Disney World Guests Wait Over 1 Hour for Disney Transportation

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People Falling in Line waiting for Disney Bus

If you have been to Disney World since its reopening, you would know things have been different — including Disney transportation. With fewer Guests on busses due to social distancing, wait times are climbing.

magical express bus
Credit: Disney

When Disney World reopened, it was noted that complimentary bus service would continue for Disney Resort Guests, as they once did.

Before the theme parks reopen, bus transportation will be available between your Disney Resort hotel and Disney Springs area.

When the theme parks reopen, complimentary transportation will also be provided between your Disney Resort hotel and Disney theme parks.

Transportation will operate with physical distancing measures in place, reducing capacity. As a result, you may experience delays.

Although Disney has not mentioned that they would be running fewer busses, they did warn Guests that due to the fact that busses could not be loaded as per usual due to social-distancing measures, wait times may be longer than expected.

Disney however did not mention if they would be providing more transportation because of that inconvenience, and with the number of layoffs the company is experiencing, it is unlikely that more busses will be running at this time. Again, it is important to note that that is purely speculation at this point.

Wait times are skyrocketing for Guests

Disney Guests have been taking to Twitter lately to discuss the long wait times they are experiencing to get to the Disney Parks, Disney Springs, or back to their Disney Resort.

Just this morning, Katie tweeted:

@WaltDisneyWorld
waiting for a bus at Beach Club Villas for over an hour for a bus for magic kingdom

Earlier this month, it seems that Guest Tom Brunet had a similar situation happen, waiting over an hour for a Disney bus to show up at Disney Springs. He noted:

@WaltDisneyWorld
Why should I ever stay at a WDW resort again? Waited over an hour for a bus to show to AND from Disney Springs. Busses haven’t gotten us to parks for opening all week. Useless when all lines are over an hour before the first bus. Every “perk” has been eliminated.

Unfortunately, this shared experience of incredibly long wait times for Disney busses seems to be a trend. Noelia Martinez said:

Hey @WaltDisneyWorld @DisneySprings @Disney We have been in line ar DS for over an hour waiting for a bus to PC. 3 busses? REALLY? #SHAMEONDISNEY

According to this, Hollywood Studios was running 3 busses per hour to bring Guests back to their resort. Which, if this was during the day, is not unheard of. However, due to the lack of space on the Disney busses, those 3 likely do not make to much of a dent in the line to get on a bus.

Katie has to take a taxi from Disney’s Old Key West to get to Animal Kingdom for what seems like park open, according to the 8:43 am time stamp on the tweet.

@WaltDisneyWorld
y’all have problems with your busses at Old Key West – been waiting an hour this morning for an AK bus and none have come by. Also waited 90 minutes for a Disney Springs bus on Monday before taking a taxi

Katie ended up taking a taxi to Animal Kingdom, as that, or other ride share services would have been her only option since Disney’s Minnie Van service is temporarily unavailable.

Jason Diffendal also tweeted that, “There are no shortage of Disney busses. Just people to drive them. Disney could run busses every 15 minutes if they wanted to. Swan/Dolphin often piggybacked on YC/BC bus runs anyway (except at open/close).” Which again points towards our earlier mention that with fewer Cast Members, fewer busses could be a direct result of that.

Disney World Bus
Credit: ITM Reporter Kelly Coffey

It’s not all bad

But of course, there is always a positive outlook on any situation, and good experiences are being had by Guests.

Twitter user Lane Aldrich acknowledged the shortage of busses, but still seemed to have a good time at Disney’s Polynesian Resort.

Good resort. That new tower is nice. Disney bus system to parks is still running but with fewer busses. It has been good for us at the Polynesian resort. Parks close early too so we wind down each night in the hot tub. I haven’t minded it.

disney bus
Credit: Disney

Disney’s Skyliner has also seen extremely long lines at Disney’s Pop Century Resort, however, it seems that those lines are moving quickly and look a lot longer than they seem due to the social distancing that must happen within them.

In the end, we suggest leaving earlier in order to account for any delays if you are using Disney transportation, or perhaps heading to the parks during off-times, like midday, when most people are already there.

Disney is still operating at a reduced capacity so although lines may seem long, there has never been a time with fewer people in the theme parks! So if you want to head to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, or Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the Christmas season, click here to get started with a no-obligation quote! 

Have you experienced long waits for Disney transportation?

 

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