Staying at the Swan....we have been waiting an hour for a bus to the Magic Kingdom. In that time, 5 buses have come and gone to Animal Kingdom and 2 for Disney Springs. Not my idea of “Magical”
The absolute worst. Bus times change constantly and are never sooner. Always crowded. You would think if the bus is constantly jammed packed and people have to wait for another they would add more busses to their fleet. Boats are even worse. Take forever, confusing routes, and again never on time.
This service is incredibly unrelaible. We are finishing up our stay at Disney Caribbean Beach resort (Sept 27-October 4th). Many times the bus we needed for the resort we were going to would take about 30 minutes or longer to show. I would recommend NOT use it to get to a reservation. One example was to go to the Magic Kingdom. We got to the bus stop at 8 with a 9am reservation in Magic Kingdom. The bus did not arrive till 8:40 and it took about 30 minutes to get there. We were late for our reservation and barely made the grace period.
Overall everything was great! Only thing wrong was having to catch two buses to Typhoon Lagoon which I found odd. Also when we went to go to Disney Springs, the bus was pulling away from the stop. We ran to the bus and asked if we could get on. Note that it was 10 feet past the bus stops at Beach Club. The driver was like no you have to get on at the stop. We found that very rude because the next bus was 20 minutes away
Generally we found the WDW transport to be really good. However on two occasions we went to Typhoon Lagoon early in the morning returning to our hotel early afternoon - a distance of about 3 miles. For some inexplicable reason you have to catch the bus from Typhoon Lagoon get off at Disney Springs (which is the other side of the road) then queue for another bus On our second visit it took is an hour from leaving Typhoon Lagoon to driving past the front entrance of the water park on another bus - utter madness Don't bother taking the buses to either of the water parks .
Sounds wonderful - free transportation but BEWARE! Packed in by driver on an overcrowded bus! - group of approximately 15 people who SCREAMED/SANG the entire trip....how is the driver supposed to concentrate? When I asked why nothing was said ...I was told it was a "cultural thing" - why is one group's screaming allowed to compromise my safety and experience??? Will NEVER take "free transit" again???? In fact will probably not stay at Disney resort again....if I have to rent a car might as well use it to drive and check out other Orlando attractions
I do not have to drive anywhere, the bus ride may take a little more time, but it is definitely one of the more enjoyable vacations I have taken. Good job Disney World.
Glad it took us where we needed to go, but getting there took forever. If you have plans leave to get there an hour early.
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 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.
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.
Expect a long, crowded bus ride and no seat
Just returned from five days at Disney. Stayed at Riverside. Bus service was frustrating during the entire stay. Schedule says busses every twenty minutes....don't believe it. You may wait up to an hour for your bus and what makes it more frustrating is for the resort you are NOT going two there will be ten busses stopping in front of you during that time. Didn't matter time of day. Express bus service from hotel to airport was not a satisfactory experience. Scheduled bus for our ride just drove through the loading area and never stopped. Driver was supposed to sign in at each resort...he ignored this. Had to wait for the next bus that luckily had space for our party. Busses need to have GPS trackers and two way radio communication that is used by Supervisor to manage routes and busses efficiently. There is no reason that if four busses to the same area are running bumper to bumper that one or two of them could not be switched to a route where passengers have waiting an excessively long period. The problem is not having enough busses, the problem is efficient management of the fleet to meet current load factors. Bus service seems to ignore this common sense business practice.
Stayed at the Boardwalk Inn from May 24th until May 31st of 2014 and I have to say the bus transportation was bad. The Boardwalk, Swan and Dolphin share bus service and to get to the Magic Kingdom it would take 25-35 minutes. The bus was always standing room only and I have to say if I had stayed at the Swan I would have never gotten a seat. Getting to and from Downtown Disney was worse as this bus is shared by one of the water parks. Leaving Downtown Disney it took my family one hour to get to the Boardwalk Inn. You pay a higher price to stay at the Boardwalk because you want good service but you do not get that service from the bus.I have been to WDW 25 times and stayed at most of the hotels form the budget to the five star and have never had worse bus service
I visited the resort staying with my family at the Art of Animation. It is a half hour trip from the Art of Animation to the Magic Kingdom. Thats is if the bus just arrived and their was room on the bus for you. It could take up to an hour to get there. Bus arrivals at this resort were not regular enough that you didn't feel penalized for staying at this resort. If you visited more that one resort you spent 3 to 4 hours of your day traveling and not enjoying the parks. Worst was closing time. You could wait over and hour to get a bus back to your resort and be forced to stand the entire time do to overcrowding the buses.I will not go back until WDW improves transportation between all areas of the parks. They spend so much improving the parks without improving how to get around to each of them.
