Port Orleans Riverside Bus Question

[Jbabymama]

13 of us will be staying at POR for a week the beginning of August (3 families traveling together.) My family has a Preferred Room and the other 2 families have regular rooms). Looking at other posts about the bus stops around the resort, I guess the West depot is the best place to catch the bus. How much time should I budget in for transportation from the resort to Magic Kingdom? (It opens at 9 both days we’ll be at that park and I’d like to get there by 8:15.) and for Hollywood studios? (It opens at 8 so I’d like to be there by 7:15). This is my 3rd trip to WDW but first time staying at a Disney hotel. Thanks!

 

[Capang]

13 of us will be staying at POR for a week the beginning of August (3 families traveling together.) My family has a Preferred Room and the other 2 families have regular rooms). Looking at other posts about the bus stops around the resort, I guess the West depot is the best place to catch the bus. How much time should I budget in for transportation from the resort to Magic Kingdom? (It opens at 9 both days we’ll be at that park and I’d like to get there by 8:15.) and for Hollywood studios? (It opens at 8 so I’d like to be there by 7:15). This is my 3rd trip to WDW but first time staying at a Disney hotel. Thanks!

Buses at every resort are hit and miss. You could walk right on a waiting bus or you could wait 30+minutes. I'd budget at least an hour, maybe more with 13 of you. Keep in mind HS has been doing rope drop early for Toy Story. So 7:15 puts you way behind rope drop. My last 3 visits the lines had formed well before 7. As far as the bus depots, someone else can answer that. Also to note, if you are travelling with anyone in an ECV, the buses can only take 2 ECVs at a time. That may require more travel time.

 

[Jbabymama]

Buses at every resort are hit and miss. You could walk right on a waiting bus or you could wait 30+minutes. I'd budget at least an hour, maybe more with 13 of you. Keep in mind HS has been doing rope drop early for Toy Story. So 7:15 puts you way behind rope drop. My last 3 visits the lines had formed well before 7. As far as the bus depots, someone else can answer that. Also to note, if you are travelling with anyone in an ECV, the buses can only take 2 ECVs at a time. That may require more travel time.

Thank you! No one is using an ECV. I’m not holding my breath for slinky dog dash. What time should we be at HS then for the EMH rope drop? My goals are to do toy story mania, star tours and alien saucer. I’m not holding my breath for slinky dog dash. (We do have a FP for alien if we don’t get on it in EMH.)

 

[mco65]

We have stayed at Riverside many times and always had good luck with the busses by arriving at the stop 45 min before park opening. If you stay until park close, you wont enjoy the bus ride home (thats true for any moderate resort) and because of that we drive to every park except MK.. we still bus over to MK..

 

[Jbabymama]

We have stayed at Riverside many times and always had good luck with the busses by arriving at the stop 45 min before park opening. If you stay until park close, you wont enjoy the bus ride home (thats true for any moderate resort) and because of that we drive to every park except MK.. we still bus over to MK..

Ok thanks! On the MK days, We’ll be returning to the the hotel after the 3pm parade to relax and eat before heading bac

We have stayed at Riverside many times and always had good luck with the busses by arriving at the stop 45 min before park opening. If you stay until park close, you wont enjoy the bus ride home (thats true for any moderate resort) and because of that we drive to every park except MK.. we still bus over to MK..

thank you! So then Do you bus back from MK and just make sure you’re not headed back at park close or do you Uber back?

 

[mco65]

we bus back to MK, we just don't stay until park close any more. I wouldn't let the bus ride home be my only reason for not staying until park close... just know it will be packed to the brim and you can wait for a few busses... just not fun after a long day at the park.

 

[Day-Day]

We rode the bus back from MK a couple of weeks ago and were the only two riders. The driver passed other MK bus already at the POR stops so he took us directly to our East Depot (wouldn't take us to our room though). We left the park at about 8:40 with fireworks scheduled for 9:00 and park close at 11pm; this was a first for us. Most of the times I rode the bus I had to stand.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Just wanted to add that while you’re at Port Orleans you can check your my Disney experience app and it will have bus arrival times. They aren’t always accurate but it is helpful.

 

[stinkpickle]

Last fall, we had no problems even using the East Depot to make rope drop. We could see some buses go by that were already full from the West and North Depots, but backup buses for the same destinations were following just behind. We were surprised and impressed.

 

[Capang]

Thank you! No one is using an ECV. I’m not holding my breath for slinky dog dash. What time should we be at HS then for the EMH rope drop? My goals are to do toy story mania, star tours and alien saucer. I’m not holding my breath for slinky dog dash. (We do have a FP for alien if we don’t get on it in EMH.)

We've been catching buses between 6:15 and 6:30 for HS. They run earlier than advertised.

 

[nkereina]

Our general rule of thumb is to arrive at a bus stop about an hour before we want to be somewhere, unless we need to transfer if going resort to resort. Knock on wood, but so far, this hasn't failed us and we're usually early - which is fine by me!

From POR, once on the bus, the commute to MK is less than 10 minutes. Very quick ride.