Resort To Park Gates: Bus vs Car

Mista C

Mista C

Well-Known Member
This all goes back to the "Disney Bubble" for me. Once I park my vehicle at our resort upon arrival, I literally do not see it until we are packing it back up to go home. Waiting for, and riding on the buses is just part of being in WDW to me. I want as little as possible to remind me that an outside world exists when I'm there. Getting in my vehicle that I drive around in every single day and driving myself to a park is just something that I will never do. If using the buses adds 10-15 minutes of extra time vs driving my own car, that's perfectly fine by me
 
YozhikRoth

YozhikRoth

Active Member
If you have a car already, it's a no-brainer for Epcot, AK and DHS to drive. If your luck breaks badly, you can be waiting 20 minutes for a bus, then about another 20 minute trip. Walking time from the bus stops to the gates are about 5-10 minutes. Since the MK buses bypass the TTC, cars are at a disadvantage there. For me, I prefer DME, bypassing the rental car cost, gas and tolls to and from MCO, and using the buses while on site. If I want to venture offsite, I use Uber.
 
sxeensweet

sxeensweet

Love a little Disney every day!! ;)
We prefer our car and have done both but car always wins! Even if the car would take longer we like a guaranteed seat and room for all of our stuff at the end of a long day. Couldn't stand waiting for busses at the end of the night even with waiting over an hour after closing to leave MK etc for crowds to clear out. We go at "slower" times and always stay deluxe and still after waiting all that time to leave the park waited at least 30 min for a bus due to the long lines and bus filling up a few times before we got one. Then we have had to stand many times with the busses and after standing and walking all day my feet want a break. So after all this rambling we rather drive our own car, take monorail, or ferry boats. No busses for us anymore. We gave it a fair shot numerous times and it was faster and more convenient to take our car most times. ;)
 
Brad Bishop

Brad Bishop

Well-Known Member
I have mixed feelings about the bus:

On the one hand you just hop on the bus and hop off of it and it's generally pretty easy.

On the other hand, it really sucks to be waiting at a resort, baking in the Sun, waiting for a bus. 5-10min isn't too bad but sometimes it feels like they've completely forgotten about the route. 20-30+min and you're wondering: Ok either it's literally just around the corner OR it's never coming. I think that they'd do well to have LED signs at each bus stop letting you know how man mins until the bus arrives.

In the evenings when the parks close the buses kind of suck. You're tired, you just want to get back to your room, and you have this huge line of people in front of you and, if you get onto the bus, you're packed in. Usually the bus has the A/C on high so that is nice but, still, it's not a good time.

You arguably have a longer walk back to your hotel room than if you drove (depends on hotel, of course). That kind of makes the "closer to the park"-bit a wash.

The car has the advantage of: you get in and drive. It's immediate. It's waiting on you. The A/C may take a few to get going, though. Also, the trunk is a nice place to store a change of shoes or a camera or what have you. The roads around WDW, excepting for over by Disney Springs, are pretty nice for getting you to and from the parks in a timely manner. You're not normally stuck in traffic.

For me, it sort of depends on the mood I'm in and whether I'm willing to give the buses a shot or not.
 
slappy magoo

slappy magoo

Well-Known Member
It's always a crap shoot, the day you don't rush out for the bus because you opt to drive to epcot could be the day you see a bus for epcot picking people up right as you're walking out the door, and had you moved your keister a few seconds you would have been on that bus. And the day you decide you want to do the bus could be the day that there's an unexpected delay, or so many people waiting for the bus (and not shy about whether or not you were there first) that you wind up waiting for the next one, too.

We always drive to WDW so with the exception of MK, we tend to drive to the parks. But we have these caveats, at least the past few trips and the next expected trip:

1: Many of our trips, we'll do at least one breakfast in each park, before park opening. So driving over, it will be no problem finding a relatively close spot to the park gates.

2: If we opt to go back to the room for a while and then return, we might then use Disney transportation back so we don't have to worry about finding a different spot. OR we'll take Disney transportation back to our resort, then back to the park later and keep that choice parking spot.

And our choice to drive is just as much meant to save other people from us than it is to save us from other people. Yes, you don't want to be on the bus with people who are cranky, or can't lock their stroller which keeps banging into your ankles, or who just think deodorant is the work of the devil. But there'd be no guarantee WE wouldn't be that family to YOU on YOUR bus, especially if one or more of us is exhausted. Being able to get in our car, no worries about finding a seat, listening to the music you want, letting the kids have a tantrum in private if they're on their wits' end, etc.

