Bus kiosks thingies!

[ToTBellHop]

Am I missing something? How would this stop non resort guests from using the buses?

I get the part about scaning your card and putting the number of guests in your party to tell dispatch to send a bus, but how does that prevent a non resort guest from coming up and just standing behind you or running up when the bus arrives? If you run to catch a bus that has just arrived and is off loading and loading it wouldn't make sense for you to swip your card at the kiosk would it?

Maybe I'm just slow and missing something.

they certainly could do this, but have you ever been the only one at a bus stop? I certainly have (often at mid-day). If you were a freeloader at mid-day, you'd be waiting awhile, and that ought to deter some people. I could see them further into the future introducing the system discussed above whereby you would need to scan your Key to the World at bus entry, too.

 

[Eyorefan]

they certainly could do this, but have you ever been the only one at a bus stop? I certainly have (often at mid-day). If you were a freeloader at mid-day, you'd be waiting awhile, and that ought to deter some people. I could see them further into the future introducing the system discussed above whereby you would need to scan your Key to the World at bus entry, too.

I have been. I have also waited up to 20 min. for a bus mid-day. I would love a system that would help buses come faster, I just don't see this cutting down that much on non resort guests.

I totally see the argument for the buses to only serve resort guests, especially as they add more and more rooms with DVC and other things, but I just don't see this as cutting down on freeloaders.

 

[jasondiff]

Also, park hopping does not entitle you to use of the busses. The official policy in fact is your parking pass is good at any park on that day and you should drive from one park to the other when you hop.

If this is now the case, then it was a change in official policy sometime after 1996. Prior to that date all of the park hopper tickets actually stated on the reverse that the bearer is entitled to use of disney transportation between the parks and to/from the marketplace.

 

[jasondiff]

So I guess Disney dosen't want people staying off-property going to their resorts for lunch. Unless they have a way for people with ADRs at a resort to get a bus from the parks then there will be alot of people just skipping their ADRs. But I guess with the "Free dining plan" they might not want people eating at the resorts?

Which resorts have restaurants that accept ADRs for lunch? Other than the temporary addition of Chef Mickey's lunch during the free dining promotion period, I don't think there are any restaurants at resorts that you would need ADRs for lunch.

 

[JML42691]

Which resorts have restaurants that accept ADRs for lunch? Other than the temporary addition of Chef Mickey's lunch during the free dining promotion period, I don't think there are any restaurants at resorts that you would need ADRs for lunch.

Although you don't need them at most places, all of Disney's resturaunts (parks and hotels) have ADR available. On our last trip we booked Boatwrights at Port Orleans & Ohana at the Polynesian, on our coming trip in August we booked Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary, Boma at AKL, Cape May at Yacht and Beach Club, and Ohana at the Polynesian. We do this because for our last trip we always had a party of nine (Mom, Dad, Grandmother, 4 sisters, 1 brother, and myself). On our next trip we will have a party of 10 the first four days (Mom, Dad, Grandmother, Mom's friend, 4 sisters, 1 brother, and myself) and 14 for the second four days (same as before but with Dad's co-worker, his mother, and his two daughters). We do it to help ensure that we will be able to sit.

 

[Vernonpush]

Which resorts have restaurants that accept ADRs for lunch? Other than the temporary addition of Chef Mickey's lunch during the free dining promotion period, I don't think there are any restaurants at resorts that you would need ADRs for lunch.

We've made ADRs for Boma, Grand Floridian Cafe, Whispering Canyon Cafe, and a few others I can't remember for lunch in the past. I think that most Disney Resort Sit-down Resaturants take ADRs.

 

[ImaYoyo]

Only one of those you mentioned are open for lunch. The rest are breakfast and dinner.

But as far as the answer to the question, Olivias at OKW, Turf Club at SSR, All of the restaurants at the boardwalk minus spoodles, All of the food court areas (the Mara, Food and Fun center, ect), The Grand Floridian Cafe, Kona Cafe *YUM!*, The Pepper Market, Boatwrights, The Concourse Steakhouse, The Yacht Club Galley, Whispering Canyon Cafe, Trails End Buffett (I think I hit most of them) are all open for lunch and take (many times require) an ADR.

