Question for those who stay in the values.

[Minnesota disney fan]

Shared busses at All Stars is not a guarantee. It is decided by management on a daily basis based on need. Yes it typically "can" happen mid-day or late evening after park closing. But during high volume times of the year may not happen at all. Your mileage may vary. On the other hand there have been times when "all" the EPCOT resorts are combined . A blanket statement that these things happen all the time is simply not true. I've seen post from many here who come down for a weeks vacation and assume the experience they had with Disney transportation is typical, the fact is it's very flexible based on need. One last comment, Deluxe resorts DO NOT get preferential bus treatment, all are treated the same. I have been chewed out by guest at the Grand Floridian because I'm ten minutes late. (not my fault) We can only go by how our dispatcher directs us. And all of us are bound by the same variable [traffic].

Thanks for clearing that up, Driver! The real story from someone who actually drives a bus cannot be refuted. Sorry you had to put up with that jerk at the GF!

 

[clarabellej]

That is the common misunderstanding. Each All-Star has its own dedicated bus. There MUST be slow times when busing IS shared (I still have never seen it). I have had a shared Pop/AoA bus late one night after EME at Epcot....that REALLY Is amazing as MOST say the mythical shared All-Star busing is a reason that steers them to Pop. We experienced shared busing at Pop!!
A couple of points:
1) If shared busing was standard procedure, the resort pick up schedule would be Sports, followed by Music, followed by Movies (or the reverse). During our stays at Music we would have had to board a bus already populated by Sports or Movies guests. We have never had that experience!
2) During the busy season a bus would never make it to the third stop (before filling).
Correct....back in the day All-Star shared busing legend must have been posted on one of the forums, followed by re-post after re-post....the rest is history

Wow, never had the shared Pop, but have occasionally used AOA’s to get to Pop, rather than wait. The strange thing is sharing when things are slow. We are always there for Spring Break. I am always very impressed with Disney’s efficiency as far as transportation goes. I think the longest we ever waited in all the years was to go from AK to HS. A bus came, but we sat and sat. Seems like another driver came along. We’ve even used (contrary to popular opinion) Disney buses early, early to get to MK for a tour. We were the only two people on board and they whisked us away. I’ll admit being on the packed buses very late when everyone is tired can be interesting. Always afraid something might happen/fight, etc. There have been a few obnoxious people, but usually just a bunch of exhausted families.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Wow, never had the shared Pop, but have occasionally used AOA’s to get to Pop, rather than wait. The strange thing is sharing when things are slow. We are always there for Spring Break. I am always very impressed with Disney’s efficiency as far as transportation goes. I think the longest we ever waited in all the years was to go from AK to HS. A bus came, but we sat and sat. Seems like another driver came along. We’ve even used (contrary to popular opinion) Disney buses early, early to get to MK for a tour. We were the only two people on board and they whisked us away. I’ll admit being on the packed buses very late when everyone is tired can be interesting. Always afraid something might happen/fight, etc. There have been a few obnoxious people, but usually just a bunch of exhausted families.

Been on those packed buses at night, and always give up my seat to anyone in need; mom with young one, elderly etc....

Obnoxious people.....? Get 10 people together in the Most Magical Place on Earth and you'll have at least one! Get 50 on a bus...you can do the math!

We don't use the buses much anyone, especially when parking was added to the AP. We do ride the bus to MK as it is a pain to park at the TTC....when we use the TTC, we try to take the ferry vs the monorail.

One tip about the TTC.....if you walk to the left of the ferry, it is a short walk to Poly!

 

[yaksplat]

my wife does insist on staying at a few other resorts....Poly, AKL and GF...that's fine with me, but until then, we'll continue to stay in the "values"

Don't do it. Once you walk from your room to the monorail, there's no turning back.

 

[BraveGirl]

A couple of points:
1) If shared busing was standard procedure, the resort pick up schedule would be Sports, followed by Music, followed by Movies (or the reverse). During our stays at Music we would have had to board a bus already populated by Sports or Movies guests. We have never had that experience!
2) During the busy season a bus would never make it to the third stop (before filling).

