Bus kiosks thingies!

[ToTBellHop]

Nice term to use for visitors of WDW.


Nobody is claiming here that people who use the buses are swimming in resort pools.

I think you missed the point altogether. Getting a bed and getting to use pools are perks associated with paying $300/night for a room. So is using Walt Disney World Transport. What you don't pay for, you don't get. I am paying for the busses, ferries, and monorails to operate when I stay at a resort, and I expect that the only people benefitting from that would be the people paying for that privilege. The monorail at Disneyland is a ride--you pay to use it and you can't just hop on it for a ride as you please. You pay to use the monorail at TDL. WDW is no different.

You would be incredibly naive to suggest that there are not plenty of trashy guests at WDW, because there certainly are. Open your eyes and ears in the parks.

As for park hopping guests, I agree that providing transportation is a nice offering, but I don't think it is one to take for granted. Officially, they allow you to park at any parking lot after entering one of them b/c of the expectation that you would drive yourself around. If you don't like driving yourself around, that would be one more reason to book at a Disney hotel. I'm sure all guests would love to enjoy Extra Magic Hours, too, but it just doesn't work that way. You pay premium for the Disney experience outside the Theme Parks.

 

[ImaYoyo]

This thread is full of so many happy people!!!

 

[hrcollectibles]

Well considering you gotta ride either the monorail or the ferry to get to the MK from the parking lot, I don't see them doing this.

As for DTD, I would think swiping your card at a kiosk would still allow people to manage to get onto the bus anyway. It would be much easier to just show your keycard to the driver while boarding.

Not Necessarily would showing your key card to the bus driver make it quicker. Not everyone would have their key ready, the driver would have to confirm that the card is valid.I like the idea of a kiosk that you swipe your card...

 

[Fun2BFree]

If the OP correctly guessed what they were for, I'd reckon they'd break down pretty easily what with all the wear and tear it would take. And that could mean that the drivers might think that noone at resort "x" was waiting. :shrug:

 

[Krozar]

I think you missed the point altogether. Getting a bed and getting to use pools are perks associated with paying $300/night for a room. So is using Walt Disney World Transport.

NO IT IS NOT. The established rule (de facto) is that it is an open system. Why make up rules that aren't there or are merely on paper?

What you don't pay for, you don't get. I am paying for the busses, ferries, and monorails to operate when I stay at a resort, and I expect that the only people benefitting from that would be the people paying for that privilege.

Go back and evaluate that statement. So now according to your law, people staying outside WDW have to walk up World Drive to MK?

You would be incredibly naive to suggest that there are not plenty of trashy guests at WDW, because there certainly are. Open your eyes and ears in the parks.

I believe in tolerance and diversity. People have different backgrounds. I welcome everyone. Especially the children, to a magical place. Tolerance and accepting diversity isn't always easy. It's easy to label people as "trashy" because of their socialization. For example, if someone from the Tri-State area comes the the parks and is very confrontational to me, I give them a lot of leeway. They are not being "rude", that's just from the environment some people grew up in. I may even appear to be a bit rude to them in return, but in reality I am making them feel more comfortable.

It's tough sometimes, but that's the nature of this country. I grew up in an area where people would probably be labeled as "trashy" by much of the country. They are good people, just different. Due to economic differences, most would probably stay in Kissimmee or N. I. Drive. But they deserve the Mickey experience just like anyone else. The Monorail and Ferries are there for them and the buses are as well.

edit: Free of charge? no. Disney is making their money to pay for it. The people pay to get into the parks, they pay to eat there, paying for merchandise, watching ABC/ESPN's commercials, etc. Trust me, people all over the world are paying Disney plenty of money. If Disney is only allocating money for the buses from the individual resorts (doubtful) then that is something you should take up with Disney.

Of course, I am sure nobody here takes advantage of ANYTHING. I am sure none of you have ever skipped commercials on a DVR for example.

 

[niteobsrvr]

If the OP correctly guessed what they were for, I'd reckon they'd break down pretty easily what with all the wear and tear it would take. And that could mean that the drivers might think that noone at resort "x" was waiting. :shrug:

LOL, drivers thinking is exactly what they are moving away from here to combat inherent human problems with the systems. The buses are using GPS which sends location to a computer. The computer then decides who does what and where and how long it should take. Humans are only there for manual override. THey have been building this system and collecting data for at least 7 years now.

