[Donna B]

I'm sorry if this question has been asked before, but I just joined last week. My question is this: I have been hearing horror stories about the transportation at the Lodge, is it as bad as I've heard? Has anyone stayed there recently? We are really looking forward to staying there but is the transportation going to be a HUGE problem? Thanks for any help!!!! :wow: :wow: :wow:

[brumcg]

Donna,

I'll be staying there in 3 days... I'll post when I get back.

IMO, buses are buses. I've already been amazed at how efficient they can be...and how inefficient they can be. We hedged our bet and rented a car for this trip. I want to make 2 trips off-site and I'll just feel better on this trip if I have the option of a car.

The boat to MK, though, worries me. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but the boat now stops at Fort Wilderness. I've heard that it can take 45+ minutes to get back to the resort from MK at closing.

Bruce

[Donna B]

I hope you have a great time...I heard the same thing about the boat and with a 5 yr. old and 2 yr. old I am alittle concerned about 45 minute trip on the boat. Was debating about renting a car. But free transportation is a good thing and we are not planning on going offsite this trip. So maybe we'll just suck it up and deal with some hassles. I look forward to hearing about your trip when you get back.

[mickey]

Donna, really, the transportation at Wilderness Lodge is just like everywhere else. The good thing is that your are right by the MK and the Ticket and Transportation Center, so you are only 5 minutes from MK and 10 from EPCOT. The only place that will be a problem will be Animal Kingdom. It might take you a while, but it is worth it. It could be worse, you could be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, and everything is far away there.

[Donna B]

Thanks Mickey. I am really a patient person and don't mind waiting but some of the stories I heard were just horrible. I guess it all depends on what kind of person you are. Since I don't mind waiting it probably will go fine for us, the stories I heard were probably from people that just have to complain about something or just don't love Disney as much as some of us...lol

[dvcguy]

Buses can be very good or bad. We have stayed at OKW many times and it is always a roll of the dice. We get a car and sometimes just hop in the car if the bus does not come.

[mj7379]

Last October my sister stayed at the All Star resorts and said that the lines for those buses were the worst. All the All Star resorts take the same bus and at closing the lines get very long (some nights it took over 1 hour to just get on a bus). For every other resort she said that the lines were much shorter and the buses were much faster coming back.

I have never stayed on the property before (this august will be my first time staying there) so it will be an experience.

Regardless of the wait, i'm a easy going person and i would rather wait a little and ride a FREE bus then pay for a rental car for a week.

:)

[Goofette]

Originally posted by mickey
The only place that will be a problem will be Animal Kingdom. It might take you a while, but it is worth it. It could be worse, you could be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, and everything is far away there.

What's really strange is we didn't feel like we were very far from everything. I had heard so much about AKL being so far, but we never felt like it. Maybe from being in the car for two days 15-20 min. didn't seem like a lot. But really, I felt like we were right there with everything else at WDW except we had the privacy.

We didn't stay at Wilderness but something we did at AKL was take both our car and Disney transportation. I found Disney Transport to be a lot easier and less walking. After a day of endless walking I was so relieved to sit at the bus stop, or sit on the bus waiting to get back to the hotel.

Does anyone know why the buses park so far away at Animal Kingdom? I dont' know if I was just tired, but I felt like once we left the park we walked forever to the bus stations.