Fun with the All-Star Buses
By Dave Shute
My bus work is quite respected in some quarters, but it can get out of date.
I had heard that the All-Stars were sharing buses much less frequently than they used to. If true, this would be a big deal, as it would make Music and especially Movies more convenient.
So last week I spent a couple of hours sitting at the bus stop at All-Star Sports, tracking buses and whether at the end of the road they turned left (and hence straight on to a park) or right and thus on to share at Music, and then Movies.
I tested during a high-demand period for buses, from a little after 10a to a little after 11a, and also during a low-demand period, from around 2.30 til around 3.30p. I tracked 67 total buses, and here’s the scoop:
- Magic Kingdom buses (as expected) were never shared–all 11 of these went straight on to MK
- Blizzard Beach and Downtown Disney buses were always shared–all 16 that I saw went on to Music
- All other park buses in the afternoon were shared–the 23 buses to Epcot, AK or HS all turned right to go on to Music
- All other park buses in the morning were very rarely shared–of the 17 buses to Epcot, AK or HS, all but four went straight to the parks. The four shared with Music and Movies (two HS, one AK, one Epcot) were all in the later (slower) part of my observation period
I will sit at Sports again for a couple of hours on my December trip and grab some more data–but these experimental findings alone are enough for me to have changed the lingo in the reviews of these resorts.
It’s changed from something like “Other than the busiest times of the year, these resorts share buses except to the Magic Kingdom” to something like “During slower periods, these resorts may share buses (except to the Magic Kingdom).”
The practical consequence is that All-Star Movies becomes an even better choice among the All-Stars. It already has the best theming and food court among them, and the ding on it has always been “buses full by the time they get there.” Maybe now not so much.
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6 comments
I have always been a big fan of the bus service from the All Star Resorts. We almost always get on the first bus that arrives, and we rarely have to stand. At Pop Century they pack the buses until they are about to burst, and sometimes we still had to wait for a 2nd bus to come along.
Good to hear! It kinda cracks me up to picture you hanging out, so patiently conducting this research. I hope you had coffee and a Mickey rice krispie treat…
We are Value Resort stayers, and I’m not sure why – but I just don’t like Pop Century. So we love our All-Stars, and have never had bad experiences with the buses. My husband actually got a lot more cranky about bus service when we stayed at Caribbean Beach. Cool post, and good info!
We just got back from All Star Music and the MK buses were shared in the AM. We usually got one of the first buses of the morning and these were shared. We always got a seat and did not have to stand, but some families did. One of the mornings we went on to Sports, the other mornings we went on to MK because the buses were full.
Sorry, we went on to Movies…
Stayed at All-Star Sports for 5 days in late-March 2015. Never had a bus make an intermediate stop any time. Every bus I took went straight to the theme park, or straight back to Sports (I guess some of the return buses may have been shared but we always got out at the first stop at Sports). Sports may have a bit of an advantage here, since it appeared that Music and Movies sometimes shared buses.
Thanks RV!!
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