Touring DVC resorts using Disney busses - Best DVC or moderate resort to stay at?

[disney-super-mom]

I'm wanting to surprise my DH with a surprise trip to WDW in Feb.(or January) to check out the DVC resorts, a little romance, and maybe a visit to Epcot and/or Animal Kingdom.

I'm not sure about renting a car - we'd have absolutely NO IDEA where we were going from one moment to the next (we've never been to WDW before).

So, if we were to use Disney busses to visit the DVC resorts and possibly a park or two, which resort is the most convenient for this.

I was thinking SSR would be good because it's right next to DTD, and I was under the impression that you can catch a bus to any resort from DTD - is that correct? Would DTD be a good central transportion hub for us to make a visit to all the DVC resorts?

 

[rocketriter]

If you're primarily interested in Epcot, I'd recommend Beach Club Villas or Boardwalk Villas. You can walk to Epcot in less time than you'd wait for a bus to arrive at the other locations, and you'll be close to plenty of entertainment tha adults can enjoy. I'd also recommend making a couple of dinner reservations at the better Epcot restaurants. You can quickly search the main WDW website for price and location to see what you might like. But it can be hard to just walk into these without a long wait.

 

[Lewisc]

1) BWV--You can walk or take a boat to the Disney-MGM Studios and get a bus to any resort.
2) VWL--You can take a boat to MK and take a bus to any resort.

The bus service from DTD to the resorts isn't that great.

 

[Granny]

I was thinking SSR would be good because it's right next to DDT, and I was under the impression that you can catch a bus to any resort from DDT - is that correct? Would DDT be a good central transportion hub for us to make a visit to all the DVC resorts?

I'd have to agree with this. Getting from resort-to-resort is not that easy at most resorts on property. If you're planning on visiting all of them on various days, SSR might be the easiest.

Of course, you could start at OKW, take the boat to visit SSR, then boat to DTD. Hop on the bus to visit VWL. Boat to MK then monorail to EPCOT where you can walk to BCV and BWV.

In that example, you can stay at any of them and just jump into the "loop" wherever you are staying!

 

[DVC Grammy]

Not a bad idea if you're not planning on being in the parks very much. DTD is a good hub to all the resorts, not just the DVC ones, and there's plenty to do and see within Marketplace, Pleasure Island, and Westside (all in DTD), plus, SSR is within walking distance. It's also a very nice boat ride over, or a short bus ride if you don't want to walk it.
Have a great time, and what a nice surprise for your wife!

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

I'd go with this order: SSR, VWL, BWV/BCV.

If you are in the right buildings in SSR you can easily walk over to the marketplace busstop for the rest of the resorts (That'd be one end of Congress Park and I think Springs, but I'm not sure...check a map). In the afternoon and evenings I think bus service is just fine from DTD to other resorts. If need be you can catch the internal bus or one of the other busses over to the Congress Park stop and walk from there. The proximity to DTD itself is great and SSR offers a spa and golf. Plus you can catch a boat to other resorts like OKW or POR.

VWL you can catch a boat over to MK. The boat comes in near the resort bus stops. VWL is also quite nice just for walking, running or cycling plus it has a marina. You can also use the boat system to get to the Contemporary, Grand Floridian or Polynesian (or a boat/monorail combo) and you also can take a boat or walk over to Fort Wilderness.

SSR & VWL would be my two picks for a vacation that doesn't prominently feature the parks.

BCV/BWV aren't as convenient. You CAN walk directly into EPCOT and you do have easy access to the Boardwalk area plus the Swalphin and YC/BC. The problem is if you want to go to another resort at night its pretty difficult. The easiest method would be to go by way of the MGM bus depot but MGM closes early and EPCOT usually closes at 9:30. You would be stuck changing busses at DTD or choosing to use a taxi. The other thing I did was use the Swalphin bus if there was a separate bus for them.

I didn't include OKW because its on the far (far) side of DTD. You'd need to catch a bus to DTD or a park. If the bus service is fairly frequent I'd think OKW is almost as good as SSR in the later hours. The right time of year you could catch a boat from OKW to the Rainforest Cafe and walk to the bus stop. However on the return I think you'd have to do a bus/bus. While this sounds similar to SSR, the proximity of SSR to the Marketplace stop makes a big difference.

 

[starbox]

Although we have a car when we travel, we never use it because we the Disney transportation. SSR has the most efficient bus transportation. Yes, it has multiple stops within the resort - but it also has the most and least crowded busses.

We've found DTD to be a very good hub for resort-hopping as long as we were traveling to DTD from a park OR simply walking/boating from SSR. Other resort busses make other stops in addition to DTD and it takes forever to get there.

 

[byoung]

We take a day in our Dec trip and go from resort to resort by Disney transportation checking out the Christmas decorations.