WL and busses

[skiwee1]

When we stayed at WL, it took us an hour to get to MGM Studios. We first went to FW, then GF. It was awful! This happened on all of our bus rides. I liked the resort, but will never stay there again due to the lousy bus service. AKL may be farther away, but it took half the time to get anywhere!

I agree. We shared all routes with FtW when we stayed there. Nothing worse then going OUT OF YOUR WAY before heading to your destination. Even worse was going OUT OF YOUR WAY only to find out there was no one at the FTW bus stop and no one getting off of the bus! Total waste of time. Same way with the boats. I don't think it would have been so bad if you didn't go in the opposite direction of where you wanted to go every single time you got on the bus or boat! I have no idea why anyone would stay there again if they had experienced bad transportation. My belief is because it is very low cost deluxe resort. I'd rather just pay more and get better transporation.

 

[jcemom]

Just to throw in my two cents in regards to resort versus resort... bus transportation is based out of the theme parks, not the specific resorts... so no one resort will have better transportation than another.

Wouldn't it make a difference how many stops are made though? If the AKL bus takes me directly to MGM for example, but the WL bus takes me to the Poly and the GF, and THEN to MGM, the AKL transportation would be faster (and better), no?

 

[maxsmom]

When we stayed at WL, it took us an hour to get to MGM Studios. We first went to FW, then GF. It was awful! This happened on all of our bus rides. I liked the resort, but will never stay there again due to the lousy bus service. AKL may be farther away, but it took half the time to get anywhere!

Same here! It was awful. We got our survey and ranted forever. The real kicker was when they went to the furthest out bus dropp and left us off there. that was rediculous. They didn't even pull up to WL drop at the parks. As a lot of you know that is a lot added to your walk in when you are that far out. I'd never even realized that the bus drops went that far back at Epcot and MGM. Not happy about it at all.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

How long should it (theoretically) take me to get from WL to a DTD hotel to pick up my rental car on a Sunday morning? The Budget rental lot is located at the Embassy Suites there. Is there a bus that will drop me off anywhere near that?? TIA!

 

[jarestel]

As a veteran of more than a dozen stays at WL, I can assure everyone that the bus transportation is just fine there. Not to say that things don't happen sometimes that create longer than usual waits, but that happens at all resorts from time to time. I suspect that for some, anything that takes longer than the Star Trek transporter room to get someone from point A to point B will always be unsatisfactory. An extra stop or two along the way isn't that bad, just relax and enjoy!

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Wouldn't it make a difference how many stops are made though? If the AKL bus takes me directly to MGM for example, but the WL bus takes me to the Poly and the GF, and THEN to MGM, the AKL transportation would be faster (and better), no?

Actually, the AKL bus stops at Blizzard Beach before continuing onto the Disney-MGM Studios. But that's not the point. For WL, during the morning, the route is WL -> GF -> Studios. During the afternoon, it's WL -> FW Settlement (that's the one that's close to WL) -> Studios. Don't know why your bus went through the Poly, that's a very rare exception. The stop at GF or FWS is minimal, and only adds on average less than 5 minutes tops to the drive. On the return trip, WL is first.

My point is, if 5 minutes is really that much of an inconvenience, and ruins the experience that much, perhaps a rental car might be something worth while to check into. I've noticed that the real problem with Disney Transport is perception. While I was at Pop Century, we actually did a whole study and seminar into this concept. When folks are waiting for a bus, time doubles. When making an additional stop, things feel more out of the way than they really are. Travel times seem longer than they really are. Believe me, I feel it too. I'll be driving from MK to AKL, and I'll feel like it took me 30 minutes. But it only took me 14 minutes. Is there a way to fix that? Not really... we just have to work the best that we can. And we do. We work very hard to move people. Sure, there are glitches here and there. But when you figure we move hundreds of thousands of people per day, often times in short periods of time, we do a decent job.

 

[skiwee1]

As a veteran of more than a dozen stays at WL, I can assure everyone that the bus transportation is just fine there. Not to say that things don't happen sometimes that create longer than usual waits, but that happens at all resorts from time to time. I suspect that for some, anything that takes longer than the Star Trek transporter room to get someone from point A to point B will always be unsatisfactory. An extra stop or two along the way isn't that bad, just relax and enjoy!

Not quite looking for something that quick. I would have been happy with 30 minutes or less. To have an hour to get to the parks it ridiculous. To have the buses never show is beyond ridiculous. The bad transportation happens more then once in a while at the WL. I kind of think the ones that had no problems are the lucky rare ones! The WL is KNOWN for it's crummy transportation. Always has been.

 

[WiscMomof2]

Very well said Tyler. I think Disney does a pretty darn good job with the bus system all things considered. For me it beats driving a car to the parks any day of the week. BTW, I've stayed at WL twice and never experienced the transportation problems that others have reported.

 

[jarestel]

Not quite looking for something that quick. I would have been happy with 30 minutes or less. To have an hour to get to the parks it ridiculous. To have the buses never show is beyond ridiculous. The bad transportation happens more then once in a while at the WL. I kind of think the ones that had no problems are the lucky rare ones! The WL is KNOWN for it's crummy transportation. Always has been.

I think on past threads you have indicated your one and only stay at the WL was plagued with transportation problems. All I'm saying is that my dozen stays have been pretty good, transportation wise. If you buy a house in a certain area and the first time you try to drive to work, the traffic is backed up due to an accident, it's not reasonable to assume that traffic is like that all of the time. The more experiences you have, the more reliable your assessment of a situation becomes.

