So Why Ride the Busses When I can Drive?

[bkerney]

How easy is it to drive from a resort, in my case All Star Movies, to the different resorts? Alot of people may like the busses, but I just don't get excited about crowds of people trying to squeeze on a bus.

Is it really worth it to ride the busses rather than drive? What are the pros and cons? For you bus riders, tell me why you do it rather than drive.

 

[Bob P]

It is much easier to drive from resort to resort than to take a bus. There is no direct resort-to-resort bus service at WDW.

As for the parks, you will find split opinions, but I think most everyone will agree that if you are going to the MK, WDW transportation is the best way to go. It allows you to bypass the TTC and drops you off right at the entrance.

Bob

 

[budbeerlady]

After riding around on the bus on our last visit, I decieded I would never want to try and drive myself around. We saw two accidents, the last one had closed down the ramp we needed so we ended up going way around and back (of course when I really had to go to the bathroom stuff like this happens). Too many people who dont know where to go, too many buses and it just wouldnt be for me. I would probley take a taxi if I were going to dinner one night at a resort. We planned all our dining around the resort we were at or used the monorail resorts for dinner. (Stayed at POFQ, took bus to MK, monorail to GF for 1900 park fare dinner, same way back)

 

[grimley1968]

With certain resorts, it's probably easier to take Disney transportation than drive. For instance, any of the monorail resorts will probably require you to be a guest, or have an ADR # in order to park. The resorts next to EPCOT may have the same stipulation for parking.

For the moderates and value resorts, since they have no monorail or boat transportation to a park, they don't have as many people trying to park there for free and getting into a park quickly, so it's probably very easy to just drive there and park, while you check out the resort.

For checking out the MK area resorts, I'd just work it around a trip to MK. Hop on the resort monorail from MK and you can check out all the monorail resorts that way, and fairly quickly. You can see the Poly, GF and CR resorts this way. WL isn't on the monorail, but you can catch a direct bus to it from MK or take the boat there.

For EPCOT area resorts, I'd plan it around an EPCOT visit. Just go out the back entrance (Intl. Gateway) and you can walk to each of the EPCOT resorts, which encircle a lake behind EPCOT. That's pretty easy to do as well. You can see YC/BC, Swan/Dolphin and BWI this way.

The rest of the resorts, I would just drive to.

 

[AllyBri]

We prefer driving ourselves, just makes everything so much easier.

 

[snowwite]

We drive to DTD,Water parks,Fort Wilderness,Epcot,Animal Kingdom,resorts and MGM but take bus to MK because it drops you off closer to gate. We only do this if we have a car.Most trips we dont have a car and use all onsite transportation.We have one this time since we are splitting half onsite and half off and it is Easter week so it will be mobbed and it will be nice to have our car.

 

[CleveRocks]

To me, whether a person should drive or use Disney Transport comes down to that person's temperment and personal opinions.

I have always used Disney Transport and never want to drive at WDW. WHY? Well, for me, A Disney vacation is just about my only chance to live for a week without driving. I drive everywhere every day in real life, and I LOVE the idea of not having to drive for a week. Just the idea of not needing to carry around a car key is truly liberating to me; it may sound crazy, but it's true. I really resent my brother-in-law moving out of Manhattan, because weekends at his place were the same way -- I didn't see my car for 2 days or so.

Disney World is about the only place I can go where I don't feel hampered by not driving. Almost every place else I've ever gone I've either rented a car or wished I did.

To be fair, I must admit that I have no interest in going to table service restaurants in other resorts. With the kids, we're happy to do counter service and a character meal or two all week. I suspect that if I was the type to want to go to other resorts often, I'd probably feel frustrated at the transfers and time necessary to get around resort-to-resort. But I think good planning can make that problem go away, too. I think if I was staying at CBR but wanted dinner at Boma I would plan to tour AK that day and then go straight from AK to AKL, and then after dinner plan to do the EMH at whatever park might be having EMH that night (we'd make sure to plan it for a day when SOME park had EMH), and then take the normal bus back to CBR from that park.

I may be in the minority, but like I said, I LOVE not driving for a week.

Maybe it's also that I'm very accustommed to buses. I grew up in Philadelphia, where starting in 7th grade we had to take regular city public transportation buses (not school buses) to school, and I didn't own a car until my 2nd semester of senior year of college -- I used Greyhound and public transit to get between college and home for visits.

 

[minniemee]

We drove ourselves around both times we were there. The one time we took the bus, there were issues with the wheelchair ramp, and two people on our bus needed it.
I felt really sorry for them, it took forever to fix the ramp. So we never used the
bus system again. My husband is really good with directions, so we just zip around on our own!
However, I know lots of people who use and love the bus system, I think that overall it is pretty efficient.