Although you don't need them at most places, all of Disney's resturaunts (parks and hotels) have ADR available. On our last trip we booked Boatwrights at Port Orleans & Ohana at the Polynesian, on our coming trip in August we booked Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary, Boma at AKL, Cape May at Yacht and Beach Club, and Ohana at the Polynesian. We do this because for our last trip we always had a party of nine (Mom, Dad, Grandmother, 4 sisters, 1 brother, and myself). On our next trip we will have a party of 10 the first four days (Mom, Dad, Grandmother, Mom's friend, 4 sisters, 1 brother, and myself) and 14 for the second four days (same as before but with Dad's co-worker, his mother, and his two daughters). We do it to help ensure that we will be able to sit.

 

[Kman101]

Color me confused but I heard they stopped letting folks park at DTD and ride to the parks on busses? I don't see how they can but I guess they did. I've never tried so ... can anyone shed more light on this?

 

[niteobsrvr]

If this is now the case, then it was a change in official policy sometime after 1996. Prior to that date all of the park hopper tickets actually stated on the reverse that the bearer is entitled to use of disney transportation between the parks and to/from the marketplace.

A whole lot of things have changed since 1996. Ticket media no longer carry the statement of entitlement of which you mention.

The change in policy is also one of the reasons they wanted to eliminate the park to park buses fro the transportation and ticket center. Too many outside hotels busses were just dropping their guests off at the TTC and instructing them to take a DIsney bus on the final leg of their journey.

Can you imagine the complaints Disney had to deal with in this situation even though they had nothing to do with those outside bus companies?

 

[JML42691]

Color me confused but I heard they stopped letting folks park at DTD and ride to the parks on busses? I don't see how they can but I guess they did. I've never tried so ... can anyone shed more light on this?

It was never "stopped" because it was never allowed. This and along with the U-turn are ways to dodge paying for parking. It isn't possible to prevent as of right now because a guest can easily head into the marketplace and hop on a boat to SS, OKW, POR, or POFQ and then catch a bus from there or just catch a bus from DTD. The only way to prevent it would to make guests pay for paking at DTD or to make all guests traveling on Disney transpostation from DTD swipe their card.

I'm not sure if this point was made before, but what if these scanners were only placed at DTD boarding areas for the busses and boats. This would be less expensive than having scanners installed on every bus to check whether somebody is actually a hotel-guest. All Disney would have to do is post a "warning" sign at the hotel areas for boarding a bus going to DTD reminding them to remeber their room cards as they will be nessesary to take transportation back to the hotel. Just place one of these scanners at the end of each bus boarding queue at DTD and when the bus gets to the stop have the driver man the machine while guests swipe their cards. They could also do this at the boat dock and just have the boat assistant man the scanner when guests board. This would seem like the simplest way to prevent guests from getting free parking at DTD, just don't let them leave on Disney transportation. Otherwise they would have to catch a cab (which would cost more than the $7-10 to park). Another improvement that I would like to see at the bus stops is a sign that says how long until the next bus arrives for whatever destination, or what time it will arrive. It would make waiting for a bus that much more less stressful rather than attempting to read the marquee signs from 1/2 a mile away just to find out it is not your bus. They could install those "pucks" in the ground that communicate with busses to estimate how much longer until the next bus, or just use GPS.

 

[clarkstallings]

Thanks for the illustration jasondiff.

 

[ThumpersThought]

This rumor won't die.

There are no guest kiosks being installed for bus transportation. There are cast kiosks being installed for bus driver dispatching -- but these will all be backstage.

Disney Transport will continue to be available to all.

 

[jasondiff]

Only one of those you mentioned are open for lunch. The rest are breakfast and dinner.

But as far as the answer to the question, Olivias at OKW, Turf Club at SSR, All of the restaurants at the boardwalk minus spoodles, All of the food court areas (the Mara, Food and Fun center, ect), The Grand Floridian Cafe, Kona Cafe *YUM!*, The Pepper Market, Boatwrights, The Concourse Steakhouse, The Yacht Club Galley, Whispering Canyon Cafe, Trails End Buffett (I think I hit most of them) are all open for lunch and take (many times require) an ADR.

