ART - How does it Really work?

[mamacatnv]

We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, 1411 S. Manchester, the week between Christmas & New Years.
If what I see is correct (via the ART Map) that hotel is on the Clementine (7) and Disney Way (6) lines but I am unclear how to tell where there are stops as there is no reference other than a small triangle same color, does that designate a stop?


I called the hotel to ask how it worked and the person at the desk told me, "its an app, you order it and then it will pick up in front of the hotel."
(I am not sure this is true or if it is, its partially true based on the OnDemand system which appears to be a whole different thing).

Does anyone have recent experience and know how it works?
Are the busses just on a loop or is there a schedule?
If it is accessible via our hotel?
How far of a walk from the transportation center to main gate?

I am also looking at it as a way to get out of the parks in the late afternoon, nap at hotel, dinner at Anaheim Garden Walk and back to parks for evening activities.

 

[frechley]

We stayed there back when DLR first opened back up (May 2021) and ART worked really well for us. At the time it was free, but we used the on-demand option a fair amount.

There is also a schedule, but i think it is more a "every 20/30 minutes" for different ranges in the morning and evening. If you follow that schedule, I'd suggest walking to the HoJo stop. The stop at your hotel felt pretty awkward when we were there. to qualify my statements, we didn't use the service prior to park opening or near closing. We left before closing and also used it midday a few times. To your question, it was excellent midday and little less great on the trips back at the end of the day.

 

[GeneralTso]

Pack your patience is what' I'll say.
The schedule, it's a loose timeframe.

Uber/Lyft if you can. It's so easy and will save your sanity.

 

[Pluto468]

When we used ART in 2019 it was often late and sometimes we just walked (We were at the Hyatt House.) They didn't have the app then, but we had a schedule and bought ART passes. We didn't use it after the first day because it was so inconsistent. Hopefully it's better now.

 

[bardays]

When we used ART in 2019 it was often late and sometimes we just walked (We were at the Hyatt House.) They didn't have the app then, but we had a schedule and bought ART passes. We didn't use it after the first day because it was so inconsistent. Hopefully it's better now.

It's not! lol I have had busses drive right by me. but I like it at the end of the night. sit on a bench in the transportation hub and wait for a bus works for me!

 

[mamacatnv]

It's not! lol I have had busses drive right by me. but I like it at the end of the night. sit on a bench in the transportation hub and wait for a bus works for me!

This right here may be worth the cost of the 5 day passes. That walk back to the hotel is brutal, anyway you look at it. I like bus to near door of hotel and heck, at that point, won't mind sitting to wait.

 

[helenk]

Interesting. I used ART last year when I stayed at the Hotel Lulu. Generally I would walk to the parks in the morning but the mornings I took the bus it was great, the bus stop was right in front of the hotel. Going back to the hotel at night I had no issues there is a sign, for lack of a better word, that gives you updates on when the bus will arrive. I was quite happy with the bus system. I am a senior citizen so the cost per day was reduced. Granted I was traveling alone, no kids to worry about to get back to the hotel for naps etc. So I may have been a bit more laid back. I would use ART again.

 

[felice]

This hotel is shared with the original Staybridge Suites; as far as I recall there is only one area where buses pull up to and that is close to the restaurant within the middle of both buildings, so it should (I hope) still be straightforward to pick up the buses from there.

This knowledge is, of course, pre-pandemic, but hopefully it won't have changed that much.

 

[pharmama]

This hotel is shared with the original Staybridge Suites; as far as I recall there is only one area where buses pull up to and that is close to the restaurant within the middle of both buildings, so it should (I hope) still be straightforward to pick up the buses from there.

This knowledge is, of course, pre-pandemic, but hopefully it won't have changed that much.

I think you're thinking of the regular Holiday Inn off Ball on Walnut. OP is staying at the Holiday Inn Express which is on the Harbor side of things, though the hotel itself is on Manchester, behind the Courtyard and sort of across from the Hojo.

I have stayed at the HIE and while we did not use ART, I will say that I didn't find the walk to the parks to be too bad either, though of course that depends some on your party's general mobility etc.

 

[bcla]

I've used ART on two days simply to get around Anaheim and Buena Park. We did not go to Disneyland.

It works two ways. One way is via scheduled routes at certain times of the day such as the morning or evening - typically around the time Disneyland opens and near the end of the day. One doesn't need to reserve; just get on and show the pass. There are multiple routes at the Disneyland Transportation Center and ART has its own section. At around 9 PM and later, these routes supposedly operate every 5 to 10 minutes at high frequency, but obviously they don't run on perfect schedules and often you'll see them a minute apart or 15-20 minutes when a driver runs late due to traffic. In reality, it's frequent service but where you can't really rely on them being perfectly on schedule.

The primary way that it works is to request rides, kind of how one would request Uber or Lyft, but they're only allowed to pick up or drop off at designated locations. It will give the name of the driver and type of bus, although they all look almost the same now. Most of these points are bus stops or hotels. They may try to link different riders together, but other than one on-demand ride, we were always the only passengers on all our on-demand trips. The app also indicates where the bus is.