We used to be dedicated All-Star people (as you can see from my signature!) but we switched to Pop because of the shared buses. As of the last time I stayed in an AS (Oct. 2015) it was still a shared bus for all three All-Star hotels. And yes, just as you said, the route was Sports then Music then Movies for pick ups, the reverse for drop offs. So, we preferred Movies because it meant the least amount of time on the bus. To alleviate the problem you mentioned (about full buses showing up at Movies), in the mornings we would often see a bus JUST come to our hotel. But for regular routes during the day and night, it was a shared bus.

I have noticed that there are dedicated bus stops for each AS hotel now, so I'm assuming this is no longer an issue, but the "shared bus" thing is not a legend made true due to repetition on this board. It was standard practice in the late 90's through the 2000's.

 

[Driver]

Thanks for clearing that up, Driver! The real story from someone who actually drives a bus cannot be refuted. Sorry you had to put up with that jerk at the GF!

Meh no worries But I do take pride in giving accurate information to you guys. That's important to me.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Don't do it. Once you walk from your room to the monorail, there's no turning back.

Like I said, that all depends on winning the Mega or Powerball....

 

[yaksplat]

Like I said, that all depends on winning the Mega or Powerball....

900mil? You could do some damage with that.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

We used to be dedicated All-Star people (as you can see from my signature!) but we switched to Pop because of the shared buses. As of the last time I stayed in an AS (Oct. 2015) it was still a shared bus for all three All-Star hotels. And yes, just as you said, the route was Sports then Music then Movies for pick ups, the reverse for drop offs. So, we preferred Movies because it meant the least amount of time on the bus. To alleviate the problem you mentioned (about full buses showing up at Movies), in the mornings we would often see a bus JUST come to our hotel. But for regular routes during the day and night, it was a shared bus.

I have noticed that there are dedicated bus stops for each AS hotel now, so I'm assuming this is no longer an issue, but the "shared bus" thing is not a legend made true due to repetition on this board. It was standard practice in the late 90's through the 2000's.

Thanks for the info! We figured it had to have happened at some point in the past, but were, and still are amazed to have never had that experience. In the 90s and early 2000s, when M & M were young, we stayed at an All Star 8 times (if my count is correct). Each stay was 6 days or more, and again are amazed to have missed the experience.

Our speculation is/was the shared busing must happen during the slower times of the day, such as the middle of the day when returning from a Park/Resort. Using busing during midday is something we rarely, if ever have done. Further, back in the day when M & M were younger, we had to vacation during the summer, Thanksgiving, or Christmas Break. Those were always crowded times and thus the shared wouldn't have worked without supreme issue. I believe you made/were making that point in your post above mentioning shared didn't happen in the A.M. as a dedicated bus would show up to your Resort. That suggests shared wasn't happening during busy times; busy times being Early A.M./Late P.M. of ANY day, or during PEAK months of the year.

DW and I have stayed many times recently, but for a much shorter trip during the week....no more weekends. These trips are strategic for slower times and/or a hard ticket event (MNSSHP/MVMCP, After Hours). We'll be down Sunday for the MNSSHP, staying at Music.

Another note would the shared busing schedule must have been staggered from the stated Sports, Music, Movies route, as the posts about shared busing (on this site or any other) surely would have included the tip NOT to stay at Movies, and encourage to stay at Sports.

The main reasons we thought shared might be just a legend is our own experience AND the fact we've never read that "Horror Story" post of "having to wait over an hour and each bus showed up already full" shared busing story! Each shared busing post we've seen has stated it was standard procedure, and I don't recall any stating details of the experience. I'd figured by now there would have been multiple negative posts on bad shared busing experiences......or Disney has mastered the shared bus schedule as to not irritate any guests?

Last note would be we point out shared busing is not "always" when someone's post indicates "always shared". Your post indicated "standard"....our assumption is the standard must include multi procedures for peak, moderate, and slow forecast capacity days/weeks/months.

As you can see from my signature, wetoo love Pop! We will stay at an AS, and love Music and Movies, but stay away from Sports unless it’s the only thing available. Crazy, but I must mention we HAVE had shared busing at Pop/AoA!

We are waiting to see what the new transport system does to Pop and are hoping it doesn’t have a negative impact on that Magical Resort....the word is busing to DHS and Epcot will cease when the new transport opens!

Thank you again for sharing your experience!!

