Bus system for Deluxe Resorts

[captainkidd]

Does anyone think Disney should have a better bus system for the Deluxe Resorts? I was just reading a thread about a horrible bus experience at the AKL and it got me thinking. It used to be "You get what you pay for." In some respects, it's still true. You pay to stay Deluxe, you get bigger rooms, closer to the parks, etc. However, the bus service at the Deluxe Resorts notoriously is lousy. Should Disney revamp the system?

 

[Master Yoda]

I've always done Pop Century/All Star's/Port Orleans/Caribbean/Coronado in the past, and have never really been all that upset with the bus system. The only exception is right after closing at Magic Kingdom, when the lines for the buses (for All Star Sports in particular) would be ABSURDLY long. That was always frustrating, but I chalked that up to the All Star Resorts just holding more people than others? :shrug:

I will be staying at the Contemporary for the first time in December. Is the bus system terrible for that Deluxe resort as well?

Some of the worst I have ever experienced.

 

[MinnesotaFriar]

Some of the worst I have ever experienced.

Is it still offered that if you stay at a Disney World resort that parking is free at the parks?

Wasn't that at least previously offered? I can't remember and it's been over four years since I've been.

 

[Master Yoda]

Is it still offered that if you stay at a Disney World resort that parking is free at the parks?

Wasn't that at least previously offered? I can't remember and it's been over four years since I've been.

Yes.

 

[devoy1701]

Us also!! I dont want to cook, drive or not have that next cocktail if i want it while on vacation!!!! Or we just take a cab..I figure cab money into our spending cash budget!!!

I like the buses. They're our designated driver.

I wish they would add bus service from the Boardwalk area to the other resorts for this exact reason. Atleast on the weekends. To us the Boardwalk is more of a Go-To destination than DtD is and I would love to not have to rent a cab or drive back after hanging out in Jellyrolls all night!

 

[lbrad]

Disney bus system can be so frustrating!!!
Just stayed at CSR ... HATED the busses!!!
Wish I would have had our car

 

[Sweet Melissa]

I wish they would add bus service from the Boardwalk area to the other resorts for this exact reason. Atleast on the weekends. To us the Boardwalk is more of a Go-To destination than DtD is and I would love to not have to rent a cab or drive back after hanging out in Jellyrolls all night!

I completely agree. I have gotten lucky a couple times trying to go from one resort to another late at night via a Downtown Disney bus. If it's late and the bus is nearly empty, a sympathetic driver might take guests directly to their resort instead of dropping them at Downtown Disney. I think that's only happened to us twice in five trips, though. Both times it was just us and one other couple (also just trying to get back to their room) on the bus.

 

[DrummerAlly]

I like the buses. They're our designated driver.

Us to! I really just don't get all the hating on the WDW busses. :shrug:

We've stayed at AKL - bus transportation was by and large awesome. We maybe waited for 10 minutes for a bus at MK once, no big deal.

We've stayed at the YC - bus transportation was very good. We did sit on the bus for probably 30 minutes once to get from DTD back to the YC because they were switching drivers and because they stopped at the BC and BW, but really, it isn't that bad.

I would much rather wait for a bus for 10 minutes and sit on the bus for 20 minutes while it drops off at other resorts than walk 10 minutes to my car and have the stress of driving back to the resort while on vacation.

 

[CaptainShortty]

I have to say that the transportation at AKL has been some of the best we've experienced (but we're only comparing it to values and mods). One of the reasons that I keep going back to Kidani is b/c of the horror stories I've heard about some of the other DVC spots. We rely on Disney transportation and we've never rented a car.

DAKL often gets the bad rap for the bus thing because of it's sheer proximity to most of the parks. It's far away. It easily takes 20-25 minutes to get o Magic Kingdom and about 15 or so to get to Studios or Epcot. Therefore there is more time/space for the buses to get held up, lights, etc. and for them to be "late". I've stayed at ASMo, Pop, Caribbean Beach, WL, OKW and DAKL (plus working there) and never thought that it was any worse than the others I've experienced.

