busses at the AS resorts?

[TheLorax2000]

Not sure if this should be posted here or on the Resorts board, but I'll try here first.

My family (currently) is split between 2 of the AS resorts and we are trying to see if we can meet up BEFORE we get to the parks. Do the AS sports and AS movies share the same buses for any or all of the destinations? If so which ones, and what stops first?

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Unfortunetly, there really isn't a set answer for your question. The All-Stars use what's called "Magic On Demand" for thier morning busses. Busses are dispatched from one of the All Star parking lots on a demand basis. Sometimes, a bus will only service one All Star. Sometimes it'll do two, and sometimes all three. And sometimes they'll do it in different orders. It's all done dynamically, so the only way you'll know if that bus is going to another All Star is by getting on it, and riding it.

The only bus that doesn't do MOD is the Downtown Disney bus. As far as I know (and I very well could be wrong on this), the DTD bus should service all three. Just check with the driver on that one.

An alternative... if y'all are split up between Sports and Movies, is that y'all could walk over to Music, and meet there. Music is within walking distance of both resorts, and you then can catch the bus of your choice right there. In fact, when you walk from Sports to Music, you'll see the staging area for the MOD busses.

 

[TheLorax2000]

thanks for the information Tyler. I was afraid this was going to be the situation.

 

[Ona]

Hiya!

We were at ASMo last week. WE were there for 3 weeks and so had plenty of opportunity to observe the busses. As Chip'n'Dale said it can be pretty random but ........................... it seems that the MK is now the only place which has individual busses. DTD, Epcot, MGM, AK and the waterparks always had people on them by the time they got our hotel (ours was always last to pick up and last to drop off) (even first thing in the morning). Also while we were there they changed the bus stop signs. For the first few days of our vacation Epcot had seperate busses as on the board but soon after that changed.

Just a little warning too. I thought that the bus service was attrocious. I've stayed at ASMo before and had not a bad word to say about it. WE constsantly had 20 min. waits and then had to stand on VERY packed buses. Look out for a theard I will start soon.

Ona

 

[TheLorax2000]

Welcome home, Ona!
Thanks for your reply. This is the 1st post I've seen about slow busses for the AS. Usually they have the most busses. This is my extended family's 1st time staying onsite. I told them how great WDW transportation, I hope I don't end up eating my words

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by Ona
Also while we were there they changed the bus stop signs. For the first few days of our vacation Epcot had seperate busses as on the board but soon after that changed.

This is what happens... in the morning, they have MOD... depending on the demand, you may or may not get your own bus. From 11am until 9pm, the ASR will share one bus for Epcot. Starting at 9:00pm, during busy seasons, Epcot will split them back up.

Originally posted by Ona
Just a little warning too. I thought that the bus service was attrocious. I've stayed at ASMo before and had not a bad word to say about it. WE constsantly had 20 min. waits and then had to stand on VERY packed buses. Look out for a theard I will start soon.

What times of the day did you travel? I haven't seen or heard about any problems with the All Stars in months. The only times that I could think there might be a delay would be from 10:45-11:15, during the transition period, but even then, they have transition busses... With Flex Dispatch, the busses are dispatched right on top of each other. I can't tell you how many times I've run into the bus in front of me, and behind me...

And also, if you travel during peak times (ie: park exit, parade exit, etc) crowded busses are only to be expected.

 

[Tartan Tigger]

I was at the All Star Movies in July and the bus service was excellent. This was my fifth time staying at the All Stars and I have never had any complaints with the bus service.

 

[ASFCurly]

when the all stars share a bus which resort does the bus go to first, I have heard conflicting answers and just wanted to make sure.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by ASFCurly
when the all stars share a bus which resort does the bus go to first, I have heard conflicting answers and just wanted to make sure.

It depends... some busses are routed Sports -> Music -> Movies... whereas others are routed Movies -> Music -> Sports. And some DTD busses go Music -> Movies -> Sports.

 

[ASFCurly]

ok, I understand the conflicting info now at least

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by ASFCurly
ok, I understand the conflicting info now at least

One more thing I forgot to add... they alternate those routes to give everyone a fair shot at being first, and getting a seat. My biggest pet peeve is when I go to Movies first, and and all the Sports people give me dirty looks when we finally get to Sports.

 

[Ona]

I was as surprised as everyone else at the problems we had with the buses on our vacation.

We rarely travelled at peak times. however, I was expecting packed buses after leaving the park at closing but not the same sort of squash at 10:30am heading to Epcot. There was one particularly bad experience and I'm not sure whether it had already been brought here up while I was still in WDW. I don't have any problem with the bus drivers. In fact, I think they did a fantastic job of getting everyone on the buses and moving off as quickly as possible. But ................

On the night of Sep.14 there was an all out riot at the MK All Star bus stops. It was a Sat. night and hence FitSF had been displayed that night. However, due to the Night of Joy, there had been no fireworks the previous weekend. As a result almost everyone was at the MK that night.

So I was of course expecting the buses to be crowded. So we took our time and headed over to the bus stops. By the time we got there, there were so many people that you couln't see where the lines began or ended. It was just a huge mass of people. You had no choice where you stopped. You had to keep moving with the crowd. It was frightening. I have no idea how terrifying it must have been for children.

People started to move (or should I say push) forward and then people began shouting at each other to get back. It was awful. And not at all magical. I realise that was not the fault of the Disney transportation but if buses had been waiting to take people as they exited the park I think alot of the unpleastantness could have been avoided. I have have no idea how the buses are allocated but it was obvious that the MK was going to be extremely busy that night and it just seems as though Disney Transportaion was not at all prepared.

That was one major issue but certainly not the only one which I found a cause for concern.

Please believe when I tell you that I'm not just looking for an excuse to complain. But it was bad and I do intend to e-mail Disney on the subject.

Ona

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by Ona
People started to move (or should I say push) forward and then people began shouting at each other to get back. It was awful. And not at all magical. I realise that was not the fault of the Disney transportation but if buses had been waiting to take people as they exited the park I think alot of the unpleastantness could have been avoided. I have have no idea how the buses are allocated but it was obvious that the MK was going to be extremely busy that night and it just seems as though Disney Transportaion was not at all prepared.

Well... I didn't work at the MK that night, I happened to be over at DTD... however, I can add a few tidbits of information that I do know about.

The busses were there, however, as crowded as the All-Stars get, busses still have to service other locations. But, by far, the All-Stars receive many many more busses than any other location, and at a more frequent rate.

On a typical night, the MK will have it's 30 Flex Busses, 15 Stolport busses, and 10 Floater busses. In addition, on a busy night, they might "borrow" some other busses from other locations. With 55 busses, with the average route being 30 mins, that's about one bus entering the MK every 30 seconds.

For the large lines, and to help facilitate the loading of the busses, we do have folks on AC... (Audience Control)... however, there is only so much they can do, and when things like you describe happen, all they can really do is call security to deal with the situation.