How to Find Bus Times Using the My Disney Experience App

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If you’re staying at a Disney Resort Hotel, there’s a feature in the My Disney Experience app that shows the estimated arrival time for the next bus. This feature allows you to see the next estimated arrival time not only at your resort but at the park. It also shows when the bus is expected to arrive at your desired destination.

For example, say you’re staying at Disney’s BoardWalk Resort, and you know it’s a fairly decent walk from your room to the bus stop. You open the app and see that the next bus arrives in five minutes. There’s no way you’re going to get all of your belongings together and get out the door by that time. So you continue at a normal pace, knowing you probably have an extra 15-20 minutes until the next bus arrives.

As another example, you could be staying at Port Orleans Riverside, and your room is only a short walk from the bus stop. You open the app and see the bus is arriving in five minutes. Perfect. Everyone’s out the door and at the bus stop in plenty of time. We could go on and on with a variety of scenarios, but the main thing is that you’re aware of this service and know how to use it. So below, we’ll discuss how to find bus times using the My Disney Experience app.

Step 1: Open the My Disney Experience App and Find Your Hotel

To get started, you’ll open the My Disney Experience app and select the three stacked bars on the bottom right-hand corner (hamburger icon). Then, you’ll scroll down and select “Hotel Reservations.”

screenshot with Hotel Reservations circled on the My Disney Experience app

Step 2: Select “See Bus Times”

From there, you’ll see your resort reservation, room number, and other resort details. There is a horizontal list of options toward the bottom of the screen. This is where you’ll select “See Bus Times.”

Note that this feature doesn’t work until you’ve arrived at the resort. If you’re planning travel times ahead of your visit, see our list of bus times from the Disney Resorts further below. We tracked every route during our stays and provide an estimated travel time for each resort.

screenshot of My Disney Experience app that shows where to See Bus Times

Step 3: View the Estimated Bus Arrival Times

You should now be able to see the next arrival time for your destination. For example, the screenshot below shows that the next Magic Kingdom bus should arrive at 4:04 p.m. and the estimated arrival time at the park is 4:24 p.m.

Bonus: If you’re at Magic Kingdom and leaving the park to return to Disney’s Boardwalk, you can also use this feature for an idea of when the next bus will arrive. For example, say it’s 4:15 p.m., and you’re walking out of the park. Say you want to take a few photos of the main entrance, but you check the app and see that the bus is expected to arrive in less than 10 minutes. It’s been a long day and you sure don’t want to miss it. So you keep moving along to ensure you reach the bus stop in time.

screenshot that shows bus estimated arrival times at the resort and estimated arrival at the park

What If Your Resort Has Multiple Bus Stops?

If you’re staying at a resort hotel with multiple bus stops, be aware that each bus stop will have a unique estimated departure and arrival time. For example, when we stayed at the Paddock section of Disney’s Saratoga Springs, I selected the Paddock bus stop in the app to view times. If we had enjoyed breakfast near the main lobby and then left the resort from that area to head to a park, we would need to select The Springs section to find the times for that bus stop.

screenshot of the My Disney Experience app that shows a resort with multiple bus stops

Are the Bus Times in the My Disney Experience App Correct?

Over the years, we’ve personally recorded an extensive amount of data during our travels around Walt Disney World. While I don’t have an exact percentage, from our experience I can say the bus times are highly accurate. Of course, there are always exceptions.

Disney uses WiFi to track and estimate the actual bus distance from the destination. So if you’re sitting at a bus stop and notice a fluctuation, it’s likely because the bus stopped at a red light or perhaps was slowed down due to traffic. On the flip side, sometimes the bus might arrive a minute or two early. Overall, our experience (other than a small handful of times) has been consistent over hundreds of routes we’ve ridden.

Now there are always things to consider, and this entire guide might not be helpful if you’re solely using it for rope-dropping the parks. For example, you’ll find more people waiting at the bus stop first thing in the morning. So even if you arrive at the bus stop early, the bus could fill, and you might have to wait for another. Thankfully, Disney deploys more buses first thing in the morning to get their guests to the parks. Therefore, another bus will hopefully come pretty quickly. But to be fair, a 10-minute wait can feel pretty long when you’re trying to get somewhere.

Bus Times for the Disney Resorts

If you’re planning a stay at a Disney Resort Hotel and would like to know the average time of each route, you might like to see our bus schedules. We have one for every resort:

  • Disney’s Kidani Village Bus Schedule with Times: Kidani Village shares a bus service with the neighboring Animal Kingdom Lodge. Bus transportation is available to the theme parks and Disney Springs. It’s the only mode of transportation offered to and from the resort.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I hope you found this tutorial for using the My Disney Experience app to find bus times helpful. We think it’s a great tool for anyone who likes to adhere to a schedule. It’s also a good pacifier for anyone who stresses over how long it will take. Of course, all these bus times are posted on a television screen at each resort’s bus stop. However, these screens are not posted at the theme parks, and I have a feeling that most guests don’t realize they can reference the app at the parks for their resort bus’s next estimated arrival time.

For more on how things work, see our guide to how the buses work at Disney World. Or you might like our entire guide to getting around Disney World. Check back with ResortsGal.com for more updates.

In the Comments

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