The system as it was had a lot of inefficiencies do to people making decisions about how hard they wanted to work. Under the old way, bus drivers hid, took extra breaks, took too long as they drove around etc. Ever been behind a bus on world drive doing 30 in the 45 zone? Thats a driver stretching out his trip so that he doesn't have to make as many.

Lots of other bus systems have had the same issues and they solved them the same way. GPS, computerized time schedules, and so on. In one system that I worked for, the computer would record the buses location and time at certain intersections and then compare that to the actual schedule. IF you were off by more than 2 minutes you were requrired to call a dispatcher. If you didnt call within x amount of time the dispatcher would call you.

As far as hardware goes, does your favorite ATM breakdown all the time? The technology is a lot more robust than you think.

 

[dsull87]

Yea, I'm going to have to agree with Krozar here.

It sounds like you would ban "trashy" people from Disney World if you could. That is completely ridiculous. Just because a person doesn't live up to your standards of behavior doesn't mean they shouldn't be entitled to a similar experience. More importantly, if you're spending your vacation judging people, you're kinda missing the point of a vacation.

Yes, I suppose hopping on busses is officially wrong. But are you telling me you've never cut corners? You can't take the mindset that these people are out to ruin your vacation, there is no malicious intent here. Try not being so concerned with trashy people on the bus and instead enjoy your trip to Disney.

Also, don't say you pay 300 a night for those privleges. You can get a hotel room at Disney for 100 bucks a night with the same "privleges." You pay 300 a night for a nice room with nice service.

 

[ToTBellHop]

NO IT IS NOT. The established rule (de facto) is that it is an open system. Why make up rules that aren't there or are merely on paper?

There are plenty of rules that are "merely on paper." This means Disney is giving guests the benefit of the doubt now, but there should be no expectation that it will always be the case. Disney used to give guests the benefit of the doubt on using theme park tickets, didn't they? People took advantage of this and bought tickets off eBay, so they added the biometric scanners. As technology allows Disney to better enforce its rules efficiently (no background checks on 60,000,000 guests a year), they will do so. It makes the most business sense.

 

[Krozar]

There are plenty of rules that are "merely on paper." This means Disney is giving guests the benefit of the doubt now, but there should be no expectation that it will always be the case. Disney used to give guests the benefit of the doubt on using theme park tickets, didn't they? People took advantage of this and bought tickets off eBay, so they added the biometric scanners. As technology allows Disney to better enforce its rules efficiently (no background checks on 60,000,000 guests a year), they will do so. It makes the most business sense.

If they want to do that in the future, then that's their prerogative as a business. Business like to cut corners but the same goes with many people as well, people and businesses have very similar objectives. One thing I have learned int he new and financially tighter America is the value of money, I can't afford a lot of luxuries, so I will not simply give it away. I will, never pay for parking for example. I will always find a way to not pay to park. Like a business, I have set budgetary requirements. It works well for me.

But there is no real evidence here that such a case is happening right now. It is known that there is a GPS dispatching system going into place, but so far there is nothing about requiring card scans (the only way to ensure a KTTW is valid) when stepping on a bus. If the de facto policy changes by requiring verification, then things do change. But that's also like telling people not to drive 70mph on a 70mph freeway because they may someday change it to 55mph.

FOr now, Disney apparently likes the current arrangement.

 

[ToTBellHop]

they either like it or had no reasonable policy for blocking it. Asking 60,000,000 guests a year to show their Key to the World to drivers would really slow things down.

 

[DisneyJoe]

I realize that this isn't "official" info, but from allearsnet.com : http://allearsnet.com/aa/aa052807.htm#ques3

The question was regarding someone who was staying offsite and wanted to know if the Disney buses went to their resort, part of the answer was:

"Once you are at the parks, all guests, regardless of where they are staying, are allowed to use Disney's internal transportation services to travel between the parks and Disney resorts. This would include boats, monorails, trams and buses."

 

[CBOMB]

This certainly looks like the potential to become a thread similar to the refillable mugs, and resort pool hopping threads. I just winged off an e-mail to WDW guest communications asking them to clarify if transportation was available to everyone with park tickets or if it was for people staying on property only. I know no matter what they say some people will say they got it wrong. I think most people here will accept their answer as fact. I don't know for sure what those things that Merf saw are really for. I do know that I have read about WDW trying to improve it's bus system with a monitoring device at bus stops. It could be a camera or it could be this or the whole thing could just be a rumor. Anyway it's always interesting, and fun to discuss these things.

