Resort w/ best overall transportation to the parks?

[kirasmom]

Hello, Our first time to WDW... we didn't want to rent a car, and were wondering which resort had the best overall transportation to all Disney destinations....MK, Epcot, AK, MGM, + the H20 parks. We're going early March 2008... deluxe a little too pricey for us.... we were looking at CSR, Dolphin, POFQ.... but then read horror sories about buses. Can anyone enlighten us? Are we going to be in awful lines or long bus rides from hell? Are we better off renting a car?

Thanks!

 

[PictureJumpr]

We never rent cars and also (sigh) cannot afford deluxe resorts most of the time...

Usually stay at Caribbean Beach, the bus service has never been nightmarish. Ask for a room in Jamaica if you want to get off first when you are coming back, this is almost always the first stop on the way into the resort. And it's really not that far from the Port Royale main building where the food court/big pool/etc are. This resort is very close to water parks too. The bus ride to epcot is five minutes, MGM is less than ten most of the time, Magic Kingdom is fifteen or so. The longest one - as is true from almost any resort - is Animal Kingdom. Took us about 20 minutes to get out there.

Have also stayed a few times at Port Orleans, although I prefer Riverside to French Quarter. The buses to and from here seemed to be a little worse, not really in travel time but in volume of people waiting to get on them from the parks at the end of the day. I think maybe less people stay at CBR? It isn't talked about nearly as often as the PO's are. The one perk you get here that isn't available at the CBR is the water-taxi to Downtown Disney. It's a fun thing especially with kids, but it moves very slowly and can actually take longer than the bus.

To get our monorail fix, we take a bus to Epcot and ride the monorail (via the TTC) to Magic Kingdom from there.

Hope this helps!

 

[ciera321]

I have to say CSR. They have the best service I have had at any resort on property. We've NEVER waited longer than 10 minutes, and it's usually more like a 5 minute wait.

 

[jennib5426]

I also have to say CSR, stayed there last week for the third time and never waited longer than 10 minutes for a bus. Most bus rides were 15 minutes or less to the parks. Also the CSR bus stops at MK and Epcot are the closest to the exit at night.
I have stayed at all Mods and CSR is by far the best bus service.

 

[minijenny]

The Dolphin is great for location. It's walking distance (or cruise in the boat if you so desire) from both MGM and Epcot. We stay at the YC/BC, and we love just walking to Epcot or the Boardwalk for dinner in the evenings. It's so convenient. The buses are usually about 15 minutes to the other parks and never too crowded. You'll also be just across the street from mini golf if you enjoy that.

 

[TJA]

Out of those choices that you listed, I'd say Dolphin because you can walk/boat to both Epcot and MGM. By walking, you can obviously control your own destiny as far as how long it takes to get back and forth. It is about a 10-15 minute walk to Epcot, maybe the same to MGM. We've never stayed at Dolphin, but have stayed next to it at BWI and YC/BC several times. There is a lot to do in that area, can't stress that factor enough. Boardwalk is very fun with live entertainment and carnival-type games, restaurants, bakery, ice cream, pizza, food stands, rent surrey bikes, watch Illuminations from anywhere in that area, Beaches & Cream for fun ice cream, movies on the beach over near BC, the list goes on.

 

[Cleokitty]

CSR. Great bus service. POFQ shares busses with POR making for a long ride at times.

 

[Buzz2001]

CSR!! Cnetrally located with short rides to the parks. 5 mins to AK, MGM and Epcot and 10 mins to MK. It is not shared like POR/POFQ.

 

[kirasmom]

Thanks... we are still trying to decide between Dolphin & a mod (its about a $300 difference for us for the week).... but the transportation issue is a big one because I know DH's head will explode if he is perpetually on long waits for buses!

 

[bytheblood]

POFQ actually has great bus service.

 

[badblackpug]

Truly, I am not sure what the "horror" stories are. We have stayed at budgets and mods and this year will be our 1st deluxe at AKL I have NEVER, and I will repeat NEVER, had any issue with the bus system. Even during the super crowded summer our longest wait was never more than 10 minutes.

 

[ashef]

CSR! We were there in July and never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus and the buses were never crowded. Bus service was awesome! When we stayed at POR, our bus stop was the last one and transportation to the parks was a nightmare.

 

[fumipappa]

Do not take ALL of the word on the board. People have a tendency to "believe" their favorite resort has the best bus service. And people have a tendency to compare with less favorite resorts and saying "They are worse than my resort". Best bet is always to rent a car. The key point is there is no "time table" for Disney bus transportion. Everything is "approx. xx minutes".

Even if one particular resort has usually good bus service, if you see a long line once during your visit, you probably start thinking that the bus service of the resort is "not good" There is no 100% guarantee for the bus service, because you cannot control it. We always rent a car(or drive down to Orl) when I visit WDW no matter what. We usually use the buses for "experience". Sometimes people feel 5minutes bus ride as "very long" and sometimes people feel 20min ride as "very short" so there is no way you can find definite answer from people's impression.

 

[Lilolvr]

Out of the three you mention it is definitely CSR!! Quick rides to all the parks.

 

[monkey11375]

I can't speak for the CSR or CBR, but it's hard to beat the Dolphin, since you can walk to both EPCOT and the Studios, you don't even need a bus to get to 2 of the 4 parks. However, you don't get Magical Express from the airport to the Dolphin, so you'd have to get a shuttle/taxi.

 

[Hopefully]

Only you can judge your husband's ability to wait in line for a bus and deal with the crowds once on the bus.
Remember, no matter how good the bus service from a resort is, you will nearly always wait in a long line at a park closing for a bus. These lines may be fast moving, as they often send multiple buses at a time, but it is a long line none the less. Also at park closing buses are usually jammed full with folks standing in the aisle.
Will these things bother him?
Have a Great Trip

 

[BadgerBruce]

Of all of the resorts we've stayed at, CSR has easily been the best for bus transportation.