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

We used to be dedicated All-Star people (as you can see from my signature!) but we switched to Pop because of the shared buses. As of the last time I stayed in an AS (Oct. 2015) it was still a shared bus for all three All-Star hotels. And yes, just as you said, the route was Sports then Music then Movies for pick ups, the reverse for drop offs. So, we preferred Movies because it meant the least amount of time on the bus. To alleviate the problem you mentioned (about full buses showing up at Movies), in the mornings we would often see a bus JUST come to our hotel. But for regular routes during the day and night, it was a shared bus.

I have noticed that there are dedicated bus stops for each AS hotel now, so I'm assuming this is no longer an issue, but the "shared bus" thing is not a legend made true due to repetition on this board. It was standard practice in the late 90's through the 2000's.

Shared busses at All Stars is not a guarantee. It is decided by management on a daily basis based on need. Yes it typically "can" happen mid-day or late evening after park closing. But during high volume times of the year may not happen at all. Your mileage may vary. On the other hand there have been times when "all" the EPCOT resorts are combined . A blanket statement that these things happen all the time is simply not true. I've seen post from many here who come down for a weeks vacation and assume the experience they had with Disney transportation is typical, the fact is it's very flexible based on need. One last comment, Deluxe resorts DO NOT get preferential bus treatment, all are treated the same. I have been chewed out by guest at the Grand Floridian because I'm ten minutes late. (not my fault) We can only go by how our dispatcher directs us. And all of us are bound by the same variable [traffic].

Well done driver.....based on never having the experience of All Star shared busing I made assumptions it might be mythical! The assumption was, as you state, it must happen midday of late evening. I can tell you we experienced shared busing 100% of the time at the Epcot Deluxe resorts (AK/MK, not Epcot or Dhs as they are water taxi or short walk).

It seems many other have had the opposite experience at All Stars, and assume shared is standard.

With that said, I must be extremely lucky! I'm goin out now to buy 1 tic each to each of the two big lotteries as they as up in $$$ now.... and expect to win both!

 

[righttrack]

My only issue with the values is that they have created an artificial strata of price, but what they have taken away in the sake of "value" really doesn't cost anything. In some cases, they are actually losing money on a customer that stays in a value resort rather than make money. Why not have a sit-down restaurant? Wouldn't that bring in more revenue? The only part of the value resort that saves them money is packing more people in smaller rooms. The amenities they have chosen to do without don't really matter much to WDW in terms of price to provide or not provide.

 

[dizdrew]

Staying at Pop, we have walked over the connecting bridge and visited AOA. Even ate at their food court.

Worth mentioning that AOA is a sort of “sister resort” to Pop and actually is built where an extension of Pop was abandoned.

Sorry if this was already mentioned and I missed it. Little Mermaid standard rooms at AOA were once upon a time supposed to be a Pop expansion. That is why they are a little far removed from the rest of AOA.

Although the two resorts are in part mirror images, they feel quite different to me.

I have never stayed at AOA, but as I mentioned we have visited there when we were guests at Pop. We enjoyed the gift shop and walked around the grounds a bit.

We even hopped on an AOA bus when it showed up sooner than the Pop bus one night when we left Epcot.

This comes in handy as the two are connected by walkway by the Generation Gap bridge. I recommend it, especially if you are in the 60s section (our favorite) at Pop.

The most noticeable difference (IMO) is that AOA’s decor seems much brighter in terms of color. I think this is fun for kids.

Also, I believe AOA has interior hallways. I prefer Pop’s exterior ones. The buildings at AOA have a more prefab, “sharper” look to them.

Of course AOA has family suites.

I was a little disappointed in AOA’s Landscapes of Flavor food court. Not sure why but I prefer Everything Pop food court instead. It can be a bit hectic, but we enjoy the food there.

The night we stopped by AOA food court the lighting was dim. The fact that we had a foul mouthed Jersey Dad at the table next to us did not help. I thought the food would be more varied than it was.

For the most part we enjoy the Values. Do you run across some “riff-raff” now and again? Sure, but that might be the case anywhere.

Just my thoughts on the two. Again, I have only stayed multiple times at Pop and a few times at Movies.

First time on property was a moderate. Value wins hands down for me.

I am curious to see how the gondola system being built will change these resorts. There will be a Station or access right there, between the two, near the bridge.

