WDW Moderate Resort Bus Service Question

I am actually looking at staying at one of the moderate resorts this time. I am very familiar with the differences of the luxury vs. the moderate. I am good with all of that, since we really only sleep there.

The only question I have is how does the bus service at the moderate level resorts at these times? I was pleasantly pleased with the services at the luxury resorts. I heard much complaining prior to going and found it to be good for us. Are there fewer buses for the moderate resorts, thus longer waiting times to get to parks and back than luxury?

Thanks in advance for any information on this subject.

Which moderate are you looking at?

In some cases, the buses for some of the mods are as close as, or closer to to park entrance than the more expensive resorts.

I, personally, and a Coronado Springs fanboy - in all honesty, though - even the moderate resorts are more than just a place to sleep. There are sandy beaches, nice pools, and plenty of amenities that are more luxurious than most off-site "upscale" places have. If you're just looking for a place to sleep (a Holiday Inn-esque room, if you will), why bother shelling out the extra for a moderate if you don't care?

As far as the bus situation and how continually they run, how many there are, etc - there never seems to be a shortage at the moderate resorts, so I definitely wouldn't worry about that. When it comes to the values, the all-star resorts, last I checked, share buses. That's a big damper when you're looking for a system that doesn't require a lot of waiting. Pop Century seems to have its busing situation down pretty well, but it's the busiest of the values, so you'll wait in line for a little extra time when leaving a park - on the flip side, they dedicate a boatload of buses to that resort, so they're constantly running. A big factor for me with that resort is, the bus stops always seemed like the furthest from the gate.

My apologies for skirting around your main question for a minute there, but I'm just laying it out there. I don't treat the moderate or deluxe resorts as just a place to sleep, as they're far too nice for that, but as far as busing you should be fine at a moderate. Take it from me, the guy who hates waiting :).

I've stayed only at Pop Century on my on-property visits, three times now. I've had no issue with the bus service at all, except that one time they were a little slow getting a second bus to Magic Kingdom to transport the huge number of people there. Honestly, the only thing that truly adversely affects service is the people driving motor scooters.

I think you have to specify the resort to ask the bus question. I have officially stayed in all the resorts at WDW, though we tend to stay in deluxe due to VC. Some resorts are further from one park than others so its hard to pinpoint the level of "service" you are asking about.

In order to specify the "quality" of the bus service you really have to specify

A) From what resort
B) to what attraction/location

Example:

If you stay at Carribbean.. It could be a good wait as the resort has at least 6 or so stops within it. Then depending on the time of the year if you are going to ..say.. Animal Kingdom, you will have to stop at Blizzard beach along the way, adding more time to the trip.

If you stay at Coronado and want to go to HS.. Then you still have a few stops around the resort, but a bit less of a journey to HS due to proximity..

But if you stay at Boardwalk, or Beach - which is where we stay- (Deluxe) you dont have buses to HS or Epcot because you can walk or take a boat there.

So really you have to qualify that question to get a more accurate answer. At any rate and any situation, I have never had to wait too long for a bus and the ride isnt too painful, unless its for EMH or even worse, park closing.. Then you are crammed solid with underarms that represent the long hot day and tired children, for your journey. That could make it seem much longer and less pleasant

Personally the trip Ive found the least pleasant from almost any resort is to Downtown Disney. This is because all the buses take the back way in down Community Drive to Buena Vista Drive for the first stop (Market Place) then to "PI". This could make for a lengthy drive depending on the resort again, and in the night is typically a very crowded bus.

But theres my 2 cents.. I really do spend way too much time down there apparently for someone who doesnt live there ;)

Thanks all for the informative and great responses. I guess I misspoke when I said I am just looking for a place to sleep. I do value what the on property resorts have to offer. I should have said I was OK with not the prime restaurants and services I got at my deluxe stays. I love the pictures I have seen of the moderates.

