Disney Bus Travel Times (Average Times for Each Route Based on Your Hotel)
Disney’s bus service is a blessing, but sometimes it can feel like a curse. At the very least, it might make you feel like cursing when you’re tired or anxious to get somewhere, and it seems to be taking forever. Think about it. You’ve walked 20,000 steps in the park all day, and even though it’s only 9:00 p.m., you’re out way later than usual. If you were at home, you probably wouldn’t have even hit 5,000 steps and would have had your pajamas home by 7:00 p.m. at the latest. When you’re out of your comfort zone, everything feels off, and you tend to become more sensitive and even irritable.
Standing in a long line with other guests waiting for the bus might feel like an eternity when, in reality, it was less than 10 minutes. It’s normal. I used to get irritated myself until I started paying closer attention. Did we really wait that long for the bus? And was that bus ride as long as it felt? That’s when I began tracking the travel times for the bus routes on our visits. As you can imagine, collecting what I deem solid, clean data has taken years–three years and counting. It started with a common complaint about how long resorts with multiple bus stops took. So, I started logging the times during a stay at Disney’s Old Key West. Every time we left the resort or returned, I would ride the entire route and log the times for each stop. Then, I began recording the data in spreadsheets. If I ever decided to share the information, I felt I would need to collect at least three averages for each route.
Over time, I mapped out a plan to track every bus route between the resorts and parks. Little did I know how much I would learn and how it would affect my travels around Disney property. I know the most efficient ways to get around Disney World and can anticipate almost any bump in the road you might encounter along the way because I’ve lived it.
After gathering the data, I created bus travel time guides for each resort. Below, you’ll find a link to each guide. You can select the resort of your choice to preview the average times. At the end of each resort guide, you’ll find a red button with a free PDF of the travel times. Click on the button and instantly save the PDF to your mobile device for a reference on your vacation.
But first, I want to stress two things. Our averages do not include how long we waited for the bus. Wait times signs for the next bus are available at each resort. These times are transmitted from the bus and might fluctuate a few minutes. For example, when you arrive at the bus stop, the sign might indicate Magic Kingdom’s next bus will arrive at 1:54 p.m. A few minutes later, the sign might say 1:57 p.m. This could happen if a bus were to stop at a traffic signal or run into traffic. Resort guests can also access the wait times in the hotel section of the My Disney Experience app. This might be useful if you’re in the room and want to see if you have time to make it to the bus stop before the next bus arrives. But I wouldn’t lean too heavily into that. You wouldn’t want to get in too big of a rush and forget something or, worse, have someone in your group trip and fall. Skinned knees and bruises are no fun anywhere.
I also want to remind you that things happen. There have been times when things have happened that I consider an anomaly, and I had to throw out the times. So, if I were visiting a park directly, I would always allow myself an average of 45 minutes to get there. You’ll want to allow about 1.5 hours for resort transfers. (A resort transfer is where you take transportation from your resort to a park or Disney Springs and then transfer from that location to another resort. This is done strategically to travel between resorts using complimentary transportation.)
Lastly, if you’re visiting a park for rope drop, you’ll likely want to be at the resort bus stop 1 to 1.5 hours before the park opens for early entry. Our individual guides will clarify which resorts offer bus service to specific destinations, or you can always preview the Disney Resort’s Bus Schedule.
Here are the guides. Toward the end, I’ve shared a few more resources that will help you learn more about transportation options.
- Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort Bus Schedule with Times: Buses are the only transportation offered at the All-Star Resorts.
- Disney’s All-Star Music Resort Bus Schedule with Times: Buses are the only transportation offered at the All-Star Resorts.
- Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort Bus Schedule with Times: Buses are the only transportation offered at the All-Star Resorts.
- Disney’s Art of Animation Resort Bus Schedule with Times: This resort offers bus service and the Disney Skyliner. Bus transportation is available to select destinations.
- Disney’s Pop Century Resort Bus Schedule with Times: This resort offers bus service and the Disney Skyliner. Bus transportation is available to select destinations.
- Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort Bus Schedule with Times: This resort offers bus service and the Disney Skyliner. Bus transportation is available to select destinations.
- Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort Bus Schedule with Times: This resort offers bus service and the Disney Skyliner. Bus transportation is available to select destinations.
- Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter Resort Bus Schedule with Times: Both Port Orleans Resorts offer bus transportation to theme parks and Disney Springs. An additional water tax service is available to Disney Springs.
- Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort Bus Schedule with Times: Both Port Orleans Resorts offer bus transportation to the theme parks and Disney Springs. An additional water tax service is available to Disney Springs.
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge Bus Schedule with Times: Animal Kingdom Lodge shares a bus service with neighboring Kidani Village. Bus transportation is available to the theme parks and Disney Springs. It’s the only transportation mode offered.
- Disney’s Kidani Village Bus Schedule with Times: Kidani Village shares a bus service with neighboring Animal Kingdom Lodge. Bus transportation is available to the theme parks and Disney Springs. It’s the only transportation mode offered to and from the resort.
- Disney’s Beach Club Resort Bus Schedule with Times: Disney’s Beach Club has bus service, boat service, walking paths, and is within walking distance of the Skyliner. Bus service is only offered to select destinations.
- Disney’s BoardWalk Resort Bus Schedule with Times: Disney’s Boardwalk offers bus service, boat service, walking options, and is within walking distance of the Skyliner. Bus service is only offered to select destinations.
- Disney’s Contemporary Resort Bus Schedule with Times: Disney’s Contemporary offers monorail service, boat service, walking paths, and bus service. Buses are offered to select destinations.
- Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort Bus Schedule with Times: Disney’s Grand Floridian offers monorail service, boat service, walking paths, and bus service. Buses are offered to select destinations.
- Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort Bus Schedule with Times: Disney’s Polynesian offers monorail service, boat service, walking paths, and bus service. Buses are offered to select destinations.
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Bus Schedule with Times: Wilderness Lodge offers bus transportation to every theme park and Disney Springs. An additional boat service is available for Magic Kingdom and select resorts.
- Disney’s Yacht Club Bus Schedule with Times: The Yacht Club offers bus service, boat service, walking options, and is within walking distance of the Skyliner. Bus service is only offered to select destinations.
- Disney’s Fort Wilderness Bus Schedule with Times: Fort Wilderness is a massive resort with many internal bus stops throughout. Make sure you also check out our Fort Wilderness Transportation Guide for a complete overview of how things work.
- Disney’s Old Key West Bus Schedule with Times: Old Key West offers bus service to every theme park and Disney Springs. This resort also offers a water taxi service and a walking path to Disney Springs.
- Disney’s Riviera Resort Bus Schedule with Times: Disney’s Riviera has a Skyliner station and a bus stop. Bus service is offered to select destinations.
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Bus Schedule with Times: Saratoga Springs offers bus service to all the theme parks and Disney Springs. This resort offers an additional water taxi service and a walking path to Disney Springs.
For more transportation resources, you might enjoy these other guides:
Transportation Options at the Disney Resorts: Our resort transportation guides are our top resource. You can use this guide to locate your resort’s individual transportation guide.
Everything You Need to Know About Disney’s Complimentary Bus Transportation: This guide shares pictures of the buses, interiors, bus stops, accessibility information, and tips. If you are curious about the bus experience at Disney, this guide will help answer your questions.
The Most Efficient Ways to Get Around Walt Disney World: Our Resorts Gal Routes Index shares routes to and from popular destinations at Walt Disney World. This is one of our most popular indexes on the site.
Lastly, if you’re a transportation nerd like me, you might like to purchase access to our ad-free transportation guides in the Resorts Gal Community. We have a guide for each resort that details the travel times for each mode of transportation offered. Those guides include our average travel times from each bus stop when a resort has multiple stops or shares a bus service with another resort.
I hope you found these travel times beneficial! Make sure to sign up for a copy of our best transportation tips. You’ll receive our weekly newsletter, hotel offers, and updates to our guides as we make them.
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