Resort Bus Service

[matthope03]

I was just reading some reviews of the Pop Century resort and a couple people stated that the bus service to this resort is horrible. Is this true? I was hoping the times would be reasonable to get from the resort to the park via the bus and vice versa. Thanks for the information as always.

 

[wannabeBelle]

I was just reading some reviews of the Pop Century resort and a couple people stated that the bus service to this resort is horrible. Is this true? I was hoping the times would be reasonable to get from the resort to the park via the bus and vice versa. Thanks for the information as always.

I have stayed there twice and never had any issue regarding getting to or from the parks. At the most crowded times that I have been there they were bringing in the buses for Pop literally three at a time to get all the guests out of MK after closing on a Saturday night!!! It should be fine!! Belle

 

[col]

how do they mean horrible?
could it be the fact that when people wrote these reviews that had just recently opened and the drivers and all that where just getting use to it.
or what about when its EMH and everyone goes to that certain park.

i look at it this way all the resorts will have a bus problem this can range from buses being over crowded, running late any number of reasons!

i am really,really looking forward to going to pop century in 45 days :xmas: :sohappy: and if the buses are crap then there crap there will be nothing or no one spoiling my holiday.

just take it as it comes. have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bhg469]

Getting a bus to the resort should not be a problem at all. I have seen those busses packed to the gills though. Perhapps thats what the reviews meant.

 

[shoppingnut]

I stayed there in both July and August and we had no problem with the buses either to/from the resort. It may have been some folks had specific incidents during their stay which can happen, things aren't perfect.

 

[Master Yoda]

You will hear arguments both ways on the busses. A persons opinion in this case really depends on their point of view and sometimes their understanding of the situation. For example if you are leaving a park at closing, along with thousands of others, it is quite possible that your wait for a bus will be a little longer and you may be required to stand. If you are leaving mid day you very well might be the only person on the bus. Every personal time study I have done that has me starting my time when I close my room door to when I arrive at the security check has car vs. bus about dead even at AK, Epcot and MGM the bus is faster at MK and a little slower to DTD. Bottom line if I am at a Disney resort I don't touch my car until I am going home. In your personal case the bus service at POP is one of the best due to a dedicated route (the bus doesn't stop at any other resorts) and a centralized proximity to all the parks. So don't worry and have fun.

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

My problem with the buses at Pop was the fact that there were ALWAYS a busload or two of people in front of me. The only time I got on the first bus that came was when a bus to MGM was pulling up and it had no line.

I understand that there are a bunch of people waiting for the same bus at closing time, and there were buses more frequently at closing time. But the rest of the time, it seemed the Pop buses took longer than buses for other resorts, I felt we had to wait a long time at Pop to get a bus going anywhere, and I felt the buses (and the resort itself) felt very crowded.

We stayed at AKL the same time last year and never had one complaint about the bus service there. Because of my recent stay at Pop, I will never stay at a value resort again if I have to depend on the bus system.

 

[LaughingGravy]

Most of our Pop busses were fine.

We just returned 4 weeks ago from our stay at Pop and it was indeed nice to have a dedicated bus line. We didn't find that the Pop location with the bus was any worse than any other place we went to via bus.
95% of our buses were fine.

If you know how close Wilderness Lodge is to the Magic Kingdom, then you know how nuts it is that it took 45 min. to get a bus from the bus stop at MK to drop us off at Wilderness Lodge. We could have walked it in 20 min, even with the shorter legs of the 7 and 5 yr. olds with us.
It took us the same amount of time (45 min.) most nights to get back to Pop from the MK or Epcot or vice versa, even though MK is further North. Go figure.

Keep in mind, we did our best to be the last ones out of the park, thus minimizing the throngs of people at the official park close time. I highly suggest it.

One night, I really think we were the last guests in Epcot. There wasn't anyone else to be seen. It was so cool.

For planning purposes, people here have said it before (Belle!), plan on 1 hr. to go from one hotel to another or to park hop and you should be fine.
1 hour may seem like a long time, but if you plan for it, it's really no big deal.
Just don't be at Spash Mtn and expect to be at LeCellier in an hour. I'd put that trip at 1.5 hours if everyone in your party walks very briskly the whole time.

