Drive to the Park or Take the Bus

[ShellyShell]

We will be visiting the world on 12/26/16 – 1/1/17 and I’m driving so I’ll have my car. We are staying at Art of Animation. We will be up at the crack of down to make it to the parks before they open especially if the park has an Early Opening. Being that the parks won’t be packed that early in the morning and traffic won’t be as bad do you think it’s better if I drive. After reading transportation reviews going to and from Art of Animation during the Holiday Season I’m skeptical about catching the bus. Is driving better?

 

[CleveRocks]

There are two reasons why I put very very little stock in negative reviews of Disney resort buses:
1) People very rarely post positive reviews when normal things work normally. For example, you almost never read reviews saying, "I checked into my room and there was no trash on the floor" or "No rides broke down while we were there." So it's not like negative experiences with AoA buses are so common, it's just that no one bothers to write positive reviews, so it seems like the negatives outweigh the positives even though that's not the case. Buses at every Disney resorts are supposed to run about every 20 minutes. If that occasionally happens less often it's not a function of the resort itself, it's just bad luck. Which brings me to ...

2) Any system, any system at all, can have temporary glitches. Unless someone is there many weeks at a time comparing all different resorts over many repetitive trials, they aren't seeing a true representation of what really happens. i'll give an example from one of my own experiences. The one time we stayed at the Polynesian, we had amazing luck with the timing of buses. It was uncanny. During our entire week there, we literally never waited more than two or three minutes for a bus at the resort bus stop. After a few days we started joking about it but it continued to be true. You'd think I'd have come back writing reviews about how incredibly wonderful the bus system was a Polynesian. But I know that's not the case. As we joked about how lucky we were, we joked that there might be some unlucky family following our exact same schedule all week but just five minutes behind us. Those poor folks would've waited about 20 minutes for every bus during their entire stay, and they'd go home to write a review about how bad the Poly bus system was because they always had a long wait. See what I mean?

So in short, don't let bad reviews stop you from taking the bus. That being said, the bus system isn't for everyone, regardless of whether it's a busy season or not. Some people just can't stand not being in control, and most of those people simply are not going to enjoy taking the bus all week, they'll likely feel quite frustrated at times and would probably be better off driving themselves. In the real world, I'm one of those people. But when I'm on a Disney vacation, I happily turn off that part of my brain and I'm thrilled to let other people take control of some of the things, such as getting there and back.

Whatever you do, you have a great plan for going during that week of the year, which is getting to the parks very early. I'm sure you'll have a great time no matter what you decide.

 

[sam_gordon]

There are two reasons why I put very very little stock in negative reviews of Disney resort buses:
1) People very rarely post positive reviews when normal things work normally. For example, you almost never read reviews saying, "I checked into my room and there was no trash on the floor" or "No rides broke down while we were there." So it's not like negative experiences with AoA buses are so common, it's just that no one bothers to write positive reviews, so it seems like the negatives outweigh the positives even though that's not the case. Buses at every Disney resorts are supposed to run about every 20 minutes. If that occasionally happens less often it's not a function of the resort itself, it's just bad luck. Which brings me to ...

2) Any system, any system at all, can have temporary glitches. Unless someone is there many weeks at a time comparing all different resorts over many repetitive trials, they aren't seeing a true representation of what really happens. i'll give an example from one of my own experiences. The one time we stayed at the Polynesian, we had amazing luck with the timing of buses. It was uncanny. During our entire week there, we literally never waited more than two or three minutes for a bus at the resort bus stop. After a few days we started joking about it but it continued to be true. You'd think I'd have come back writing reviews about how incredibly wonderful the bus system was a Polynesian. But I know that's not the case. As we joked about how lucky we were, we joked that there might be some unlucky family following our exact same schedule all week but just five minutes behind us. Those poor folks would've waited about 20 minutes for every bus during their entire stay, and they'd go home to write a review about how bad the Poly bus system was because they always had a long wait. See what I mean?

So in short, don't let bad reviews stop you from taking the bus. That being said, the bus system isn't for everyone, regardless of whether it's a busy season or not. Some people just can't stand not being in control, and most of those people simply are not going to enjoy taking the bus all week, they'll likely feel quite frustrated at times and would probably be better off driving themselves. In the real world, I'm one of those people. But when I'm on a Disney vacation, I happily turn off that part of my brain and I'm thrilled to let other people take control of some of the things, such as getting there and back.

Whatever you do, you have a great plan for going during that week of the year, which is getting to the parks very early. I'm sure you'll have a great time no matter what you decide.

WOW. I don't think I can "like" this post enough. Well written.

Personally, I like handing the driving over to someone else (and it has nothing to do with alcohol). My suggestion to the OP is give the busses a try the first day or two, but know ahead of time what the limits are... you may need to wait for a bus and you may be standing on the bus (or elect to wait for the next bus in order to get a seat). Once you've tried it out, then you can decide if you'd prefer using your car.

