Wilderness Lodge Commuting?(boats & buses)

[tomzpc]

My family will be staying at the WL in April. Just wondering how long it takes to get to the MK by boat or to the other parks by bus from WL and are there long wait times for boats or buses? I know that my two daughters (7 and 4) will require nap/quiet times in the afternoon (heck, so will I) in order to make it through the week but I'm wondering how easy or practical it is to move back and forth from WL to the parks.

Thanks!

Tom

 

[missy2217]

We just got back Wednsday and we used the boat to the Magic Kingdom. It was a breeze, the boats ran continuosly and it was not even a 10 minute ride. I would definatly go with the boats. We would even take the boat to MK and then hop on the monorail to EPCOT.

We even went back one day to change out socks when they got wet in a rain shower. Round trip was about 1/2 hour and that included going to the room and changing our socks.

 

[TinkWink]

I loved the boat launch! As the pp said, it was a quick ride to MK. We road the bus to Epcot, MGM and AK. We would meet up with our party about 30 minutes before park opening and be there in time for opening or right after, including any wait for the bus. The wait to come home was longer in the evenings/late afternoon, but it's just kind of the luck of the draw.

 

[tomzpc]

Thanks for the replies! The boat to MK sound great. How long do the buses take to get to the other parks? We currently have an ADR at BOMA in the AK on a day where we will be spending the a.m. and early afternoon in the MK. Are the bus times reasonable to head for another park just for dinner?

 

[Amypm]

Elapsed travel time is about 10 minutes each way. I hope you are not picky about which boat to take, though -- last week when returning to the WL from MK, I saw one or two families refuse to board the open-air boats because they were convinced that the bottom would break open and they would drown. They stepped aside and opted to wait for an enclosed boat.

Also, sometimes in the evenings, your boat might have to pull over to allow for the Electrical Water Pageant floats to pass through - this can take about 10-15 minutes.

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

OK I have to be the downer here. No flames please. I found the trasportation at WL to be the worst service I have ever had at Disney. One day we left Epcot at 3pm. We literally left the park took 45 min to get back to the lodge. Quickly changed our clothes went down to the bus depot and waited and waited and waited; finally got a bus, stopped to load on more people at FW then on to Epcot for our ressie at 6pm which we were 45 min late for. I still can not belive it took 3 1/2 hourse to get from Epcot to the lodge; change for dinner and back to Chefs De France. It was so bad that we rented a car and only used that from day 2 on. WL never again for us. Sorry but it was just plain bad.

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

Thanks for the replies! The boat to MK sound great. How long do the buses take to get to the other parks? We currently have an ADR at BOMA in the AK on a day where we will be spending the a.m. and early afternoon in the MK. Are the bus times reasonable to head for another park just for dinner?

Boma is not at Animal Kingdom it is at the Animal Kingdom LODGE, a very important difference. There is no resort to resort transportation, if you are leaving from Wl for Bomas you will need to get to a park and then take a bus to AKL from there. So if you are at MK and don't need to go back to your room before you head to dinner, then you just go to the MK bus depot and get on the bus to AKL. If you need to go to WL before dinner, you could board the bus to AK(if it is open) then transfer at AK to the AKL bus.

 

[Poohbear123]

[/B]
Boma is not at Animal Kingdom it is at the Animal Kingdom LODGE, a very important difference. There is no resort to resort transportation, if you are leaving from Wl for Bomas you will need to get to a park and then take a bus to AKL from there. So if you are at MK and don't need to go back to your room before you head to dinner, then you just go to the MK bus depot and get on the bus to AKL. If you need to go to WL before dinner, you could board the bus to AK(if it is open) then transfer at AK to the AKL bus.

How a bout a Cab? I do this when I have ressies and the resteraunt is far from the Hotel I am staying in.

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

How a bout a Cab? I do this when I have ressies and the resteraunt is far from the Hotel I am staying in.

Cabs are, of course, always an option and are generally waiting at most deluxe level hotels(like WL and AKL). The op asked about boats and buses, so I kept my info to that topic only.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We just retruned the 16th from a 9 night stay and the buses and boats were the greatest. No wait for the boats and the buses were running about every 10 minutes, never a problem.

Cabs are an option but to us, too pricey, we plan lee time in our travel, and like to scout around to where ever we're going so the buses suit our tastes just fine. We've done 40 visits to WDW, and never rented a car, used our own nor hired a cab, its so easy on proerty is you plan alittle time ahead.

 

[tomzpc]

OK I have to be the downer here. No flames please. I found the trasportation at WL to be the worst service I have ever had at Disney. One day we left Epcot at 3pm. We literally left the park took 45 min to get back to the lodge. Quickly changed our clothes went down to the bus depot and waited and waited and waited; finally got a bus, stopped to load on more people at FW then on to Epcot for our ressie at 6pm which we were 45 min late for. I still can not belive it took 3 1/2 hourse to get from Epcot to the lodge; change for dinner and back to Chefs De France. It was so bad that we rented a car and only used that from day 2 on. WL never again for us. Sorry but it was just plain bad.

If this is the norm then I'm going to have to take another look at our itinerary since we were planning on doing the same thing one day. We planned an Epcot day with early park arrival and then after lunch heading back to WL for a break and then returning to Epcot for our dinner at Coral Reef. Spending the entire day at the park would just be too much for my daughters. They'd likely end up asleep at the dinner table. Does transport back and forth between Epcot and WL usually take that long?