Skyliner resort worth the extra $50/night?

[shu24]

Just wanted to confirm that buses from AOA to HS and EPCOT and back are still running even when the Skyliner is operational - I've seen several reports that there are NO buses from ANY Skyliner resort to or from HS or EPCOT when the Skyliner is running leading to pretty awful situations when the Skyliner goes down.

That's the primary "sticking point" for my husband about choosing POP over All Stars. If we knew buses were an option for AOA no matter what (we don't mind walking across the bridge to POP or waiting for the AOA buses), that would go a long way towards sealing the deal for POP !

It was that way when we were there last November. We walked over to AofA twice during our week long stay instead taking the Skyliner to EPCOT. Both times there was a designated EPCOT line at AofA. The weather was sunny and the Skyliner was running, too.Things may have changed since then though.

 

[sapphirerose915]

really depends- will you be visiting studios and epcot often? if so then yes, it is most dfinitely worth it!

 

[Lilsia]

I am not a fan of the skyliner. In theory it is great, but it goes down too much for me to be comfortable with it. Definitely not worth paying extra a night just for that, especially since it does go down often. Many have also reported that when it goes down, there is really no notification and if you are at Epcot, you have to walk all the way back from the skyliner to the buses. They charge more for this "feature" but don't credit you if it goes down.

 

[k5xs]

Trying to do a budget mother/daughter trip in October. Is Pop worth the extra $50/night over one of the All Stars to use the Skyliner?

So many variables. For us, it's a no-brainer "Yes."

- We love the Skyliner, especially for the access it gives you to park entrances vs. bus transportation. At DHS it drops you closer to the gate than any buses do. At EPCOT you are dropped at the International Gateway gate which has a lot quicker flow.

- We find Pop to be more enjoyable for us than any of the All Stars. We like to food court better, and the access to Art of Animation transportation and eatery just across the bridge is a big plus for us.

 

[AJA]

We picked All Stars over Pop because the $50 savings pays for an Uber. Then, especially in the evening, we don’t have to worry about the Skyliner lines or busses (just allow for time at the TTS).

 

[Spankymclovin]

We personally love Pop because of the Skyliner. We love to Park Hop and we also going to Epcot in the evening to dine and go to the Boardwalk.

 

[bluezy]

Just wanted to confirm that buses from AOA to HS and EPCOT and back are still running even when the Skyliner is operational - I've seen several reports that there are NO buses from ANY Skyliner resort to or from HS or EPCOT when the Skyliner is running leading to pretty awful situations when the Skyliner goes down.

That's the primary "sticking point" for my husband about choosing POP over All Stars. If we knew buses were an option for AOA no matter what (we don't mind walking across the bridge to POP or waiting for the AOA buses), that would go a long way towards sealing the deal for POP !

We were at AoA for 8 days in June. There were NO busses running to EP & DHS unless the Skyliner was down. Every time we had to take a bus (when going to MK, AK, & DS) there seemed to always be a few people standing in the bus lines for EP & DHS and every time either a CM or a bus driver would tell the people that there are no buses running to those parks unless Skyliner is down and they needed to use the Skyliner at that time. I heard one CM say that there hasn't been regular buses running to those parks for several months. We went to EP & DHS three times each during our 8 days and only had Skyliner go down due to weather once at a time we were using it (it was down a few other times for weather but not on days we needed to use it). We were actually on our way to DHS and were at the CBR station. We knew there were storms in the area but we couldn't see any dark clouds yet. They held us at the CBR station for a few minutes to wait for the weather team to determine if we were going to wait out the storm or if they were going to activate the buses. After about 5 minutes, the CM started getting a count of how many people were waiting and then told us a bus had been dispatched. The bus was there in 5 minutes and we were on our way. Overall, it probably slowed us down about 10-12 minutes. Our son and his family were at Pop at the same time and they were just about to board the Skyliner at Pop/AoA when it shut down that day. Within a few minutes they were sent to the bus stops and a bus was there within about 5 minutes. They got to DHS about 10 minutes after us. I've seen some people say they had a bit of a nightmare situation when leaving EP and the Skyliner is down but fortunately, the Skyliner was always running when we left EP. We already had a plan that if Skyliner was down when we wanted to leave EP, we would walk to Beach Club to see if they were running a bus to the Skyliner resorts and if they weren't, we'd take a bus to DS or AK (whichever came first) and then take a bus to AoA. There was no way I was going to walk nearly a mile to the bus stops at EP and then be told there were *not* buses running and we needed to go back to the Skyliner. We could have also taken a bus from EP to DS or AK but it's a shorter walk to Beach Club than to the front of EP.

 

[DoryGirl1963]

Thanks so much for all that detail bluezy !

We're planning on a Nov trip so hopefully that'll minimize the chances of weather closures. We usually stay at the All Stars but wanted to try something new this time - we've decided to book POP !

 

[scard192]

Skyliner is a game changer for my family; will never stay at a non Skyliner resort again.

 

[bluezy]

Thanks so much for all that detail bluezy !

We're planning on a Nov trip so hopefully that'll minimize the chances of weather closures. We usually stay at the All Stars but wanted to try something new this time - we've decided to book POP !

We really enjoyed the convenience of the Skyliner on our recent trip. I will admit that I was extremely nervous about using it (I have a lot of anxiety about heights, confined spaces, not being in control of a situation, etc), but by day 3 of our stay -- after going to EP & DHS the first 2 days -- we were all slightly dreading having to take a bus to MK that day. Waiting in line for the bus suddenly seemed sooo annoying because when using the Skyliner, even if there is a line, it's constantly moving and moves quickly. The day we rope dropped DHS (Early Entry), the line for Skyliner was wrapped back to Building 3 in the 50's section of Pop. We were on the Skyliner in 8 minutes and still arrived at DHS in plenty of time for rope drop. We ended up using Skyliner about 10 times during our stay. I'm not sure if we'll be staying at AoA on our next trip (depends on how many of our "kids" will be staying with us) but we will most likely stay at a resort on the Skyliner route because we found the Skyliner to be soooo convenient.

 

[jimmymc]

I would say yes, especially if you plan on going to Epcot and Studios more than once. Pop also has a dedicated bus, while the All Stars usually share one bus route, which makes MK and AK easier to get home from.

 

[Dug720]

I would say yes, especially if you plan on going to Epcot and Studios more than once. Pop also has a dedicated bus, while the All Stars usually share one bus route, which makes MK and AK easier to get home from.

I have only had the All Stars sharing busses either in the middle of the day or late at night like transporting people who had at park close ADRs or had hopped in line for things just before closing. Pre-opening and at park close, it's always been individual busses.

 

[DoryGirl1963]

I have only had the All Stars sharing busses either in the middle of the day or late at night like transporting people who had at park close ADRs or had hopped in line for things just before closing. Pre-opening and at park close, it's always been individual busses.

Same here for us both times we stayed at Sports - & even then it's very quick - it was MUCH worse having to go to all the stops at one of the moderates - that took forever!