WDW Transportation Problems

[Plex]

We just got back from our Honeymoon at WDW and we made a number of observations about the WDW transportation. I'd like to preface this post by saying that overall we had an amazing time and really enjoyed ourselves. That said, we really did have some major frustrations with transportation while we were there.

We were staying at Bay Lake Tower, and it was our first time staying at a monorail resort. Given the current debate about the Monorail, I'll start there.

Without EMH monorail service, the monorail station inside the Contemporary become much less useful. The resort monorail runs clockwise, so it's much faster to walk to MK than it is to take the monorail. Most of our MK trips were in the evening to take advantage of EMH, which means the monorail wasn't available. So in a nutshell.... what monorail? At least when it came to MK, the monorail just doesn't provide much value when you're staying at the Contemporary or BLT.

Late one EMH night we decided to try the bus service back to the hotel. Contemporary and Wilderness Lodge are currently sharing a return bus back from MK during EMH. Just to add insult to injury, Contemporary gets dropped off AFTER Wilderness Lodge. For those that aren't familiar with the lay of the land in that area, this means that the bus PASSED THE ENTRANCE TO THE CONTEMPORARY ON THE WAY TO WILDERNESS LODGE. I cannot begin to explain how frustrating this was.

And now for a convenient segway into buses...

We did a lot of waiting for buses on this trip. By far this was the worst bus service we have ever had at WDW. Our stay at Pop a few years ago had much better busing and the room rates are half of what they are at the Contemporary. All of the buses are shared, and clearly there are not enough buses on the route at virtually every time of day. We regularly waited 20-30 minutes for buses.

In fact, we waited for an hour for a bus back from Typhoon Lagoon. From about 30 minutes before close to about 30 minutes after close there were no buses for Contemporary. We spoke with the Cast Member working the bus area and communicating with the buses. We were told 8 minutes. It was another 20 or so before a bus arrived. We were told that since the bus goes to Downtown Disney first, the bus was filled and returned to the resort. And a new bus was not dispatched to the route.

Our trip TO Typhoon Lagoon was also a fiasco. We began the day at DHS and planned to cool down later in the day with a trip to the water park. Typhoon lagoon shares buses with Downtown Disney. Buses to/from DTD have been cut off because of people using the free parking at DTD to get to the parks. Little did we know, this means that buses to/from Typhoon Lagoon have also been shut down.

And so began the saga. We decided to hop to a resort that is on the way to Typhoon Lagoon, assuming that this would mean that the bus ride wouldn't be too long. We chose the Caribbean Beach Resort. Long story short, we wait, bus there, wait, change buses, and we're on our way. And of course, the bus goes to DTD first. In the end, total travel time, approximately 90 minutes. 90 MINUTES. Just in case you aren't good with WDW geography, these two parks are just down the road from each other. According to Google, it should be a 7 minute trip going directly. We could have ridden bikes there faster than taking the bus.

I'd also like to point out we did observe that busing to other resorts was abundant, and the bad bus situation seems to be isolated to a small group of resorts. This also added to the frustration - watching bus after bus go by for other resorts - often several buses for the same resort. Keeping in mind geography, it seemed like each route was running the same number of buses regardless of the distance to the destination rather than keeping in mind the service that was provided.

In a nutshell, I was really unhappy with Disney transportation on this trip. In the grand scheme of WDW, a few extra hours of monorail service and a handful of extra buses doesn't have a significant impact on Disney's bottom line. I can't imagine how angry I would be about this sort of service if I was a cash customer that doesn't visit WDW often. As a DVC owner that goes just about every year, I'm miffed and will just plan around this in the future. Namely, I really don't think I'll be staying at BLT again any time soon.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

Without EMH monorail service, the monorail station inside the Contemporary become much less useful. The resort monorail runs clockwise, so it's much faster to walk to MK than it is to take the monorail. Most of our MK trips were in the evening to take advantage of EMH, which means the monorail wasn't available. So in a nutshell.... what monorail? At least when it came to MK, the monorail just doesn't provide much value when you're staying at the Contemporary or BLT.

A lesson I learned the hard way, the Monorail is useless when staying at the CR & BLT.

Without EMH monorail
Late one EMH night we decided to try the bus service back to the hotel. Contemporary and Wilderness Lodge are currently sharing a return bus back from MK during EMH. Just to add insult to injury, Contemporary gets dropped off AFTER Wilderness Lodge.

I nearly fell out of my chair when I read this, that is simply unimaginable to me. Was the driver lost?

Our stay at Pop a few years ago had much better busing and the room rates are half of what they are at the Contemporary. All of the buses are shared, and clearly there are not enough buses on the route at virtually every time of day. We regularly waited 20-30 minutes for buses.

Couldn't agree more, the Monorail resorts have the worst bang for your buck, especially for bus transportation. Its one more reason I now love Pop the most.

[Disney Hungarian]

I promised myself that I would not get on another rant about the busses at WDW. I do wish I could join in now.

[Renfairwedding]

I gave up on the bus long ago. Try that trip in a electric wheelchair or scooter.

[McLiberal8]

Buses to/from DTD have been cut off because of people using the free parking at DTD to get to the parks.

Aha! The DTD area/buses were SO BUSY last time I was there, and now I know why.

I cannot believe they have not figured out how to regulate this, somehow. Like getting your ticket validated?

[Tinkerfreak]

Our best bus service has been at AKL, CBR and POFQ. Our worst was the Poly, BC and BWI. We found that the resorts that share buses are the worst.

[BrerGnat]

As far as I know, bus service between the parks and DTD was cut off years ago. There have been signs there (at the bus stops) indicating that those who need to reach a park should get on a PORT ORLEANS bus to do the transfer, as that is the closest (i.e. most direct) resort from DtD.

But, anyway, I mostly had the same experience as you while staying at the CR (and the WL, for what it's worth). The monorail is useless when you are at CR. Honestly, the walk is so easy it's not worth even walking to the monorail station when exiting MK. It's really only convenient for those staying in the tower at CR, or when the weather is bad, but walking beats it every time.

As for the EMH bus situation. I would assume they do the WL drop off first because it is easier for the bus to stop at CR on its way back to MK. Turning right into the CR parking lot, and exiting and turning right to go back to MK is a LOT faster than waiting for a left turn. Have you seen the traffic back ups at that intersection? Still, I'd be beyond frustrated with that. Just curious...did the driver indicate that WL would be dropped off first before you left? If so, I would have gotten off the bus and just walked. Pretty frustrating, though, either way.

Don't even get me started on trying to get to/from the waterpaks on buses. Last time we tried that, we also had a 90 min trip. No more! We'll just take a taxi next time. There needs to be dedicated buses for the water parks. I HATE the sharing with AK/DtD routes! I'd be fine with sharing one waterpark bound bus with a couple neighboring resorts. Particualrly in the summer, I don't see why they don't do it that way.

Hope you had a great honeymoon anyway!

[joonyer]

We are lucky that we are able to easily drive to WDW on our visits. We learned a long time ago that it was easiest just to drive to the Water Parks from whatever resort we were staying. Especially when leaving the water parks, it's really nice being able to go directly to your own car and not having to wait for the bus while you are wet