Which resort for 1st time using WDW transportation?

[Snurk71]

So we've been to WDW about 15 times in the past 15 years and have had a rental car every single trip (stays at GF, BLT, BCV) - I'm kind of impatient but am mellowing a bit as I age. We're going on a cruise next March for spring break and are going to stay at WDW a couple of nights beforehand and *gasp* are talking about not getting a rental car and relying on Disney transportation for the first time (we've never set foot on a Disney bus).

Who knows if another resort will even be open at 7 months (we're booked at BLT now). But if you had a choice, which DVC resort would you try out the Disney transportation from for the first time?

Thanks

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

Some of the decision depends on the park you're planning to spend the most time at. We've stayed at all the WDW DVC resorts, and have used Disney transportation for most trips. There are pros and cons for each resort. You do need to accept that there will be a few bus trips each vacation that take longer than normal. For the mostpart, buses arrive as advertise every twenty minutes. That doesn't mean you won't wait much longer than that a few times. For me, I prefer the Disney transportation over the parking lots and trams.

BLT: Can't beat the convenience for Magic Kingdom. It's a quick walk to the gate. Epcot can be reached via the monorail, but requires a change at the TTC. All other parks are reached by bus. Expect to share the bus with another resort, either Poly or Grand Floridian. (It seemed to be a mix when we were there. Some parks shared with one, other parks with the other.)

VWL: Convenient boat transportation to MK. All other locations and MK are served by bus. Buses share with Fort Wilderness.

BCV: Easy walk into the International Gate to Epcot. Boat transportation to both Epcot and DHS. There is no bus service to these two parks. Bus service to other parks. Shared buses with Boardwalk, Swan, Dolphin, and Yacht Club (forgot this one). (This is my least favorite bus route.)

BWV: Same as BCV, except walk to Epcot is a little farther.

SSR: Bus transportation to all parks. Possible to walk or take a boat to DTD. Resort doesn't share buses with other resorts, but the internal bus route has many stops.

OKW: Same as SSR.

AKV: Bus service to all parks. Quick trip to Animal Kingdom park, but a longer ride to othe parks. Buses stop at both Kidanai and Jambo, but don't share with other resorts.

 

[disneynutz]

I would rent a car, use it at WDW and drive it to the port and turn it in there.

Bill

 

[dianeschlicht]

Just a warning that often it will take you much longer to drive to a park and take a tram in than it will to take Disney transportation from your resort. We find this to be true at OKW, SSR, VWL and AKV. It is not necessarily true at BWV and BCV, where the buses to AK and MK can be a royal PITA. BLT and VWL are very
easily accessible to MK with either a quick walk or boat ride. Our experience has been that OKW and AKV have the best bus service, and BWV and BCV are easiest to access Epcot and DHS but difficult for MK.

 

[ssawka]

BLT: Can't beat the convenience for Magic Kingdom. It's a quick walk to the gate. Epcot can be reached via the monorail, but requires a change at the TTC. All other parks are reached by bus. Expect to share the bus with another resort, either Poly or Grand Floridian. (It seemed to be a mix when we were there. Some parks shared with one, other parks with the other.)

Just wanted to add that at BLT you also have direct buses to all other resorts via the MK bus depot.

BCV: Easy walk into the International Gate to Epcot. Boat transportation to both Epcot and DHS. There is no bus service to these two parks. Bus service to other parks. Shared buses with Boardwalk, Swan, and Dolphin. (This is my least favorite bus route.)

Buses are also shared with YC. It has its own bus stop.

 

[hellerjw]

We love the buses at AKV and have never found the ride to the parks to be that long, but of course that is subjective. It doesn't share with any other resorts and there have been numerous times where we waited less than 5 minutes for a bus or were the only ones on the bus. I can't remember the last time we had to stand on an AKV bus.

 

[TisBit]

I concur with the first poster about the transportation pros and cons. Really it depends on what you plan on doing the couple of days you are there. I really like SSR, while it is not attached to a park, it is quick to DTD for evening entertainment and really there is some decent consistency for going to the parks (travel time is roughly the same for any park...AK is a bit longer) and it is nice just knowing that it will take about 35 minutes to get to any park (average including waiting for a bus). Some of the other resorts it was more to think about. At BCV, we could be in Epcot in 10 minutes, but DHS was maybe 20 waiting for a boat and MK and Epcot could be really long waits (bus service wasn't the best).

AKV's I really didn't like a whole lot, it was the furthest away from most of the parks and travel times just increased to each park, so AK was 20, HS 25, EP 30 MK 35 or so. For me (the planner) it is easier to tell my wife we need to be ready at 8 am for a 9 am rope drop every morning and always be leaving the villa at the same time.

 

[BrerNashville]

If you're looking for best access to all parks, I would think VWL would be best -- the bus depot is actually a lot closer to it than the WL, and we never had an issue with the buses from WL. Though if you wanting to only visit Epcot, one of those resorts would have to be best.

 

[dd08]

I concur with the first poster about the transportation pros and cons. Really it depends on what you plan on doing the couple of days you are there. I really like SSR, while it is not attached to a park, it is quick to DTD for evening entertainment and really there is some decent consistency for going to the parks (travel time is roughly the same for any park...AK is a bit longer) and it is nice just knowing that it will take about 35 minutes to get to any park (average including waiting for a bus). Some of the other resorts it was more to think about. At BCV, we could be in Epcot in 10 minutes, but DHS was maybe 20 waiting for a boat and MK and Epcot could be really long waits (bus service wasn't the best).

AKV's I really didn't like a whole lot, it was the furthest away from most of the parks and travel times just increased to each park, so AK was 20, HS 25, EP 30 MK 35 or so. For me (the planner) it is easier to tell my wife we need to be ready at 8 am for a 9 am rope drop every morning and always be leaving the villa at the same time.

Your bus experience from AKV has been very different than mine.

In multiple stays at AKV, I've found the busses take ~5 to maybe 10 min to AK, about 15 to HS and the longest being MK which I would say is ~20-25 min most of the time but have taken 30 or a little over depending if there is an issue.

Sorry you had bad luck with AKV

 

[supersuperwendy]

We have stayed at several WDW properties over the years and last year we stayed at BLT and I LOVED the location. We had great luck with transportation and loved walking to the MK or taking the monorail. My husband thinks BWV is better because he loves walking to Epcot, but I don't like the time the boat takes to DHS and back and the walk is long too. We also stayed at AKV last year and I thought the bus rides were long. In January we stayed at SSR and had probably the best bus service ever. We never waited more then a few minutes if at all.