Buses Going Away or Pay?

[zombiebbq]

That transportation ticket still exists, it’s just worked into the cost of the hotel room and park ticket.

when has that stopped them from charging anyway? look at resort parking. it used to be worked into the cost of your hotel room, now they charge, and rates continue to climb.

 

[castlecake2.0]

when has that stopped them from charging anyway? look at resort parking. it used to be worked into the cost of your hotel room, now they charge, and rates continue to climb.

It’s just not logistically possible to confirm payment for everyone trying to access transportation. Resort parking is easy to add on to a guest folio by the front desk (not that I agree with this new charge) but when MK is doing a show dump after fireworks there is no time to check that everyone has paid to use transport.

 

[TransportationGuy]

ME is different, you have no idea how costly that is to operate. I have wondered for a long time when it was going to stop. WDW did very well before ME was ever heard of and now that they charge you to park no matter what, they figured that was going to be gravy for them, and I believe they are correct. Even if they lose some resort guest to offsite, the vast majority will rent or drive cars so they will just make money by not spending literally hundreds of thousands per year. Plus I'll bet that if one were to look and Disney's portfolio you will find that they own a couple of car rental agencies that are in MCO as well. Besides does anyone think that the cost of the "free" buses isn't already firmly in the room rates. All they have to do is add it in to that rate, how would anyone know? I don't think any two people actually pay the same rate per room. Sort of like the airlines.

Which rental companies do they have an interest in exactly?

 

[erasure fan1]

This is not true. There are no plans to remove or charge for any WDW transit.

If you think that current Disney hasn't thought or isn't thinking about how to monetize transportation, you're not paying attention. I'd put money down that they've had multiple plans to charge for transportation. Now can they find a way to do it without too much backlash? That has yet to be seen.

 

[peter11435]

If you think that current Disney hasn't thought or isn't thinking about how to monetize transportation, you're not paying attention. I'd put money down that they've had multiple plans to charge for transportation. Now can they find a way to do it without too much backlash? That has yet to be seen.

There are no plans to remove or charge for any WDW transit.

 

[Disstevefan1]

My uncle just returned from WDW. He is a passholder and goes often. He heard from a CM that the bus service between resorts and parks is either going to go away or turn into a pay service early next year. I find this concerning because the free transportation is one of the biggest perks about staying on site. I do not know if this also includes boats and possibly the monorail. Can anyone else confirm or deny this rumor?

I don’t think they will ever go away, but I fully expect them to be a pay service sometime in the future.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Which rental companies do they have an interest in exactly?

How the hell would I know? I said that "I bet", I didn't say "I know", but Disney is very diversified so they could very easily own some of them, just as an investment item. My statement about that was sarcasm, but I somehow thought that saying, "I bet" that would be obvious. My bad!

 

[M:SpilotISTC12]

I doubt they would ever do it. However I can see them raising room rates to pay it and making non resort guests tap to pay to ride. You want your "free" ride you gotta be staying on property. No more of the free loading local APs. What do you guys think Disney is, a charity?

 

[UNCgolf]

It’s just not logistically possible to confirm payment for everyone trying to access transportation. Resort parking is easy to add on to a guest folio by the front desk (not that I agree with this new charge) but when MK is doing a show dump after fireworks there is no time to check that everyone has paid to use transport.

Exactly this. It would grind transportation to a halt if they had to check every single passenger upon boarding (this is also why the Skyliner to Germany would not have worked without building a separate entrance there -- otherwise every single Skyliner rider would have had to be checked for a ticket to EPCOT).

I think they'd be more likely to just eliminate it entirely than make people pay individually for it.

 

[Andrew25]

A transportation ticket no, but charging for park to park transportation for non-resort guests or "Priority Boarding" maybe...

I'm sure some families would love to pay a lightning lane for buses in the morning (to beat rope drop crowds) or post-fireworks.

