Resort Buses - good & bad (lately)

[ParrotBill]

I will report our last week experience, interested to see others post recent bus service quality at other resorts too.

We stayed at Saratoga Springs, Grandstands section, last week. We like this location because it is the first stop for the park routes, and second for the Downtown Disney route.

We found bus service was quite good in the morning, because they had 2 buses on standby in our parking lot and a transport cast member tracking all buses every morning! We actually saw them activate one of those buses one morning when our park bus was overdue 10 minutes.

Afternoon and evening was a different story. We had several afternoon park pickups go quite a bit longer than 30 minutes, with big queues waiting for Saratoga Springs while watching the 2nd and 3rd buses for the other stops come in.

Worst was the Downtown Disney bus route. At prime time, 5pm-7pm, we had a 30+ minute wait, and for one of them a family waited 50 minutes. Twice, after loading up the bus to an uncomfortable level, a second DD bus pulled in (empty) as we left. The wait and bunching happened at both Saratoga Springs and at the DD stops.

Overall, bus service was good but not excellent, with a notable defect about once per day instead of once per week as we'd seen in the past.

 

[VAN]

From my experience staying at the Value resorts over the last couple years has been similar to your's at SS.

In fact, my DH and I were at ASSports last September and decided to rent a car in future. It is just too frustrating; especially if you want to go from resort to resort. We rented a car in March 2009 and had a much more relaxing trip. We have booked a car, also, for our Sept 2009 visit as well.

If I HAD TO, I could do the buses, but it just adds to the stress level for me. Maybe old age, hum?

 

[sue1013]

We were at SS the 16th to 23rd. Since we were in Congress Park we didn't use the bus to DD it's a short walk. The only time the wait seemed long was returning from Epcot it was pouring rain there were about 20 of us waiting. I say the wait seemed long I think because of the rain but when I actually checked the time it was only 15 minutes. We only went to opening one day and there was no problem we didn't expect to get a seat but we did.

 

[Pignanny]

We are coming down this June 13th, and we will be using WDW Transportation, but I must admit over the past few years I have noticed a significant drop in Disney Transportation service. The claim of "a bus every 10 minutes" is isn't necessarily true any longer and depending on where you are, the time you could wait could be very very long. We have had a couple of scenarios where it has taken us over an hour to get from the Boardwalk to MK (which is insane). The frustration of dealing with the transportation has literally cause taken all of the spark and thrill out of going to the destination several times.
I keep reading articles and seeing surveys from and by Disney on "how they can improve". Well it's my opinion that improving their transportation is a big area of opportunity. This is not meant to be too harsh, but the reality is if you're using Disney Transportation it's just too frustrating to know that if you have reservations to eat in a park you better leave your room at least 90 minutes in advance or you run the risk of not getting there vs. if you have a car you can leave 40 minutes in advance and be there, likely with time to spare.
The other major area of opportunity Disney has is to find a way to implement transportation between resorts. Anyone who goes to WDW knows the resorts have much to offer especially when it comes to great places to eat, but moving between resorts via WDW Transportation is worse than having a root canal. I know this is something that has been brought up before, but I also know there is no guest that is familiar with the resorts that would not welcome this improvement. As it is today, if you are staying someplace such as Old Key West but want to eat at Boma's (Animal Kingdom Lodge) Disney will tell you something to the effect of "you need to take a bus to the ticket and transportation center. From there catch a bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge". Good luck with that. You better give yourself 2 hours for that or you will not make your reservation. Of course you could always just go to one of the parks and hop a bus from there......hmmmm......not any faster. I know, we have tried.
Anyway, as I said when I started we will use WDW transportation this time around, but that's only because we are doing a short trip. I have to say though If this were a normal trip a we would rent a car (I would not even hesitate) as we have the previous 3 trips. When you do that, all of your parking is free...everywhere. The negatives are you don't get dropped off at the bus stop, you need walk, or take the trams in the parking lots (not a big deal). Another negative is learning your way around WDW property, but that only takes a couple trips around to get it down. The biggest negative about renting a car is the fact that you have to pay to rent it, where as Disney Transportation is free. With that said though, how much is your time worth to you? A car will get you wherever you want to go in generally 20 minutes, no waiting and no additional stops. Many times you might wait much longer than that just to get on the bus you're looking for, then you need to make all the other stops etc before you finally reach your destination.
If you don't want to pay for a car or if you don't want to drive yourself around that's fine Disney WILL get you there in good fashion. Just keep your expectations realistic when using the bus.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The claim of "a bus every 10 minutes" is isn't necessarily true any longer

Respectfully, in all the years I've been visiting Disney I've never heard that claim. It's always, as far as I know (and according to various Transportation Managers with whom I've spoken) been about every twenty minutes.

I should not have to disclaim my response, but I am NOT defending Disney and I don't believe they can do no wrong. The above-mentioned conversations were initiated due to my own displeasure with bus "bunching" and delays.

 

[TraceyDisney2008]

We just stayed at POR May18-26 and never waited longer than 5 minutes when leaving West Depot, the longest we waited in line at the parks was 13 minutes and that was after illuminations at Epcot. Maybe we just got lucky but I can't say a bad thing about the buses, sometimes we were too early for our dinner reservations because we allowed too much time.

 

[kaytieeldr]

As it is today, if you are staying someplace such as Old Key West but want to eat at Boma's (Animal Kingdom Lodge) Disney will tell you something to the effect of "you need to take a bus to the ticket and transportation center. From there catch a bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge". Good luck with that. You better give yourself 2 hours for that or you will not make your reservation. Of course you could always just go to one of the parks and hop a bus from there......hmmmm......not any faster. I know, we have tried.

Since no buses travel between resorts and the TTC, it's unlikely Disney would advise anyone to transfer there. Transferring at a park makes perfect sense, though.

Many of the complaints come from Guests not accustomed to using public transportation - which, really, is to what Disney transportation is equivalent. Frequently, transfers are required; in addition, given that it is shared transit, personalization is both difficult and expensive. Guests wishing direct, relative door-to-door transportation have the option of personal/rental vehicles, taxis, or (preplanned) car services.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

We were there May 11-22 and thought the busses were pretty good.
We went to Typhoon Lagoon almost every day and noticed that service when we left the park between 12 and 1 or so was slow. We joked our bus driver must be out to lunch then because we saw some resorts have 2 or 3 busses come through while we waited for ours.
A CM was at the bus stop at the Boardwalk every morning. She asked families where they were going and seemed to radio for more busses as needed.
I did think the busses coming from Downtown Disney around 10 at night were too crowded. We did Disney Quest alot and when the busses got to the Pleasure Island stop they were always full from the Marketplace stop. They need to have separate busses or not serve Swan/Dolphin/Yacht/Beach/Boardwalk.
Overall we were pleased and think we got places faster than walking to our car, driving, parking, and walking to the entrance. And the bus was alot cooler than our hot car!