 

[ShellyShell]

There are two reasons why I put very very little stock in negative reviews of Disney resort buses:
1) People very rarely post positive reviews when normal things work normally. For example, you almost never read reviews saying, "I checked into my room and there was no trash on the floor" or "No rides broke down while we were there." So it's not like negative experiences with AoA buses are so common, it's just that no one bothers to write positive reviews, so it seems like the negatives outweigh the positives even though that's not the case. Buses at every Disney resorts are supposed to run about every 20 minutes. If that occasionally happens less often it's not a function of the resort itself, it's just bad luck. Which brings me to ...

2) Any system, any system at all, can have temporary glitches. Unless someone is there many weeks at a time comparing all different resorts over many repetitive trials, they aren't seeing a true representation of what really happens. i'll give an example from one of my own experiences. The one time we stayed at the Polynesian, we had amazing luck with the timing of buses. It was uncanny. During our entire week there, we literally never waited more than two or three minutes for a bus at the resort bus stop. After a few days we started joking about it but it continued to be true. You'd think I'd have come back writing reviews about how incredibly wonderful the bus system was a Polynesian. But I know that's not the case. As we joked about how lucky we were, we joked that there might be some unlucky family following our exact same schedule all week but just five minutes behind us. Those poor folks would've waited about 20 minutes for every bus during their entire stay, and they'd go home to write a review about how bad the Poly bus system was because they always had a long wait. See what I mean?

So in short, don't let bad reviews stop you from taking the bus. That being said, the bus system isn't for everyone, regardless of whether it's a busy season or not. Some people just can't stand not being in control, and most of those people simply are not going to enjoy taking the bus all week, they'll likely feel quite frustrated at times and would probably be better off driving themselves. In the real world, I'm one of those people. But when I'm on a Disney vacation, I happily turn off that part of my brain and I'm thrilled to let other people take control of some of the things, such as getting there and back.

Whatever you do, you have a great plan for going during that week of the year, which is getting to the parks very early. I'm sure you'll have a great time no matter what you decide.

Thanks! I totally agree. I don't think the bus system sucks at all. I've been on them before and loved them. It's one of the reasons why I like staying on Disney grounds. On our first day we'll take the bus and see how it pans out and go from there. This is my first time during Christmas and I'm overwhelmed already just thinking of the crowds. lol

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Thanks! I totally agree. I don't think the bus system sucks at all. I've been on them before and loved them. It's one of the reasons why I like staying on Disney grounds. On our first day we'll take the bus and see how it pans out and go from there. This is my first time during Christmas and I'm overwhelmed already just thinking of the crowds. lol

remember if you drive to MK you will have to take either the monorail or ferry from parking lot to gate and then do that back to your car at end of day. not possible to walk from parking lot. if pushing double stroller it is a steep incline up to monorail

 

[bumbershoot]

I am a driver. We've had neutral bus trips and crud-tacular bus trips. Nothing actually positive.

But at that time of year *its going to be busy even in the morning*. Even I would not drive. Not at all.

 

[danielocha30]

I would use the bus because:
1 Is part of the perks of staying on property
2 Specially at Magic Kingdom, no parking train and then a boat or monorail
3 No driving amongst other clueless drivers aroung Disney

Also take into account departure time, after all that long walk at the parks, the hassle to get to your car is tedious, the system works and it does it very well, just relax and ride the bus.
On a personal
note many years ago it took us hours to get out of magic kingdom parking lot at closing time it was a nightmare I know there is lines for the bus too, but being in a bottleneck inside the parking lot it's way worse.

 

[ShellyShell]

Thanks everyone. I was concerned about the buses starting at 6:30 am and not being able to make rope drop/EMH but someone told me that the buses will be starting earlier that week for the simple fact that EMH start at 7am.

 

[NH-to-FL]

If you are planning to arrive VERY early neither will the traffic be bad nor will the buses be crowded. I think the question is when you plan to leave the parks. For instance, waiting for a bus at Epcot right after Illuminations might take longer than walking to your car and dealing with the exit traffic yourself.

One morning during Christmas week last year we went to Epcot very, very, early, even before the parking lot ticket booths were staffed, and were directed to park on the grass in between the trees in front of the Imagine lot.

The only park where I would really only consider taking the bus is the MK. The extra hassle/time spent getting from the TTC to the park doesn't seem worth the potential hassle of the bus that drops you off and picks you up right at the park. Unless, again, you plan to leave the park at a peak time.

My suggestion to the OP is give the busses a try the first day or two, but know ahead of time what the limits are... you may need to wait for a bus and you may be standing on the bus (or elect to wait for the next bus in order to get a seat). Once you've tried it out, then you can decide if you'd prefer using your car.

An excellent suggestion!

 

[disneybree]

I always use the bus, but I used a rental car once. The bus wait was kinda long, but not too long. Cars are much faster, but the parking at MK was one of the most stressful experiences I've had :3