Resort Buses

[connie1042]

Reading all the reports of good and bad bus service at the resorts, really makes no sense to me. The buses run every 20 min. or so. The buses are running all the time. If you decides to leave at the right time and the right bus pulls up, you say the bus service was great. If you leave your resort at the wrong time and you missed the last bus and have to wait 20 min. the bus service is lousy. It really has nothing to do with the buses. It has to do with when you decide to leave and catch it. I guess I am a pretty laid back person and use the bus to relax. It is a great time to people watch and watch and listen to the little ones talk about what they are going to do that day, or what they did. The bus service is a great Disney service, and there is no reason to complain about them.

 

[aidtrismommy]

I agree. It is all in the timing. Some times people hit it just right, other times there is minimal waiting involved. Either way, I am with my family and it doesn't make a big deal to me. There is so much to talk about and to look at.

 

[jworkkul]

I totally agree with this. When I am on vacation I don't want to think about driving to anywhere. So, it might take a little more time to go somewhere but I am not a park "commando". I take it easy and relax on my vacation. I have met some really great people from all over the country on those buses and still write to them. Sometimes we all just have to relax and learn to smell the roses and take it easy.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I agree, timing is everything but sometimes we have waited over 40 minutes for a bus to a park....that is a transportation issue...and sometimes you will get 4 Epcot buses at once and not one MK bus

 

[Geoff_M]

Reading all the reports of good and bad bus service at the resorts, really makes no sense to me. The buses run every 20 min. or so. The buses are running all the time. If you decides to leave at the right time and the right bus pulls up, you say the bus service was great. If you leave your resort at the wrong time and you missed the last bus and have to wait 20 min. the bus service is lousy. It really has nothing to do with the buses. It has to do with when you decide to leave and catch it.

We've generally had good luck with the bus service at WDW, but when I have had less than good service it's had nothing to do with the wait time for the next bus to pull up. It's had to do to with things like:
- Resorts sharing buses and it seemingly taking 10 stops to get to your destination.
- Buses arriving at your stop already full or only having room for a handful of people.
- Related to the first point, taking 50 minutes to get from point A to point b when it's only 15 in your own car (ex. bus from WL to DTD).

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I agree it's a timimng issue because there have been times when my family and I happen to be walking towards the bus station and the one we were going on was right there. However there have been other times when the bus we wanted to go on was just starting to drive away and we just ended up missing it by a few seconds.

 

[Dani C]

It really has nothing to do with the buses. It has to do with when you decide to leave and catch it.

This is usually the case, but not always. I know (as I have experienced it) that there are times when people are waiting for well over an hour (I was there over an hour and others on the bus claimed they were there around thirty minutes longer than we were) at the bus stop before a bus shows up that is headed to their destination. In my case, I was at CSR and was trying to get to DTD. I am not saying that this is the norm, just saying that it does happen from time to time and I can well understand the guests becoming a bit frustrated over it.

 

[madalex]

While timing is part of the issue, I think people generally understand that a wait of up to 20 minutes is possible. I do not think people think the bus service is lousy if they have to wait 20 minutes for the bus on a few occasions. Where people get upset is some of the other isssues that people have posted (such as repeated waits of longer than 20 minutes, several buses for one park before a single bus for another park shows up, buses that stop at more than one resort and, as a result show up full at a resort so that no one else can get on, etc.).

I, for one, think the bus service is just fine, but blaming complaints solely on bad timing misses the point.

 

[Calgary DISHeads]

I agree, timing is everything but sometimes we have waited over 40 minutes for a bus to a park....that is a transportation issue...and sometimes you will get 4 Epcot buses at once and not one MK bus

Agreed. I have no issue waiting but it always seems, no matter what park we pick it seems to be the one running the least amount of buses that day.

So what do I do... book AKL who ONLY has bus service to the parks! Guess I'm a sucker for punishment.

 

[Geoff_M]

...several buses for one park before a single bus for another park shows up...

Yep, had that too now that you mention it. Last trip we waited well over half an hour after the closing of AK for the bus back to OKW. I can understand buses coming more frequently for some of the mega-resorts like All-Stars and Pop, but by the time our bus pulled up our queue at the bus depot was the only one with any real line waiting. All of the other queues were long empty or only had one family waiting. We had the same thing happen coming back from DTD one night too about the time the stores closed. Again, we like the buses and generally don't have any problems with them, but about 10% of the time, it sure takes a long time.

 

[Missytara]

There are times when you will wait about twenty to thirty minutes for a bus, and then two will show up. There are times when you do wait a long time, but I think those occasions are rare on an entire trip; but people probably do focus on that one bad ride instead of all the good rides they had. It is basic human nature.

Funny, I took my mom a few years ago, and she insisted we ride the water taxi from POR to DTD every night, even if we just walked around one or two shops for a while - she absolutely loved it. She loved the long, leisurely ride from DTD to POFQ and all the cool local vegetation and birds that we saw. She loved stopping at POFQ and seeing the people walking around the resort between POFQ and POR and then finally landing at the marina at POR. She just went on and on how wonderful it was to end the night each evening.

