Sharing Buses - Boardwalk

[JRawkSteady]

One of the reasons my fiancee and I love Animal Kingdom Lodge is because you don't have to share the buses with any other resorts. We LOVE non-stop bus rides (well, after Kidani was built it was two stops, but you get the point). On our honeymoon trip we will be staying at the Garden Suites in Boardwalk...I know the buses are shared with the Swan, Dolphin, Yacht & Beach, which means the commutes are going to be much longer to and from the parks (with the exception of Epcot)...

So, my question is..does anyone know what the routes are? Is Boardwalk the first to get picked up? Last? Does it change depending on what park you are going to?

Many people complain about the AKL bus ride being "long", but from AKL to MK it usually took 10 - 12 minutes at the most. Stop & go bus stops, wheelchairs, etc. could turn the bus rides into hell on earth...but if it's going to be, I like to be prepared. Thanks guys!

 

[winthropf]

Boardwalk does not always share busses with all of the Epcot resorts. It usually shares with Swan/Dolphin and BW is first pickup if I remember correctly. Mid-day the route may be all 5 resorts, but rarely at park open/close.

 

[figment_jii]

As the PP said, there are times when the BW only shares the route with the S&D and there are other times when it shares with all four other resorts. When it's with the S&D only, it is generally the first one dropped off. When it's shared with all five, I think it's toward the end, but I can't remember for sure. In general all five resorts are lumped together in the middle of the day (when demand is low) and again late in the night (again, when demand is low).

In general, the bus rides aren't that bad from the BW (except when trying to get back from DTD - that one was pretty tough in the past because all five resorts were on the same route). That being said, I would allow a lot of time when using the bus. We had one trip that took about 45+ minutes to get from BW to MK because of stops at Swan and Dolphin and some very slow loading of ECVs (mostly due to one lady that did not know how to drive the ECV and had trouble getting into the docking spot).

 

[DebbieB]

There was a change announced a month or so ago. BW has its own bus to MK in the morning and to DTD after 2:00.

 

[JRawkSteady]

Thanks for your responses all! It's great to hear that the earlier buses are more accommodating. We tend to be very early risers for the first half of our trip, so I'm glad that will work to our advantage. Thanks again everyone!

 

[PSUGuy]

There was a change announced a month or so ago. BW has its own bus to MK in the morning and to DTD after 2:00.

We experienced this in Oct., and as mentioned, BW usually shares with S/D. Not since 3 or more years ago did we ride a BW bus that stopped at all the Epcot resorts, this on the way to DTD.

Bill From PA