How long do buses actually take?

jaygatsby

jaygatsby

Member
During the holidays (week between Christmas and NY) how long does bussing actually take from AoA? In the morning (before park opening), afternoon, and post fireworks? Is there anything on MDE app to help plan for bus times?
 
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LAKid53

LAKid53

Official Member of the Girly Girl Fan Club
Premium Member
You are visiting Disney during the most crowded week of the year. While Disney mentions buses run approximately every 20 minutes, I would plan for at minimum a 30 minute wait for your bus (If your resort has multiple stops, it may be full when it gets to your stop) and at least 20 minutes to get to a park. And be prepared for phased park closings. As a resort guest, you'll be one of the last guests to be turned away when parks (MK, Epcot and now DAK) reach capacity. And NYE? Think Times Square type crowds at MK and Epcot. It will probably take at least an hour to get on a bus to go back to your resort.

Google pictures of WDW during that week. People are packed shoulder to shoulder. It's called Hell Week for a reason...
 
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JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
Even with the buses being scheduled through, the increase of guests waiting at the stops may fill a bus up and youll be left waiting for the next one. And when the crowds are intensive, theres more loading and unloading of wheelchairs and scooters which can slow up transportation times. At park closing the lines at the bus stops waiting to go back to the resorts are insane. Not unusual to be an hour.
 
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correcaminos

correcaminos

Well-Known Member
jaygatsby said:
I just want to know when we'll have to leave the resort to get to MK for our BOG reservations... don't wanna take any risks losing those
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I always say give yourself an hour to get there. That said Disney is very good about leeway with dining. We've had issues a couple of times (ride breaking down, strange issue with tickets where 1 of us could go in and 2 could not, transpiration delays etc) and routinely about 20 minutes is a buffer zone for checking in.

If you are really concerned you can always do Uber/Lyft/Taxi instead. If you need car seats I know Uber can handle that.
 
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allgiggles

allgiggles

Well-Known Member
jaygatsby said:
I just want to know when we'll have to leave the resort to get to MK for our BOG reservations... don't wanna take any risks losing those
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I would be at the resort bus stop at least 90 minutes before your ADR. On a good day with no traffic, you can be at Magic Kingdom in a little over 15 minutes (at least that's the fastest we've ever made it from AoA using Disney transportation.) But we've also had it take closer to 30 minutes due to construction/traffic. Our average from AoA/Pop seems to be about 20 minutes. Then you'll need to allow several minutes to get through security followed by a 5+ minute walk to the restaurant (assuming you don't stop for anything along the way). In a perfect world you'd walk up to the bus stop and a bus would be waiting. You'd be at MK in 15 minutes; through security; no crowds on Main Street to slow you down; and you'd be at BOG about 10 minutes after arriving at the park for a total time of about 30 minutes. However, that's unrealistic. During a busy week (we travel in June -- not as busy as Christmas week, but still plenty busy), you could be waiting for a bus at the resort for 20+ minutes depending on your timing (a bus might have just left as you walked up to the stop or there could be more than one bus load of people in line already). If there's traffic, it could be a 25+ minute ride to the park. Then there could be long lines at the entrance...putting you closer to taking an hour to get from your hotel to BOG. I'm pretty sure that Disney states to allow 90 minutes (it might even be 2 hours) for total transportation time.

I will mention that my son and his wife had an 8:00 p.m. ADR at CRT one year. They were staying at Pop Century and were at the bus stop at 6:25 to head to MK. The line for the bus was HUGE. The first bus came about 12 minutes after they got in line but it was packed full. They waited another 20 minutes for the next bus and then had to wait for two ECV's to be loaded. They didn't leave Pop until about 7:10 and then there was a traffic issue (possibly an accident -- they were stuck in one spot for more than 5 minutes and then also moved very slowly for a few minutes. They never saw what the problem was.). They didn't arrive at MK until almost 7:45. Then, of course, the bag check lines were crazy long. They did make it to the ADR in time, but it's a good example of why you need to plan for at least 90 minutes to get somewhere.
 
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slipperalwaysfits

slipperalwaysfits

Well-Known Member
I am Timmy said:
If it's very important (like a dining res.) or your'e running late, Uber could be your best friend. We've used it on occasion and found it to be fast, reasonable, and reliable.
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While we are good about giving ourselves plenty of time, one year we were on the monorail from Epcot to MK for our Crystal Palace reservation and the monorail broke down. We called CP and told them we were going to be late and they rescheduled us for later that night. Awesome. :p
 
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