2 hour bus ride from marketplace in downtown Disney to beach club resort ,packed with way more people than it should have. The driver kept saying "everyone move further back for more people"
We go to WDW a lot & have never come across a bus driver like the one we had this trip, January 2013. After a dinner at the Hoop Dee Doo theater we boarded the station 4 bus to Coronado springs. We had the coolest, best bus driver named Nelson. He made the trip back fun. Everyone on the bus talked to him & each other. The crowds were horrible at the parks this trip, so it was nice to be in a more friendly situation where everyone talked & laughed together. It was all because of Nelson! He created a great environment & was a super guy. Thanks Nelson! The Texas family with 3 boys thought you rocked!!
Don't have to drive, may take a while sometimes but it's vacation enjoy!!
Relaxing way to get from park to park or from resort to park. The drivers are always friendly. Almost a ride in itself.
We took a trip with our daughter in December of 2006 and the bus service was horrendous. When we were at Downtown Disney (and other places) we had to wait for over an hour for our bus and by the time it arrived there were too many guests for one bus. I thought a fight was going to break out among the last people that would not fit on the bus. I did write Disney and complained about this like everybody should when they have a legitimate complaint. We took another trip in December of 2007 with our 5 kids (3) & grandkids (2) and it was like a different service had taken over. We never waited over 15 minutes no matter where we were at. I again wrote Disney (like everybody should) about this experience to compliment them on how good it was. On a side note I was checking job openings at the Disney web site during the summer of 2007 (in other words between these 2 vacations) and I noticed that there was an opening for the WDW Transportation Manager. It kind of makes me wonder...
We were staying at the All Star Movies. If any of you know the park this hotel is at the end of the line so to speak. In the morning some busses would come to the hotel already full. We would have to wait sometimes for three busses to come to get on. Then of course we had to stand all the way to the parks. One evening we had reservations at Hollywood Studios. We waited 35 minutes for a bus while at least 5 Epcot and 3 Magic Kingdom busses came and picked up 3 or 5 people. When we told the Epcot bus driver about not seeing any Hollywood busses, they said "OK", nothing else. I thought they could at least say they would call in and tell them we needed a bus, but apparently they are not allowed to think for themselves. The most personable drivers were the Magic Express drivers who of course were allowed to accept tips. That made them much friendlier! All in all, the system works relatively well. I especially like taking the boat when I could. Very cool way to travel. I still love Disney, but will reconsider where I stay from now on. You get what you pay for, right?
Most of the bus drivers were very friendly and got us to where we were going. The only downside is having to wait 20+ minutes with sore feet in some cases.
Of course, there were some drivers who were better than others. DW didn't like having to stand a couple times; she wanted to rent a car. I, on the other hand, enjoyed not having to drive at the end of the day.
I was grateful to have transportation to the theme parks. It is so nice not having to drive everywhere. At the end of a long day just hop a bus and head back to the resort. We did drive our car to the parking lot that was near our bus pickup. We only did this in the evenings when we new we would be staying in the park late and did not want to carry to tired if not sleeping children all the way to our rooms.
I would like to thank all of the transportation personel at Disney! All in all, to have to deal with all those thousands of happy, (and not so happy!), revved up vacation folk, I think the bus drivers perform very professionally! I am a wheelchair user, due to M.S, and found that the drivers I encountered were for the most part, very courtious, considering how much extra work it is to strap one of these wheelchairs into place , the drivers were always friendly and never impatient or rude in any way. Thanks for the great service! Looking foward to another great trip next year!!
