SSR help!!

[jollygreengirl]

Here now and just stymied by the bus situation. I don't know if it's because the main gate's exit is closed for construction or what, but none of the routes I've seen online are anywhere close to the actual route right now. I asked two different drivers how it worked at the resort and they said take a DTD bus for internal movement at SSR. We were just trying to get from Congress to the Paddock pool and have ended up on an epic journey. I should have double checked with my driver. I should have just walked the whole way. But what is the deal? We got abandoned at TL because the drivers route changed to ft wilderness. Waited 30 min for a SSR bus there. Really irritated right now especially because I'm alone with ds(4). But also glad dh wasn't here to get mad. He'd be furious right now! So anyway, how do we move about SSR?

 

[vicki_c]

Basically it should be get on ANY bus, I think, unless you are in the Springs section because that is the last stop before they leave the resort.

You will have to wait until the bus makes all its stops (prior to your stop of course).
(By the way, I should add I have only used the bus @ SSR once or twice, but we just used the OKW buses to the parks to get all over the resort.)

And ask the driver when you get on. Say "I want to go to XYZ section - will you take me there?"

I don't understand the abandoned at TL item though.

 

[jollygreengirl]

Yeah, see that's not what's happening now. I think Congress Park is the last drop off right now while the exit is messed up. One of the drivers said a hole opened up and just got bigger and bigger until they had to redo the whole exit. The entrance still works, just not the exit side. So, I thought all the park buses were outbound from Congress Park and DTD was inbound from Congress Park. That's what the drivers said. Like I said, I should've asked as I got on the DTD bus. I think I may have just ended up in a worst case scenario, what with the driver getting his route changed at TL. We were in swim clothes and he was like, "aren't you getting off here at TL? Cause I have to go to FW now!!" I was about two seconds from a complete emotional breakdown at that point because we had already been to SeaWorld all day and just wanted to eat dinner and swim at Paddock. Oh my gosh, it was a perfect storm of insanity!! I can laugh about it now, but 3 hours ago I could've just laid down on a bench at TL and never moved again. ; )

 

[vicki_c]

I'm sorry - and I guess I don't have any better advice other than clearly telling the bus driver where you are trying to go as you are stepping onto the bus.

Very clearly! Hope things improve. We just are not big bus users overall - at any resort!

 

[joelkfla]

Because of the construction, all buses are entering and exiting thru the Congress Park gate instead of the main gate. All buses are following the route normally followed only by DTD buses: Springs first, Congress Park last.

DTD buses are supposed to make a 2nd stop at Springs after Congress Park, unless the driver is sure there are no guests on the bus wanting to go there.

So to get from Congress Park to any other stop in the resort, you would need to take a DTD bus to Springs, and then transfer to any other bus (except Treehouses.) The same applies to go from any stop within the resort to another stop ahead of it in the order. Just to be sure, tell the driver of the DTD bus that you need to go to Springs; and, as always, tell the driver of the 2nd bus where you are going, because stops may be skipped if the bus fills up.

This is exactly the opposite of normal operations, where every bus except DTD goes from CP to Springs. I don't know why mgt decided to do it this way, but that's the way it is until the main exit reopens.

 

[vicki_c]

Joel's your (Disney transport) man. He knows.

 

[jollygreengirl]

Thank you for the clarification. That seems to be in line with what we've experienced. Being at Congress, we haven't had a very easy time using the buses this trip. Today, we got on DTD bus (to actually go to DTD West Side) and someone got on with us wanting to go to Springs. The driver said no and made them get off! Basically, from what I've experienced this week, if you want to go anywhere within SSR, you better not get on a bus at Congress.

I don't know why this info isn't made more clear to SSR guests? Is it because it's all DVC and they just expect everyone knows what's going on? At AKL, there are many signs explaining how to get to Kidani and back. The signs at the bus stops at SSR don't say anything about movement within SSR. We have had a nice time here at SSR, but wouldn't stay here again unless we were in Springs or had our bikes. It's just too hard to get around to the resort amenities.