We had to laugh because one night a lady and her husband, seated behind us, complained the entire trip about how it took so long to get back to the resort. Why do they drive so slow? Why did they have to stop so many times at POFQ, why didn't POFQ have their own boat? Why don't they go faster and why do we have to endure hearing endlessly about all the local vegetation and birds when we should put the pedal to the medal and get back.....

We all see things in life differently!

 

[Geoff_M]

We all see things in life differently!

I agree, but you gotta admit that when you're dealing with kids that are hungry and wet from riding Kali River Rapids (and it's starting to cool off out) the bus can't come soon enough for you as a parent! It kinda makes an impression!

 

[Calgary DISHeads]

Or you are standing holding a sleeping child in your arms and no one will get up and give you a seat!!!

 

[Missytara]

So true; I haven't been lucky enough to travel with children, so I can imagine it can be a chore.....gee, wet, hungry, I would probably feel the same way!

 

[MusiqChic99]

Or you are standing holding a sleeping child in your arms and no one will get up and give you a seat!!!

Luckily we found several families that were more then willing to give my 3 year old a seat. He didn't understand why I wasn't sitting too and cried for me to sit down and others gave up a seat for me. I could have held my son on my lap but the people said no it's ok, give him a seat. (He loved the buses and sitting up like a big boy) I was VERY greatful to those families who were so understanding of my son's temperment...even after I told them I didn't have to sit too!

I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I would have given you my seat...actually I had at least 5 other people in my party that would have given you there seat!

There were times it seemed like forever to get a bus but overall we would much rather wait for a bus then drive ourselves. It feels more like a vacation to us. We liked the boats at POR too...so relaxing, it almost makes you forget where you are going.

Thought I would share this though....I have read many articles on the Dis about bus drivers going fast. I dont know how many times my family was happy they were fast, especially after we'd get a driver that thought 10 mph was the speed limit everywhere!

 

[figment_jii]

I agree that part of the bus complaints are about wait times, but there is something to be said for the problem when the buses arrive full or nearly full and getting a seat is unlikely. This is my main complaint about the buses: the lack of seating; most of the buses seemed to be designed to have the fold-up seats, which limits the number of seats. I'm NOT saying that there should be less space for wheelchairs and ECVs, but something needs to be done about making it easier (and possible) for shorter individuals to stand comfortably (and safely) on the bus. I can barely reach the strap that hangs from the overhead hand-rail. The joke about hanging onto the person in front of you wasn't that far off base for me (luckily it was a family member).

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

The buses never bother me. I used to take public transportation all the time when we lived in Atlanta. So I was used to waiting for buses and trains.

When DD9 and I did our mother/daughter trip and when I did my solo trip, we were strictly disney transport since I didn't rent a car.

My solo trip was fine. No transport issues and I loved the boat from POR to DTD. I don't remember having to stand up on the bus at all but then I was going to the parks really early and getting back late at night.

The worst was during the Mother/Daughter trip. We stayed at Pop. The buses were always full and the only way we could get a seat was to always wait for the next bus since we have bad bus mojo and never seemed to board a bus when there was still sitting room. Mostly we just dealt with it and stood alot while I got to enjoy DD's complaints. DD who is now 10, never wants to stay at Pop again because she didn't like standing on the bus most of the time.

When it's the whole family, we just take our car everywhere except MK. It's faster, we always get a seat and don't have to hear our kids complain about waiting for a bus (even if it's only for 10 minutes. LOL) For MK we still use the bus system since it avoids the whole monorail/boat thing which is an issue for DH. (he doesn't like the boat.)

 

[aurorae]

I loved POFQ, but it often seemed the boat going to DTD is already full when it leaves POR so they take zero or very few people at POFQ and we ended up waiting a long time.

Not a big deal, if I was in a hurry I wouldn't have taken the boat anyway, would have gone by bus or taxi.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I have only stayed at resorts that just have bus service and I don't mind it one bit. I think riding on the bus to and from the parks is part of being at Disney.

I had a couple complaints last December when we stayed at AKL (it was the beginning of the month and not Christmas week so the crowds weren't that bad.) The longest line each morning was for Magic Kingdom and unless you timed it perfectly you had a long wait because not everyone in line was going to get on the one bus that did come. I felt that considering that AKL is the farthest resort from MK and that MK is the most popular park that it wouldn't have hurt to have two buses running to that park for maybe an hour before it opens at least.

I hope this doesn't get anyone mad because that is definitely not my intention but I also had a problem with us having waited for a while for a bus and just as we're about to get on it, a wheelchair comes down the ramp and right to the lift of the bus. So we had to wait for the wheelchair to get loaded then that persons party loads the bus as well. My mother uses a wheelchair in the parks because of a prosthetic leg so I have all the sympathy in the world for anyone in a wheelchair but she gets on and off the bus herself and rents in the parks. I just felt like the person in the wheelchair should have gotten in line and waited like everyone else until it was his or her turn to load the bus.

 

[Minnie*bell]

Ya, I could care less. I like the option to not have to rent a car. plus they r clean & so easy to use. I'll stand for 15 min if I have to. Course I stand at my job all day anyways.