Secrets to riding disney buses: You want to be the first one in the park, wake up early. Now, this is hard with kids. In this case, don't rush if it's too stressful. The parks are soooo crowded first thing in the morning. Take some time to enjoy a relaxing breakfast and family time. Wait about 15-20 minutes after the park opens at 9:00 to get on the bus. Water parks take a lot of time to get to. In the morning, they are the first stop then the theme park, but at night or during a closing, it's opposite. Avoid long lines at the end of the day by leaving before fireworks or before the last parade of the day. If you want to stay, then fine. Wait 15-20 minutes after the fireworks or last parade is over then make your way out to the bus stop. At water parks, do the same thing. Either leave before the park closes or wait 15-20 minutes after they close to make your way out. Long lines are formed when everyone leaves at once.Help your driver help you. Take responsibility for your actions!! Don't enter through the back door unless you are with a guest with a wheelchair or scooter. Have your strollers folded before the bus pulls up to the stop. If you have a really big stroller and you can't get it through the front door, then feel free to ASK the driver if you can come in the back door. Do not assume that the driver will automatically do this for you. It all depends on the type of bus. Some front doors are bigger than others. If you are going from your hotel to a restaurant and have to transfer at theme park by either bus, boat or monorail, allow yourself a FULL hour to a hour and a half or travel time. Bring the reservation, restaurant name, location and phone # with you in case you have to call them directly to hold your reservation. NO there is no direct bus to Downtown Disney. In most cases the closet resort to the DTD area with the fewest stops is your best bet.Don't ask Guest Services questions about buses. Ask a bus driver. Plan ahead. Buses are free, taxis aren't. Pick a resort closest to the theme park that you think you will spend most of your vacation at and will fit your budget. The closer you are to a certain theme park, the more buses you will see. Example, at Pop Century you will see more MGM, Epcot and Downtown buses because these are close. We're working on a new system for the buses that we hope will make our service more efficient. Please be patient. It takes a while to make improvements. Don't hesitate to make a complaint or give a compliment to a bus driver. We are human too. We have bad days and good days just like you. Nothing is perfect!!
The transportation system could use some adjustments such as more buses to go to each hotel instead of them sharing. But for someone who doesnt drive it is a great way to get around disney. You dont have to worry about parking or walking from the parking lot to the front of the entrance. You dont have to worry about car rental fees. In my experience the worst times were where the parks open and close and late night events. But otherwise it is a good system.
You know, I think it really depends on where your staying as to the quality recieved in bus transportation. I stayed at the All Stars and at times the line is horrendous and you may have to wait for several buses to come and go before you make your way back to the hotel. This happened to me after seeing Phantasmic. The line for the bus stretched for miles it seemed. I don't like it when the bus makes various stops picking people up before it even gets to you. That means you may well be standing for much of the journey. I think each stop at each resort should have sole access to the bus. Having said all of that, during my 2 week stay, the system worked fine for the large part, it's just you are guaranteed some issues at some point. It's a necessary evil, but the cast members try their best to keep everyone happy. And it beats driving and parking and walking for miles to get to the park entrance!
All the buses ran smoothly, except for the MK. We stayed at the Pop Century, so we had to walk the farthest. We decided to drive next time for the MK. It gets ugly at closing time. People pushing, passing others. We waited over an hour for a bus. And we even sat at a bench for 20 minutes! And watch out if you're standing! Some drivers don't know how to use their brakes properly, and can sling you to the ground, so hold on tight!
If you're a tourist (as opposed to local) and not planning on going anywhere but WDW while in Orlando, then taking the buses are the way to go for us. WDW buses are as efficient as any city bus system. Keep in mind, this doesn't mean that you won't have to wait for the bus to show up, and the length of time it takes to get to your destination will be longer than if you take your own car due to possible multiple bus stops, and the fact that buses just plain drive slower than cars. I'm always surprised at how WDW guests seem to think that because this is WDW that somehow the bus system should be different than your local city buses. They complain that they have to get off one bus and transfer to another to get to their destination. Yes I agree that is inconvenient, but again, anyone who has ever taken a city bus will know this is pretty common. Anyway, I'll take the waiting anyday compared to the stress of driving myself, bothering with road maps, making sure I turn into the right parking lot, etc. I'm a tourist, so I'm not that familiar with the roads. So I have to wait for the next bus because I didn't get on the first one. That's OK so long as I'm not driving. After all, I'm on my vacation!
Over the 7 years I have been going to Disney regularly (1 - 2 several day trips each year), I think the bus system has improved. Especially in the last couple years, waits (overall) have been shorter and I have experienced less of the phenomena where three buses for one location show up before one bus for another location does. Overall, a very pleasant, convenient and (lately) more timely and efficient service.