That being said. I have been looking at Caribbean and Port Orleans - French Quarter. I have looked at doing Coronado, since I love the Mexican theme and Mayan pool look. I just took this off the list since it has a convention center attached to it. I was a co-presenter at a Citrix iForum about five or so years ago at the Swan and Dolphin. The place was a mess with drunk people and women flashing. I have to admit I was front and center in these shenanigans. However, I felt bad after and would not want to be bringing my three year old back after a day at the Magic Kingdom to see Flash Mountain at the hotel. I just did not want to chance this with the Coronado.

As far as agenda, we are basically doing mostly everything so we will be distant no matter what.

Agenda:
1 - 1/2 days Magic Kingdom.
1 day Epcot.
1/2 day Disney Studios
1 day Animal Kingdom
1/2 day Typhoon Lagoon.
Probably 1 day in the middle at the resort just to rest up.

Glad to hear though that bus service has been good at the moderate and value resorts. I was very happy with it at my deluxe resorts.

If I end up saving enough money. I may just splurge and do the Polynesian or an Animal Kingdom savanna room. I had a free upgrade from a standard room to the savanna room when we stayed there and it was great.

Thanks

Bill

I'm going tomorrow with zero agenda. But if I had one, I know it would include more Epcot.

Thank the Phoenicians!

Enjoy Jeff..

You guys have a great trip! Im so jealous.. We didnt go down as much as we normally do this year.. Silly work getting in the way. I had to bank a lot of VC points this year due to that. Bla..

Have fun Jeff on your trip. Are you staying at POP this time? How do their rooms compare to the newer rooms at Hotel Breakers in quality vs. price?

My wife and I like Epcot also. This is probably my second favorite park. However, we do not anticipate our three year old will appreciate it as much as us. The grandparents may be there also. If that is the case, we will break for Epcot in the evening on our day at the resort just to go around the shops in the countries.

Hope you get a chance to do the newly renovated Space Mountain. Ia m looking forward to this one on my next trip.

Yeah, Pop Century. Rooms are better than Breakers, if for no other reason than the beds don't suck. That, and they're less than half the price! It's really no contest to me.

Between CBR and POFQ, I'd probably lean to POFQ. It's got a couple of advantages, and a couple of disadvantages. On the plus side, POFQ is the smallest of the Moderates, and is quite compact---nothing is far from anything else. There is only one bus stop, and while it sometimes shares with PO-Riverside, often it does not. Avoiding the many internal stops at POR (or that you'd find at CBR) can cut a good chunk off your commute time. Finally, there is boat service to Downtown Disney from here---a much nicer way to arrive than the bus system. POR is also on this boat route.

On the downside, POFQ is the only Moderate without its own sit-down restaurant. But, it does have a lounge with drinks and appetizers, and POR's restaurant is a 10-15 minute walk away. CBR also strikes me as a bit more lush than POFQ.

I was worried about the convention center attached to Coronado, until I stayed there. I barely noticed it, until I went looking for it, and there was a convention going on when I was there. We stayed on the opposite side of the lake, in the Cabanas, and never heard or saw any of the convention attendees unless we went over to the bar at night. We had 2 bus stops within a short walk from our building.

This was our building - our room was in the middle (the 4 "set back") on the right side, overlooking the pool.

This is the beach across from our room, and the building across the lake are the Casitas, where the convention center is.

Everything I've observed and read, seems to point to the resort being a little more "deluxe" than moderate, due to the convention center being there. YMMV, of course.

Now, if you've got a small child with you, I'd recommend Caribbean Beach. It's also extremely nice, but they tend to have more child themed rooms (I believe they have Nemo and Pirates now). I have a couple of pictures I took on my phone of our Coronado room, but I apparently never uploaded them.

I agree with Raven on Caribbean. I prefer to be around the Aruba section as its across close to the side exit and main entrance plus it tends to be the lesser child occupied area since its a slight walk from Custom house, which doesnt bother me but others it may.

Though as Dave S. has called me out a few times.. Im a resort snob :) We tend to appreciate views like this every time we go down to WDW.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/virginiageek/4140711541/

I'd go with POFQ if you're worried about busses. Unlike Caribbean (from what I remember), there is only one or two stops instead of many, many stops around a giant resort. POFQ also has fewer people staying there. That's just me, but check out allears.net for photos, reviews, and menus from the resorts you want to stay at.

