All Walt Disney World resorts and parks offer bus transportation. I am going to go over a few things to keep in mind while waiting to ride and while riding a Walt Disney World bus.
Bus Stops
There are different type of bus stops depending on where you are staying. Value resorts, the four theme parks, and Disney Springs have lines pre-made twisting lines to get in to while waiting. Value resorts bus lines are not covered. Moderate and Deluxe resorts have covered stations, but are more of a free for all, depending on the resort. An example would be the Grand Floridian and Polynesian have a single bus stop for all buses. You will look at the words across the front of the bus or right next to the front door to see where that bus is headed. Animal Kingdom Lodge on the other hand has one large bus stop, but there are loading areas for all the theme parks individually. Most bus stops now have a TV that gives you estimated bus arrival times. You will see a large yellow line on the ground next to the curb where the buses load. Everyone needs to be behind the yellow line otherwise the bus can not come to that spot. If you have a person in a wheelchair or mobility scooter or other wheeled medical device you will want them to be placed in the blue painted box on the ground with the handicap symbol on it.
Loading and Unloading a Bus
Once a bus arrives to your location wait for the bus driver to open all doors to let off any passengers. If they shut the front door and not the back that means they have a device on board that requires the use of the ramp to get off or on the bus. The bus driver is supposed to load wheeled devices first. If you are not part of the handicap party the back door is not your loading door.
Everyone will enter the front door of the bus. Filling in the bus back to front is preferred, but if there isn’t really a line don’t worry about it too much. During busy times they will pack these buses as full as possible meaning people everywhere sitting and standing complete with bags and strollers. Speaking of strollers; they are required to be folded up before entering the bus! The back row of most of the buses does get quite warm, yet this is where Belle likes to sit, so when given the chance it is where we sit. We usually try to keep Andrew by the back door with the stroller for multiple reasons. 1. He isn’t hitting people with the stroller on accident. 2. He can get out and get the stroller set up so we can hop off and go.
When unloading the bus if you have a stroller to put back into go form you need to go beyond that yellow line mentioned before. As I said before both front and back doors will open for unloading, so find your closest exit and use it.
Strollers
All strollers (outside of the special medical strollers) are required to be folded and you are to keep them with you at all times. I know that sounds weird. Why wouldn’t we keep our stroller with us? I have no idea, I’m just telling you as I’ve seen someone try to leave their stroller on the floor and then go sit somewhere else on the bus. Are you allowed to leave a random object around an airport? Nope. Same concept. Your stroller could easily hurt someone or if the bus driver takes a turn too hard your stroller could go flying out the door.
Seats
There are a few grey colored seats. You are welcome to sit in those, however they are the handicap seats, so if your bus has multiple stops it is possible that you will be asked to move. Stairs are not seats. Bus drivers will tell you (or your child) to not sit on the stairs if they see it. Common courtesy is a fading art, but would be great if it could be enforced on Disney buses. If you are an able bodied person, give up your seat to the elderly and children. If possible have your children sit on your lap. I understand this one is very hit or miss. We’ve run into a few issues where I’ve had to tell someone that either our child has their own seat or you get to listen to them scream as loud as possible all the way back because that’s where we are at this point in the day. Usually though if we get to a point as mentioned I make sure I am standing so the kids can share a seat. We actually ran into an issue on one bus ride where the entire bus was full of parents (with kids), but a large amount of high school students. Not a single one of them got up while watching Belle, a 5 year old, have to hold on while the bus is driving. Once we were about 5 minutes away from our destination a fellow child, not much older than Belle, offered her his seat. Never mind the fact that he had 4 “adults” with him. I suppose the take away from this section is be aware of your surroundings on the bus and see if there’s a way to give anyone else a little magic by letting them sit.
Run Time
Disney says their buses run every 20 minutes. Depending on traffic and dispatch you can see a bus to the same place twice in ten minutes or you can wait 40 minutes for a bus. Disney suggests giving yourself one and a half to two hours if traveling by Disney transportation. Am I saying you need to be on a bus by 7am for a 9am park opening? Probably not. I would suggest getting to the bus stop no later than 8am though. Your resort can also greatly influence your bus schedule. One year we stayed at All Star Movies. If you don’t know Walt Disney World has three All Star resorts; Music, Sports, and Movies. Movies is the furthest one back and they share buses depending. We ended up waiting an hour and a half at our bus stop as people number 4-6 and barely made the bus we did due to lack of space. The other two resorts filled up three buses and most of a fourth. Eventually they did send a bus directly to Movies, but it was so awful and we were all hangry since it was dinner time. You have other resorts as well that are one resort with multiple stops such as Coronado Springs and Caribbean Beach. Polynesian and Grand Floridian also share buses.
Food and Drink
Food and Drink is not allowed on the bus, however in my experience if you aren’t taking a drink or eating as you’re boarding they won’t say much. The bus drivers have to keep their own buses clean and who really wants to have to clean up if people make a mess when they’ve been told not to eat or drink. Common sense is also a fading art. We were on a bus recently and there were grandparents and parents with an infant. They had the resort refillable mugs with them. The grandmother was more interested in getting a hair clip onto the grand daugher’s shoes than paying attention to the cups that were spilling drinks all over her things and the bus seat and floor. I said that her things were falling (wasn’t in a spot to fix it) and evidently I was ruining her day. Oops! Just trying to make sure everything is clean for everyone.
I know I went on some rants today, but that was why I figured letting you know how buses should work will help you be prepared for things you may see!
Cook's Magical Adventures 