Which Home Away From Home resort has best transportation?

[BeccaGrace]

In my never-ending quest to decide on a resort, I just started researching the Home Away From Home resorts in the hopes of renting some DVC points...However, I am reading lots of negatives in terms of sharing busses with multiple resorts and nightmare transportation experiences.

I was originally looking at the Epcot area resorts but read that the shared busses to Magic Kingdom were very slow and croweded. Should I take these accounts with a grain of salt or are they the norm? Anyone experience them the first week of December with those types of crowds--or is it the same drama regardless of the season?

Do the resorts that are off on their own, like Saratoga Springs and Old Key West, have their own busses? And, if so, does this make the whole travel process easier?

With two small kids I don't want to have to stress about lots of pushing and shoving for limited bus space and am trying to find a resort that will have the easiest commute to the parks--any suggestion!?!?! Thanks for any ideas/information.

 

[disneyldwjr]

In my never-ending quest to decide on a resort, I just started researching the Home Away From Home resorts in the hopes of renting some DVC points...However, I am reading lots of negatives in terms of sharing busses with multiple resorts and nightmare transportation experiences.

I was originally looking at the Epcot area resorts but read that the shared busses to Magic Kingdom were very slow and croweded. Should I take these accounts with a grain of salt or are they the norm? Anyone experience them the first week of December with those types of crowds--or is it the same drama regardless of the season?

Do the resorts that are off on their own, like Saratoga Springs and Old Key West, have their own busses? And, if so, does this make the whole travel process easier?

With two small kids I don't want to have to stress about lots of pushing and shoving for limited bus space and am trying to find a resort that will have the easiest commute to the parks--any suggestion!?!?! Thanks for any ideas/information.

I believe OKW has their own busses. Each park has a bus that goes directly to the park, no side trips. They are rarely crowded.

 

[drusba]

If you are thinking DVC, then you are eliminating one of the home aways -- Fort Wilderness. As far as DVC transportation:

1. OKW has busses that serve only OKW; decent system but you will usually be taking busses that make several stops within the resort itself before going to, and when coming back from, a park. So where your stop is on the route determines how fast it is for you.

2. Wilderness Lodge has a nice boat ride to the MK but that is often shared with Fort Wilderness making it somewhat slow. It also now has a bus to MK --until very recently it had instead a bus that ran to the TTC. Bus service to other parks is OK.

3. Beach Club Villas and BoardWalk Villas: ideal for Epcot because it is a short walk; you can also walk to MGM, a little longer walk. There is also a boat that makes the MGM to Swan/Dolphin to Beach/Yacht Club to BoardWalk to Epcot run and back again in reverse order. That is very often longer than walking. The curent bus system is that Yacht Club and Beach Club (including Villas) now have their own bus that goes to MK and BW shares with Swan/Dolphin. Not really bad. Same sometimes applies to AK although that bus will often make the complete loop (S/D and YC/BC and BW) and as a result can be the slowest of the bus rides, particularly when Blizzard Beach is open during the day and it also stops there.

4. Saratogo Springs is similar to OKW with its own busses to the parks but the complaints I have seen involve interlopers coming over to take the busses from nearby non-Disney hotels.

All-in-all, the bus system for any of them is OK. You should note that people often complain about the bus system for all resorts; that is just the nature of having a bus system, but Disney, in comparison to any other bus sytem in the nation, does a very good job. You will also find that the ride is often made pleasant by a cheery and friendly bus driver, something you rarely find in bus sytems elsewhere..

 

[CarolA]

I thought they gave YC/BC it's own bus and did one bus for BW/Swan/Dolphin now (or is that just when things are very busy!)

I have only used OKW's system and I found it worked fine.

 

[drusba]

YC/BC,as I mentioned above now, has their own bus to MK. For AK, it is hit and miss as often they still have the full loop, or at least that is what we hit in January.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

4. Saratogo Springs is similar to OKW with its own busses to the parks but the complaints I have seen involve interlopers coming over to take the busses from nearby non-Disney hotels.

Saratoga only has 2.5 stops right now, and it's fairly quick to go through. 95% of the time, my SSR bus has less than 10 people on it. Personally, I've never had anyone stand on my SSR bus, with the exception of a few rowdy toddlers that parents wouldn't keep seated.

 

[beccasmom]

I have heard the OKW sometimes shares buses with SSR, but I have not seen that happen and have stayed many times at OKW. OKW's system is not bad - keeping in mind that the bus stops at each "neighborhood" . We take the boat to DTD if we are not in a rush (that does make a stop at SSR). It is usually less crowded. Also, when traveling to DTD, the bus usually stops at Typhoon Lagoon. Traveling to the MK, Epcot, MGM and AK is usually pretty quick.

 

[goofy4tink]

We were at BWV during the summer (mid-August) and then again for Thanksgiving into the first week in Dec. We never had any issues at all with the bus service. We shared buses with Swan/Dolphin and once or twice with YC/BC, but that was middle of the day stuff. We have no issues with the bus service at BWV. And we love being able to walk to Epcot and MGM. And then, if it's hot or you're just too pooped to walk, you can take a boat.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

I have heard the OKW sometimes shares buses with SSR,

OKW will share a bus with SSR during the final minutes of an Epcot or DTD park close, when the park is about to clear. Since it's just stragglers at that point, most often times there's not even anyone on the bus, never mind someone for both.

 

[SB in KY]

I think transportation from all of the DVC resorts is adequate. If I was rating I would rate SSR as 1, followed by OKW with the other 3 (BWV, BCV and VWL) as third.

At OKW I always request a unit close to the bus stop (we usually ask for Bldgs 23 - 27, because it is the 1st bus stop in the AM so you always get a seat and you are the first to get off in the afternoon/evening....also if you see a bus go by that you just missed you have plenty of time to walk over to the Hospitality House (last stop) and catch it there)....occasionally short on seats right at park opening and closing times, but usually plenty of room.

SSR is great now because there aren't many people staying there (only a small portion of it is completed) so I can't recall ever seeing a standing room only bus there.

VWL has the boat to MK and buses elsewhere, but because of some shared buses with Ft Wilderness they seem slower and more crowded to me (my opinion only)

BC and BW have easy walk access to Epcot, but it is quite a hike to MGM and the boats, while fun are VERY slow. Bus service from the BC can be laborious mid day (YC, BC, BW etc, etc) and my other complaint there is, depending on where your villa is located it can be a major hike to the bus stop

None of them are bad, none are perfect....if uncrowded buses are your main goal go for SSR.

I have to say the bus service to any of the DVC resorts is equal to if not better than to any of the hotels without DVC's....Disney is an equal opportunity buser for sure!!

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

I have to say the bus service to any of the DVC resorts is equal to if not better than to any of the hotels without DVC's....Disney is an equal opportunity buser for sure!!

Remember, transportation is based out of the theme parks, and not the resorts. As such, transportation will be equal across the board. The only thing that changes the mix around is when buses are expected to fill and leave guests behind. That's when other buses are added to the mix.