 

[skiwee1]

I think on past threads you have indicated your one and only stay at the WL was plagued with transportation problems. All I'm saying is that my dozen stays have been pretty good, transportation wise. If you buy a house in a certain area and the first time you try to drive to work, the traffic is backed up due to an accident, it's not reasonable to assume that traffic is like that all of the time. The more experiences you have, the more reliable your assessment of a situation becomes.

Not really. I have read hundreds of complaints about the WL transportation. I am not the only one that had problems. No other resort has EVER had the complaints that the WL does. Could be why it is so cheap because the transportation is just plain bad. Once I have one rotten stay I won't waste my time again.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

I've also read tons of posts about how the WL transportation was just fine. You'll find posts of pro & con for EVERY resort.

The bottom line is that it really all comes down to perception... and everyone's perception on things is very different. You could have two guests walk up to a bus stop at the same time, and one thinks, "Hey that bus came quickly" and the other thought "Hey, that bus took forever to get here"

Similar thing happened to me when I was at Pop Century... some would think thier building was a short walk to the main building, others thought it was incredibly far away.

 

[care403]

Don't get me wrong, it's not going to stop me from going. And honestly, if this is my biggest issue, then I'm counting my blessings. It's not an easy task to transport that many people over a 47 mile (square miles?) paradise. Even if it takes an hour, it's better than being at work

 

[jarestel]

Not really. I have read hundreds of complaints about the WL transportation. I am not the only one that had problems. No other resort has EVER had the complaints that the WL does. Could be why it is so cheap because the transportation is just plain bad. Once I have one rotten stay I won't waste my time again.

I've read many complaints too, but most of them have been from you and your one stay. ( how many years ago was that stay? ) I'm quite happy with Disney transportation, sorry you can't seem to move on.

 

[skiwee1]

I've read many complaints too, but most of them have been from you and your one stay. ( how many years ago was that stay? ) I'm quite happy with Disney transportation, sorry you can't seem to move on.

Sorry but I'm not the only one on this thread that thought WL has bad transportation. Four others on this thread alone has expressed their not so good opinions on the transportation there. I not only moved on but moved UP to the Poly. This board is to give advice and opinions on everything WDW has to offer including past, present, and future trips to WDW. If you want to ignore the bad stuff about the WL then please put me on ignore as I will always tell anyone that asks what my opinion is. Don't like it. Too bad.

 

[budwmn]

Perception??? I timed it with my watch! And it's a lot longer than 5 minutes out of your way for a stop at FW. By the fourth day of our trip we started taking taxis. My DH is pretty cheap, but even he was willing to spend $15 for a cab ride to avoid wasting so much time dealing with the bus.

Maybe this isn't the norm for WL, but it was enough to keep me from staying there again. It's a beautiful resort -- we still go back for dinner sometimes, but not to sleep.

 

[skiwee1]

Perception??? I timed it with my watch! And it's a lot longer than 5 minutes out of your way for a stop at FW. By the fourth day of our trip we started taking taxis. My DH is pretty cheap, but even he was willing to spend $15 for a cab ride to avoid wasting so much time dealing with the bus.

Maybe this isn't the norm for WL, but it was enough to keep me from staying there again. It's a beautiful resort -- we still go back for dinner sometimes, but not to sleep.

ITA. There was no perception problem. LOL! The buses, when they showed up, took way too long to get to where it was supposed to go. Probably because we had to backtrack to FtW every time even when there was no one there. We too go back to sit in the lobby and have dinner at Whispering Canyon. Then we retreat to the Poly and enjoy our vacation.

 

[jcemom]

Just wanted to make it clear, Tyler, that I didn't intend to be overly critical of the transportation. I was just making a comparison of the only two Disney Resorts I've stayed at so far. There was a big difference in the transportation, IMO. Maybe I just had a really great week at AKL (never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus to or from anywhere), and maybe I just had a really bad week at WL (don't think a bus ever arrived in ten minutes or less to or from anywhere). I can only relate my personal experience. Even with the WL transportation being what it was, I would still choose it over renting a car, as I am on vacation and prefer to leave the driving up to you guys!

In my experience, AKL had the superior transportation. 25+ minutes to MGM from WL (after waiting for the bus which was usually around 20 minutes, sometimes more), 15 minutes to MGM from AKL (after waiting for the bus, which was less than 10 minutes)...so, 45+ minutes as opposed to 25 minutes or less...did that extra 20 minutes per trip make or break my vacation? NO WAY! I still had a great time!

 

[fantavet]

Well some like it and some hate it. Sounds like a movie review. I'm planning on mixing in taxis with my bus transportation at WL. Depending on scheduling.

But the one overriding factor is that not everyone hates it and not everyone thinks it is fine. Sounds like perception?

Like I mentioned earlier I THINK the transportation will be modified starting May 5th so this whole thread could become a moot point. Definitely heard they are bringing in more buses. I know that has to do with the Magical Express runs from the airports, can't say for sure if that also means more "internal" buses for the parks.

 

[jarestel]

If you want to ignore the bad stuff about the WL then please put me on ignore as I will always tell anyone that asks what my opinion is. Don't like it. Too bad.

I'm not ignoring any bad stuff, just haven't had it happen to me. If someone wants to take your "advice" based on your one less than perfect trip, fine. I'm just saying that in my 14 trips, I've not experienced anything remotely like you did. So, as you, I'm just posting my opinion based on my personal experiences and you are free to ignore the positive posts if they interfere with your agenda. You may have the last word if you wish, I've said all I want to say on this subject.