We did have some bad experiences bus-wise when we were put on a bus that wasn't clearly Disney owned, or was a Disney Cruise Line bus.
On the non-Disney bus, we were put on that in the middle of the day from the Pop Century Bus Stop, only to be dropped off in the middle of the far bus parking lot at Epcot , nowhere near a curb. We asked the bus driver why so far away and he said since he was a non-Disney bus, he wasn't allowed to drop us off where the Disney buses did. Funny that he could pick us up at the Pop bus stop for Epcot,though. It was a dangerous walk from the parking lot, having to dodge 2 other buses crossing in our path. We did complain to the little bus desk at Epcot, but were told that Disney ran out of buses and needed to contract out. Ran out of buses in the beginning of October!?

The Disney Cruise Line bus didn't know where to drop us off at MGM, so we ended up circling the parking lot twice until the driver found a castmember to give them directions to the proper bus stop. That wasted about 15 extra minutes and was supposed to be the first bus of the Day to MGM from Pop. It ended up being the second, since we arrived just after the second bus from Pop did. We know this because of another couple we recognized from POP who saw us get on the first bus, while they waited for the second. That was very strange.

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

I was there the same time as you, LaughingGravy. I guess we just all have different standards Although we did the whole 'last people at Epcot' thing too and DH and I had the whole bus to ourselves. Very relaxing!

We are just hustle & bustle people, I suppose. Not many other people seemed put out by the bus service, but it really did seem inferior to the service at AKL last October. Best $10 we spent on our trip was a cab from MGM to Pop after Fantasmic! It felt pretty good to drive past the throng of WDW-ers waiting for buses back to resorts.

 

[col]

i honestly dont mind waiting in a queue for a bus - only in disney though!
you can talk to people in the queue or if your standing by yourself thats even better. whatever happens im just thankful that i will be there and enjoying myself!

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

See that's my problem: New Yorkers don't talk to people in lines unless we're complaining about something being too slow:fork:

 

[littlered]

we stayed at POP earlier this year and did not have any trouble with the buses. I think they are great.
As far as leaving the parks at night, we know there are going to be lines so we have taken the "we are not in a hurry to get to the bus stop" approach. I told my husband a few trips back that this is my vacation and I did not need to rush to get out of the parks to stand in line. Now by the time we get to the stops the line is not long and we can usally sit down, which is great after being on your feet all day.

 

[nibblesandbits]

Do I have a problem at all with Pop? Just look at my signature! I'm staying there in Jan. :lol:

I stayed at Pop in May and didn't really notice many problems with the bus service...just what is to be expected. The longest we waited for a bus was like 20 minutes and that was at DTD or right after the parks closed.

The only long lines for the theme parks at Pop were when it was that park's EMH and I avoided those parks for the day because they were considerably more crowded than the other parks.

 

[Mickey Rules]

Not to make light of other's difficult experiences, because I know they happen from time to time, I have had a few of my own, but... to me perspective has a LOT to do with any vacation.

For example, I noticed that the bus service seemed to get amazingly better as my kids got older. Did it, or does the bus service just seem really slow if you have tired and cranky small ones??

 

[DisneyBound]

we stayed at the POP last christmas and thought the busses were great. The only time they were packed were at park closing, but that's to be expected. Never waited over 10 minutes for a bus to or from a park.

 

[bgraham34]

I hate when the buses are really packed. Usally people are very loud. Its nice when you have no one standing its usually quieter.

 

[coltow]

I was just a Pop Century a few weeks ago. We never had a problem with the busses. We almost always got on the first bus that came granted we'd have to stand but we still got on. We did have to wait for a second bus if we stayed until park closing, but I think that was it. Also most of the time the wait for a bus was 10-15 minutes. The longest wait was to/from Downtown areas. Last year we sayed at an All Star and we thought the busses at Pop Century were better.

 

[brisem]

We stayed there a couple of times and never had any problems. The longest wait was at MK at the fireworks and that was probably 15-20 minutes. But the also ran extra buses.