Bus vs. Car

[rg35]

We always have a car (now we drive down, but if we fly we will rent a car) but have used buses as well.

I don't find driving to be a hassle at WDW. Actually, it's generally enjoyable. Traffic is limited and the roads are well marked - it's easy to find your way around at WDW without the need of a GPS. Living in the NYC metro area, driving anyplace else is basically more enjoyable than driving here. I don't drive much at home either because I bike or use mass transit -- in fact, when we drive to Florida, our trip accounts for about 1/4th or more of the total miles we might drive in an entire year.

There are 5 of us (two adults and 3 kids). Hopping in the car is just easier and more comfortable than being jammed on a crowded bus where I have to maneuver around and make sure they all have something to hold on to, etc.

The bus system at WDW is nice, but slow. You'll have to pad time for walking to the bus stop and waiting for the bus, and this will vary depending on where you are staying. Some resorts have multiple internal bus stops, so this also adds time. If you want to rope drop this generally means leaving more travel time early in the morning.

If you plan on doing resort to resort trips (for dining, or whatever else), it's better to use a car because resort to resort transportation doesn't really exist unless you're on the monorail loop.

The bus is definitely more convenient than driving to the Magic Kingdom because the buses stop right at the gate, but there is still some degree of magic to getting on the monorail or ferry boat to the Magic Kingdom.

 

[cbeeindisney]

Thank you so much for all of your replies! I think we will definitely be trying to drive to the parks this time after reading such good reviews of those that do. I guess we could always go back to the other way if it doesn't work out!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Car is so better even if you have to pay to park. Not worth waiting 20 -25 minutes each way for a bus. Did an experiment once and it took me 40 minutes to get back the resort and 32 minutes the next time. That was over an hour of vacation time wasted taking a bus. So if you are there for 7 days that would be 7 hours of lost time! Traffic was easy last week for Easter and no construction to deal with so not an issue. When you are done at a park if you need to go to the drug store or even eat off property you have the freedom to do so. We usually eat one meal off property a day and the savings on the meal pays for the car rental.

 

[AngiTN]

Oh, and there's one other thing about driving, we hate parking lot trams more than buses
If I'm going to have to walk out, wait on something and then walk to the car, wait on it to cool, etc I'd just rather walk out to the bus, wait or hop on and have it already cool. No dang tram. And no, we don't rope drop so no parking in front for us. And when we did drive we still had a stroller. Folding that sucker up on a tram was way harder than folding it up on a bus. Not to mention, trams in the rain! You get more soaked than riding Bluto's at Universal, LOL

The only time I have major issues with the bus system is to DS. That always sucks for some reason. Thankfully, that's one place we skip most trips. Once visit a year is enough for me. We rideshare there if we aren't at FQ

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Oh, and there's one other thing about driving, we hate parking lot trams more than buses
If I'm going to have to walk out, wait on something and then walk to the car, wait on it to cool, etc I'd just rather walk out to the bus, wait or hop on and have it already cool. No dang tram. And no, we don't rope drop so no parking in front for us. And when we did drive we still had a stroller. Folding that sucker up on a tram was way harder than folding it up on a bus. Not to mention, trams in the rain! You get more soaked than riding Bluto's at Universal, LOL

The only time I have major issues with the bus system is to DS. That always sucks for some reason. Thankfully, that's one place we skip most trips. Once visit a year is enough for me. We rideshare there if we aren't at FQ

You'd be waiting in the rain either way if you were staying at a resort with an uncovered bus stop

The parking trams we didn't have a problem with they seemed to be going at a regular interval. I feel like they are easier to count on given they have a designated route within a designated parking lot.

 

[AngiTN]

You'd be waiting in the rain either way if you were staying at a resort with an uncovered bus stop

The parking trams we didn't have a problem with they seemed to be going at a regular interval. I feel like they are easier to count on given they have a designated route within a designated parking lot.

I guess we've not experienced an uncovered bus stop at any of the parks

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We drove everyday of our trip and to 2 parks each day (other than when we were at Universal when we just parked in their garage). The only exception was when we had a planned day for MK and Epcot. We'd drive still and park the car at the TTC and then just used the monorail to get between the two.

At the very least you could experiment with it and see if it works for you.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I guess we've not experienced an uncovered bus stop at any of the parks

I said if you're staying at a resort with an uncovered bus stop. I'm not talking about at the parks themselves. I'm talking about at the resorts. If it's raining and you're trying to get to the parks using bus transportation and you're at a resort with an uncovered bus stop you're out in the rain the same you would be if you're waiting for the parking lot tram and in that case I would say it's easier to use an umbrella in the parking tram situation since you can have a tad bit more spread out than in a queue for a bus. Depending on the situation you also may be waiting less time for parking tram than you would be if you were relying on the bus to come pick you up.

On the flipside the bus stops for the parks only have a finite space under cover. It may not be super common to exceed the space but you could find yourself among the unlucky ones with no room under the cover.

 

[Bullseye]

We always rent a car at MCO and drive everywhere including MK. We like that we can shop at regular store prices for groceries as well as dine off property and at other resorts. BTW, car takes about a minute to cool off. Power down the windows, crank up the AC, and in no time it's nice and cool. Trams run with a whole lot more regularity than buses do.

 

[mco65]

Its nice to have a car with you. We sometimes take a night off and head outside the bubble for food... we ride the bus or boat to MK but most of the time, take the car to the other parks. Waiting for that bus at the end of a long hot day can be brutal.