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Express Transportation - The Most Magical Experience at WDW
- Thread starter Chef Mickey
- Start date
ratherbeinwdw
Well-Known Member
I too would pay much more for this service. We had our car, and still think it well worth the price. We only needed it one day, so we paid the much higher price. One of the members in our group didn't want to do it, but did it anyway to stay with the rest of us. After using it four times in one day, he was hooked.
They have exact times they leave each park, so you don't waste time waiting for buses. You know exactly when to be there. You just don't realize how much time you save not having to leave the park to walk to the buses or to your car, and how much time you save not going through bag check.
The rain policy is that if there is lightening close enough that the cm could be in danger--the ones who check your magic bands and sell the passes--then they stop service. Those cms stand outside and escort you to the bus.
I hope they have it our next trip. I'll plan my park hopping better to utilize it more. This trip we did more hopping between uni and wdw. That's why we only needed it one day.
They have exact times they leave each park, so you don't waste time waiting for buses. You know exactly when to be there. You just don't realize how much time you save not having to leave the park to walk to the buses or to your car, and how much time you save not going through bag check.
The rain policy is that if there is lightening close enough that the cm could be in danger--the ones who check your magic bands and sell the passes--then they stop service. Those cms stand outside and escort you to the bus.
I hope they have it our next trip. I'll plan my park hopping better to utilize it more. This trip we did more hopping between uni and wdw. That's why we only needed it one day.
It's $29/person for SEVEN days...making it ~$4/day per person. You are forced to buy either 1 day for $19 or 7 days for $29. For long stays, it's a no brainer.
ratherbeinwdw
Well-Known Member
If you have an ap, it's 59.00 for the summer.
I'm guessing you mean the service should/could be better if it were free or that the normal bus experience could improve to be as good? My thought is pretty much anyone can afford it in its current form if they want to do it. If you can't afford another $29/person for 7 days, probably shouldn't be at Disney.
I don't think anything at Disney can be this good for everyone. The reason it's good is because it's not overcrowded. To me, it's amazing the current bus system works as well as it does as there are thousands of people in constant motion.
They have to tightly control this so it doesn't become a regular bus pickup for people and there are huge queue lines for it. If it becomes popular enough to completely fill a bus and even force people to stand, I think it becomes unmanageable. You'd lose the ability to leave right on time and finish boarding process in 2 minutes. Then it loses its value.
I also don't think Disney wants a lot of people moving around backstage because it gets unmanageable. Currently, there are only 2-8 people walking in a line, but it's very unstructured. No ropes, no pathways, just kind of walking back there to the bus.
I am definitely in the minority, but I love exclusive experiences you can pay for to get real value. The price of this definitely needs to be higher as I can't see it not becoming more popular. I just hope Disney doesn't hesitate to make it whatever price it needs to be to stay this efficient.
Raineman
Well-Known Member
If you are a park hopper, this is a no-brainer to me, and I will definitely be using this during our next trip. One question-I saw the pickup locations at each park, and, using Google Maps, it's easy to see how each point gets used as a bus stop, except for the one at DAK. The WDW site says the pickup spot is near the Dawa bar entrance, but I couldn't see a parking lot or access roads in this area from the aerial shot-where exactly do you get on the express bus at DAK?
The normal transport system should be improved.
I think as an included service, it is about as good as you can make it besides bus frequency. Don't you agree it's pretty decent for what it's tasked to do on a daily basis? I've been to WDW A LOT and rarely feel like, "WOW, this bus is taking forever to get here." You could run more buses, but that's only an incremental improvement. Unless you can absolutely schedule bus times and reduce crowds, I'm not sure anything makes it dramatically better on the large scale.
I'd like to hear specifics on how to realistically improve it on a mass scale. Anything you do for the masses is still going to have its downside because so many people will use it.
I think what they've done with Express is what they needed to do to improve the bus system. The only thing I'd do is add resort express transport for an additional fee.
RustySpork
Oscar Mayer Memer
This seems like a no-cost service they could provide to everyone.
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Ditch the busses. Management have admitted the busses are a finite method of transport. And that was in the last decade. They've know for decades they need another system. But I'm not about to get into a monorail expansion discussion.
The Empress Lilly
Well-Known Member
The parks are a theater. They have an opening act, and it is not arriving in a backstage parking lot.
flynnibus
Premium Member
- Accurate ETA information
- Mobile based lookup of ETAs and travel times
- Better demand tracking leading to better matching of capacity to real-time demand
- Optimizing bus routes to separate from non-bus traffic
- Better handling of the ECV issue
- Covered bus stops at all locations
- Wifi on buses
Should I continue? WDW is far far from optimal when it comes to their mass transit.. and its not for lack of available solutions.
While everyone loves to point out WDW is like a city - It's bus service SUCKS compared to major cities with good service.
Raineman
Well-Known Member
They could make it free, but then all they would be doing is moving the park hopper bus crowds from the bus shelters to the pickup points inside the parks, which they probably do not have room for backstage. Almost all of the upsells at WDW are way too overpriced, but this one is the only one that is reasonable. $27/person for a week of unlimited express park hopping? I am a cheap son of a .... but even I wouldn't mind paying that amount for that service. Now, if they were to jack it up to north of $40 or $50, then I would be saying no.
RustySpork
Oscar Mayer Memer
Yeah, that's a good point. I'm more interested as an option on an annual pass to not have to go all the way out of the park to change parks. Maybe just bundle it with the top tier AP. Just about any day I'm in a park, I avoid hopping because it's such a pain in the rear.
The ETA thing might be something they could implement, but I think you just open yourself up to a lot of complaining if the info isn't exactly right. It could create new problems because people will try to time it more.
WiFi is a non factor to me and not a bus issue. Covered bus stops need to happen, but more of an infrastructure issue, not exactly a problem with how buses operate. ECV is about as quick as it will ever be unless they start doing ECV buses, which I think could work with some creativity.
The other things you mention I don't see as major issues. I think they have good bus only lanes and I think the the waiting for a bus issue is minimal. I never feel like I'm waiting too long for a bus, honestly. I think we are just in disagreement on how well the system current works. The only issue I have is how crowded they are and kind of unpredictable on timing. They solved it with express, but I don't think that solution is possible on a mass scale because you have inherent problems when moving a lot of people.
No WAY you can say their bus service "sucks" compared to major cities. I live in a top 5 city and the bus service is a total joke, no comparison to Disney. I don't just say that anecdotally either. I used the bus service for years communting downtown to work and it's AWFUL. I remember thinking I wish Disney ran this service.
I've used subways in NYC, Boston, and extensively used public transport in DC...all are a joke. The only public transport that's been good in my experience is overseas.
If the solution is teleporting people back and forth, I'm all for it. I agree the bus is a flawed system, which is why I don't think "improvements" to the existing system really dramatically change anything.
The best thing they can do is what they are doing now. Charge something for super on time and exclusive service. The express transportation is 100% perfect besides the lightning issue where they stop running it for safety reasons. If you can explain to me why they do that, I'd love to know (the other buses run in bad weather).
I know you're being facetious, but there reason it works is because there are so few people. The minute it starts getting super popular, you have the issues you have right now...it can't become a second regular bus process.
No, the 3 transportation systems they've proposed over the years would have been more than a start.
Maybe it's another upcharge to run these busses in a storm?
I was told it's for insurance reasons because guests are in "off stage" areas that puts Disney at risk for accidents to guests occurring off stage. Not sure if that's true.