It works really well once you get used to it. There are some issues such as pickup time if buses are busy. Last Saturday we were in Buena Park and wanted to get picked up at Knott's, but it was giving us something like a 30 minute wait. So we took our time getting to the stop, checked out some of the shops, and the bus arrived on time. But another time we just got out of the Anaheim Packing House and requested a ride, but it just kept on delaying the ETA. I could see the location of the bus, and it was going in the opposite direction to Orange. I cancelled the request and made a new one hoping maybe it would "reset". Same driver.

I was learning how to do it and maybe something posted here will be useful.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...tions-for-stuff-to-do-around-anaheim.3890618/

 

[bcla]

Interesting. I used ART last year when I stayed at the Hotel Lulu. Generally I would walk to the parks in the morning but the mornings I took the bus it was great, the bus stop was right in front of the hotel. Going back to the hotel at night I had no issues there is a sign, for lack of a better word, that gives you updates on when the bus will arrive. I was quite happy with the bus system. I am a senior citizen so the cost per day was reduced. Granted I was traveling alone, no kids to worry about to get back to the hotel for naps etc. So I may have been a bit more laid back. I would use ART again.

The signs flashing the next arrival time for the scheduled routes at the Disneyland Transportation Center weren't particular accurate. However, it might be possible to check on the app under "Routes". I'm at home now but the app works just fine 400 miles away. I can see the location of the buses on the most of the scheduled morning routes. There seems to be one bus per line.

 

[bcla]

We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, 1411 S. Manchester, the week between Christmas & New Years.
If what I see is correct (via the ART Map) that hotel is on the Clementine (7) and Disney Way (6) lines but I am unclear how to tell where there are stops as there is no reference other than a small triangle same color, does that designate a stop?
View attachment 698311

I called the hotel to ask how it worked and the person at the desk told me, "its an app, you order it and then it will pick up in front of the hotel."
(I am not sure this is true or if it is, its partially true based on the OnDemand system which appears to be a whole different thing).

Does anyone have recent experience and know how it works?
Are the busses just on a loop or is there a schedule?
If it is accessible via our hotel?
How far of a walk from the transportation center to main gate?

I am also looking at it as a way to get out of the parks in the late afternoon, nap at hotel, dinner at Anaheim Garden Walk and back to parks for evening activities.

Those maps are horrible and probably not accurate any more. Some of those routes are pretty much discontinued and many simply don't run in the middle of the day. The on-demand rides work only at specific stops, but I can't find a list or map of stops. You need the A-Way WeGo app. I have it on an iPhone and iPad, but there should be an Android version.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/a-way-wego/id1589114302
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.rideart.awaywego&hl=en_US&gl=US

But to see the stops on the main routes, select Routes:



Then pick a route to see the map:



This is the Clementine Line. It shows one bus, and I think the moving circle is showing a countdown before it leaves. All the white circles with a black line show the stops.



If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'm pretty comfortable now using ART and the app when I'm there. I managed to get around without a car, without using normal transit buses (other than Metro to get to LA), and without Uber or Lyft.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Honestly, for the Holiday Inn, I recommend just walking. For Garden Walk, I also recommend just walking.

ART is an option if you want to go to/from the parks in the morning from from that hotel. You can track the bus in the app in the morning but in the evening, the times are less accurate. Clementine is a line that often doesn't run at all mid-day so you'll have to negotiate with drivers at the park entrance to take you there and then fiddle around with ordering a bus through the app for the way back which can be glitchy.

 

[disneyerin]

We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, 1411 S. Manchester, the week between Christmas & New Years.
If what I see is correct (via the ART Map) that hotel is on the Clementine (7) and Disney Way (6) lines but I am unclear how to tell where there are stops as there is no reference other than a small triangle same color, does that designate a stop?
View attachment 698311

I called the hotel to ask how it worked and the person at the desk told me, "its an app, you order it and then it will pick up in front of the hotel."
(I am not sure this is true or if it is, its partially true based on the OnDemand system which appears to be a whole different thing).

Does anyone have recent experience and know how it works?
Are the busses just on a loop or is there a schedule?
If it is accessible via our hotel?
How far of a walk from the transportation center to main gate?

I am also looking at it as a way to get out of the parks in the late afternoon, nap at hotel, dinner at Anaheim Garden Walk and back to parks for evening activities.

I found a You Tube video that someone made that recorded their entire walk from Hilton Garden Inn Resort and Home 2 Suites, which is right next to Holiday Inn Express, to the Disneyland entrance on Harbor. The walk looked really pleasant and easy and took about 10-15 minutes. This way you wouldn't need to bother with ART. I would recommend watching it because they cut across a hotel parking lot to save time,
It's titled "Hilton Garden Inn Resorts and Home 2 Suites/Real Time Walk to Disneyland" By American Park Tourist
Good Luck!

 

[Pamela M]

I stayed at the Element that is on the Clementine line in November of 2021. We had to use the app to call for a bus to pick us up. We found the app wasn’t particularly clear that we needed to call so be sure to read the map correctly. Once we called for a pick up the bus was there within 10 minutes.

The hotels on harbor seem to have regular scheduled stops.

 

[Jaina]

I used it a couple weekends ago from the Ramada right by Orange-something. I found the app quite accurate, when you went to a specific route and watched where the bus was. I used it for three days with no issues except needing a touch of patience.

 

[AustinTink]

We just stayed near there at the Home2 Suites. It's very walkable and I'm a big wimp. I did end up with a blister from the wrong shoes but even then the walk was no big deal.