Originally posted by RandeB
From my one stay at the Hilton I don't see how that bus system was better in any way. What do you mean by that?
I have had the good fortune to have used both the WDW bus system and the Downtown Disney Resort Hotels buses. I like them both but I have found a few definite advantages with the DDRH buses. First thing is that all of the DDRH buses have cloth seats that are cushioned. You don't have to sit on a hard plastic seat plus the AC on the DDRH buses really keeps you cool. Second, they always play a local FM radio station over the bus speaker system. That keeps down the noise from other "chatty" passengers. The older Van Hool buses are much larger than the WDW buses, so there is seldom standing room only. I have always gotten a seat on the DDRH buses. Also, on the Van Hool buses, the drivers put all the strollers in the baggage compartment rather than allowing strollers to be brought into the passenger compartment.
On the newer DDRH buses (made by General Coach Co.) they have LCD screens. They play DVD movies (mostly Disney such as Finding Nemo) as entertainment as you travel to and from the parks.
Another important factor (to me) is that unlike the WDW buses, the DDRH buses run on a set schedule and, in my experience, they stay on time. It is certainly an advantage to stay in either the Wyndham Palace, Hilton or Courtyard by Marriott because these three hotels are first in line for pickup and first in line for drop-off from the return trip. The poor guests at the Grosvenor Resort are always at the bottom of the list!
These buses run on a schedule and in my experience they kept to their schedules. The schedule was very simple to understand. The buses picked up guests at the hotels on the half hour (i.e. 8, 8:30, 9, 9:30 etc.) and the buses departed the parks a quarter after each hour and a quarter till each hour (i.e. 8:15, 8:48, 9:15, 9:45, etc.). Please note that these DEPARTURE time schedules are very strict. The buses depart at their appointed times with only minor (less than 2 minutes) deviation. There was a slight variation for AK but that is not germane to this discussion. People with poor time management skills will be left behind and forced to wait for the next bus. People who practice good time management will be generously rewarded!
In our experience it worked just great for us. In the mornings (from 8 AM until 11 AM) the buses actually picked up more frequently than every half hour. So, for example, if you walked out of the hotel just as the MK bus was leaving you only had to wait 10 or 15 minutes for the next MK bus. Of, if you didn't want to wait that long all you had to do was catch the next Epcot bus and then take the monorail to the MK. While there are many permutations as to how best use the bus system, we found that we never had to wait for a bus. Some of it may have just been dumb luck but I prefer to think that our flexible plans made the difference!
The Downtown Disney Resort Hotel buses have a fixed route and the hotels are picked up in the following order:
1. Wyndham Plaza
2. Hilton
3. Courtyard by Marriott
4. Royal Plaza
5. Doubletree
6. Lake Buena Vista
7. Grosvenor
If you are staying at any of the first three resorts then you are pretty much guaranteed to get a seat. If you stay at any of the last four resorts then you may have to stand. However, during our last stay we made about 30 bus trips and only during two of those trips did some folks end up standing. We stayed at the Courtyard so we always got seats although I did once give up my seat to a beleaguered lady with a small child.
The departure from each park is interesting because many folks seem to misunderstand how it works and this is what causes them to miss their bus! As I stated above, the Downtown Disney Resort Hotel buses always DEPART each park on a fixed schedule. However, they more often than not arrive 10 or 15 minutes prior to their appointed departure time. As an example, if you decide to leave the MK at 3:15 PM it would be in your best interest to arrive at the Transportation and Ticket Center by 3:00 PM. We used this technique when we departed each park and NEVER had to wait for a bus. We simply walked out to lane #26 and got on the bus. Also, the buses either had a movie playing on the overhead TV monitors or they had one of the local easy listening music radio stations (FM 105.1 or 107.1) playing on the sound system. So, even if you had to sit on the bus for 10 or 15 minutes before departure you got some entertainment! This was a true blessing because it really kept all the mindless chat and banter to a minimum. The bus passengers kept quiet! A real miracle in my opinion.
