had any issues at CSR.

 

[OKW Lover]

We usually have a car available to us and prefer to use that over the bus, with the exception of traveling to the MK. On those trips we don't have a car, we often find ourselves standing at the bus stop wishing we didn't have to wait.

 

[Crazy Kanga]

We have had more problems with bus service at the Epcot area deluxe resorts. I have also heard a lot of complaints from people at the monorail resorts. It seems to me that they should make an effort to cut down on the amount of resorts that share busses. 5 deluxes should not have to share. For the price people pay for a deluxe room, the bus service should run much better than it does.

 

[LSchrow]

we always rent a car, but still use the buses for the parks. (by the time we go to our car, drive to the park, park the car, wait for & take a tram, we could have already been there by bus ). we find the vast majority of bus drivers to be pleasant & informative (btw, we always make sure to greet them upon boarding, & thank them, etc upon departing ~ simple pleasantries we see only a small percentage of guests doing (the ones doing it probably DISners who recognize that the drivers are not animatronics, but real people )
the one huge driving exception is DTD/PI (especially in the eve): we've had too many less than pleasant experiences (staying at the BWVs) on those (drunks, fights, "get a room" goings ons...... lol).

we just take turns being the designated driver for PI trips

 

[sb127]

The only problem that we ever had was at the Poly and that was disappointing because it is a deluxe resort. At the poly the transportation to AK was very slow and having to share with GF and Contemporary made the trip extra long. POR and WL had great service.

 

[maxiesmom]

I voted needs work for a couple of reasons. First, imho, the Boardwalk resorts really shouldn't all share a bus. For the amount of money you pay to stay at a deluxe, it shouldn't be such a long ordeal to get to some of the parks. Can't some of that money go to at least divinding up the resort busses? Y&B have 1 bus, Boardwalk and S&D another? In my 9 trips to the World, the worst bus system was at the Boardwalk hotels.

Second, why does it seem that if you stay at the Port Orleans resorts, busses to pick you up from the parks are so few? Multiple times there would be so many people waiting to get back to the resorts that they wouldn't all fit onto the 1 bus that came. But other resorts would have only a handful of people waiting. It became a joke that we could find our bus stop by how many people were waiting.