 

[JoeCathyAngelina]

I like taking the busses, especially the MK bus, because they drop you off at the park entrance.
I like driving because you don't have to wait around to get on a crowded bus with a stroller.
There are only a couple of main roads on Disney property that you have to follow for everything and nothing is more than 10 miles away.
I'd still rather take the bus to MK.
Good luck All,
Joe

 

[TDC Nala]

I can no need to

 

[tessqt]

We took the bus for the first 2 days of our trip last Nov/Dec, it wasn't bad but wasn't that great either. Then I realized like a dummy I prepaid for gas on our rental mini van, well that made me drive to use up the gas. For us it was so much easier, I don't mind driving, my dh is a different story and I did not let him or want him to drive! LOL We went to EPCOT around noon and planned to stay into the night, it was so much easier to go into the parking lot and change rather than carrying a bag around (I know there are lockers). What was funny (I laugh about it now) was that when we got into the parking lot, I would amost always end up at the very end of the line of cars. It seemed to never fail. Our last full day I decided to pull over and wait until the line fills up I was so tired of walking, but I didn't have to resort to that! LOL

I found the area to be pretty easy to navigate. If you are going to have a car anyway, give the busses a try and if you had enough DRIVE! Either way enjoy!!!

 

[SalandJeff]

We used to ONLY use the Disney transportation. But we would not consider going without renting a car now. We use the car to go between resorts (we love to try all the different restaurants), go to DTD, water parks, and sometimes MGM or AK. You can park fairly close at MGM or AK, so driving is okay. But for MK or Epcot, it is definitely easier to take the bus/boat. Also, if you are staying on Disney property, you can park at any resort if you show them your parking pass. You will sometimes need to tell the guard why you are there (i.e., at AKL you let them know you are there for dinner), but we have never had a problem.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I agree it is a "personal temperment" thing, but we ALWAYS use our car everywhere we go. Last time we used a WDW bus (which was awhile ago) we had to stand the entire time and also endure some loud cell phone conversations that had absolutely nothing to do with WDW. That did it for us!!
A car has so many more options--

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

It's not hard to get to another WDW resort using Disney transportation. Just plan on the nearest theme park for that day or part of the day. Then it's easy to just monorail, boat, or walk over to the resort you want to go to.
The MK resorts are only a monorai or walk away (Contemporary is a seven minute walk from the MK entrance). The WL or FW are both a short boat ride away.
From both Epcot and the Studios you can walk or boat over to the Boardwalk, Beach Club, Yacht Club, Swan and Dolphin.
I agree with another poster that when I am on vacation it is a time to relax. Driving and relaxing do not go together for me. I let Disney take care of all this for me from start to finish.

 

[mickeyfan2]

For resort to resort use the car (no resort to resort bus). We take the bus for the parks and DTD. We figure we are on vacation and drive way too much, so let somebody else drive.

 

[SAWYERMAW1]

For our family taking the bus is part of the Disney expereince. We really look forward to our bus rides!! Pretty crazy I guess . . .

 

[Lewisc]

A better question is why rent a car when Disney will get you from MCO for free and will transport you around WDW for free?

I'll agree once you decide to rent a car it makes sense to use the car to go to DTD, water parks and maybe even the theme parks (other than MK).

 

[Ron from Michigan]

When we are at WDW we always take the bus transportation only. The last thing that I wan't to do when I am on vacation is to drive a car. That's what is so great about being at WDW, you don't have to do the every day things you do back home. We have always found the buses to be a great way to get around. Depending where you are staying on property there are boats and the monerail to use also. Even in the evening when we have to stand it's only a short ride back to our resort, so it never bothers me.

 

[pepe of ohio]

After riding around on the bus on our last visit, I decieded I would never want to try and drive myself around. We saw two accidents, the last one had closed down the ramp we needed so we ended up going way around and back (of course when I really had to go to the bathroom stuff like this happens). Too many people who dont know where to go, too many buses and it just wouldnt be for me. I would probley take a taxi if I were going to dinner one night at a resort. We planned all our dining around the resort we were at or used the monorail resorts for dinner. (Stayed at POFQ, took bus to MK, monorail to GF for 1900 park fare dinner, same way back)

The transportation is free, use it. Too many drivers on Disney roads who think they know where they are going, clogging up all the systems and getting to the wrong place to stop and ask directions to save what, 5 minutes. The buses are effient and get you there and back, not alot of guess work there. And if I drove to Disney, I would not want to spend my vacation, walking parking lots coming and going , looking for my car then lining up to get out of the parking lot. Alot of people disagree but I believe its the wives who didn't drive all the way down and hate the buses and the husband just keeps peace by using the car. Honest feeling, my wife said she would not consider using our car or renting one to navigate WDW when its all provided for you, free. Alittle extra time at a bus stop or standing a couple of times on a bus, is worth not driving in disney traffic.

 

[simzac]

It's this simple. I am the only one who would dare to drive on Disney property, DW would get lost in a heartbeat. I am a courier driver, drive over 75,000 miles a year, so when I'm on vacation at WDW, the last thing I want to do is drive. We fly to WDW every year, then use Disney transportation to get around until we board the plane again to go home. But this is how I look at our Disney trips, what you decide to do is up to you.