 

[HauntedPirate]

There are no plans to remove or charge for any WDW transit.

I trust this.

But… I don’t trust Bob/Josh. “I am altering the deal, pray I don’t alter it any further.”

 

[UNCgolf]

A transportation ticket no, but charging for park to park transportation for non-resort guests or "Priority Boarding" maybe...

I'm sure some families would love to pay a lightning lane for buses in the morning (to beat rope drop crowds) or post-fireworks.

The problem with that (as mentioned above) is that it would slow down bus service for everyone. If you get in a Lightning Lane for buses but then it takes 15 minutes to actually board because they have to individually check each passenger and a few people are in line incorrectly, have you really gained anything?

They could do a precheck before you get in the line, but that would require hiring hundreds of additional staff to monitor every single bus stop at WDW.

It's hard to come up with a way to make that any paid system work that wouldn't either cost Disney a ton of money (via all the additional staff etc.) or tremendously slow down bus service.

 

[Beacon Joe]

A transportation ticket no, but charging for park to park transportation for non-resort guests or "Priority Boarding" maybe...

D23 2022: "Ladies and gentlemen, we at Disney are very excited to announce that we're bringing the magic to the WDW Transportation System by bringing in Genie+ and Lightning Lane features that will revolutionize our guests' experience and further harmonize and synergize the entirety of the Disney World Resort guest experience by bringing the services they've come to know and love in the parks to the bus stations!" - Robot Chapek, likely.

 

[wdwfan22]

They are not planning to charge for the system they are planning to overhaul the current system.

 

[zulemara]

A transportation ticket no, but charging for park to park transportation for non-resort guests or "Priority Boarding" maybe...

I'm sure some families would love to pay a lightning lane for buses in the morning (to beat rope drop crowds) or post-fireworks.

Now this is a distinct possibility. Looking just at the ferry boat operation, this could be implemented in multiple ways given the new upper level gangways and the dual docking capability they have added.

monorails could do the same by reserving cars for LL ppl. Trams too…

I put nothing past this management. It’s like all bets r off and they r gonna push as hard as they can to charge more and give less.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

There are no plans to remove or charge for any WDW transit.

Nothing in life is "free". And sure, you're not paying a separate line item charge for transportation at this point. But they are charging for it. And you are paying it. Whether the budget is allocated from the ticket or the resort fee. It is being paid for.

Now, whether or not Disney comes out with a straight transportation fee, includes it in a "resort fee", or keeps it as it is - you are being charged for transportation today. Whether you use it or not.

 

[castlecake2.0]

They are not planning to charge for the system they are planning to overhaul the current system.

Something guests are going to notice or is this all behind the scenes infrastructure?

 

[castlecake2.0]

Nothing in life is "free". And sure, you're not paying a separate line item charge for transportation at this point. But they are charging for it. And you are paying it. Whether the budget is allocated from the ticket or the resort fee. It is being paid for.

Now, whether or not Disney comes out with a straight transportation fee, includes it in a "resort fee", or keeps it as it is - you are being charged for transportation today. Whether you use it or not.

I don’t think anyone was doubting that, but it is extremely unlikely that you’ll ever have to buy a “ticket” to access transport.

 

[peter11435]

Nothing in life is "free". And sure, you're not paying a separate line item charge for transportation at this point. But they are charging for it. And you are paying it. Whether the budget is allocated from the ticket or the resort fee. It is being paid for.

Now, whether or not Disney comes out with a straight transportation fee, includes it in a "resort fee", or keeps it as it is - you are being charged for transportation today. Whether you use it or not.

Yes. I don’t think anyone thinks they weren’t including transportation costs in existing ticket and resort rates

 

[Disorbust]

My opinion only. But this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce the “resort fee”. That would include all the amenities of your home resort along with unlimited use of Disney transportation resort wide. Not staying on site? No problem. You can purchase a pass through Genie. Disney is all about nickel and dime.

Winner!