Bus or Monorail?

[casualrdt]

Ok I have not stayed on Disney property in a long time. Most of my trips for the last 15 years have been with a rental car and off property. I have been to WDW so many times and never paid much attention to Monorail vs. Bus times. (I know the boat is usually the fastest of all but I am not sure what parks have boat access besides ft wilderness) ..

so here is the question....

What is faster getting to and from the parks the Bus or Monorail? I am going down in May and would like to choose a resort with quick access to the parks... becasue I am not renting a car this time.

2nd question

Where can I find a map that shows transportation routs for each resort? Most on disneys site don't show enough info.

Thanks in advance

 

[vilegirl]

I can only give my personal opinion on this one, but I love the monorail. I think Disney usually does a really good job with their bus transportation, but to me the monorail is just the best!

 

[NOLADisneyFan]

Monorail v. Bus

I have stayed at both Monorail and Bus resorts (like everyone here), and I must say, you can't beat the convenience of the monorail.

The monorail is fast access to the Magic Kingdom and fast access to Epcot.

The monorail resorts are also a short hop on the bus to MGM and Animal Kingdom.

The buses are excellent...trust me...what people did before the buses I will never understand.

The one time when buses are slow is when they have to load a person with a wheelchair onto or off of the bus....I never mind that, because I want eveyone to enjoy Disney, but let's be honest...little kids are not often as patient.

That being said, I guess it boils down to how much are you willing to spend...if you can afford it, stay at ether Contemp, Poly or Grand Floridian.

But if you'd rather save the money and buy more Disney Merchandise with it, then stay at a resort that has only bus transportation and no monorail....its still a good deal.

Johnny

 

[SpectroMan]

The monorail is the best for me too.

When we stay at the Grand Floridian, we hop the monorail to MK, and when the day is finished, we take the boat back. We usually get on the first monorail, and there is never a line for the boat. Sometimes the trip from the Grand Floridian to Epcot is a little long, but it is always fun.

If you are looking for access to MK, Contemporary also has a walkway that you do not need to get on transportation to get there.

 

[auroraarielella]

Boats and Walking can be quick, too!

If you want quicker access to Epcot and/MGM, rather than MK, think about Beach Club, Yacht Club and Boardwalk. They are right at the "back door" to Epcot, and a ten minute walk/boat ride to MGM. Busses for AK - as with every hotel (even AK Lodge). And there are busses to Magic Kingdom, although if you have a hopper, you can walk through Epcot to the Monorail at the front gate.

Every evening we can go into Epcot and have a nice dinner in one of the "countries".

 

[casualrdt]

Great ideas keep'em coming.

 

[jesserin]

Of all the resorts including the monorail resorts - I peronsally love the All Star Sports... somehow this has the fastest bus system of any resort to me... Here's Why:

First off, you're the first all star to get picked up - which means on those early morning's when the lines are long - you'll skip the other resorts (as you'll have a full bus) and head straight to the parks...

Secondly, the monorail (though i love it dearly) seems to take a good bit longer than anything else b/c it makes so many stops from the hotels.

Thirdly, the epcot resorts (again, though I love them tons) have one problem... the bus system tend to be terrible and you are pretty much stuck on EMH to the MK - why? b/c you can't get into Epcot (to walk across to the monorail) early and there are no (or at least there wasn't as of last May) buses to MK from the Epcot Resorts (Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach) Thus if you get there at all you have to count in walk time from those resorts, through Epcot, to the monorail line, wait for the monorail, take it to the TTC, then board the MK monorail... ughhh...

Lastly - somehow the buses just always seem faster when you look at the big picture... The MK resorts can get you to the MK fairly quickly but it's tough getting to the other resorts in a timely mannor - same thing goes for the Epcot resorts - you're set for Epcot - but the other three take a back seat....


All in all - I personally don't care about rushing and making every minute count... we like to take it slow- thus I love the MK and Epcot resorts - but there was a day when the less amount of bus time really made a differance - and thus I recommend the All Star Sports - (preferred room of course) for the resort with the overall least amount of wait time...

hope this helps a little!

 

[Master Yoda]

Quite honestly an accurate answer would depend on what your primary interests are. If you plan on doing everything then it really doesn’t matter where you stay because it will all balance out in the end. If you plan to spend the majority of you time at MK and EPCOT then a monorail resort will be the best. If you want to do MGM and EPCOT then Beach Club, Yacht club and the Boardwalk will be best. AKL is of course the closest resort to AK. POFQ, POR are great for water access to DTD. To sum up if you are like most and want to experience the majority of what WDW has to offer don’t really worry about travel times from your resort just pick the resort that fits your budget and interests you. IMHO AKL is the best on property.

 

[dylan0511]

Personally I have had nothing but BAD experiences with the buses...maybe it's just me. They have always been VERY slow picking us up. They are usually waaaaay too crowded too.

We are driving all the way from PA next time just to avoid taking them.

 

[jesserin]

Personally I have had nothing but BAD experiences with the buses...maybe it's just me. They have always been VERY slow picking us up. They are usually waaaaay too crowded too.

We are driving all the way from PA next time just to avoid taking them.

Looking at your signature - that was exactly what I was talking about - please note that you happen to love staying at the WORST hotel for buses - we also had many 30-45 min wait times for every single bus - with no organization to the bus stops whatsoever... next time consider a different resort as you'll be much happier with the bus results - I have yet to stay at the Contemp and catch even one or two buses - 9x's out of 10 we just take the monorail to the Poly or the GF and catch the buses from there - somehow they seem to run much better... still slow compared to other resorts - but at least they show up once in awhile.

