The Buses Take HOW LONG????

[Shelly F - Ohio]

This is the main reason we rent a car. So much easier and no need to waste precious vacation time waiting for a bus or worring about how we are going to arrive at a certain location ontime.

We experimented and DH drove the rental car to our resort and I took the bus on two different occasions. We discovered it took me 30 minutes at one park and 40 minutes at another to get from a park to our resort.

Love the flexibilty of having a car. If a rental car is not feasible I would suggest a cab.

 

[canopynut66]

it does not take that long unless something goes wrong. and the buses are out there early enough to get you to a park for early breakfast and you can go to breakfast but not into the park until it opens. so going to eat early at HS in Hollywood and Vine so you "think" one can get in fast pass lane or get in Toy Mania will nto work...yep tied it... and it is all roped off so it makes it fair for all at rope drop at 9 AM. and once thougt about it is right thing to do

 

[Alesia]

This is the main reason we rent a car. So much easier and no need to waste precious vacation time waiting for a bus or worring about how we are going to arrive at a certain location ontime.

We experimented and DH drove the rental car to our resort and I took the bus on two different occasions. We discovered it took me 30 minutes at one park and 40 minutes at another to get from a park to our resort.

Love the flexibilty of having a car. If a rental car is not feasible I would suggest a cab.

Out of curiosity, how long did it take your husband?

 

[goofy4tink]

Alright, now I'm starting to freak out about my reservations!! I'm the kind of person who plans everything out well in advance. I planned our families meals around where we'll be and the 2 year old that will be with us. Bear with me...I'm not down with all the abbreviations yet We are staying at AoA in early December. I think i can handle the dinners without too many problems, but breakfast is stressing me out We have a 7:35am reservation at Chef Mickey's on Friday morning and a 8:00am reservation at Tusker House Sunday morning. What would be the best way for us to get there? Or do I need to reevaluate our plans??

Calm, cleansing breaths...there, again. Okay. It's not an issue. Yes, you'll be up early. For Chef Mickey's....be out at the MK bus stop by 6:20. When the bus comes, ask the driver if it's faster to walk or monorail over to Chef Mickey's. You may very well be dropped off right at the CR. Bus drivers love to help out if they can. Otherwise, when you get to MK, just walk over to CM's..takes under 10 min. The monorail starts running at 7am..but you have to walk there, wait for it to come, board, then the 4 or so mins over to the CR and down to CM's. IT's actually faster to walk.
For Tusker House (one of my favorite breakfasts by the way!!)...be out at the AK bus stop by 6:45ish. That should get you to AK by 7:30...these early morning buses come less frequently than regular buses do, so if you just miss one, it could be a longish wait for the next one.

 

[NotUrsula]

Out of curiosity, how long did it take your husband?

Not the PP, but I can give you a morning example from previous experience.

We normally prefer to drive, and we're park-hopping people. Usually we take a break in the middle of the day, but one day on our last short trip we did one marathon day that took in both morning EMH at the Studios and evening EMH at the MK. so we wanted to make sure that the car ended up in the MK parking lot at the end of the night.

DH and the kids left CSR via bus 40 minutes prior to an 8 am opening time at DHS, while as it drove away I got into the car headed to the TTC. I drove to the MK, parked in the lot, took the tram to the TTC, boarded a transfer bus to DHS, and arrived at DHS' gates just in time to be waiting for them at the bus stop when they got off.

It took them 40 minutes to go from the resort to the park by bus, and took me less than that to go to two parks starting out in the car. (In the morning the transfer buses that leave from the TTC to the parks depart constantly, because all of the off-site resort buses drop off at the TTC, but most of them don't arrive that early because those guests are not eligible to enter the parks for morning EMH. My bus was not crowded at that time of day.)

 

[TDC Nala]

It's always advisable to allow yourself AT LEAST an hour, an hour and a half is better, to go from one resort to another resort via Disney transportation (obviously excepting going between monorail resorts and Epcot resorts). That doesn't mean it will always take that long - just that it can take that long.

I don't do early morning so I can't say anything about how early morning transportation to other resorts works though.

 

[LilyWDW]

I always do cabs to and from resort meals if I am going resort to resort. The $20ish bucks it costs is worth not having to to figure out the logistics and timing of the buses. I just budget for it ahead of time.

 

[Vacation Mom]

So much great information. THANKS TO ALL!

I've now decided to eliminate the Resort to Resort Breakfast, and make a suitable reservation at the PARK instead. Catch a DIRECT Bus, and not get stessed over whether or not I'm going to be ON TIME.

The last thing I want on my vacation is STRESS! I want to be as WORRY FREE as I possibly can

I also want to enjoy as much of the parks as possible, instead of riding around on a BUS for hours out of the day

I am so glad that I posted on this site. The information received has been so valuable, and very appreciated. Thanks Again to ALL OF YOU!

 

[leebee]

We were staying at POP and had an 8am reservation at Boma for breakfast. I talked to the customer service at POP and did EXACTLY as recommended:
Get on the first bus to any park. TELL THE BUS DRIVER that you are trying to get to AKL for a breakfast reservation. Apparently, in pre-park hours, sometimes the bus drivers can get the dispatcher to sent them to the park you are headed to. Sure enough, that's what happened. We got on an EPCOT bus and told the driver we were headed to AKL. He called the dispatcher at EPCOT and after dropping off there, said "Guess what? We're being sent to AKL next, stay on the bus!" It was great. We were early, as I'd left an extra half-hour in case we had to wait at EPCOT, but we didn't and had plenty of time.

SO, as others have recommended: TALK TO THE BUS DRIVERS! They like to help make magical vacations too! (we won't discuss the time it took 105 mins to go from POFQ to Ohana for our anniversary dinner.. )