And I agree with Jeff, if you want to save some $$$ and want to do a value, POP is the best since they've learned from mistakes with the All Stars and it's less popular (meaning less people and more buses!)

The Mole said:
I'd go with POFQ if you're worried about busses. Unlike Caribbean (from what I remember), there is only one or two stops instead of many, many stops around a giant resort.

You dont have to remember too much.. I said that on the third response ;)

Thanks... Now I'm looking at vacations again. This time, I'm thinking about going on to DIS and renting someone's villa points.

I love the "allears.net" site. That is were I am getting my pricing at and the pictures of the room made me eliminate Port Orleans - Riverside for French Quarter. There were room that looked like old log cabins inside, I can not remember what they were called. However, the mansions do look nice. I also like the front and entrance of French Quarter a little more for some reason.

Are the prices on the "allears.net" FAQ's pages pretty accurate for those of you that use that site? This is what I have been using for budgeting purposes. I also never care to much about sit down service while at Disney for some reason. I am fine with counter service and the character breakfasts in the parks. Must just be because I have young kids and they are not patient enough while at parks to sit for an hour.

I am still keeping strong though on not talking myself into another savanna room at the Animal Kingdom Lodge or the Polynesian. I have to keep looking at he prices though to keep strong. I have always wanted to stay at the Poly. This is almost a 600 to 700 dollar trip difference for a 5 - 6 night stay.

Also, Raven. What is this renting villa points? I am not sure how that works.

When someone in the DVC isn't going to use their points for the year, they'll often rent them out. Some places, like travel agents, will buy them and rent them for up to $30 a point - but if you go on some of the Disney boards, you can often find people letting them go for half that.

It's kind of complicated, but you can pick where you'd like to stay, and find out how many points it is going to cost. For instance, the new Contemporary DVC rooms in the tower can run X amount of points on weekdays and XX on weekends - you add the point total for your stay, and you buy that amount of points from someone.

During off-peak season, I estimated that I could stay in a 1-bdrm at the tower for around $700 for a week, based on someone's super cheap pricing of their points.

Raven-Phile said:
Thanks... Now I'm looking at vacations again. This time, I'm thinking about going on to DIS and renting someone's villa points.

::perk:: did someone need points :)

Bill. People who are DVC (such as myself) get points every year that are associated to their home resort. In my case boardwalk. There are times when we have extra points that we dont want to bank or worse cant so we can rent our points to someone who isnt DVC and in Disney's eyes, treated as if they were DVC. So its win/win really because the renter can unload some points and make a bit of money (usually covers maint fees), and the person who gets the points can get a deluxe resort for far less the cost of staying normally.

Example for a week at boardwalk during the first week of december is typically 104 points for a week stay. Most renters charge $10 a point.. So that means you pay the renter $1040 for a deluxe room that would run you about $250-350 per night. You can immediately see the savings for 7 days.

Its a nice system.. Saved me many-a-times from losing points or having to bank it.

The big difference is the home resort that the points belong. If you wanted points for boardwalk, I could book up to 12 months in advance.. If you wanted to use my points for another resort then I can only book 7 months. If its a popular time the loss of 3 months could be a big deal so its best to choose points from someone who meets your per point pricing and the points are home to the resort you want to stay in.

Being that epcot is my favorite place in the entire world, I'm thinking a stay at the Boardwalk might be just what the Dr. ordered. :)

This is cool and right up my alley for finding the best room for the best price.I like to take vacation costs and create formulas in excel and enter in value to show the best values. I will search ebay, craiglsist and Disney forums (Probably "wdwmagic" is a good start) for these.

I see DVC is as follows from a quick search.

Wilderness Lodge Villas
Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas
Beach Club Villas (Awesome looking pool area here).
Boardwalk Villas
Old Key West
Saratoga Springs Resort
Contemporary Villas

Thanks, I may be back at some point for tips on not buying fake points online.