Silly Question

[disneygal2007]

Hi! I have a question about the bus system. We have never used them. We have always had a car, but with us flying I was wondering how do you use it? I mean How far in advance do you have to get on the bus in order to make it to a park opening? Silly I know, but I an afraid to use them. I am a on time person when at the world. And those of you who have had a car and then go without one do you miss it? TIA!!

 

[ChattaAlley]

I usually leave an hour to 45 mins before park opening. I am usually there around 30 minutes before but there is always a fair amount of people there before me.

 

[melifeld]

The hardest part about going without a car is getting to ADRs at resorts. We actually decided to go ahead and rent a car this year because we have many ADRs at various resorts. It just takes too long to get from one resort to another using Disney transportation. It is great for getting to the parks and to DTD. But it once took us almost 2 hours to get from Wilderness Lodge to POR eek after having dinner at Artist Point. Thankfully it was after the ADR and not before, otherwise we never would have made it on time.

 

[disneygal2007]

The hardest part about going without a car is getting to ADRs at resorts. We actually decided to go ahead and rent a car this year because we have many ADRs at various resorts. It just takes too long to get from one resort to another using Disney transportation. It is great for getting to the parks and to DTD. But it once took us almost 2 hours to get from Wilderness Lodge to POR eek after having dinner at Artist Point. Thankfully it was after the ADR and not before, otherwise we never would have made it on time.

That is sooooo what I am afraid of.

 

[minnie mum]

If you want to ride the Disney transportation system all you need is a little patience. This is a holiday- you are on your way to a wonderful theme park, not trying to get to work on time. Resort to park should take you less than half an hour. If you are paranoid about arriving at a bus stop just as the bus has pulled away, add an extra 20 min. to your estimate.

Realize that if you are leaving a park when it closes at night you will have to wait for a bus along with a lot of other people. Disney lays on extra buses at this time, but it will probably still take several buses before it is your turn. And you might have to stand, unless you are one of the lucky few to be first on the bus.

Resort to resort via Disney transpo takes time. And transfers. Resort to closest open park (NEVER transfer at DTD if you can avoid it) to destination resort. The fastest means of transportation here is ALWAYS by taxi. Unless you have a large group this is an easy option that probably should be factored into your budget.

Don't be afraid, be patient. Slow down a bit. If you can't then renting a car is probably the only cure for your jangled nerves.

 

[snykymom]

That is sooooo what I am afraid of.

Don't be afraid - resort to resort is easily accomplished via taxi. Unless you have a lot of ADRs at different resorts, cabs are often cheaper than renting a car. I find it simple to get to a resort ADR, since I'm usually at a park anyway, and just hop on that resort's bus or monorail. Then I just take a cab back. (It also lets me have an adult beverage or two without worry!)

 

[Huff]

We've had the opposite experience from some it seems. We found Disney transportation to generally be faster than using our own car.

For instance, to get from park to park you must walk out, wait for parking shuttle, drive car to next park, wait for parking shuttle and then enter 2nd park. To/From MK is even worse since you must also wait for monorail or boat in addition to above.

DS to/from EP gate to gate is quick and easy by walking or taking bus or boat.

Point is, even when driving, you still have delays waiting for boat/monorail, shuttles etc. We found Disney transportation to be easier. That said, we've always gone low season. Crowded holidays could be a different story.

 

[stargazertechie]

I normally try to get on the bus 45 minutes before I want to arrive at the park.

For getting to the resorts, either get to the bus stop 60-70 minutes in advance (you'll have to go resort-park-resort) or call a cab

I LOVE the Disney buses. So much easier than a rental car

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

We've had the opposite experience from some it seems. We found Disney transportation to generally be faster than using our own car.

