Re: The dreaded buses...

**elvistelth** · 01-10-2010, 05:37 PM

I disagree. I'd rather stay at the All Stars for 3 different trips than one trip to the Poly.

**ohiodisneydad** · 01-12-2010, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by 1 small world

Okay... all these replies are talking about taking buses...
how about saving your pennies and just stay at the Polynesian?
I know it's pricey, but for convenience, you can't beat a bus free trip to MK and Epcot!

Because sometimes pennies are all we have to spend on our trips. Our last trip was our first stay on property and it was at Pop Century. We LOVED it. But everyone seems to have an opinion about the buses. I started out gung ho for the buses but one trip was enough to stop that. So for me and a few others the buses aren't a good thing.

**prickle** · 05-18-2010, 07:39 AM

I feel riding the Disney busses is a must do, at least one time. I enjoy looking at the people and how wiped out they are from a full day at the parks. The kids that are asleep, and of course the infamous sweaty smell. (yuck). I know its hard to do but get on the bus with a positive attitude and know the ride will be over soon.

**Chrissy&Tayen** · 05-18-2010, 07:59 AM

i have stayed at sports and movies and CSR.. and my worst bus experiance was this last trip.. i waited 45mins at DTD for a bus back to CSR.. and after 45 mins.. i got on a poly bus then took the train to MK and got a bus back to CSR.. this last trip i was so mad at disney over their buses.. it was crazy.. im giving them one last chance on the bus deal because i can say it was crazy busy that week.. but a 45 min wait in the middle of the day.. come on? and because of that the hubby missed his driving experiance thingie.

i was not impressed with the mod resorts at all.. i would have rather stayed in a value resort..

**DopeyDancer87** · 05-18-2010, 10:13 AM

Well, I agree with everyone who says to stay on a monorail line, but I can also tell you that the Boardwalk and Yacht & Beach Club would be a great option because you can take a boat to Hollywood Studios and EPCOT (or walk), and there is hardly ever a line for the boat. The bus to MK and AK usually isn't terrible either, and I recommend staying at the Boardwalk because it is usually the 1st stop (garaunteeing a seat at least en route to the park, and your the first one off in case you can't get a seat on the way back).

DO NOT STAY AT Old Key West, All-Star, Port Orleans or Caribbean Beach! They are some of the largest hotels on property and have a ton of stops, thus carrying a ton of people!

**Major Dude** · 05-19-2010, 09:37 PM

The only resort bus problems I've ever had were trying to get to the Magic Kingdom first thing in the morning from Coronado Springs. About an hour wait the first morning of my last trip and later in the week I gave up waiting after about 45 minutes and took a taxi. I had a Keys to the Kingdom tour to take that morning!

Other than those two occasions, I enjoy the buses, boats and monorails.

**supernova** · 05-20-2010, 08:45 AM

A ton of us were left standing at a bus stop at Saratoga Springs on the evening of a Christmas party. That ****ed.

On the other hand, I've had two special bus events that help to put the long waits out of my mind. One time, I took a bus from Wilderness to Epcot and realized that I left my tickets back in the room. I went back to the bus stop but one bus pulled up to tell me that they didn't run back to the hotels at that early hour. He closed his door, called dispatch, and they had a private "VIP Guest" bus pull up for me to head back to Wilderness. I can only presume the "I" stood for "Idiotic".

Another morning, I was waiting for a bus to take us to a character breakfast. We were the only ones at the stop at that hour, and an out-of-service bus pulled up. He asked what we were doing, changed his sign to "Mickey Mouse" and drove us to the Magic Kingdom.

**Maestrojosh87** · 05-22-2010, 01:02 AM

I would recommend the OKW or SS.

**firemedic** · 05-26-2010, 11:25 AM

We stayed at Pop Century, and the busses were pretty quick. It is funny how you can tell the people that have been there a while. On our first day, we saw people that were about to go home and they looked ROUGH! I'm sure we looked that way too towards the end of the week.