I rode a late night bus from Pleasure Island and was unfortunate enough to be near a group of drunks. One kept falling into a group of young girls sitting nearby. A cursing match broke out but the driver did NOTHING. I kept waiting for him to step in but no. Finally I did-needless to say, not pleasant for family vacationers. After this near brawl the driver STILL ignored us. That being said, if your bussing to MK it beats parking,tramming, and wating around the TTC.
There needs to be a much better tracking system for the busses. We noticed in October that there would be several busses with the same destination arriving at the same time at our resort. This would invariably occur during the peak transport times, such as mornings at park openings. When our bus arrived, we would have been waiting over 25 minutes in the que, and the bus itself would be packed to the hilt. Each time we had to stand with our toddler in the aisle, which was uncomfortable and seemed rather unsafe. Although it's a great free service to have bus transportation to the parks from the resorts, perhaps Disney could look to metro services in large cities like NYC or Boston for ideas on how to maximize their efficiency.
Okay, its a bus. It gets you from here and there. Its hit and miss transit wise. You get good drivers and bad drivers. You get good passengers and ghawd awful bratty screaming kids who think its wrestlemania. All in all, it would be nicer if there was a bus to DTD from the parks.
There are many times when I've had to wait over an hour to get to a bus.
These are alright until they are packed. I just dont have anything good to say about bussing. Monorails everywhere!!!
We used the bus to and from MGM and it wasn't too bad. We went March 3-7th so it wasn't busy at all. Even when the park closed at night the service was good and we got on right away. My husband did have to stand though. The bus system is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It takes some time to get to and from so allow travel time, especially with kids.
I never had a problem with the buses. I think there are very convient. I do think it is quicker to drive, but not enough to spend extra money on a rental
If you pay the high dollars to stay at WDW, then you will have busses all over the place. If you want to save some money and stay at the "Value Resorts" you will not get anywhere on time! 2 Months ago, I stayed at the Port Orleans Resort. We had busses going to and from the resort every 5 minutes. Hardly a wait at all! This past weekend, (October 4-6) We stayed at the All Star Music Resort. We waited for busses from several different places for more than 20 minutes. This happened going from MGM/ Downtown Disney, and Epcot. The lines for Space Mountain and Splash Mountain were shorter than the wait on the busses!
Its like the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority)...only with less cussing... alot cleaner...more reliable and ON TIME!....lol I had no major issues with bus service... I did wind up standing alot....heading back to my resort after a day at the parks....I dont think I ever waited more than 20min for a bus...except on a Satuday night after the Parade and Fireworks at the MK....THAT was a nightmare.
I'm not sure if many major cities have such an orgainzed, timley bus system as Disney World. It doesn't beat the above the trees view of the monorail, but it gets you where you are going.
Okay, my take on the bus service varies all the time. There's days when I love it, there's days when I hate it. The main problem that I see is you never know when a bus will come along... it could be minutes or it could be an hour (this does happen on occasion, although not often!). My second gripe is when buses serve more than one resort... makes a trip you don't really want to take (who paid a fortune to visit Disney to ride on a bus we all have at home in our cities?) all that much longer. Third, taking the bus when the parks close can be a nightmare (especially if you have kids who are cranky by the end of a long day) due to long lines and having to stand on the bus. That being said, I think Disney has done an admirable job of handling a huge bus system. Just thinking about the number of people they move daily on the buses is mind-boggling. Also, you can have a ton of fun talking to your bus driver if you're riding during a non-busy time. These people have an amazing wealth of knowledge about the parks and Disney, and some even like to play trivia games with you (I remember a debate with one guy about what Goofy really is). Overall, the buses are necessary evil that Disney does a good job of handling (most of the time).
I have been to Walt Disney World four times in the past 3 years. On my last visit (may 20-25 2002) I took the bus for the first time. I thougly enjoyed it!!! The seats are not "cushioned" like how you would normally think of cushioned seats but they are VERY comfortable...it's very easy to go to sleep in them:-) The buses are a great way of traveling thoughout Disney World. Esp. if you are staying off property and don't want to waste gas...or are planning to go from one park to another and back to the orginal park:-)
The bus transporation could be better. It is very easy to get on the bus and go resort to park or park to park. It is great so you don't have to worry about driving.