Where do you recommend staying at POP? It will be our first time at that resort in April. Our last trip was club level at the Contemporary. Just like so many have mentioned, my wallet cannot do a deluxe this time and we want to see the new Toy Story land so...POP it is!

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Where do you recommend staying at POP? It will be our first time at that resort in April. Our last trip was club level at the Contemporary. Just like so many have mentioned, my wallet cannot do a deluxe this time and we want to see the new Toy Story land so...POP it is!

70's complex, top floor, (so no one is jumping on the floor in the room above you), and lake view...that's always been the quietest area of POP for us when we stayed there.

 

[DisneyJoe]

My only issue with the values is that they have created an artificial strata of price, but what they have taken away in the sake of "value" really doesn't cost anything. In some cases, they are actually losing money on a customer that stays in a value resort rather than make money. Why not have a sit-down restaurant? Wouldn't that bring in more revenue? The only part of the value resort that saves them money is packing more people in smaller rooms. The amenities they have chosen to do without don't really matter much to WDW in terms of price to provide or not provide.

If value resorts had all of the same amenities as a moderate resort (pool slide, hot tub, table service dining, Bell Services) why would anyone pay more to stay at a moderate (beside greater room size)?

 

[DisneyOutsider]

I'm wondering if WDW intends to built another Value on property ever again... I have my doubts.

 

[mhaftman7]

It has always cracked me up when people have debates on which resort grouping is the most attractive. Yes, the Deluxe ones are great, I personally am a HUGE fan of Beach Club due to its walking distance to EPCOT, but we never spend enough time at the resort to worry about the amenities. Get up, get ready, grab a snack, hit the park, put your 10-12 miles in, come back to the hotel, hit the pool for an hour, shower, go to bed, and repeat.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

I'm wondering if WDW intends to built another Value on property ever again... I have my doubts.

I would say yes for the reason that MANY guests with large families or limited resources need a place to stay too...they can't afford to stay in a moderate or deluxe. Disney is not going to alienate a LARGE portion of their potential fan base. I would think that eventually, as demand and space allow, you will see another one or two "value" resorts on property. When? I don't know, but I think new values will be eventually added.

 

[DisneyOutsider]

I would say yes for the reason that MANY guests with large families or limited resources need a place to stay too...they can't afford to stay in a moderate or deluxe. Disney is not going to alienate a LARGE portion of their potential fan base. I would think that eventually, as demand and space allow, you will see another one or two "value" resorts on property. When? I don't know, but I think new values will be eventually added.

I think it's more likely that the "value" category resorts as they stand now continue to go up in price and be added on to, and the new values will simply be the off-property resorts. There are plenty of affordable options just off property and WDW has been granting those guests more privileges in the way of extra magic hours and 60 day fastpass window. They can let the Hiltons, Hyatts and Marriotts of the world supply their budget inventory and focus their efforts on properties that bring more revenue.

I think they know that they don't need the "budget" resort category

 

[righttrack]

If value resorts had all of the same amenities as a moderate resort (pool slide, hot tub, table service dining, Bell Services) why would anyone pay more to stay at a moderate (beside greater room size)?

Yes, they have to create certain strata to maintain a price level. My point is, choose things that actually cost money. Making different types of rooms is probably one (yes, the family suites for example at AoA but realistically they cost more than two rooms). You can have the same experience of a resort and common amenities but you can make different room experiences within a resort. They have some, but they should have more. So too with DVC. Think of how much it takes to have a fifth person in any room and actually let them have a bed. Other hotels, off property, have these kind of solutions. Less cookie cutter approach, more unique and imaginative approaches is what I'm referring to.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

I think it's more likely that the "value" category resorts as they stand now continue to go up in price and be added on to, and the new values will simply be the off-property resorts. There are plenty of affordable options just off property and WDW has been granting those guests more privileges in the way of extra magic hours and 60 day fastpass window. They can let the Hiltons, Hyatts and Marriotts of the world supply their budget inventory and focus their efforts on properties that bring more revenue.

I think they know that they don't need the "budget" resort category

Sorry, I respectfully disagree...when you come to Orlando to go to WDW, their goal is to keep you on property, start to finish...I really can't see them giving in and allowing outside companies the opportunity to take their $$$ by allowing guests to stay off site. There will always be "value" resorts in Orlando...whether or not they are true value is a whole other tread. There will ALWAYS be Motel 6's.