Let me give you a real life example of how it worked for us. Our normal routine on any morning was to just amble down to the bus stop about 8ish. We sat down on the bench and just waited for the first bus to come along (never more than 5 minutes during our entire stay). In reality the Downtown Disney Resort Buses have really just two routes (except for the water parks, but that's another deal), you either catch the Epcot/MGM bus or the MK/AK bus. It's that simple. We learned a long time ago (with over 20 years WDW experience), that it doesn't really matter at which park you begin the adventure. On our first day the MK/AK bus showed up first so we went to MK. It took about 15 minutes to arrive at the TTC and we caught the monorail to MK. We didn't carry bags so we left the security checks to those less fortunate people. No lines at the entrance, so we put our AP's into the machines, had our fingers scanned and before 9 AM we were riding the Walt Disney World Railroad on our way to Frontierland. By 2 PM we had done all the attractions (all were walk-ons except for Peter Pan and Pooh so we fast-passed them) and we were ready to go back to our room and avoid the dreaded 3 o'clock parade. We are not parade people! We spent a little time browsing the various gift shops and then decided to catch the 3:15 bus back to the hotel. We boarded monorail red and rode up front with CM "Louie" the pilot. He was very kind to us! We got to bus stop #26 at the TTC at 3:04 PM and the bus was waiting for us. We boarded the bus and then precisely at 3:15 PM the bus headed back to the hotel. After a stop at the Wyndham Plaza and Hilton, we were dropped off at the Courtyard. Total return bus trip was 23 minutes.
We freshened up in the hotel room and watched a little Oprah (I call her Opie) on the TV. At 5 PM the Courtyard has its "Happy Hour" and you get free soft drinks, beer, wine, nachos, popcorn, cookies and other junk food. It's nice because you also get to meet and talk with the manager of the hotel, so if you have any complaints you can voice them in this forum. It was fun. Although I passed on the junk food, I found that the Courtyard had a small workout room with treadmills, stair-climbers, etc. No free weights (of course) but the equipment they had was very good and we were able to accomplish four good work-outs during our stay. I talked to the manager and he was kind enough to give me some very useful information about WDW resort visitation. I had no complaints. On several other occasions I had the good fortune to speak with other resort managers and learn about how they are dealing with the reduced visitation at WDW. However, that's another story. Sorry to have digressed so much. Back to the buses.
We make it a habit to visit AK or MGM or MK during the day and we really enjoy visiting Epcot or DTD at night. So, we walked out to the bus stop about 6ish and decided that if the Epcot bus showed up shortly we'd go to Epcot, if not then we'd walk the 3/10 of a mile to DTD and eat dinner there. Within a minute the Epcot bus pulled up, we boarded and we were off to Epcot. Bus lane #26 at Epcot is about 150 feet from the All-Star WDW bus pickup area. Keep that in mind. I have waited at that All-Star stop on many previous trips.
We rode Spaceship Earth and then had dinner at the Cantina de San Angel. We then took a leisurely walk around the World Showcase. Now that those stupid parades (ToN & ToD, remember, we are not parade people) are gone, we could walk through all the little shops and take our time! By 7:55 PM we had just finished at Morocco and decided we had better head for our hotel by catching the 8:45 PM bus. We're all in good health so walking from Morocco to the bus stop in 35 minutes would have been easy for our group. However, Mother Nature had a different plan for us. A sudden, heavy rain shower came from the south and we were forced to take cover inside the French pavilion. I think it was the biggest crowd they had seen all day! We decided to stay for "Impressions de France" and had a great time with the CM's after the show. It's 8:45 now so we decided to catch 9:45 bus back to the hotel in order to avoid the crowds after "Illuminations".
The walk back to the bus was leisurely and we arrived at 9:35 PM. The bus was waiting for us at lane #26 and we boarded one of the new General Coach buses. The driver put a DVD into the video system and we began to watch "The Wizard of Oz" on the overhead LCD screens! That was a lot of fun. I glanced over to my right and noticed that a LONG line had developed at the All-Stars bus stop. Several WDW buses (the new ones) were there but no one was being loaded. During the next 10 minutes our bus continued to load, we watched the movie and I continued to occasionally look over to my right and view the increasing crowd of All-Star resort passengers that were not being loaded into their buses. I don't know for sure, but (from previous experience) I suspect that one or more of those buses had ramps that got stuck in the out position. Our bus left at exactly 9:45 PM with about 38 people on board. The bus was quiet because everyone was interested in watching the movie. As we pulled away I once again noted that the All-Star crowd had grown very large and they were not happy. I felt sorry for them because the same thing happened to me last year. Been there, done that!
The bus got back to our hotel at 10:10 PM. We met some really nice folks from the UK and spent some time with them socializing before we called it a night. So, this was rather a rather typical example of our daily routine at WDW while using the Downtown Disney Resort bus system. Feel free to ask me any questions and I'll do my best to answer.
Now, before Invero or niteobsrvr flame me (jk), I want to point out that I really like the WDW bus system as well. I don't dislike the WDW bus system because they do a great job too. I think that the WDW bus system is sometimes overburdened during the "rush hour" periods (i.e. early mornings and park closures). I really enjoy staying at various WDW resorts on each trip. That is part of the fun for me.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Even in Toronto and Boston, which had better systems, the transportation wasn't great once you got out of the urban core.