 

[tazhughes]

Jesserin I would tend to disagree with you, the all stars are very hit or miss with the busses, I would reccomend Pop Century in this price class over the all stars due to the dedicated bus service, MUCH MUCH faster.

 

[Master Yoda]

Looking at your signature - that was exactly what I was talking about - please note that you happen to love staying at the WORST hotel for buses - we also had many 30-45 min wait times for every single bus - with no organization to the bus stops whatsoever... next time consider a different resort as you'll be much happier with the bus results - I have yet to stay at the Contemp and catch even one or two buses - 9x's out of 10 we just take the monorail to the Poly or the GF and catch the buses from there - somehow they seem to run much better... still slow compared to other resorts - but at least they show up once in awhile.

I’ll second that. The Contemporary’s bus system is the worst resort on property.

 

[dylan0511]

Thank you...we are considering the Wildnerness Lodge for our next trip.

 

[casualrdt]

Wow... who knew there was this much info out there. My intentions are to make useful time of the parks in general. I will be there from May 8th till the 15th. Its just me and the girlfriend going and right now the CBR seems like the best choice or does it??? I would like to take advangtage of the early openings stay at a park till about 1 or 2 then head back to the room or a water park for a bit and hit another park from say 5 till closing. If the parks get too crowded it would be nice to take a break. Well we are booking the trip tonight and I wanted to get a little more of a reality check as too what on property transportation will be like.

Thanks again and keep the posts coming...

 

[Scooter]

I’ll second that. The Contemporary’s bus system is the worst resort on property.

Wow..I'm sorry you feel that way.

My family has stayed at the Contemporary several times and have never had a problem with the buses.

We've never had to wait more than 5 or 10 minutes for a bus to go anywhere.
We must just have good timing. :lol:

 

[Master Yoda]

If it is just the big kids you might want to look at one of the Port Orleans resorts. Bus service to all the parks is fair to good and they have water access to DTD. If you are planning to go to PI the busses can get quite crowded and the boats are a nice change of pace but to be quite honest you really can’t go wrong staying at any of Disney’s resorts. I have stayed in 9 of them and have found each one to be it own unique experience.

 

[vilegirl]

I haven't had any trouble with the Contemporary buses either. I've only stayed at the resort once recently, but I've used the bus system alot because CA Grill is one of my favorite restaurants so I often go from the Contemp to DD. I've never waited more than 5-10 minutes.

 

[Master Yoda]

Wow..I'm sorry you feel that way.

My family has stayed at the Contemporary several times and have never had a problem with the buses.

We've never had to wait more than 5 or 10 minutes for a bus to go anywhere.
We must just have good timing. :lol:

We stayed 3 nights at the Contemporary December of 2004. On two of those days we went to MK and EPCOT so we used the monorails. The remaining two days we went to AK and MGM. On the day we went to MGM the AK bus showed up 3 times before the MGM bus showed up and on the day we went to AK the MGM bus made 2 appearances before AK bus arrived. The trips back from the parks went fine it was just the morning that there were problems. Out of all my Disney trips (We stay on property about 4-6 times a year) that was the only time I ever had a legitimate problem with the bus system. With that exception the bus system is very good. The wait for the busses did not dampen my experience at all. It had been a dream of mine to stay at the contemporary since my first trip to Disney in the 70’s and last year was my first time. Not to mention that on the day we went to EPCOT we got to ride in the front of the monorail (dream 2 for this trip) and my family was selected to open EPCOT (dream 3). So my memories of the Contemporary are quite fond to say the least.

 

[polynesiangirl]

I would say that the bus system, and its reliability, is sort of hard to predict. You'll see from differing opinions here that some people have terrible experience with one resort's service while another says they had no problem. Personally, I never had a problem with the Contemporary's bus service - but I did have a terrible experience with Beach Club's! My fiancee' and I were left waiting for a bus for well over 30 minutes - eventually we just called back to our room and had one of our fellow family members get the rental car and drive us - thank goodness we had that option, though on most trips we don't. However, I'm sure there are lots of people on this board who have never had a problem with BC's bus service.

All in all, no matter which WDW resort you choose you will probably have fairly reliable bus service with maybe one or two instances of longer waits, which, considering that the service is free of charge and you don't have to rent a car is a pretty good deal.

As for the monorails, we almost always stay at resorts "on the loop" and I have found the monorail to be moderately more quick and reliable than the bus, with the occasional long wait (or the occasional 5-minute "sit on the track while we wait for clearance/etc" type thing.) Generally I prefer to use the monorail whenever I can just because I like the novelty of it and the fact that it is so distinctively Disney World. With the exception of right at beginnning of the day and right after park close it is rarely crowded, which I also like because we often get a whole car to ourselves when we go.

To close my babbling here, whatever you choose on property you will get fairly reliable service to and from activities, but keep in mind that I have never found it to be "perfect" or found a resort yet that didn't give me some minor delay or problem at some point; I think it's just the nature of trying to cart so many people around every day.

Hope that helps, sorry it was so long-winded!

 

[Master Yoda]

To close my babbling here, whatever you choose on property you will get fairly reliable service to and from activities, but keep in mind that I have never found it to be "perfect" or found a resort yet that didn't give me some minor delay or problem at some point; I think it's just the nature of trying to cart so many people around every day.

Hope that helps, sorry it was so long-winded!

I have often compared the Disney bus system the US postal service. The fact that it works at all amazes me and so what if one letter a year of mine gets lost. Bottom line the most care free vacations I have ever had have been the result of the Disney bus system. There is nothing like driving up to your resort on a Monday and not touching your car again until you leave on Sunday.