POR stay 4/30-5/7, 2016
Posted: May 23rd, 2016, 3:18 pm
We recently returned from a week long stay at POR. This was our 3rd time to stay at POR and we have stayed at POFQ twice. Everything was great about the resort itself, but we had bus issues for our entire stay that will honestly prevent us from staying at either PO resort in the foreseeable future. It really breaks my heart to say that because I have made over 30 trips to WDW (28 of which I have been onsite). I have stayed in every WDW hotel except WL, BC, CS, and any of the values. Before this trip, POR/POFQ ranked right up there in our top 3, alongside the Poly and YC.
Let me say that this trip was just myself and my husband. We are both in our late 40s and in reasonable shape for our age. We live in the country, so we're used to the outdoors and lots of walking. Waiting on buses does not bother us, we are not the "go go go" type and tend to accept things as they come and "roll with the flow". This last trip was the absolute worst bus transportation we've ever dealt with at Disney. We didn't plan on rope drop at any park, we chose to leave the resort around 10-11 am so that we would purposely avoid long bus lines. WRONG! Every time we went to the bus stop after 10 am there were still huge lines for EVERY bus. Not small lines that disappeared once a bus pulled up, long lines that took 2-3 buses to disperse (and the buses were coming at least 25 minutes apart-most often closer to 35/40).
The route they were running also made zero sense to us. Return to the hotel with a packed bus and the main stop is last?!? Of course the few people getting off at the other stops were crammed into the back of the bus, so 1/2 the bus had to unload and then load back up to make the other stops.
The absolute worst was Monday night, May 2nd. We went to DHS for Fantasmic! and the SW fireworks. There was a torrential downpour/thunder/lightening and Fantasmic! was cancelled. CMs were waving people out of the park yelling that the park is closing and SW fireworks are cancelled. We trudge out to the buses in this downpour and lo an behold, BOTH PO resorts are being crammed onto the same bus. The line extended out of our queue and past 3 other bus stops. There are very small awnings at DHS, so the majority of us waiting are standing in the downpour. We have ponchos on, but they offer minimal protection in that kind of rain. Like I said, hubby and I are late 40s and used to being outdoors, the rain wasn't going to kill us, but there were elderly people, disabled people, and very young children having to stand out in this. We waited 1 and 1/2 hrs for a bus. In that time, only 2 buses came to our stop. We were on the 3rd bus. Next day we talked to another family in the bus line at MK that told us they waited over 2 hrs!!! The good thing about standing in line was that we did get to see the SW fireworks that WERE NOT CANCELLED! Of course we were outside the park and couldn't hear the music, but at least we did see the fireworks.
It was so bad, that by Thursday, May 5th, we had Disney security manning the lines for POR at MK. People were just tired of waiting so long for buses and they were beginning to push and shove and break line.
To be fair, we did catch buses from other Disney resorts (BWI and the GF) and we waited too long for those buses as well. 45 minutes at BWI for a bus to Disney Springs and 40 minutes at GF for a bus to AK. We just didn't have to fight massive crowds for those buses.
Like I said, everything at the resort was perfect. Room was exceptionally clean and mousekeeeping did a wonderful job. Food court did get crowded at times (which we expected), but they were managing the crowds well and keeping everything as clean as possible. Boatwrights was actually one of the best meals we had during the entire trip. Every CM we encountered was personable and extremely helpful. It saddens me to say that the bus situation was so bad that it has turned us off from staying there again.
I'm sorry if the overall tone of this report comes off negatively. We are not complainers and otherwise had an absolutely perfect trip. I realize that I could be there this week and the bus situation would be totally different. We most likely experienced an off week (I sincerely hope so) and maybe they were in the midst of trying new routes or something, thinking crowds would be low and they could experiment that week. Just wanted to give a "heads up" to anyone planning a trip. If you don't deal well with crowded buses or long waits for buses, and don't want to drive your own vehicle, you may want to try another hotel. Folks staying at POFQ told us they were having zero issues until they had to share with POR, but that seemed to be hit or miss all week. There didn't seem to be any sort of set schedule for where and when we were sharing.
'
Let me say that this trip was just myself and my husband. We are both in our late 40s and in reasonable shape for our age. We live in the country, so we're used to the outdoors and lots of walking. Waiting on buses does not bother us, we are not the "go go go" type and tend to accept things as they come and "roll with the flow". This last trip was the absolute worst bus transportation we've ever dealt with at Disney. We didn't plan on rope drop at any park, we chose to leave the resort around 10-11 am so that we would purposely avoid long bus lines. WRONG! Every time we went to the bus stop after 10 am there were still huge lines for EVERY bus. Not small lines that disappeared once a bus pulled up, long lines that took 2-3 buses to disperse (and the buses were coming at least 25 minutes apart-most often closer to 35/40).
The route they were running also made zero sense to us. Return to the hotel with a packed bus and the main stop is last?!? Of course the few people getting off at the other stops were crammed into the back of the bus, so 1/2 the bus had to unload and then load back up to make the other stops.
The absolute worst was Monday night, May 2nd. We went to DHS for Fantasmic! and the SW fireworks. There was a torrential downpour/thunder/lightening and Fantasmic! was cancelled. CMs were waving people out of the park yelling that the park is closing and SW fireworks are cancelled. We trudge out to the buses in this downpour and lo an behold, BOTH PO resorts are being crammed onto the same bus. The line extended out of our queue and past 3 other bus stops. There are very small awnings at DHS, so the majority of us waiting are standing in the downpour. We have ponchos on, but they offer minimal protection in that kind of rain. Like I said, hubby and I are late 40s and used to being outdoors, the rain wasn't going to kill us, but there were elderly people, disabled people, and very young children having to stand out in this. We waited 1 and 1/2 hrs for a bus. In that time, only 2 buses came to our stop. We were on the 3rd bus. Next day we talked to another family in the bus line at MK that told us they waited over 2 hrs!!! The good thing about standing in line was that we did get to see the SW fireworks that WERE NOT CANCELLED! Of course we were outside the park and couldn't hear the music, but at least we did see the fireworks.
It was so bad, that by Thursday, May 5th, we had Disney security manning the lines for POR at MK. People were just tired of waiting so long for buses and they were beginning to push and shove and break line.
To be fair, we did catch buses from other Disney resorts (BWI and the GF) and we waited too long for those buses as well. 45 minutes at BWI for a bus to Disney Springs and 40 minutes at GF for a bus to AK. We just didn't have to fight massive crowds for those buses.
Like I said, everything at the resort was perfect. Room was exceptionally clean and mousekeeeping did a wonderful job. Food court did get crowded at times (which we expected), but they were managing the crowds well and keeping everything as clean as possible. Boatwrights was actually one of the best meals we had during the entire trip. Every CM we encountered was personable and extremely helpful. It saddens me to say that the bus situation was so bad that it has turned us off from staying there again.
I'm sorry if the overall tone of this report comes off negatively. We are not complainers and otherwise had an absolutely perfect trip. I realize that I could be there this week and the bus situation would be totally different. We most likely experienced an off week (I sincerely hope so) and maybe they were in the midst of trying new routes or something, thinking crowds would be low and they could experiment that week. Just wanted to give a "heads up" to anyone planning a trip. If you don't deal well with crowded buses or long waits for buses, and don't want to drive your own vehicle, you may want to try another hotel. Folks staying at POFQ told us they were having zero issues until they had to share with POR, but that seemed to be hit or miss all week. There didn't seem to be any sort of set schedule for where and when we were sharing.
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