Bus Mayhem at Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day!

D

darthjohnny

Active Member
Original Poster
I was at the Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day. After watching the Very Merry Christmas Day parade zip by (the fastest I've ever seen a parade go by since it was raining) I left the park.

Quickly did I find out that the line for the Port Orleans bus was HUGE!!!

And it didn't stop after I got on. It must have been at least an hour and a half to two hour line for that one hotel.

It was ridiculous! Some idiot did a real poor job in planning the buses.

They didn't even split the buses between French Quarter and Riverside! Nor did they add buses. No Disney castmember was there to see this. The bus drivers that were standing around didn't seem to care.

I had to wait a long time before I could get on the bus. It looked like the crowd was about to riot.

I've never seen something like this.

Did anyone else get caught in this like I did? :mad: :xmas:
 
the-reason14

the-reason14

Well-Known Member
You could almost assume that disney would know that christmas day and christmas time would bring all these crowds and be able to prepare for them, by checking their transport systems and such to make sure they will be efficient enough to continue. I mean its not like its rarely crowded there.

One could also assume that on christmas day, arguably one of if the not the busiest days in disney, there would be so many people out and about that it is expected to be as busy as the op said it was.

Question, was the other buses as busy or no?
 
D

darthjohnny

Active Member
Original Poster
the-reason14 said:
Question, was the other buses as busy or no?
Click to expand...

So everyone else can fully understand my plight, I want to make note that it was only Port Orleans.

All other buses had normal wait times. I even saw two Yacht and Beach club buses, one behind the other, but it took forever for Port Orleans to come.

That is why I'm so frustrated.
 
Tinkrbell

Tinkrbell

Active Member
I had thesame problem with trying to get from Pop Century to Downtown Disney at about 8:30 on a Saturday night when I was there in October. We waited close to an hour for a bus to Downtown Disney, while there were at least 2, if not 3 busses to each of the parks. So we didn't even get on a bus until close to 9:30.

The bus driver told us that they are dispatched to each location as they are needed, but the dispatch center frequently gets backed up & they just continue the doing the run they were on until they're told to do a different run. (I know bus drivers have a tendency to say things that aren't true, but this seemed more plausable than some other things they've been known to say.)
 
KrazyKemp

KrazyKemp

Member
This happened to us at the Magic Kingdom in September.

Granted, it was an EMH night.

Instead of waiting in line, we waited off to the side and watched everyone else get on for about an hour.

Went by quickly though, we talked about what park we would go to tomorrow, and what rides we would ride etc.

Lesson learned? : Don't go on EMH nights.
 
kasey1988

kasey1988

Well-Known Member
I can only imagine how frustrating that would have been! But i was in a similar place in may, we were at epcot after illuminations waiting for our bus back to ASMO, the line was hugeee waiting for the bus, right out of the quene area and down the path past where the pop machenes are. We decided to get on the sports bus , that had no line and even had seats left as we pulled away. We had a nice walk and got to see all the all star resortsm, even peeked int he family suits as they werent done then!
 
tecowdw

tecowdw

Well-Known Member
KrazyKemp said:
This happened to us at the Magic Kingdom in September.

Granted, it was an EMH night.

Instead of waiting in line, we waited off to the side and watched everyone else get on for about an hour.

Went by quickly though, we talked about what park we would go to tomorrow, and what rides we would ride etc.

Lesson learned? : Don't go on EMH nights.
Click to expand...

I love the way you dealt with the situation! Chill out and enjoy the World! Makes life alot more enjoyable, huh?
:sohappy:
 
bob0012

bob0012

Member
darthjohnny said:
I was at the Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day. After watching the Very Merry Christmas Day parade zip by (the fastest I've ever seen a parade go by since it was raining) I left the park.

Quickly did I find out that the line for the Port Orleans bus was HUGE!!!

And it didn't stop after I got on. It must have been at least an hour and a half to two hour line for that one hotel.

It was ridiculous! Some idiot did a real poor job in planning the buses.

They didn't even split the buses between French Quarter and Riverside! Nor did they add buses. No Disney castmember was there to see this. The bus drivers that were standing around didn't seem to care.

I had to wait a long time before I could get on the bus. It looked like the crowd was about to riot.

I've never seen something like this.

Did anyone else get caught in this like I did? :mad: :xmas:
Click to expand...
I would assume staffing wasn't all that great being christmas, since although it's a peek day, a lot of the employees want off, or at least certain hours.
 
M

mdisney

Active Member
darthjohnny said:
So everyone else can fully understand my plight, I want to make note that it was only Port Orleans.

All other buses had normal wait times. I even saw two Yacht and Beach club buses, one behind the other, but it took forever for Port Orleans to come.

That is why I'm so frustrated.
Click to expand...

One reason why more Yacht buses DELUX
 
HoneyMnShawnee

HoneyMnShawnee

Member
This happened to us trying to go to DTD from POFQ in May.. We waited for over an hour for a bus while there were several for each park that came.. One finally came by only to find out that it was already full from people waiting to get off at POR.. We went inside to consierge (sp?) and they got a van to drive us to DTD as we had cirque tickets.. We were almost late, and we had given our selves plenty of time (Well over two hours).. But that was the only problem I had with Disney Transport.
 
radiohost

radiohost

Well-Known Member
If anyone...ANYONE...goes down to WDW at peak crowd level occasions, such as Christmas day, or 4th of July, then you MUST be willing to accept the worst possible conditions to occur, such as your scenario with the busses. It shouldnt happen, but it does....

Now, I was there last week to see Mickey's very merry christmas party on the night of th 18th... After the parade myself and my girlfriend left for our bus at All Star Movies. We waited a good 5 minutes before we boarded for a non stop trip to our hotel. No problem whatsoever. Was the crowd as bad then as it was on the 25th, no way! But if you come when crowd levels will be maxed out, these things Will happen...We actually talked to our bus driver about the crowd levels for christmas day, and he told us they were ready for the worst, and indeed with your case, the worst happened. Hope you and your family left WDW with good memories. Happy New Year!:cool:
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Isn't there a taxi stand nearby to use? Or couldn't you walk or monorail or boat over to the Contemporary hotel and flag a taxi at the lobby there?
 
M

mdisney

Active Member
HoneyMnShawnee said:
This happened to us trying to go to DTD from POFQ in May.. We waited for over an hour for a bus while there were several for each park that came.. One finally came by only to find out that it was already full from people waiting to get off at POR.. We went inside to consierge (sp?) and they got a van to drive us to DTD as we had cirque tickets.. We were almost late, and we had given our selves plenty of time (Well over two hours).. But that was the only problem I had with Disney Transport.
Click to expand...

What about the boat to get to DTD.
 
alanbrai

alanbrai

Member
TP2000 said:
Isn't there a taxi stand nearby to use? Or couldn't you walk or monorail or boat over to the Contemporary hotel and flag a taxi at the lobby there?
Click to expand...

Or instead of taxi got on a bus at the Contemporary or Polysesian (which is walking distance from the TTC) for Downtown Disney then a bus to Port Orleans
 
I

IneedaWDWfix

Member
darthjohnny said:
I was at the Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day. After watching the Very Merry Christmas Day parade zip by (the fastest I've ever seen a parade go by since it was raining) I left the park.

Quickly did I find out that the line for the Port Orleans bus was HUGE!!!

And it didn't stop after I got on. It must have been at least an hour and a half to two hour line for that one hotel.

It was ridiculous! Some idiot did a real poor job in planning the buses.

They didn't even split the buses between French Quarter and Riverside! Nor did they add buses. No Disney castmember was there to see this. The bus drivers that were standing around didn't seem to care.

I had to wait a long time before I could get on the bus. It looked like the crowd was about to riot.

I've never seen something like this.

Did anyone else get caught in this like I did? :mad: :xmas:
Click to expand...

Same thing has happened to us in the past......most recently this occurred at EPCOT following Illuminations in October. We've completed the Disney surveys several times over the years, informing them of this, and STILL they do nothing to correct this regular problem for the 2 Port Orleans resorts. We are looking in to staying at other resorts for our future vacations. What a shame, too, since we really enjoy POR; just can't take the poor planning of the ground dispatchers---NOT the bus drivers' faults, as they are only doing what they are told to do by DISNEY MANAGEMENT!!
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom