POFQ Buses To Parks And Boat To DTD

[DisneyPrincess21]

:confused: I have been reading alot of post about horror stories about the bus situation with going to and from the parks/your resort. And the extremly long lines waiting to catch a bus back to your resort at night. I have also read that people say to budget atleast one hour to get from your resort to the park you want to go to. I was wondering if this wait for buses and travel time apply to New Orleans French Quater also. I am trying to decide if we should use the convience of the buses to get us to the parks, or if it would be better and less wait/hassel to just take our own car. Also how is the boat service to Down Town Disney? :confused:

[HoosierDisneyFan]

Personally I have always used the buses and have had good expirence (from POFQ). I believe the bus system works very well. Have I had situations were I had longer wait than I would prefer (yes). Have I had situations were the bus was waiting on me and we went straight to the destination (yes). For me, the buses are great because it is one less thing I have to worry about (having directions, getting lost, being in the wrong lane, etc.). I can just catch the bus and relax.

If you are the type of personal that just has to get to the resort / park NOW, a rental car may be best. But for my family, the buses work out very well.

One point to remember, people generally are quicker to type bad expirence about the bus system than good expirences. If the bus system works as expected, you would not likely read "I loved Soarin & Test Track and the Disney bus system was great!!"

[Zippy 1]

:mickey: we have always had good experiences with the buses. Yes sometimes the wait at night is a little longer than I would like but we have also had times where we did not have to wait at all. Last year we were waiting for the bus to POR and our DD became ill. As soon as the next bus came they put us on first even though there were people in front of us. Sometimes it is your attitude towards things that make them seem not so bad.

[disneychick62]

just got back from pofq...the bus service was very slow. the boat to ddd is great but dont wear flipflops or anything like that...you will get eaten alive..i got bites all over my feet.:mad:

[#1donaldfan]

We've stayed there (POR) many, many, many times and have never had issues with bus trasportation to or from the parks. Understanding that when you leave the parks, upon closing, the lines are going to be long, how can they not. We don't get upset to wait 20 / 30 minutes for a bus when we close a park, it's just a given that we are not the only ones trying to get back to the resort.

......the boat to DtD from either POR's is great. We love to do that at least once a trip. The ride is not only convienient for shopping, it's calming and relaxing......the service, I think is about 45 minutes..it's about a 15 minute ride, the boat waits about 15 minutes to fill up, and 15 minutes back......approx a 45 minute wait at the longest......don't quote me on this, but it's real close.......

we are there SOON !!!!

[RockinRollerMom]

I have to say that I was really unimpressed with the buses at POFQ. Going to the parks were not too bad. The bus picks up POFQ before POR so you almost always get a seat. Our problems were from the resort back to the hotel. My family had an ungoing joke when were arrived to the bus area. We wouldn't look at the map to see what number bus pick-up area Port Orleans was. We would just look for the longes line and that would be Port ORleans. I swsear it wwas true every time! It didn't matter if we were catching the bus in the afternoon, after dinner or at closing our bus stop always had the longest wait. It was one of the reasons we are trying CSR on our next trip.

With all of that negative stugg being said. We would never rent a car and will always use the bus system. For us that is part of the fun of a Disney trip. Not having to worry about picking up a rental car and drive on unfamiliar and very busy roads is worth the wait for the buses IMO. Even if we stayed at POFQ again we would still use the bus system.

[Bri]

our first trip on property was to POFQ. we thought the bus service was great. going to the parks does take a little longer cause the bus first picks up at POFQ then goes to POR. but it still doesn't take that long and we never waited long for a bus. the next year we stayed at POP and i was much happier with the POFQ bus service as compared to POP.

[CleveRocks]

:confused: I have been reading alot of post about horror stories about the bus situation with going to and from the parks/your resort. And the extremly long lines waiting to catch a bus back to your resort at night.
A couple of thoughts ...

"Horror stories" are very rare, but always reported. You'll never see a thread with a title like "Everything was fine with the buses at POFQ" because no one thinks to report business as usual. It's kind of like the situation with local TV news -- the news is full of fires and car accidents and break-ins, yet those are rare occurrences, AND they don't report on all the normal and nice stuff that goes on all the time with 99.99% of the people.

After fireworks, it IS true that there are long lines for buses to take people back to their resorts. However, I'm sure there are also decently long lines for the parking lot trams (as well as for the monorail and ferry outside Magic Kingdom to eeven get you to the parking lot trams). After fireworks, we often plan to shop or get ice cream or otherwise hang around the park and let the crowds pass us by, waiting until a later time when there won't be such long bus lines anymore.

[Tinkerbella16]

Just got back from a week at POFQ and overall I cannot really complain about the busses. Some mornings waiting for one to go to the parks for opening it was a little slow, but the location of FQ makes up for it because it is close to everything.

One issue we had was on thursday 11/13...
My mom and I were the only people on the bus to go back to FQ from DHS and we told the driver when getting on that we were staying at FQ. Well I don't know why, but he decided to turn into OKW and must have realized he made a mistake bc he circled around and then went out the exit. Then he rode right past FQ and turns into POR and stops at every busstop in this order... West Depot, North Depot, East Depot, and South Depot... now mind you there was no one at any of these busstops and no one on the bus but us!! It took us 45 mins to finally get back to FQ from DHS...I couldn't believe it.

Other than that...I thought the busses were fine. We rarely ever had to share a bus with POR, only twice we did..and that takes a while since they have 4 stops. But most nights at Epcot there were separate busses running for POR and FQ which was great.

[Frog]

We felt the buses were one of the highlights of our trip... Not having to hassle with parking at a park, worth staying on property imo.
The boat ride was really cool too. Get the driver/captain to talk a bit and you can learn alot!

[DisneyPrincess21]

One issue we had was on thursday 11/13...
My mom and I were the only people on the bus to go back to FQ from DHS and we told the driver when getting on that we were staying at FQ. Well I don't know why, but he decided to turn into OKW and must have realized he made a mistake bc he circled around and then went out the exit. Then he rode right past FQ and turns into POR and stops at every busstop in this order... West Depot, North Depot, East Depot, and South Depot... now mind you there was no one at any of these busstops and no one on the bus but us!! It took us 45 mins to finally get back to FQ from DHS...I couldn't believe it.


:haha: LOL, That sound's like something that would happen to me. :funny:

[garymacd]

We love POFQ and really would put up with slower bus service to the parks. Some have said to look for the longest line at the end of the day and that will be the line for Port Orleans. Usually they are right. I can't understand why the smallest resort always has the longest line to go home from EPCOT.

It's just weird.

[CleveRocks]

I can't understand why the smallest resort always has the longest line to go home from EPCOT.

It's just weird.
Except for Magic Kingdom after 3:00 p.m., POFQ shares buses with POR on the way back to the resort(s). POFQ and POR combined have just over 3,000 rooms. That combination makes POFQ/POR one of the largest resorts.

Not weird at all.:mickey:

[Posterchild]

We have used bus service many times for POFQ. I have never had a real problem I have not had at any other resorts.

You find a lot of people can either "go with the flow" or "I gotta have what I want now" which makes bus discussions very subjective. I like to go with the flow so the buses for me are awesome, all the time. :mickey: