Real transportation times from the WL

[MainStreetFireman]

The 2008 UOG lists some pretty long travel times to the parks from Wilderness Lodge (averages: MK 26 mins, E 39 mins, MGM 44 mins, AK 47 mins). Are these accurate?

Also, what direct buses can we catch from WL? The Poly had direct buses to everything (besides the Monorail), so I had hoped that there would also be direct buses from WL.

TIA for your helpful responses!

 

[oneterrificshopper]

We just got back from a stay at the Wilderness Lodge and the transportation to/from the parks was not bad at all. In fact, just the opposite was true - we never waited more than a few minutes for a boat/bus, and there were very few stops if any to other resorts.

The MK boat always seemed to be sitting there or pulling up as we walked up - luck of the draw I guess. It took less than 10 minutes to get to the MK by boat and about 5 min by bus. If you have to wait on either just factor in the wait time. The buses were pretty frequent and we did not wait long at all, ever.

Same story on the buses to Epcot. It took about 10-15 min. to get there by bus.

The bus to Animal Kingdom was the only somewhat negative experience. We went on an EMH day and the bus was packed, we had to stand, and there were tons of people who could not get on. Funny thing is, everyone waiting on a bus that morning was going to AK, there was no one waiting for MK or Epcot. Maybe we should have gotten off and gone to one of those parks! Anyways, it was a looooooong ride and it stopped at Blizzard Beach on the way, but very few got off. It took about 20 minutes to get there I guess, but it felt like longer given it was so crowded and miserable.

The bus to DTD was pulling up too as we walked out, so again, just lucky timing. The bus ride coming back was bad though. The AC in the bus had gone out and it was like being locked in a very hot car - my son was almost passing out and we had to pour water on him to wake him up. It was horrible. Not Disney's fault, but they should not be even using a bus like that. We would have gotten off or waited for another bus, but we were pushing it with the timing to get back as we had to catch the Magical Express to the airport.

I don't think you'll have any problems with transportation from what I could tell. We had a great experience (other than the oven ride from DTD) and I had been concerned too.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

We didn't have quite the same experience the OP had. The wait was not bad, but was not what I am used to. We waited about 20 minutes for a bus to MGM. There are only 3 bus stops at WL and the first one is WL to FT Wilderness and shares with the MK bus, the secong bus stop is for AK and Blizzard Beach, and the third bus stop is MGM and DTD and Typhon Lagoon, only the first 2 have a covered area and waiting in the extreme heat for a bus was awful. Now we never experienced a full bus except one evening on the way back from DTD, but we were sharing with FT Wilderness, as many times they do. We also shared a bus with GF several times, but I don't remember which park that was. I am used to the buses at the Values which seem to come every 5 to 10 minutes. We olny took the boat to MK one time and It was pulling up as we got there, and it had to go to FT. Wilderness before we went to MK. If you have an early morning reservation, do not take the boat, it doesn't start running until 8:00am. We found out the hard way. DH was told it starte running at 6:45am, but that is the direct boat to CR, and because I use an ECV, they couldn't accomodate us, but hte buses start running about 6:45am. Those travel times are abit out of the ordinary. It took 5 minutes to get to the MK, even the day we picked up people at GF it never took more than 15 to 20 minutes to get to our destination, but never count on what happens to others, because things happen that no one can control. Now if I remember correctly it was the DTD bus that we shared with GF on the way to DTD, but on the way back, it stopped at FW first, the WL, then GF.

Suzanne