Finally, our last 2 trips (and our upcoming trip), we've stayed at Bay Lake, so getting to MK has not been an issue. We've also avoided Disney Springs the past few trips because it had been under so much construction. And when possible, used the monorail to get to epcot. So we've just had to worry about the other 2 parks. So if we're close to our car getting out of the lobby, if it's early enough that the park du jour's parking lot won't be a hassle, driving makes the most sense for us.
 
Wilderness Nut

Wilderness Nut

Active Member
We take the Wilderness boat to the lodge. If that seems busy, we have walked to the Contemporary and took the boat over Wilderness. If we stay for the fireworks, we will sit and people watch with a cold drink or ice cream. once it calms down hop on the boat or bus to where we need to go. Oh, we don't have kids, so it no need to worry about getting them to bed.
 
Phonedave

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
slappy magoo said:
It's always a crap shoot, the day you don't rush out for the bus because you opt to drive to epcot could be the day you see a bus for epcot picking people up right as you're walking out the door, and had you moved your keister a few seconds you would have been on that bus. And the day you decide you want to do the bus could be the day that there's an unexpected delay, or so many people waiting for the bus (and not shy about whether or not you were there first) that you wind up waiting for the next one, too.

We always drive to WDW so with the exception of MK, we tend to drive to the parks. But we have these caveats, at least the past few trips and the next expected trip:

1: Many of our trips, we'll do at least one breakfast in each park, before park opening. So driving over, it will be no problem finding a relatively close spot to the park gates.

2: If we opt to go back to the room for a while and then return, we might then use Disney transportation back so we don't have to worry about finding a different spot. OR we'll take Disney transportation back to our resort, then back to the park later and keep that choice parking spot.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

The trip you plan to drive, you end up with a room right next to the bus stop and a parking spot yards from your room. The trip you plan to use Disney transportation you are miles away from the stop.

The day you get a late start and end up parking at the end of the lot, you see 2 half full busses for your resort go by while you wait for the parking tram.

Somtimes the car wins, sometimes the bus wins. Because of that, I go with bus. I dont have to worry about driving, I save the rental car money, and if I want to hop between MK and EPCOT, and don't have to worry about where I left my car.

And, in the grand scheme of things, if I leave a crowded park, and see looping lines for a bus, and I am dead tired, there is allways the taxi stand. 2 or 3 taxi fares when the busses are packed, during a weeks stay is still cheaper than renting a car, and is faster than the bus or personal car.

-dave
 
V

Variable

Well-Known Member
Choosing the bus shouldn't require all that ink you riders have been spilling.
If bus use takes so much convincing, it must really suck these days!
 
zero creativity

zero creativity

Active Member
We drove to AK from the Poly once for an early breakfast. But besides that we usually take Disney transportation. But if I were to stay at the wilderness lodge again, I would definitely do more driving.
 
V

Variable

Well-Known Member
zero creativity said:
We drove to AK from the Poly once for an early breakfast. But besides that we usually take Disney transportation. But if I were to stay at the wilderness lodge again, I would definitely do more driving.
Click to expand...

I'm curious about the WL - driving thing. Is it the route/connections of the bus?
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
PhotoDave219 said:
Correct. They most certainly do.
Click to expand...
Have you used them lately? We were there a 4th of July weekend, used the buses for everything and were quite pleased.

A pleasurable outcome was no small feat especially considering that all of our time was spent at Disney Springs and resort hopping.
 
SyracuseDisneyFan

SyracuseDisneyFan

Well-Known Member
The last two times I've gone, I've stayed on Disney property. Both times, we've had a rental car. in 2012, we stayed at Art of Animation and drove to all 4 Disney parks. In 2014, we stayed at Bay Lake Tower and used the monorail for the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. We used the car to drive to Disney Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs and to go off site for groceries.
 
Chef Mickey

Chef Mickey

Well-Known Member
I think Disney's bus service is frankly better than ever. If anything, people have gotten more difficult and that's what impacts your experience if you do have a problem.

Overall, it's a great service.
 
jloucks

jloucks

Well-Known Member
80% of the time, the busses have been fine. Speedy pickup, speedy drop off. Park closing can be a little rough, but most of my major park closing issues have not actually been about crowds so much as...

#1 line cutters
#2 scooter cutting

Disney does a pretty good job at having tons of busses online at park closing times. I have never had more than a 45 minute wait. I also don't mind just chilling at the bus stop after a long day (except for #1 & #2), it helps slow my mind down for bedtime.

If I ever see an insane line, I would just hail a taxi. I have never seen an insane line. ...I go off season to avoid such things.... If there even is such a thing as off season anymore.
 
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AKL2003

AKL2003

Well-Known Member
My husband and i get down to WDW once a year (from long island)...last year was the first year we drove to the parks, we loved it and may never take a bus again...10 days at the parks and the only time we had "drivers regret" was leaving the MK at closing...
 

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