Agree 100%. And since we visit at least twice a year we eat in the resorts alot more than in the park anymore, almost always stay mod or value and use busses for resort to resort transportation as well as resort to park. We have never had a round trip resort to resort more than an hour and most are more efficient than that, but I have heard of others having different experiences. We just havn't run into that in our 20 trips in the past 10 years and don't find renting a car worth it b/c of that. We have drove before and rented cars (b/c flying into SAN instead of MCO) and found that the car was best left parked in the resort lot, in the cases we have drove to the parks we found it to be a hassle and have horrible luck getting the last/furthest away from the tram space in each row and when we return to the resort we have had issues finding spaces near our building.

 

[Yellosno]

I don't find the buses to take that long at all and then you dont have the hassle of parking and from getting from resort to resort if you leave in plenty of time to get there it shouldn't be a problem, last trip we had a reservation at FW and there was a lightning storm that came right before we got to MK to get on the boat to go there and it was a zoo and we made it there in plenty of time i think we left an hour and a half early

 

[tzolkin]

We drive, so we always have a car, but we park it and never use it for the 10-12 days we are there.

We go to morning EMH most days of our trips and we have never had any issues making it to a park for rope drop. The first year we were headed to the bus stop an hour before, but we quickly realized that we didn't have to leave that early. Maybe 30 minutes is good at most times of the year.


Last trip we did the dining plan and ate several meals at the resorts (mosly GF and Poly). We did not plan any early morning meals, so it was easy to get to the resorts from a park (instead of trying to go from our resort to another to make an ADR). We often planned to be in either MK or Epcot and we enjoyed taking a boat or monorail to our meal.

My parents accompanied us last time and two days they drove their car to the parks. We used the bus and made it back to the resort before they arrived both times.

 

[seashoreCM]

Get to the bus stop at least 70 minutes in advance to reasonably assure arrival before park opening. Less than that and the first bus that comes may fill up before you get on and the next bus might not get there until slightly after park opening.

This is a holiday- you are on your way to a wonderful theme park, not trying to get to work on time.

Now, trying to make rope drop (opening bell, anyone?) is quite comparable to trying to get to work on time.

 

[twokids0204]

Looks like you are staying at POP - the furthest stop from POP is Magic Kingdom, which is about a 15 minute bus ride.

Buses arrive quite frequently at POP, and the longest you will ever have to wait for a bus shouldn't be more than 20 minutes.

So if you do give yourself 45 minutes to get anywhere, you should make it with time to spare (sometimes to much time to spare).

DTD Disney buses may not be as frequent as park buses.

We have done both buses and car.
I have to say I prefer buses to Magic Kingdom, and the other parks it's 50/50.

 

[MagicalMawMaw]

I've found about 45 minutes before park opens works well for us to be at the park before rope drop. Just keep in mind if you just missed the bus to whatever park you are going to ...then will be about 20 min till the next one arrives. We have never had any problem arriving at any park on time using the bus system. And we've stayed at POP, PORS & CSR. We found CSR bus system tops this trip!

Going to other resorts to eat does take more time. As we do it more it does go smoother but it does take time. I try to schedule which places I eat at in ways that makes the transportation abit easier & it works well for us.

For example...Flying Fish on HS day as we can go from HS by boat there. Afterwards we went to the MVMCP so caught a bus from there to MK. This was our longest wait of the trip.

We went to Cape May breakfast & Yachtmann's supper on our Epcot day & then just walked back to Epcot for transportation back to CSR.

Ohana supper after MK is always easy for us & then we go back to MK & to CSR from there. California Grill the same way.

When we went to Artist Point we left our resort went by bus to MK & by ferry to Wilderness lodge & returned the same way. I enjoyed the ferry rides & this way one of our fastest travels between resorts.

It does take awhile to travel so build in enough time so to not stress out. Mostly just check into the easiest ways to travel from your resort & back to the places you want to go. [Like if you want to go to Yachtmann's or the boardwalk area...exit the back exit at Epcot & walk or ferry there....don't go to the entrance at Epcot & take a bus there...it took forever & yeah..we really did that several years ago!]

The toughest ones is figuring out how to get to a breakfast....they are kind of tough to arrive at on time.