**Mike M** · 05-26-2010, 12:17 PM

The buses are definatelty the one drawback that I see to staying on Disney property. It is also definately better to stay at one of the Deluxe resorts that have partial boat/monorail transportation available to the parks. Only exception is Animal Kingdom Lodge which is why we will never stay there again. Animal Kingdom Lodge is probably the most "remote" Disney resort and you always had to figure an hour from the time you leave your room until you were in a park, or vice versa. The bus service was not always horrible, but having NOTHING but bus transportation for a full week to anywhere you wanted to go was dismal. I know others may defend the bus service, but that is the one part I see as a drawback and we will definately never stay at AKL again.

Thanks. Mike M

**elvistelth** · 05-26-2010, 01:30 PM

That's why I drive my car to the parks. If you stay on property parking is free. I find it much easier to drive.

**ashleighbass06** · 05-29-2010, 10:01 PM

I have to say that I stayed at ASMu in March and during the less-busy times the All-Stars shared buses. But, when it was really busy, like at park closing, each resort had a separate bus. Yes, sometimes we still had to wait for a couple buses and sometimes had to stand, but there was only one stop. Is that not how it normally works?

**elvistelth** · 05-29-2010, 11:48 PM

I can't answer that since I drive...I don't pay much attention to the busses since I don't use them.

**StaceyB** · 05-31-2010, 11:06 AM

I completely agree about the Epcot area resorts. Best transportation on property, hands down IMHO. We just returned from a stay at Bay Lake Tower. We switched it up because we had two preschoolers with us and I wanted to check out the new place. Words cannot express the ease of movement to/from the MK. AWESOME because it is a very short walk. Transportation to/from Epcot was OK. It would also be awesome if there wasn't the need to go all the way down and back up the platforms (I know why they do this and I get it and if I were Mary Poppins and could fly down and up the platforms it would be great, but pushing strollers up those ramps is quite a workout).

The bus service to/from DHS and AK left quite a bit to be desired. Part of our party waited over 40 minutes for a DHS bus around 11 a.m. Returning to BLT from DHS after Fantasmic took 80 minutes and we only missed ONE bus. If we wouldn't have been sandwiched in line, I would have jumped out of line and gotten in line for the bus to the TTC. I have quite a bit of Disney patience and I could perhaps see more of a wait during the day when it's harder to anticipate how many people are going to the parks, but at park closing? Really? Did closing time sneak up on them? That was pretty bad and hile I am DVC and was at BLT (the first dropoff), I can't imagnine how annoyed I would have been had I paid $350+ per night.

Bus service at the Epcot resorts is not terrible, though the BW is the last stop. We routinely get off at the Swan (1st stop) and walk across the bridge. A huge time saver to be sure! Looking forward to getting back to the BWV, though I sure like that 3rd full bath and the laundry room at BLT.

**Beeker** · 06-04-2010, 08:25 PM

Originally Posted by supernova

A ton of us were left standing at a bus stop at Saratoga Springs on the evening of a Christmas party. That ****ed.

On the other hand, I've had two special bus events that help to put the long waits out of my mind. One time, I took a bus from Wilderness to Epcot and realized that I left my tickets back in the room. I went back to the bus stop but one bus pulled up to tell me that they didn't run back to the hotels at that early hour. He closed his door, called dispatch, and they had a private "VIP Guest" bus pull up for me to head back to Wilderness. I can only presume the "I" stood for "Idiotic".

Another morning, I was waiting for a bus to take us to a character breakfast. We were the only ones at the stop at that hour, and an out-of-service bus pulled up. He asked what we were doing, changed his sign to "Mickey Mouse" and drove us to the Magic Kingdom.

Great stories! It's events like these that keep me on the buses. In fact, I had one on my last trip.

We were going out to eat at Chef Mickey's before heading to the parks one morning. It was POURING rain and we had been sitting at the bus stop for 15 minutes or so. We finally got a bus to the Magic Kingdom and noticed we were going to be late at the rate the bus was traveling, plus monorail time. We talked to the bus driver and he nodded. A while later, as we approached the Contemporary, he actually drove into the parking lot for us and we made it on time.

Some bus drivers are awesome.