The bus took 20 mins to arrive and an hour to actually depart. Even though I arrived at Orlando at 10 pm...I will arrive around 1 am to my room at Old Key West.
I know that there will always be some bad experiences, but I must say that I am amazed at how well the Disney Bus System works. Of course, they can be crowded, a little bumpy, and some of them make frequent stops. On the other hand, I have never been on a Disney Bus where the driver yelled or seemed not to like his/her job. If anyone is ever rude, it would be other guests who don't give up seats for those needing them. I am not saying this from just one or two trips. I have been around 15 times over the last 10 years and have stayed in all levels of resorts. While I may have had to wait for a bus 20-30 minutes, the waits are usually less than 10-15 minutes. Overall, Disney Transportation does an "A+" job.
I have always found (with only a couple of exceptions) that the Disney Transportation System was very efficient. I often find that it is being monitored, and that buses are being redirected to the resorts or parks of greatest need. There are often transportation supervisors at major busing hubs, monitoring line ups and wait times. They are followed through global positioning, and Disney has a pretty good idea where any of their buses are at any given moment. That is the good news. The bad news is that there are high traffic times, and things do get backed up.... ie after fireworks, special events, or park closings. No bus line on the planet is able to handle those peaks of travellers the way we might like. It's at these times that I congratulate their bus system for doing as well as it does. Sure we are tired, our kids may be cranky, and the buses are packed to the rafters. But the drivers and the systems do their very best to get us back home safely. I find that the vast majority of people who complain, are the people who would never take a bus when they are back "home". These people are comparing bus travel to the family car trip, not to the constraints or challenges of bus travel in general. Take a bus to a ball game or concert, then see what it is like when everyone gets out at the same time. It will be packed, and likely much more inefficient than Disney. I personally congratulate Disney!
This was the most unacceptable and completely unsafe part of our trip. It was horrendous. We stayed at Riverside. There was no rhyme nor reason nor schedule to how the busses came and went, nor which stops they picked up or dropped off at first. Sometimes we went to the lobby and the one bus was already full from stopping previously. At the destinations, for the return trip our stop was always full and we watched as numerous busses passed us going to empty stops. I mean numerous. Often times, bus drivers were changing shifts mid stop, which caused delays after waiting long times already. We were packed and I mean packed into these busses, grossly overloaded. Often times I stood holding my 4 year old or she had to stand herself. The drivers should be forced to enforce the women and specifically children sit first rule. There were more than a reasonable share of grown men who claimed seats over children. Additionally, I think representatives should be monitoring the stops to better direct busses to where they need to be based on volume. This is an extremely unsafe transit system and I feel Disney or whoever runs it should be ashamed of themselves. Atrocious.
There is nothing good to say about the bus service in Disney World. Everyone on here is right. The staff at your resort and even when you're making your reservation will tell you it's 15 minutes to get to the parks what it's really about an hour and sometimes longer. The bus drivers are incredibly rude. My husband and I had two little ones under the age of three with two carriages and bags. If it wasn't for the kindness of complete strangers I don't know what we would've done. Everyone is standing up -- your packed in like sardines -- multiple times we had to hold on for dear life while holding our 15 month old. It was borderline scary! And the bus drivers clearly hate their job. They are yelling at you to hurry up, etc. On some occasions it was impossible without the kindness of strangers. But the good news is you will find many of them at the happiest place on earth!
This bus system is atrocious. They are never on time and they take absolutely forever to get to their destination. The rides are very bumpy and there are never seats. Also, the bus stops at a million other stops, just lengthening the lines. We were late to two of our dinner reservations in Downtown Disney because the bus didn't get us there on time, even though we got on the bus over an hour before that. The rides are terrible, but they can only occur if the bus ever comes. The busses sometimes have 40 minute waits, just making an already terrible system even worse. The drivers are alright, but they sometimes have to switch drivers, which takes forever. The absolute worst thing that happened was when one of the busses we were on literally stopped working and took five noisy minutes to reboot and to get us out of the stop. This bus system needs some serious help and I would not recommend it to anyone.
I have always rented a car for my many trips to Disney World (been coming here since the late 70s). This time I stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and the concierge highly recommend taking the bus so I gathered my family of 4 and took the water taxi to Downtown Disney with the knowledge that I would have to take the bus home due to the limited water taxi hours. It took a full hour and a lot of complaining to the Downtown Disney dispatcher to finally get my bus. The most frustrating part of this experience was seeing busses come and go for other hotels while I waited and practically begged each bus that came close to my stop (5A) to pick my up. This was my very first and very last experience with Disney busses. Live and learn.
I've never had any major issues with the service. Its free so you can't really complain. The staff always has been extremely friendly and helpful when we arrived. And there's nothing more magical then when you officially pass onto the official WDW property. However I would suggest packing a bag with the stuff you'll be needing for that day because the luggage takes forever to get to your room. So if your gonna go swimming at your hotel pack a swimsuit in an extra bag.
We use the service at least from the resort back to MCO every time (I don't want the hassle of driving, returning a car, and checking my bags) and when we go straight to WDW. Our trip this year will be our 6th time on the ME, and while we've had waits, it sure beats the irritation of the above mentioned items. If you want to park your car at home and not drive again until you return, use the service and expect potential delays. If you don't, grab your bags from the baggage merry-go-round..get in line for the rental car..find your car..figure out how to get off the airport..figure out how to get to WDW..AND then reverse the process on your return (oh you'll probably be tired and grumpy at that time). I'm glad they offer the service and plan to continue using it!
A terrible first impression for the WDW customer service. I would suggest making other travel arrangements from the airport unless you don't mind completely wasting the first several hours of your vacation. The wait for the bus to leave was over an hour and then 30 plus minutes to your resort depending upon which one you are staying at. Just plain awful....
I am frequent visitor to Disneyworld. Most recent visit this past week. used bus, boats and monorail for transportation. Started with Magic Express. Have used this service often with no problems ever. However they need to update the tapes they show on the way to and from resorts. They are talking about old outdated information. They need an upgrade. Regular buses on time and frequent with polite drivers and no issues. BUT we always go off season so they are rarely full. Monorail still the quickest way to get to EPCOT if you are staying in MK area or MK resorts. The walk to transfer from one to the other at Transportation center still is awkward, but there appears to be construction at that transfer point that may change that. Hard to tell. Still the best way to get around unless you are the impatient demanding type, but at $20.00 a day to park a car it makes sense to use the transportation. DTD transportation is somewhat congested due to construction there but from what it looks like once they are done with construction at DTD this will no longer be an issue.
Honestly had no problems. Knew it was gonna be an hour ride and prepared for our luggage being there late. It's called pack some emergency clothes in a carry on. Got to our hotel at 10 am our room was ready. Went to the room, dropped off carry on, and headed to the parks for fun. Came back at midnight and luggage was there. It's free so you can't expect much right? Its all part of the vacation experience and story. I actually say to my gf, enjoy your hour ride time on the DME on the way from the airport because before you know it it'll be heading back to the airport.
We stayed at the Yacht Club resort and wanted to go to Typhoon Lagoon ... the trip takes 90 MINUTES! They stop at 4 other hotels and then Disney Marketplace and Pleasure Island (where they sometimes change drivers for an extra 15 min delay). For the rest of our stay we took a cab ... with the amount of money it costs to be there I could not waste time taking the Disney bus service. For $20 we took a cab and were there in 10 minutes. The bus drivers are courteous and I don't blame them, but the service is a huge disappointment ... count on wasting several hours of your valuable vacation time.
If I could take away stars I would. The bus from Saratoga Springs to the Orlando airport was 30 minutes late, the driver was extremely curt and cranky. Instead if going straight to the airport he was called to pick up passengers from two other resorts. Even though I was booked to leave the resort 3 hours before my flight, the bus picked me up late, made additional stops, and it was an hour before we got on the freeway. I missed my flight - and the driver had the nerve to tell me I should have left earlier. I come here annually but I will never use the buses to get to the airport again.