 

[OneLuckyMom]

The fact that the funds to run the buses come out of the hotel bucket is just an accounting thing. It doesn't REALLY mean that only hotel guests are paying for them. It's just a simplification for numbers purposes based on the fact that MOST of the users are hotel guests. In reality, all money taken in goes to pay for everything: ticket fees pay in part for the buses, just as as they pay in part for the cleaning staff at the hotels. And hotel fees pay in part for the CEO's medical insurance premium. But you can't figure out what's profitable and what's not looking at the problem that way, so you have to make some broad generalizations, and one of those is that you say the buses are paid for by hotel revenues. But just because that is done to figure out budgets, doesn't mean you can say someone who stays off-site doesn't pay anything towards the buses....

 

[kurros]

I'm not keen on the guests swiping a KTTW to call for a bus idea.

Considering how many keys have to be replaced daily at our front desk locations due to magnetic strip or encoding errors I can't even begin to imagine the service recovery nightmare of having to depend on that magnetic strip to use a bus. It's one thing to have to wait in line at the parks to have guest relations punch in the entitlement number and issue a resort inconvenience day ticket. But can you imagine the panic stress of a family trying to take a bus to a princess breakfast but have trouble with their keys? Not all of the bus stops are manned.

 

[jasondiff]

The fact that the funds to run the buses come out of the hotel bucket is just an accounting thing. It doesn't REALLY mean that only hotel guests are paying for them. It's just a simplification for numbers purposes based on the fact that MOST of the users are hotel guests. In reality, all money taken in goes to pay for everything: ticket fees pay in part for the buses, just as as they pay in part for the cleaning staff at the hotels. And hotel fees pay in part for the CEO's medical insurance premium. But you can't figure out what's profitable and what's not looking at the problem that way, so you have to make some broad generalizations, and one of those is that you say the buses are paid for by hotel revenues. But just because that is done to figure out budgets, doesn't mean you can say someone who stays off-site doesn't pay anything towards the buses....

In the old days the tickets themselves actually said "Walt Disney World collects a transportation charge for this ticket as agent for WED Transportation Systems, Inc."

Much simpler accounting back then!

My problem is when billions of dollars of WDW profits are squandered to buy things like Fox Family Channel instead of being re-invested in the parks. A couple cents for a bus ride is nothing compared to that.

 

[jmvd20]

I know no matter what they say some people will say they got it wrong. I think most people here will accept their answer as fact.

I don't care what WDW says... I know that the transportation system is for all guests, not just people staying at the hotels :lookaroun

 

[PhilharMagician]

I'm not keen on the guests swiping a KTTW to call for a bus idea.

Considering how many keys have to be replaced daily at our front desk locations due to magnetic strip or encoding errors I can't even begin to imagine the service recovery nightmare of having to depend on that magnetic strip to use a bus. It's one thing to have to wait in line at the parks to have guest relations punch in the entitlement number and issue a resort inconvenience day ticket. But can you imagine the panic stress of a family trying to take a bus to a princess breakfast but have trouble with their keys? Not all of the bus stops are manned.

I have actually never seen a manned bus stop at WDW, but the resorts all have house phones around that you can call transportation if needed.

 

[CubsRock]

I have actually never seen a manned bus stop at WDW, but the resorts all have house phones around that you can call transportation if needed.

I have seen them at the resorts, but only on several instances.
1) During my entire stay at All Star Sports (late 90s)
2) Most of my stay at All Star Music. ( late 90s/ early 2000s)
3) Once at Caribbean Beach (2002)
4) Once at Port Orleans French Quarter (Nov. 2004)

 

[CBOMB]

Well I'm still waiting for a reply from WDW Guest Communications, and I'm also starting to question the creditability of them. I asked the simple question is Disney Transportation for everyone with park tickets or just for people staying overnight at a resort. So far the two replies I've received gave me links to the WDW home page, and told me to look under FAQ. I politely responded that I already had their home page bookmarked, and I could not find a specific answer to my question. I left my web address, my home address, and my cell phone#. The last time I e-mailed them was to compliment a CM on a recent visit to WDW. I received both a nice e-mail response, and a phone call. I'm sure it's just a matter of the right person getting my question. Here goes e-mail #3.

 

[Krozar]

I don't care what WDW says... I know that the transportation system is for all guests, not just people staying at the hotels :lookaroun

The official statement to be told to guests and reality are sometimes completely different things. Especially in email, which is likely to dissuade the Guest Relations CM from saying in a different tone: "but really..."


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