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

I've stayed in nearly all the deluxe resorts, and have stayed in every deluxe area. It confuses me a little when I hear people complain about the transportation at AKL compared to the MK or Epcot resorts. Sure the buses might not be as magical as the monorail or boats that the others offer, but AKL was by far the best deluxe transportation I had. Waits were short for the buses and there are only two stops at the resort itself and you are on your way. Getting to the MK never took more than 15 minutes. Getting to AK from the Epcot or MK resort area takes at least twice that long.

Good point. The AKL doesn't share a bus. I never thought of it that way. I always thought of it as the AKL is in the middle of no where. You may have sold me on the AKL. LOL!

I agree that the deluxe bus system needs some work. Share during slow times - fine. Just don't share at opening or closing.

 

[Victoria]

The shared bus system for the Deluxe resorts is absolutely horrible most of the time. I spent 45 minutes waiting for a bus at Beach Club to take me to AK. Coming back from AK the wait was easily another 40-45 minutes. None of that even includes the travel time once I got on the bus. I wasted well over 2 hours of my day just getting back and forth. After that first day of the trip I quickly learned that it was way faster (and more scenic) to walk through Epcot and take the monorail if I wanted to go to MK. Don't even get me started on that boat to DHS. I could swim faster frankly. Getting to DtD from those resorts might as well be like walking to the moon. Those buses run even more infrequently than they do to/from the main parks.

The bus system over at the monorail loop resorts isn't much better. It takes quite a while to get from one resort to another. Then of course once you've done all that you have to drive to your actual destination. :dazzle:

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

Us to! I really just don't get all the hating on the WDW busses. :shrug:

We've stayed at AKL - bus transportation was by and large awesome. We maybe waited for 10 minutes for a bus at MK once, no big deal.

We've stayed at the YC - bus transportation was very good. We did sit on the bus for probably 30 minutes once to get from DTD back to the YC because they were switching drivers and because they stopped at the BC and BW, but really, it isn't that bad.

I would much rather wait for a bus for 10 minutes and sit on the bus for 20 minutes while it drops off at other resorts than walk 10 minutes to my car and have the stress of driving back to the resort while on vacation.

My thoughts exactly!

 

[wendysue]

Just got back today from WDW. Stayed at the POP Century resort and had no problems with the buses. We always stay there because of them having their own buses.

 

[melmood2000]

4 of the previous times we have been to WDW we have stayed at Pop and not had any problems with the Disney bus system. This past September trip we decided to try another resort. All Star Music mistake on our part the Bus system was awful they were constantly full and very late. Plus having to wait for half the bus to get off at the next stop and more people shuffle on, a large chunk of time wasted. I'll stay at pop again or maybe try the rental car one time.

 

[mickey2008.1]

Our past two trips, GF and POLY, we have paid to take cabs to non monorail places due to long waits, and this is at slow season, would never know that as these resorts. Long waits are about 45mins to an hour. Busses show up, 4-6 people get on, and wait some more. We took bus back from DHS on last trip to GF, an hour bus ride, we were the last stop! Too many people at premium resorts for the current system. Solution? Not sure. A bus for each resort operating every twenty minutes as is supposed to be at other resorts like POP and CBR? probably the best solution for now.

 

[PhilharMagician]

Yes they should, especially at the monorail resorts. I have used the bus system at every resort on property and the 3 resorts on the monorail loop have the worst bus service by a large margin simply due to the fact that they commonly share a route.

While I agree that the monorail resorts are bad, you have to add in the Epcot resorts also. They also fall into the combined resort group and I have found that their bussing is just as bad. For the deluxe resorts, WL seems to have the best transportation followed closely by AKL from my experiences.

