Trip report : The good, and Bad :

[terri01p]

Transportation is part of the WDW perks, and with gas prices like they are your better off taking the busses or boat, just be prepared. It wouldn't be so bad if you could just wait 20 minutes on one bus and be on your way, but when you wait 10 minutes on one bus to take you up front and 30 minutes on that bus to take you to the parks, that can get old quick.

 

[magicforever]

I don't mind the transportation. I know it takes a while sometimes. I did wait one morning just to go get coffee. (didn't want to fix it that day) It was way too long. I stopped a bus and they said they were short staffed that morning. He said someone would be by soon. Sure enough, someone was there. I guess I don't mind waiting. I think it is the feeling of no responsibility. I don't have to worry about how to get there. No matter the wait, it makes my vacation more relaxed. My favorite time to ride the transportation is after extra magic hours. Everyone is tuckered out. It is dark. Children are sleeping in there parents lap. You can tell everyone had a magical day. Maybe I should change my name from magicforever to optimistic.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

HeHeHe...I thought they did, we watched fireworks at the beach one night and the guy and gal beside us in chairs, must have downed a six pack, at the end of the fireworks the man cryed...you can't beat that kind of entertainment...priceless.

Are you laughing at me because I cried ?

 

[Colson39]

Ugh, I've never had to wait an hour for a boat, remind me to never go during that time....lol.

I think the longest I've ever waited was maybe 20 minutes at most, and that seemed like a really long time. Hopefully this was just a random thing for that day.

And an hour and a half to get to Epcot? Even during Thanksgiving we've never had to wait thatlong, although we normally drive to Epcot/MGM/Animal Kingdom. I'm truly sorry this happened, that just plain sucks

 

[terri01p]

Are you laughing at me because I cried ?

Hehehe...when you fall out of a lounge chair bawling, ya we'll laugh at ya.

 

[CottontailCurl]

magicforever to optimistic.

It means the same thing

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Hehehe...when you fall out of a lounge chair bawling, ya we'll laugh at ya.

I thought it was perfectly acceptable to be a sensitive man ?
Now I am confused.......

 

[LMC]

the guy and gal beside us in chairs, must have downed a six pack, at the end of the fireworks the man cryed...you can't beat that kind of entertainment...priceless.

He realized he needed another 6-pack and how much it was going to cost him at the trading post!

 

[dizneydiva2005]

I'm from Charlotte NC and I'd die if we had to pay $550.00 in gas!!! But of course we're not in a trailer.

 

[ilovejack02]

I'm from Charlotte NC and I'd die if we had to pay $550.00 in gas!!! But of course we're not in a trailer.

How long does it take you to get to WDW from NC?

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

He realized he needed another 6-pack and how much it was going to cost him at the trading post!

I know exactly what it costs so I always budget for a couple of "crisis" 6 packs on every trip. They seem to get empty faster when I am on vacation.

 

[terri01p]

It takes us about 10 hours to drive to WDW, that usually includes a couple of restroom stops and gas and a stop at the welcome center in florida.
It took us 12 hours pulling our tt because we took it very easy, it was the first time we pulled it that far and didn't want to have any problems.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

It takes us about 10 hours to drive to WDW, that usually includes a couple of restroom stops and gas and a stop at the welcome center in florida.
It took us 12 hours pulling our tt because we took it very easy, it was the first time we pulled it that far and didn't want to have any problems.

Pulling the TT always takes a few extra hours. No sense in trying to push it while towing.
We love the convenience of being able to stop and eat or rest and knowing that we have the bathroom already with us

 

[jima53]

The only problem we had concerning golf carts during our last stay was a loaded cart full of kids that decided to play shadow and follow us everywhere for a little while. We would stop to let them go by, they would stop, we would turn around they would do the same,,, at times driving close up on us. Finally I stopped and got out and walked back asking them what their problem was. Guess they didn't like the confrontation. It was a disney cart, wonder where the parents were.


Jim

 

[Colson39]

The only problem we had concerning golf carts during our last stay was a loaded cart full of kids that decided to play shadow and follow us everywhere for a little while. We would stop to let them go by, they would stop, we would turn around they would do the same,,, at times driving close up on us. Finally I stopped and got out and walked back asking them what their problem was. Guess they didn't like the confrontation. It was a disney cart, wonder where the parents were.


Jim

Most teens don't. They act all big and bad until you actually say something to them, then they whimper away. If someone was shadowing me like that, well, hmmm, maybe I would decide to throw my drink out the back or something, I don't know....lol

 

[terri01p]

The only problem we had concerning golf carts during our last stay was a loaded cart full of kids that decided to play shadow and follow us everywhere for a little while. We would stop to let them go by, they would stop, we would turn around they would do the same,,, at times driving close up on us. Finally I stopped and got out and walked back asking them what their problem was. Guess they didn't like the confrontation. It was a disney cart, wonder where the parents were.


Jim

If that would have happened to me we would have rode around so slow, that they would have gotten so bored..hehe...kids are silly, the one thing that really got me were a group of kids on a cart that went into the swamp, it's a wonder someone didn't get killed. I would have never let my teens go off on a golf cart alone ever, I know how kids are.

 

[VAN]

Thanks for your report. We just got back from FW ... we were there April 22-May 4, staying in the 1700 loop with our dog.

I only saw one dog outside of the pet loop in the time we were there. We would always drive our dog up to the kennel for the day. We loved the kennel and our dog got used to it. It was nice to have him out of the heat (90 degrees most days), plus it was nice not to have to worry if he was barking in the camper or something.

I too found the transportation really slow this time. I understand that they are really WAY UNDERSTAFFED, especially with the buses. The boats were all messed up trying to get the HDDR people out of there. One boat came almost loaded from WL, stopped at FW and then returned to WL before the MK. Boy were the WL people upset!!! I can't say that I blame them!

I thought the CMs were much nicer this year. During the week the attendance was way down which was nice for a change. The two days we went into the parks, the longest lines were for Peter Pan and that was only 30 minutes. With a little planning we were able to walk onto most rides or with just a 10 minute wait.

The weekends at FW get really crazy with all of the locals. The overflow lot is full. I saw many spots that seemed to have lots of people and then they appeared to have lots of friends/family come to spend the day with them. It did appear, though this may not be the case, that many of the locals have found out they can just come and park for free at FW. I was a tad surprised to find that parking is now $10 per day per car. Of course, staying at FW, we just showed our Resort Pass.

That seemed a bit different this year as well ... a couple of places we had to show a photo ID along with our resort pass in order to park at a different resort (e.g. Boardwalk).

Well I just wanted to add a couple of things ... I hope to have some time to do a short report myself.

Oh - we visited Celebration with our dog .... LOVED IT!! They have a wonderful park with walking trails. Afterward we had lunch at the Market Street Cafe and were able to sit at an outside table with our dog. The food was great!! Very fresh and, I think, reasonably priced for what you get (I had a very large Cobb Salad with generous toppings for $10.95).

Just back from our 20 hour drive (stayed overnight in Lexington, KY) ... off to bed!!

 

[terri01p]

Thanks for your report. We just got back from FW ... we were there April 22-May 4, staying in the 1700 loop with our dog.

I only saw one dog outside of the pet loop in the time we were there. We would always drive our dog up to the kennel for the day. We loved the kennel and our dog got used to it. It was nice to have him out of the heat (90 degrees most days), plus it was nice not to have to worry if he was barking in the camper or something.

I too found the transportation really slow this time. I understand that they are really WAY UNDERSTAFFED, especially with the buses. The boats were all messed up trying to get the HDDR people out of there. One boat came almost loaded from WL, stopped at FW and then returned to WL before the MK. Boy were the WL people upset!!! I can't say that I blame them!

I thought the CMs were much nicer this year. During the week the attendance was way down which was nice for a change. The two days we went into the parks, the longest lines were for Peter Pan and that was only 30 minutes. With a little planning we were able to walk onto most rides or with just a 10 minute wait.

The weekends at FW get really crazy with all of the locals. The overflow lot is full. I saw many spots that seemed to have lots of people and then they appeared to have lots of friends/family come to spend the day with them. It did appear, though this may not be the case, that many of the locals have found out they can just come and park for free at FW. I was a tad surprised to find that parking is now $10 per day per car. Of course, staying at FW, we just showed our Resort Pass.

That seemed a bit different this year as well ... a couple of places we had to show a photo ID along with our resort pass in order to park at a different resort (e.g. Boardwalk).

Well I just wanted to add a couple of things ... I hope to have some time to do a short report myself.

Oh - we visited Celebration with our dog .... LOVED IT!! They have a wonderful park with walking trails. Afterward we had lunch at the Market Street Cafe and were able to sit at an outside table with our dog. The food was great!! Very fresh and, I think, reasonably priced for what you get (I had a very large Cobb Salad with generous toppings for $10.95).

Just back from our 20 hour drive (stayed overnight in Lexington, KY) ... off to bed!!

I will be interested in your report so get some rest, I knew whenever I reported how long the busses took and the boat there would be some people that would think I made it up to make things look bad, but beleive it or not the transportation was bad, we also waited for a boat that came over full and had to go straight over to MK , I didn't want to cause a scene but I could have busted into a full fledge cry.

 

[iradi8]

We were there the last week in April. We were going to the Contemporary and a boat came from the WL that had room for 2 people. So... no one got on at FW and it took about 15-20 minutes for another boat to come. That only happened once.

We didn't have a problem with the bus service. I did overhear a cm on the bus say that there are 300 busses and it takes 1200 drivers to run smoothly -- then she said that they were short on drivers right now.

 

[Colson39]

One boat came almost loaded from WL, stopped at FW and then returned to WL before the MK. Boy were the WL people upset!!! I can't say that I blame them!

They change the routes all the time based on what they think will be busy. Sometimes they will go to WL more, sometimes they won't. They give the boat captains the routes to take beforehand, I went one weekend and they only stopped at WL once, then went back the next weekend and that time they stopped at WL twice. It just depends.

I won't be back till the Fort until November, so I guess I'll have to wait till then to see what the transportation is like, if it's changed at all, cause I have yet to ever really wait a long time for a boat, not saying it doesn't happen though.

15-20 minutes is not a long time to wait for a boat though, if you just miss the boat that can easily be an average wait time, I wouldn't worry about that.

If you pay attention while you're there sometimes you can figure out which boats are taking which routes, and if you want to go to the Contemporary sometimes waiting an extra 10 minutes for the next boat can be faster than having to go to the WL first. I've seen lots of times where one boat goes to WL first, and the other goes to the Contemporary first.