WL Transportation Problems???

[pamilia28]

I was wondering how the transportion is at WL. I've heard numerous and various things regarding the bus situation and the long wait for the boats. My husband and I can't decide what resort in the Magic Kingdom area or Epcot area to stay at. We are doing the Visa kids are free special and weren't sure if Dolphin / Swan were part of the deal. Any suggestions would be wonderful.

 

[DisneyDmbNut]

I have NEVER had transportation problem at the WL...The boats are always running and the buses are very quick! I am not saying that once in awhile buses don't run late, but I have found that at every resort. I have had bus problems at Poly and CR and a really bad one when I was pregnant at the YC..but that was small in the # of trips I took overall...hope that helps...you will LOVE the Loge!!

 

[Kimberle]

I found the transportation better than the CR. We were there in Sept (slow season).

I think the longest we had to wait for a bus or boat was about 10 minutes, coming or going. Plus, you are first stop for the buses, we ALWAYS had a seat.

There are so many places that are so easily accessable from WL. There is a bus right to TTC. There is a small boat that circles WL/FW/CR all day. You have your boat right to MK.

It is a beautiful resort. The pool areas are so nice. You can just "sit" for hours doing nothing, but gausing........

 

[skiwee1]

I found the transportation at WL the worse out of the Poly, WL, and CBR. We waited 2 hours for a boat to take us back after park closing! Two hours is way too long. We also had to go to FW on the bus or boat before ever making it to our final destination. And that is if the buses ever arrived. The resort is gorgeous but the transportation will stop me from ever staying there again!

 

[HumphreyBear]

Back in the day, there USED to be separate boats to the magic kingdom from the wilderness lodge and ft. wilderness. One had a green flag, one had an orangy red flag. At slow times, they would use a green/orange striped flag to denote that one boat was serving both resorts. Then the striped flag just ran all the time. Now all the boats are shared between the ft. wilderness and wilderness lodge. However, it isn't like there is just one boat going at a time. At a given point in time there could be two or three boats going, so that there is a boat leaving ft. wilderness and another boat arriving at the lodge. So actually, it ends up now that the boats seem to arrive SOONER, because all the boats that are out are going to both resorts, rather than having to wait for the wilderness lodge boat. Also, remember that there is the blue flag boat that runs a triangle from the contemporary to ft. wilderness to wilderness lodge. This is really a nice plus for the transportation at the lodge, if you want to go over to the contemporary for a cosmic monkey or a meal.

I've also noticed them tinkering with the bus system over the past years. The last time we were there, it seems like ALL the bus routes were shared with ft. wilderness. The studios, akl busses went to ft. wilderness first, then wilderness lodge, so it was pretty transparant to lodge guests - get on and you have a non-stop trip to your destination. Couldn't be better. And, again, I think that sharing the busses means that they show up more often, because you don't have to wait for the "Wilderness lodge" bus, either one ends up at the lodge. There is also a bus direcctly to the TTC, which is just a very short hop from the lodge. The snag is the bus to epcot, which starts at the lodge, goes to ft. wilderness, then winds around the back way to epcot. To me, this seems like more of a trip than it needs to be.

It may entirely be that different routes are used at different times of day as crowd levels flow and ebb, so this may be totally innacurate to what other people experience as well.

Let me contrast the transportation at WL with say Grand Floridian, a resort that some consider the flagship of wdw resorts. The GF is separate buildings; so to go to MK, you can walk to the boat, or to the main building to the monorail. This is a wash with the boat at wl. I think the GF still shares busses with polly, direct bus to AK and studios. A wash with WL. To go to epcot, at wl just walk out, get on the ttc bus, short ride to ttc, monorail to epcot. From GF, walk out, walk to main building, get on monorail. Go around to TTC. Get out, go around, get on epcot monorail. Not that much of an advantage. So I think WL transportation is equal to any of the MK resorts; it is different than the beach club or the epcot resorts, because you are on the other side of the world; the ease of MK is replaced with ease of epcot and studios. So the comparison there is really where you want to be closer to.

 

[MEM]

We stayed at WL this past August and had little or no problems with the transportation -- in fact, many times we had to run because the boat or bus was waiting at the stop.

One afternoon it took awhile (45 min?) to get an Epcot bus because there was a severe T-storm and alot of buses, we were told, were re-routed to get guests out of the water parks.
We found we actually preferred taking the boat to MK and then taking the monorail to Epcot.
Getting to DTD during the morning, I have found, has been slow regardless of the resort we stay at.

 

[Sandi]

We were were at WL 10/24 thru 11/1. I wouldn't call the transportation awful, but it could have been better. We seemed to especially run into problems with getting buses from EPCOT (no rainstorms or anything). One time, we waited 40 minutes -- it was mid-afternoon. The next time we decided to take the monorail to MK and then hop a boat to WL. I think that took longer, but at least we were moving (which is important to DH and DD).

I was really glad we had a rental car and after the first few days, we used it for everything except MK and FW.

The other resorts we've stayed at are POR, POFQ, and CBR. I felt all of those resorts had better transportation systems in place.

 

[pamilia28]

Thanks so much for all your replies. I've finally made the decision to go with Wilderness Lodge. I've stayed at POR but since we are saving so much on the Visa special, the upgrade is worth it - even if the transportation is a little slow. We are going May6th - May10th and are really looking forward to the trip (we need to get outta this snow).

 

[Blondie]

As much as I adore the WL, the bus transportation leaves much to be desired.

We were there last January (slow season) and one evening we waited 20 minutes for a bus to Epcot! We finally gave up and took the next bus to the TTC and hopped the monorail from there.

I don't know what it is about the WL and their busses, but you seem to wait forever!

The boat over to the MK was always quick and efficient.

Even with the bus problem, I'd still consider staying there again, it really is a neat resort!

 

[WiscMomof2]

We were at WL 10/25-11/1 and found the transportation to be fine. The boats were never more than 10 minutes away and we never waited more than 15 for a bus. Just as a comparision, we waited almost 25 minutes for a bus from MGM to AKL (our longest wait the whole week BTW) so you can have a wait no matter where you stay. I think a lot of it has to do with timing and a little bit of luck.

 

[dznyntnh]

I was at WL 10/15-10/22. It was my first stay there and I was a little apprehensive because of all the complaints on this board and the transportations board.

I was worried for nothing. The bus transportation is excellant. The longest I waited for any bus was 10 minutes (and that was when I saw another bus for my destination pull out just as I walked out).

The boats are ok, as long as you are not in a hurry.

The thing to remember any time you use Disney transportation is that you must leave an adequate amount of time to get where you are going.

WDW is the size of a small city and you have to think of the transportation as public transport and plan accordingly.

 

[musicmom3]

The transportation was a big worry of mine before we went to WL, especially since we were going to be there at a busy time (President's Week), but I worried for nothing. It was far better to all parks that the transportation at BC, I found. Orf course we might just have been on a roll--everything about that trip was perfect, come to think of it!!!!!

 

[timC]

IMO bus service to all the resorts average out to be about the same. What makes a difference for me is how many stops you make before you get to your destination. The big resorts, like CBR drive me crazy because of the multiple bus stops inside the resort.

I like the WL, because of the boat service. They are a whole lot more fun to ride than a bus. Overall... You get a different transportation experience at whatever resort you stay at, because of the location, and alternatives to busses available: monorail, boat. Some poeple are crazy about the monorail resorts.

Bottom-line: I wouldn't pick a resort because of what poeple say about their bus experience on their recent trip. WDW wants to make sure that everyone gets to the park in comfort.

Enjoy your trip!