One of the worst problems I have had with the transportation at the monorail resorts is going to Epcot. If you hit the wrong time when they are switching trains from the garage over and then to the Epcot line it can take you well over an hour. That happened last year around 5:00 PM and it was quite frustrating. I could have walked to Epcot faster!

Disney bus system can be so frustrating!!!
Just stayed at CSR ... HATED the busses!!!
Wish I would have had our car

That is depressing. I haven't stayed there in about 10 years, but the busing there was a highlight. It is a large resort and the busses can be crowded at times, but the resort was centrally located and it seemed to help with the quantity of busses we had for CSR. When leaving the parks at the end of the night when the lines were at their longest, CSR was always the shortest for us. I am sorry to hear that this has changed.

Does anyone think Disney should have a better bus system for the Deluxe Resorts? I was just reading a thread about a horrible bus experience at the AKL and it got me thinking. It used to be "You get what you pay for." In some respects, it's still true. You pay to stay Deluxe, you get bigger rooms, closer to the parks, etc. However, the bus service at the Deluxe Resorts notoriously is lousy. Should Disney revamp the system?

We have not had any trouble with busses at AKL beside the occasional 20 minute wait for a bus. We have been there every trip for at least part of our stay for the past 5 years and have been satisfied with there bussing. The ride to MK or DTD are a bit lengthy, but not horrible.

 

[Cole28]

We've stayed at the AKL, Poly & All Star Sports in the past. Never had any problems until last Dec. @ AKL. Had to wait a couple of times for buses because of overcrowding after the 1st stop @ Kidani Village. Trying out CSR in November :sohappy:, hoping we don't have any problems with the transportation there.

 

[PTC]

Epcot Deluxe hotels - New Process?

5 years ago during our stay at Beach Club, I remember the buses being shared by Swan/Dolphin, Yacht, Beach, and Boardwalk. 2 weeks ago when we were there, our buses were only Yacht/Beach. Not sure if it was a fluke during our stay, but we felt it was an improvement over when we'd experienced before.

We stayed at Swan 2 weeks ago and found this same "fluke". We took the first bus out to MK for the opening and made the typical four stops (Dolphin, YC, BC, and then BWI). I sat up front with the driver and he turned around midway through the circle and said, "this is the only bus that will do this today. We've recently changed to have one bus per resort during peak times." Later that day, he was right. Our bus picked up and dropped off just at the Swan/Dolphin...super nice. Worth confirming though with the hotels.

 

[mp2bill]

Does anyone think Disney should have a better bus system for the Deluxe Resorts? I was just reading a thread about a horrible bus experience at the AKL and it got me thinking. It used to be "You get what you pay for." In some respects, it's still true. You pay to stay Deluxe, you get bigger rooms, closer to the parks, etc. However, the bus service at the Deluxe Resorts notoriously is lousy. Should Disney revamp the system?

They should revamp the whole system so that it's better at every resort.

 

[IRBIWDW]

I like the buses and don't mind waiting....but I do think they can tweak the deluxe resorts service a bit. We stayed at Dolphin and made the usual rounds at Swan, Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach Club. The buses were LOADED!! And, there were always people left behind because there was no room. As some of the previous posters have mentioned, it's nice that they are making some changes during peak times....hopefully it stays that way. We ate at Poly once too and had a really hard time getting on bus to leave for the Studios. I think we wound up just walking to TTC and going from there. :wave:

 

[Scooter]

Not sure why so many are complaining about sitting in air-conditioned busses. I'd much rather do that than walk though a huge resort parking lot to get to my hot rental car and climbing into the hot leather seats and then driving 5 miles while waiting for the air-conditioner to cool down the inside of the car enough to where you finally quit sweating.:lol:

Just teasing, but really, I don't mind the Disney bus system at all. Some trips are good, so not-so-good, but all in all, I think it beats the heck out of driving yourself around in strange territory and besides...You get to meet some new people and possibly make some new friends.:animwink: