New Monitors - Contemporary Bus Stop

[Jahona]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but Port Orleans Riverside bus stop near the lobby has this in place as of a few weeks ago.

It has been. the Riverside sign has been there for a while now. Issue with that sign is since it's the last bus stop, if the bus fills up they never make it to the South Bus Stop by the lobby. You then watch the sign go from almost arrived to 20 minutes later.

 

[MGMBoy]

Thankfully, the budget allows for these new fangled horseless carriages, like a huffmobile. So similar to those snap on electric lights.

What will they think of next?

I hear Schwartz got one of those new Huffmobiles.

 

[Wags14]

It has been. the Riverside sign has been there for a while now. Issue with that sign is since it's the last bus stop, if the bus fills up they never make it to the South Bus Stop by the lobby. You then watch the sign go from almost arrived to 20 minutes later.

Oh I very much noticed that. I almost think that was because the Riverside bus did "arrive" at the resort, it just chose to go the other way around the resort to pick-up or drop off guests at the other stops. Which brings up a whole other slew of issues with Riverside busing, which I wont bring up here... yikes... lol.

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

I've stayed at Bay Lake many times since opening and am actually at WDW now... I wish I could go back in time and check but I don't recall them being there before.

Other resorts such as AKL (Kidani) and Port Orleans have had these but most still don't. I was at both Saratoga and Polynesian stops today and neither had the screens.

AKL has it? Awesome? Are they accurate?

 

[Unplugged]

I'm sure any displays at Wilderness lodge will simply show "TBD" for all the times so they're never wrong. We get the wost level of consistency on buses there. (Still love being at WDW, just need to take a deep breath and dash of salt before I go wait for a bus.)

 

[Next Big Thing]

AKL has it? Awesome? Are they accurate?

Kidani does, not sure about Jambo. And yes, it was almost pinpoint accuracy.

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

Kidani does, not sure about Jambo. And yes, it was almost pinpoint accuracy.

Great! It's been a couple of years since we were at Kidani. Love that resort.

 

[Marlins1]

Does Yacht Club have them yet? Will be there in mid-August.

 

[CJLove79]

Me and my girl are staying at the Contemporary this coming October so this is slammin news. I was wondering how we'd know when the buses are coming. I read that they're this and that amount of minutes going to this park or that park but that means nothing to me & I'm a NY'ker. LOL. At least back at home, we expect and KNOW the buses and trains will be late cause they ALWAYS late. Disney World is a totally different ball game for us cause I've learned very quickly that you MUST have timing on your side or else you won't have a great vacation. Great job Disney putting them bus monitors in, now put the same tech into your App and I'm sure all of us will be in transportation heaven. LOL.

 

[note2001]

I'd like to see these in place at the parks one per resort station, showing the arrival times for multiple buses when there are multiples on the road. This would greatly help those who cannot really stand make the determination whether to get on an already crowded bus and try not to keel over, or wait it out and be one of the first on the next bus to arrive.

 

[wdizneew]

I'm pretty sure they are aware of this. Rumors were floating around awhile back about such an app being tested. I'm guessing it's one of many items on the list for enhancements to MDE, but probably not as high priority as fixing bugs first.

The cast members who work at the various bus stops in the morning carry a tablet with an app showing the expected arrival times for the buses. It wouldn't hurt to ask them when a bus is expected to arrive.

The reason the bus system is so inconsistent sometimes is due to unexpected demand. Yes, Disney keeps track of crowds but it still isn't great at tracking where guests want to go each day (not everyone is booking fastpass+ so far in advanced). There's also the huge Brazilian tour groups which can inundate the bus system but Disney has no idea where they want to go until they get to the bus stop. If it's a big group (over 72 of them plus the regular guests waiting for the bus), the cast member must radio the bus ops to send in a standby bus. ECV(s) loading and full buses skipping stops is another issue that can delay bus service.

 

[GrumpyFan]

The cast members who work at the various bus stops in the morning carry a tablet with an app showing the expected arrival times for the buses. It wouldn't hurt to ask them when a bus is expected to arrive.

There's also the huge Brazilian tour groups which can inundate the bus system but Disney has no idea where they want to go until they get to the bus stop. If it's a big group (over 72 of them plus the regular guests waiting for the bus), the cast member must radio the bus ops to send in a standby bus. ECV(s) loading and full buses skipping stops is another issue that can delay bus service.

The two CMs at the bus stops (Grand Flo & Poly) that we encountered were only carrying clipboards, and seemed to be recording bus arrival times, and the number of people who got on. They could only tell us how long the last bus to the destination we were headed, had been there.

Are you sure about the Brazillian tour groups? Do they typically stay on property?

 

[Jahona]

Are you sure about the Brazillian tour groups? Do they typically stay on property?

Oh yes they stay on property. I was at POR a week ago and had at least 3 different tour groups staying. I think that may factor into my issues with the buses at POR not making it to the South Bus Stop.

 

[kdouglas97]

The next step should be to give guests the ability to select which bus they are going to get on using their magic bands at the bus shelter. This way transportation would know that there are 50 people at the first bus shelter waiting to go to the Magic Kingdom and could dispatch another Magic Kingdom bus to service that resort. There's nothing worse than being the last stop and watching full buses go by.

 

[GrumpyFan]

The next step should be to give guests the ability to select which bus they are going to get on using their magic bands at the bus shelter. This way transportation would know that there are 50 people at the first bus shelter waiting to go to the Magic Kingdom and could dispatch another Magic Kingdom bus to service that resort. There's nothing worse than being the last stop and watching full buses go by.

It's not a bad idea, but, IF they've made FP+ reservations, or dining reservations, the system should be able to determine where they're headed, by using the same technology they have in the BoG restaurant that allows them to determine where you're sitting.

 

[wdizneew]

The two CMs at the bus stops (Grand Flo & Poly) that we encountered were only carrying clipboards, and seemed to be recording bus arrival times, and the number of people who got on. They could only tell us how long the last bus to the destination we were headed, had been there.

Are you sure about the Brazillian tour groups? Do they typically stay on property?

Not all the CMs have tablets (GF already has the monitor so no need for a tablet). However, all of them are required to write down the bus arrivals and wait times. This is to make sure that the bus intervals are tracked on paper (mostly for the CM's benefit). They only need to write down time of arrival and bus #, and whether the bus goes full. The key is that buses should be arriving every 20 mins or so. If they clock about 22 mins since the last MK bus arrived, the CM should be radioing another CM for more information on the buses. Then there's a whole other level of management that the CMs go through to make sure bus service goes as smooth as it can. Yes, there are flaws with the bus service but improvements have been implemented that have made it run far better than it did 5 years ago (even though some of you may say otherwise).

Brazilian tour groups have been inundating the All Stars and POR resorts in recent years! They figure it's a better experience to stay on WDW property AND there's free bus service. No need to charter a bus.