Bus Horror Stories

[Rebel]

It doesn't work that way in the evening. It's one thing to have separate buses in the morning going to the parks. In the evening, with all three resorts together, it makes more sense to have buses for all three resorts. You just get off at whichever resort is yours. I can imagine the all too frequent times guests getting on, for example, Movies and finding out underway they aren't on the one for Sports, and having to walk back to their resort. Or waiting a long time for Music and seeing multiple Movies and Sports pull up. I would be ticked. I've boarded at park close and was grateful all the buses were for all three, meaning when I boarded any bus, I would get off at my resort.

Can't imagine why someone would get on the wrong bus since they have the destinations labeled in plain view. The mob of people is what I was referring to as not being the greatest of experiences considering the "all star" buses were not coming any faster than the other hotels with triple the amount of people waiting! Maybe it's not the norm I don't know, but what I saw looked miserable for the people at the end of the line that would have seen two buses come and go and they would have still been standing there! I have stayed at two of the all star resorts and never had to share during the busy season that I remember! Maybe I just chose to block it out... No offense to all star resorts they are still just fine!

 

[JohnD]

Can't imagine why someone would get on the wrong bus since they have the destinations labeled in plain view. The mob of people is what I was referring to as not being the greatest of experiences considering the "all star" buses were not coming any faster than the other hotels with triple the amount of people waiting! Maybe it's not the norm I don't know, but what I saw looked miserable for the people at the end of the line that would have seen two buses come and go and they would have still been standing there! I have stayed at two of the all star resorts and never had to share during the busy season that I remember! Maybe I just chose to block it out... No offense to all star resorts they are still just fine!

I was just coming up with examples. Maybe that wasn't the best one. I think the best example is having more than one of another all star resort which isn't yours come. To process all the guests, better to have every bus serve all the all stars. Load 'em up. Move 'em out.

 

[Mickey5150]

Either I just don't pay enough attention for it to bother me or I have been really lucky but in all my years going to WDW I can't remember a bad bus experience. However, after reading all these comments I'm slightly worried for my trip this year.

 

[Princess Kaylee]

Disney transportation from MK dropped us off at All Star Music Resort at midnight (we were the only ones on the bus) and told us it was All Stat Movies. It was our first time at WDW so we were pretty clueless. We walked around the resort, shopped in the gift shop and as we were heading back to our room we spotted the the musical themed pool. It was a huge hassle but we got the bus driver to come back and drop us off at the right resort.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

Disney transportation from MK dropped us off at All Star Music Resort at midnight (we were the only ones on the bus) and told us it was All Stat Movies. It was our first time at WDW so we were pretty clueless. We walked around the resort, shopped in the gift shop and as we were heading back to our room we spotted the the musical themed pool. It was a huge hassle but we got the bus driver to come back and drop us off at the right resort.

Just always remember they always stop at Sports, then music then Movies.

 

[daisyduckie]

Disney transportation from MK dropped us off at All Star Music Resort at midnight (we were the only ones on the bus) and told us it was All Stat Movies. It was our first time at WDW so we were pretty clueless. We walked around the resort, shopped in the gift shop and as we were heading back to our room we spotted the the musical themed pool. It was a huge hassle but we got the bus driver to come back and drop us off at the right resort.

Did you not realize you could quickly walk to your resort? The All Stars are all next door to each other.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

I've been on both sides of this. Experienced the horror...and caused it.

First off there was a "Wow..that was interesting" moment when on a bus from WL heading toward AK and a car turning left from Western Way onto Buena Vista Blvd blew the red and smacked into the car just in front of my bus forcing the bus to swerve quite severely.

Experiencing the Horror....trying to catch the bus from Boardwalk a few years back to Disney Springs right after the 9pm Epcot and DHS fireworks shows. 10 buses and they were so packed that for 30 minutes not even a dent was made in the line. Gave up and took a cab.

Causing the horror.....this past May. I was staying at WL with the wife and my 3 and 1 year olds. My 3 year old daughter woke up sick one morning, causing us to miss the parks in the am, so we could tend to her upset stomach. By late afternoon she was fine...Okay...We're ready to go. We catch the bus from WL heading to Epcot at about 5:30pm. I sit with my daughter and across from me my wife is holding my 1 year old son (who up until this point seemed totally unaffected by my daughter's earlier illness). So off we go. About 5 minutes after the bus departs my son decides he wants in on the action and projectile vomits on my wife thus hitting the nice looking couple sitting next to them. I wait because I know it's coming....within about a minute and thirty seconds I start hearing the "Ewwww's" and notice people covering their noses with their shirts.

The bus stops at the Fort Wilderness station and everyone except me, my wife and my kids are told to get off....and I get a private bus back to WL...where I spent the remainder of the evening.

 

[Princess Kaylee]

Did you not realize you could quickly walk to your resort? The All Stars are all next door to each other.

It was our first time at a Disney Resort. Plus it was nearly 1.00AM, we had no idea how close they were to each other.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I've never had a totally horrible experience with the Disney buses, except for some long wait times a few years ago when traveling anywhere from Animal Kingdom. But that seems to have gotten better lately.

This story I'm sure was a horror story for the couple was met last week when traveling back to the Caribbean from Epcot. As I said we were traveling back from Epcot to the Caribbean and my husband starts talking to the family (mom, dad, and girl in her late teen's/early 20's). They were staying at the Polynesian and were at Epcot and decided to go to Disney Springs. They knew there weren't any direct buses from Epcot to Disney Springs, so they asked a transportation guy the best way to get to the Springs. He told them to get on the Caribbean bus. I thought that was a little strange, but I figured he put them on the Caribbean bus because it was close to Epcot and fairly close to the Springs. Since they weren't staying at the Caribbean they were unsure of where to get off to get the Springs bus.

My husband told them to get off at the Jamaica stop (the first stop and also our stop) and there they could catch the bus they needed. So we all got off at the Jamaica stop and hubby and I went back to our room to shower and change for our dining reservation. So 45 minutes later we walk back to the bus stop to get the Magic Kingdom bus and we turn the corner into the bus stop and we are greeted with a "Hello friends, we are still here!" It was the people from the Epcot bus! I couldn't believe it they should have been on their way a long time ago. They were clearly irritated but trying to stay in good spirits. I was irritated for them, we were at the bus stop about 10 minutes and I was ready to call the front desk on their behalf when a Disney Springs bus showed up. They told us that the time on the arrival board was changing all the time and no bus ever showed up. I hope they had a good time at the Springs..

 

[Pghdrumr]

at the end of the night when the bus pulls up to the theme park stop full of guests trying to get back to the resort, and a family gets on and stands in the aisle so there is no more room to board, even though there is plenty of room in the back of the bus.

 

[daisyduckie]

at the end of the night when the bus pulls up to the theme park stop full of guests trying to get back to the resort, and a family gets on and stands in the aisle so there is no more room to board, even though there is plenty of room in the back of the bus.

Or when the family gets on, and dad stands in the aisle with the stroller, forcing everyone else to have to trip around him to get on the bus. Go stand in the back if you don't plan on sitting. The back of the bus will arrive the same time as the front, you won't lose your family.

 

[EvilQueen-T]

In early June this year my brother in law (seasoned disney vet) was doing some work for wdw and his company put him up at the Hilton by disney springs so they get extra magic hours. He stayed at Epcot until about a half hour before the end of emh and made his way to the bus for the hilton. He and about 20 other people stood there for about an hour waiting at the bus stop. After asking several CMs who just kept telling them a bus should be along soon a regular disney bus driver took the time to tell them the Hilton never runs their bus during emh. You get emh by staying there just no way to get back if you use them...crazy. Needless to say the crowd wasn't very happy. He said he'd not heard the F bomb that much since he was in the Marines. So he calls me and I gave him a few solutions. He decided to hop the bus to Saratoga Springs with the plan to walk or bus to disney springs and walk to his resort from there. Bus was massively crowded and he was seated but the guy next to him smelled like he'd pooped on himself so he happily gave up his seat only to find himself standing next to someone who apparently has never heard of deodorant (his descriptor was the smell was like someone who'd worn a parka in 110 degree heat doing jumping jacks for a week then stuck his armpit in his face). The bus driver must have been new because he said it took 30 minutes to get to the resort from Epcot and he kept tapping the breaks every few seconds making everyone rock into each other...rubbing up agains smelly guy was apparently not fun. At that point he opted to walk through disney springs rather than risk another smelly bus. I can only imagine how the discussion went with the front desk at the Hilton when he got back there. Overall it took almost 2 hours to get back to the room.