Not a big bus person but these are a pretty good way to get around, especially if you catch them at the right times. Only problem is if you have a stoller and the bus is crowded
Buses are second only to the monorail system. People complain about buses all the time, but i think they do a good job considering how many people they move around each day. Nothing like standing with 75 other sweaty people packed like sardines. Great way to meet people.
Disney's bus transportation is second to their monorail as far as the best way to get around the World goes. You get friendly drivers, are able to get from here to there fairly quickly, and since I was small I noticed a distinctive scent to the buses that always brings a smile when I catch a whiff of it somewhere. It reminds me of Disney. The only downfall is that the wait time for the buses varies from one place to another. Sometimes it's about 10-15 minutes, and other times it may be as long as 20-30 minutes. All in all, though, a good way to get around.
I have had very good experiences with Disney buses. Although they can get crowded first thing in the morning and right when the park closes, but that should be expected and when this happens, passengers are usually quite friendly and makes the experience better. Buses are a must for moderate & value resorts and they work quite well. They will get you to where you need to go, fast and easy.
99% of the time the bus drives at WDW are awesome! They usually are very friendly, interact with guests, and drive great. The occasional bad driver does ruin the good drivers image though. But in the end you have to remember your being bused and driving is not going to be perfect, especially in WDW where guests driving their own cars don't pay attention to often!
I think the Walt Disney World busses are good in terms of what they do, and that is transport. But, being themed busses, they get a D from me. The Tokyo busses are full of Hidden Mickeys and are very well themed and are great in everything, but the Walt Disney World ones are just redressed city busses. Bad show, IMHO. - The WeirdOne
NEVER SURE WHEN THEY WOULD SHOW??
hey , they could work out a better bus schedule but , at night its good if u get the bus to urself , the driver will put the lights out and he'll even elt ya sleep i nthe alst row of the bus
With the introduction of Magic On Demand, and Flex Dispatch, bus transportation is now at an all time high for efficiency. With MOD, busses are dispatched in the morning by a Demand basis. If a bus fills up, another bus is sent in to continue where the other one left of. The result is Magic in Motion! Flex Dispatch allows for better utilization of busses. Instead of staying on route, and having an extra 10 minutes... we take those 10 minutes, and use them by assigning a new route every time they come into the dispatch area. This allows for all busses to remain on time. If a bus goes out of order, the system is not affected.
Sure, the monorails may be more magical, but the buses will sure get you there. They may be crowded at times, but if you happen to get a truly Disney driver like our very own WDWMagic Tyler, that wait may be worth your while.
Well it not really an attraction but the drivers at WDW do thier best to make every minute of your stay fun. Some of the bus drivers know how to make the trip fun with trivia and games. That really helps pass the time away. Plus they'll help you out if you need help getting somewhere. We took the Magic Kingdom bus to Polynesian one time for breakfast (a side trip to save us time). We were very grateful for that. They're also great with guests who need special assistance with wheelchairs. Two thumbs up to all the drivers out there that make the ride to anywhere FUN!
The bus services at Disney are often overlooked, but are ,in fact, the lifeline of most of the resort guests on property. The bus system starts running a few hours before the parks open, and run until all parks are empty. They are able to plan for large crowds after major night-time shows with additional buses, as well as additional buses in the morning to get people to the parks quickly. The bus drivers are very knowledgeable, friendly, and eager to help with bits of advice or tips for an easier day in WDW. Remember to thank your bus driver if you ever ride a Disney Bus...they have a hard job, and do it extrememly well!
I think that Disney's bus transportation is good. The only time the waits are really long is at park closing. Some bus rides can be more enjoyable and kid friendly than others, it all depends on the driver. My biggest complaint about the bussing at WDW is that at every park Port Orleans Resort is the very last bus stop, that's a lot of walking! LOL I know that someone has to be last, but at every park!? Give the poor PO people a break and let them be second to last once. ;-) LOL
The buses arent really themed, but to be fair - it's hard to theme a bus, but disney do a fairly good job, with the colours. The disney buses are, in my experience, fairly reliable and they get you where you want to go. The only downside is that sometimes they get crowded and you have to wait for another one.