What they don't tell you in the tour guides

[julieannbabe]

Just thought that i would share this - people that get the bus shuttles back to their hotels last thing at night from the Theme arks should ALWAYS try to make their way out of the park an HOUR before their shuttle bus is due to pick them up.

I bet some people have been caught out on this; thinking like, 10 minutes before their bus is due to arrive - on lets go now when they are up in Fantasyland, thinking that they can make it all through the crowds, on the monorail all the space of 10 minutes.

Our bus was due to pick us up at 7.45pm. At 6.45pm we were all the way up in Fantasyland, Magic Kingdom. I told my brother that we had to leave - the time we walked through all the crowds - pick up our photos at exhibition hall (they have such long queues) then queue to get on the monorail - we ended up getting to the Magic Kingdom car park with just 15 minutes to spare.

Has anyone been caught out on this before? It just shows you that you can't levae nothing to chance or face $40 cab bill!

 

[SuzEm]

Hadn't thought about that problem with outside hotel shuttle buses - thanks for the warning. Just another advantage to staying onsite - buses run up to 2 hours after park closing time - and you board them just outside the front gate.

 

[Ratpack]

On site for me!! Even if I did stay off-site, I would just drive to the parks. I like flexability and I know the hotels shuttles wouldn't allow for that.

 

[mcnuss]

It's funny, I am the contrarian here. We've had more problems with the buses to the on-site hotels! We waited forever and a day one year every time we were trying to get back. After that, we started renting a car and staying at the Vistana Resort which is less than a 5 minute drive. Two years ago, we had friends who were going to stay at the CBR and almost changed our plans to join them. They kept "gloating" (in jest, of course) about staying on property. Well, we decided not to change our ressies, and the one night we were all together, when we got back to the Vistana, I realized I had forgotten something with my friend. I called her at the hotel and left her a message. Over an hour later, she called back saying that they had just gotten back to the hotel on the Disney bus, and she was gloating no more. A year later, she asked me for the ressie number for Vistana!!

 

[alyssa810]

I've said this before and I'll say it again: Our first on site experience last fall only downfall was the buses that took us from our resort to the parks. We have vowed to never be on site without a car again, and that the money spent on the rental car was far worth it with the time and aggravation we were spared from having to deal with the buses!!!

 

[tink2]

Wow- I guess it depends on the time of your stay or luck of the draw? We've never had a problem with the buses. As a matter of fact, we have vowed to never stay off-site because of the convenience. I'm sorry to hear so many people have had bad experiences. I hope our good fortune with the buses continues!

 

[keithomas]

We've stayed onsite twice now, and will be doing so again in less than two months. The busses, boats, etc. have always been great for us. We have also vowed not to do WDW unless we stay onsite. I think in our two trips so far we have had one "bad" bus experience, but I don't let little things like that get to me. We've even stayed at the "dreaded" WL during the summer and had absolutely no transportation problems at all. Oh well, I guess we have all had different experiences.

 

[PammyK]

That is why I would never recommend staying off-property unless you had your own vehicle. Try staying off-property and relying on the hotel's park shuttles. Generally you'll have maybe 4 options for going to the parks in the morning and about the same returning to the hotel in the evening. I've known several people who had to forego things like IllumiNations or Spectromagic because the last shuttle back to their resort left before the shows. Although the WDW transpo system isn't perfect I think they do a heck of a job.

 

[dturner]

I too think it's the time of year. I've read numerous stories from people who have had lots of problems with Disney transportation, especially when staying at the All Star Sports. I was there last September and stayed at the All Star Sports and I see that if you stay at the All Star Movies or All Star Music that the busses are usually already filled but also when I was there if the buss filled up at the All Star Sports it wouldn't stop at the other two resorts and when another bus came if would skipt the All Star Sports and pick up people from the other two resorts so it looked like they were trying to take care of everybody. I'd hate to see the busses during the summer which is why I've never ever been to Disney during the summer months and will never ever go during that time. As to getting the busses after leaving the parks, we must of been lucky because we never waited more than 5 minutes for a buss to arrive and got back to the resort pretty fast.

Right now, I'm toying with the idea of staying in a hotel in Downtown Disney and am afraid that the buss service won't be as good as the Disney buss service. Can anyone who's been recently tell me how the busses from the "other hotels" in downtown Disney are?

Thanks all

Donna

 

[jimmybop]

in the morning, almost all the hotels get own bus... (ie, they will send one right to AS-Sp, and another one to AS-Mo and one to AS-Mu), and at night when you leave the parks (like at Epcot) each resort will have its own bus. Thats one good thing about Disney Transportaion is that it is very very Flexable. In the morning and at night, the buses have no set routes, they are sent where needed.

for the size of the resort and all the people they move around, I think that Disney Transporation does a great job

 

[grinningghost]

No gripes about Disney buses here, except that they leak when it rains. But as far as scheduling - I thought they were great.

 

[alyssa810]

we were at WL in November and the parks weren't that crowded but since we were sharing with Ft wilderness, I think that made the difference. We LOVED the boat to MK though!! Still, we will always have a car - it was also worth it because A) we were able to hit Krispy Kreme on 192 B) we paid for an economy car and got a minivan for less than $100 for 6 days, and C) Did I mention Krispy Kreme???

 

[lomillerin]

I enjoy the Disney buses. I use the time to organize what we are going do when we get there and then I use the time at night to rest before having to do the get ready for bed routine.
We tend to go, go, go and the bus ride is my rest time.

 

[Pig Pen]

The only time we "saw" a long wait for a Disney bus was after Spectro at MK. The AS bus que looked very long and crowded. However, our CSR bus line was empty and we were on a bus and zipped away within minutes.

Yay CSR!

 

[Beth]

We joined DVC in 1997 - and my DH was a very hard sell.

I think one of the major things that convinced him to join was me reminding him of our one and only stay off property the year before. We stayed at EPCOT 'til close - then went out to catch the hotel shuttle. There was so much shoving and arguing and pushing - it was terrible! We don't ever plan on experiencing that again!!

 

[Piper]

I have always had a good experience with Disney busses. The only thing I don't like is people getting angry when I am loaded first--I have medical problems and use an ecv. Believe me, I would love to be able to wait in the regular bus line and even welcome being able to stand if the bus was full!

I have had to wait for a second bus because the 2 handicap spots were taken ... but I really don't mind--after all it is a vacation--if I can't relax and "go with the flow", I've missed the point!

 

[AKASnowWhite]

We've only used the Disney Transportation for 1 trip. We were staying at BW and had NO trouble at all! We are staying at the Contemporary this Dec. and plan to depend on the bus system again.

When we've stayed off-site or on-site, but not *gate-side* (ie Wilderness Cabins, All-Stars) we've had a car. Very conveinent, and for me worth the extra $$$ in saved aggravation!