 

[daisyduckie]

In early June this year my brother in law (seasoned disney vet) was doing some work for wdw and his company put him up at the Hilton by disney springs so they get extra magic hours. He stayed at Epcot until about a half hour before the end of emh and made his way to the bus for the hilton. He and about 20 other people stood there for about an hour waiting at the bus stop. After asking several CMs who just kept telling them a bus should be along soon a regular disney bus driver took the time to tell them the Hilton never runs their bus during emh. You get emh by staying there just no way to get back if you use them...crazy. Needless to say the crowd wasn't very happy. He said he'd not heard the F bomb that much since he was in the Marines. So he calls me and I gave him a few solutions. He decided to hop the bus to Saratoga Springs with the plan to walk or bus to disney springs and walk to his resort from there. Bus was massively crowded and he was seated but the guy next to him smelled like he'd pooped on himself so he happily gave up his seat only to find himself standing next to someone who apparently has never heard of deodorant (his descriptor was the smell was like someone who'd worn a parka in 110 degree heat doing jumping jacks for a week then stuck his armpit in his face). The bus driver must have been new because he said it took 30 minutes to get to the resort from Epcot and he kept tapping the breaks every few seconds making everyone rock into each other...rubbing up agains smelly guy was apparently not fun. At that point he opted to walk through disney springs rather than risk another smelly bus. I can only imagine how the discussion went with the front desk at the Hilton when he got back there. Overall it took almost 2 hours to get back to the room.

The Hilton no longer gets Extra Magic Hours. It ended at the end of last year, I believe. Sounds like there is still some confusion on that.

 

[EvilQueen-T]

The Hilton no longer gets Extra Magic Hours. It ended at the end of last year, I believe. Sounds like there is still some confusion on that.

That's what I thought! But he said they made a point of telling him he got emh when he checked in. It was the only reason he stayed late. I guess others got the same thing because there was about 20 people with him. I thought it would have been nice if one of the CMs had said something to them tho. Crazy.

 

[BigRedDad]

All of PORS. We learned after 1/2 way through Day 2 to use POFQ buses and just walk to POR. If they did not have a shared bus, always take POFQ. Day 1, we waited 45 minutes for a bus to Typhoon Lagoon. We were out there at 9AM. It stopped at 2 more resorts and DTD. We got to Typhoon Lagoon at 10:30. Day 2, we left MK at about 2PM. There were only about 6 in line. There were 3 people at the POFQ stop. No big deal. POFQ bus came, about 20 people in line now for PORS. 2nd bus shows up for POFQ and picks up about 4 people. Now about 50 people in line. 3rd bus shows up for POFQ with about 5 in line. I told the guy behind us if another bus shows up for POFQ, I am jumping on it.

Sure enough a 4th POFQ bus shows up before a POR bus. My DD and I get on it and make the 10 minute walk to our room. After we change to swim suits and drop everything off, we are walking to the lobby. We see the family that was behind us just getting off the bus. It was over 90 minutes from the time we were in line to the time the POR got back to the resort from MK. The same held true the entire week we were there. People were talking about it all the time. We simply walked the extra 5 minutes to POFQ for buses and it saved us at least an entire day of waiting for POR buses.

 

[carriebeth]

We were on a packed bus heading to MK before rope drop. Someone on the bus hollers up to the driver asking him if he would be stopping at the lobby bus stop since the bus was already so full. He said he would still stop in case someone wanted off there. The same lady hollers up "good we have the rest of our party there and they need to get on". The driver tells her the bus is so full most likely no one else is getting on and the only way someone can get on is if people get off at that stop. She is insisting the rest of the party needs to be on that bus. Driver tells her if they want to arrive together she should exit at the stop and wait for another bus with her party there. She tells the driver she is going to get off at the lobby stop and her son will get on. Driver tells her if she gets off the next person in the line waiting for the bus will be getting on. A person exiting does not choose who will be boarding the bus upon their exit. Well she must have texted her son with a plan because when we arrive at the lobby stop she makes her way through the packed bus and when she reaches the door her son is waiting and as she steps off he slides on not from the front of the line but after jumping from the side area. The people in the bus line were not happy and our whole bus gasped but the driver didn't make the son exit just drove off with him aboard.

One night on our way back from MK my family had the opportunity to ride a bus of very feew passengers with a group of about 12 women who were traveling together. I got the feeling they were like work companions and not close friends. Many in the group were quite drunk. One was especially loud and verbal. She non stop made these exaggerated obnoxious flirtatious type comments to several of the male passengers. They tried to ignore her and were not amused. One woman from the group was seated next to me and just kept muttering things like "oh goodness". The drunk one kept also feeling the need to loudly call up to the one sitting near me to make sure she was doing ok. It was a very annoying ride. My children who have never seen a drunken person were horrified.One of my children actually thought she was special needs before we told him she was actually drunk!

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

This experience is our own fault but it had been years since we had been to WDW and we had never stayed at this particular hotel before so we were unfamiliar with the area. We were staying at the Hilton Lake Buena Vista on Hotel Plaza Blvd. and on our first night wanted to checkout Downtown Disney/DS, particularly the Marketplace so that we could go to World Of Disney. Because of the trees and shrubbery, we had no idea that DD/DS was directly behind the hotel, mere steps away. So we boarded a bus (hotel shuttle, non-Disney transport) to DD/DS that first had to stop at 4-5 other resorts along Hotel Plaza Blvd. and pick up guests. Once headed toward DD, the bus made a grand circle which put us on the West Side of DD/DS. We asked the driver if he would be making another stop closer to the Marketplace, and he replied that no, this was the shuttle's only stop at DD/DS. So we got off the bus and walked from the West Side to the Marketplace. In total, it had been about 40-45 minutes since we left our hotel. Once we got to the Marketplace, we looked up and saw the Hilton Lake Buena Vista peeking out of the trees. We simply could have crossed the road and been to our destination in about 3 minutes if we would have known where we were and walked.

 

[ford91exploder]

Bus ride from Magic Kingdom to Jambo, house, Left after fireworks and a family got on with a young boy who about 2 minutes into the ride broke into an unintelligble chant at the top of his lungs, Parents were mortified and I felt really bad for them but it was a little kid repeating a character's sound effect so what could they do.

Lets's just say I have NEVER before or SINCE seen a Disney bus unload SO FAST, If it took 30 seconds for everyone to get off that was a long time and everyone was running up the walkway at 1AM to get away from the noise.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

The only bad thing we have ever had happen on a bus was actually on the Magic Express. We were staying at the Contemporary and the bus had come picked everyone up we were at our last pick up before heading to the airport at the Poly. Everyone was loaded bus door closed starting to pull away Poly cast member comes running up knocking on the door. the driver stops opens the door they have a family that is supposed to be on this bus, the bus driver reluctantly said ok. Well, it turns out the whole party is not even there yet the are still coming from the monorail because they have been at the MK! We wait and wait for the whole party then we have to wait what turned out to be at least 20 minutes for bell services to get their luggage then the bus driver has to get off and load all these suitcases (party of 10 with at least 2 bags a piece) by the time we left we had been at the poly over half an hour (not counting the original pick up of all the Poly passengers that managed to be there on time). Well this caused several parties on the bus to miss their flights (the only reason we made it was my Dad being in a wheelchair they ushered us to the front of the TSA line) I don't really blame the Magic Express driver I blame the Poly cast member for stopping the bus. They should have been told they had to wait for the next bus or take a cab since they did not bother to be there on time for their pick up. Oh and did I mention the next Magic Express bus to show up at the poly left before ours did! And these people when the finally got on the bus moved like dead lice was falling off of them and took forever choosing seats and whining because there were not 10 seats together and mad at the rest of us because no one would move so they could sit together.

 

[daisyduckie]

The only bad thing we have ever had happen on a bus was actually on the Magic Express. We were staying at the Contemporary and the bus had come picked everyone up we were at our last pick up before heading to the airport at the Poly. Everyone was loaded bus door closed starting to pull away Poly cast member comes running up knocking on the door. the driver stops opens the door they have a family that is supposed to be on this bus, the bus driver reluctantly said ok. Well, it turns out the whole party is not even there yet the are still coming from the monorail because they have been at the MK! We wait and wait for the whole party then we have to wait what turned out to be at least 20 minutes for bell services to get their luggage then the bus driver has to get off and load all these suitcases (party of 10 with at least 2 bags a piece) by the time we left we had been at the poly over half an hour (not counting the original pick up of all the Poly passengers that managed to be there on time). Well this caused several parties on the bus to miss their flights (the only reason we made it was my Dad being in a wheelchair they ushered us to the front of the TSA line) I don't really blame the Magic Express driver I blame the Poly cast member for stopping the bus. They should have been told they had to wait for the next bus or take a cab since they did not bother to be there on time for their pick up. Oh and did I mention the next Magic Express bus to show up at the poly left before ours did! And these people when the finally got on the bus moved like dead lice was falling off of them and took forever choosing seats and whining because there were not 10 seats together and mad at the rest of us because no one would move so they could sit together.

I hope you wrote a letter or e-mail complaining once you were home. That should not ever happen! It only took me one trip back to the airport that seemed to take forever, and now I use a town car. I will use the bus to the resort if I am not in a hurry, but if I have plans, or am taking a short trip, I pay for a car.