 

[snoopybabe]

Hi we got back from Pop last Friday & the buses were great! The longest we waited was 10 minutes & that was leaving MK in the middle of the day. This was our first time flying & it was nice to leave the driving to them. Enjoy your visit.

 

[goofy4tink]

The transportation system at WDW is very easy to use. Once you've been there for about 6 hrs, you'll be expert at it.
As others have said, perhaps about 30-45 mins prior to park opening is a good time to get to the bus stop. But, that isn't all that much sooner than using a car. I would recommend the same timing. It's not so much a 'crowded bus' issue as it is a 'get to the park before the vast majority of others do' type thing. Yes, the buses tend to get crowded about 30 mins prior to park opening, until about an hour after park opening. The same at park closing.....20 or so mins prior to actual closing the buses start getting more crowded. Then, as the park closes, it becomes very crowded. Then, about 30 mins after the park closes, the buses are quite manageable.

This is how I handle my resort ADRs. I seldom feel the need to go back to my resort and change my clothes, so that isn't an issue for me. I usually try to book a resort ADR at a resort that is accessible from the park I'll be at that day. For instance....if I want to eat at AKL, I'll book my ADR for a day that I'll be at AK. Want to eat at Cape May??? Book for either your Epcot or DHS day, and so on.
If you really want to go back to change for a special meal, then you can always take a cab from your resort to the restaurant.

 

[JD698]

We have a few early morning ADRs at resorts and just plan to take cabs. I figure, why start the day stressing about buses and reservations (but this is coming from someone who has not yet been to Disney).

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

When I go solo, I use the buses and supplement with taxi's if I have any ADR's at other resorts other than the one I'm staying at. I have also decided that I'll be taking a taxi back to the resort next time I go to DTD. The bus ride to DTD is fine but the ride back to the resort after I'm done at DTD is a mess.

I like not having to drive and meet alot of nice folks on the buses.

To make rope drop, I usually get to the bus stop an hour before the park opens. I don't usually go to morning EMH's when I'm solo so I'm not getting up at 6am to make one of those. I do the evening EMH's instead when I'm solo.

 

[P00H1010]

If you want to ride the Disney transportation system all you need is a little patience. This is a holiday- you are on your way to a wonderful theme park, not trying to get to work on time. Resort to park should take you less than half an hour. If you are paranoid about arriving at a bus stop just as the bus has pulled away, add an extra 20 min. to your estimate.

Realize that if you are leaving a park when it closes at night you will have to wait for a bus along with a lot of other people. Disney lays on extra buses at this time, but it will probably still take several buses before it is your turn. And you might have to stand, unless you are one of the lucky few to be first on the bus.

Resort to resort via Disney transpo takes time. And transfers. Resort to closest open park (NEVER transfer at DTD if you can avoid it) to destination resort. The fastest means of transportation here is ALWAYS by taxi. Unless you have a large group this is an easy option that probably should be factored into your budget.

Don't be afraid, be patient. Slow down a bit. If you can't then renting a car is probably the only cure for your jangled nerves.

I agree, you just need patience. I know other people have had their "horror stories" with Disney Transportation, and I'm not discounting them....I would say though for the most part Disney buses are wonderful. They are very convenient, when I'm on vacation I don't want to drive....I want to relax and have other people do it for me . I think about the average we have waited on a bus to come to the stop (either at the resort or at a park) would be 15-20. And the average ride to and from parks would probably be 10-15 (staying at CBR). And of course give or take a little on those numbers.

Sure things happen, as in everyday life, things don't always go according to plan. We have always used Disney Transportation and only once did I have a "bad experience" which was really out of my hands as well as Disney's. Long story short someone got on the wrong bus at the end of the night. It was an EMH night at HS and it was the last few rounds of buses. Disney ended up having to call a cab to get the guy to the correct resort and had to wait until the cab came. It just so happened that we were staying at CBR and that is the bus the confused guy got on, he was actually looking for the Poly. Once our bus finally showed up at HS and we learned why it was so late I wasn't upset, I was a little annoyed, but what could you do?...I was just getting tired and couldn't wait to get some sleep lol.