Thanks for the official word. Can you really make ADRs for food courts? If I make and ADR and there are no tables open at the food court, who should I complain to?

I still think the easiest way to prevent people from parking at DTD then taking Disney transportation to the parks is to utilize a ticket/pay system which will give the driver 3 hours free parking or charge $10 for over 3 hours unless your ticket is validated by one of the shops at DTD. This will eliminate any incentive to park at DTD while not being an inconvenience to those people shopping at DTD. And even those people parking at DTD all day then buying something just to get the ticket validated will still be putting $$ into Disney's pockets.

 

[jasondiff]

A whole lot of things have changed since 1996. Ticket media no longer carry the statement of entitlement of which you mention.

The change in policy is also one of the reasons they wanted to eliminate the park to park buses fro the transportation and ticket center. Too many outside hotels busses were just dropping their guests off at the TTC and instructing them to take a DIsney bus on the final leg of their journey.

Can you imagine the complaints Disney had to deal with in this situation even though they had nothing to do with those outside bus companies?

Everything you said I agree with. An interesting side note is that although current ticket media no longer say anything about transportation, pre-1996 ticket media is still valid if it has days left on it.

Don't outside hotels still have to drop off passengers for the MK at the TTC? They could still tell them to take the monorail to Epcot from there too, so they've got 2 parks covered with one stop. Maybe this is the reason no monorail expansion is happening!!!

 

[niteobsrvr]

Yes, It makes sense for Disney to provide transportation to guests staying in their hotels.

The outside hotels often arent honest with their guests about transportation and the drivers they use don't always adhere to their schedules.

I can't count the number of times guests have showed up at TTC for their 10pm bus back to their off site hotel only to wait there 45 mins to find out it had come and gone at 930.

 

[Krozar]

Parking at DTD is annoying because of the small confines there. But to label off-site guests going from park to park via Disney bus as "freeloaders" is being really elitist. Shuttling between phases/gates of a park is standard practice. Plus, most of us CMs are too poor to share these elitist ideals unless they just frikken nuts. Personally, I rather respect some of the ingenuity. If there is such a machine, it will probably work with the Disney IDs as well just as fastpasses do, but I doubt that is their purpose.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Parking at DTD is annoying because of the small confines there. But to label off-site guests going from park to park via Disney bus as "freeloaders" is being really elitist. Shuttling between phases/gates of a park is standard practice. Plus, most of us CMs are too poor to share these elitist ideals unless they just frikken nuts. Personally, I rather respect some of the ingenuity. If there is such a machine, it will probably work with the Disney IDs as well just as fastpasses do, but I doubt that is their purpose.

it's roughly as elitist as those of us that believe only those paying to stay at a Resort Hotel should be sleeping in a bed at a Resort Hotel and only those paying to stay at a Resort Hotel should swim in one of their pools. It is certainly not elitist when you are the one paying $300/night for a room, and some of that money is paying for said freeloaders. Nothing comes free, and to me, the ingenuity to cheat a system is not impressive at all. It's tacky and trashy.

 

[MojoMax]

it's roughly as elitist as those of us that believe only those paying to stay at a Resort Hotel should be sleeping in a bed at a Resort Hotel and only those paying to stay at a Resort Hotel should swim in one of their pools. It is certainly not elitist when you are the one paying $300/night for a room, and some of that money is paying for said freeloaders. Nothing comes free, and to me, the ingenuity to cheat a system is not impressive at all. It's tacky and trashy.

Great Response! I couldn't add more!!

 

[Krozar]

it's roughly as elitist as those of us that believe only those paying to stay at a Resort Hotel should be sleeping in a bed at a Resort Hotel and only those paying to stay at a Resort Hotel should swim in one of their pools. It is certainly not elitist when you are the one paying $300/night for a room, and some of that money is paying for said freeloaders. Nothing comes free, and to me, the ingenuity to cheat a system is not impressive at all. It's tacky and trashy.

Nice term to use for visitors of WDW.


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

 

[kcnole]

park to park buses should be available to all who come to the parks. I can't imagine wanting to park hop if I had to drive from location to location. Now I could see them requiring a key to get to the hotels or to use the stops at the hotels, but I don't see any situation where I would agree with limiting who can use the buses to get from the MK to MGM for example.