Disappointed in the Disney bus service

[Raven66]

Nobody knows who DH is. You are using two letters for an abbreviation of an object, maybe a person, with no explanation. I can list a hundred abbreviations for things around Disney World, but I don't go around talking about people I know as an abbreviation.

This doesn't even make any sense. :shrug:



Anyway, we don't mind waiting for the buses. We are just so crazy excited to be at WDW. But I can definately understand others frustrations. My DH drives all the time for work so he doesn't like to drive on vacation, so that is why we use the buses and not rent a car.

 

[mickey2008.1]

As said, its free. But there are two other modes of free transportation available, monorail and boat. If you do your research, you can get anywhere within an hour. We ahve never had a problem. We are flexible and will take transportation from here to there to be on time. If you get really frustrated, just take a taxi, $13 to get anywhere on property up to 7 people. Not much too save a headache if you ask me.

 

[todai]

Just a side question...

So, if the DTD is not a good place to connect...what is the best way to get between theme parks? I thought they used to have buses running between them.

I haven't been to WDW in over 8 years...don't want to be late for my ADRs.

 

[Dayma]

The wait times have gone up over the last 5 years. I am ssuming they are running less buses due to the economy. We got used to it I guess.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Nobody knows who DH is. You are using two letters for an abbreviation of an object, maybe a person, with no explanation. I can list a hundred abbreviations for things around Disney World, but I don't go around talking about people I know as an abbreviation.

Your personal limitations in action I guess. :shrug:

 

[dreamfinder]

So, if the DTD is not a good place to connect...what is the best way to get between theme parks? I thought they used to have buses running between them.

I haven't been to WDW in over 8 years...don't want to be late for my ADRs.

They do. Most of em do at least. MK you actually have to go to TTC to get a bus to DHS or AK, or take the monorail from TTC to Epcot. But the others all have buses contecting the theme parks. The only time you should need to do a transfer other than at TTC would be if you were going from resort to resort. Those all require a transfer at a park or DTD unless otherwise connected. (Boat or monorail)

But as mentioned before, Disney does say to allow 1 1/2 hours for any ADR. This should be adequate in almost all situations.

A comment regarding long waits, it isn't always the buses. Look at how many people have scooters that aren't theirs. More often than not, I have seen someone on a scooter not have any idea how to get it into the spot on the bus to be strapped in. To the point of once I saw the guy riding the scooter, hop off, and pick it up and move it into place. (Good use of a scooter there buddy). Adding in the 5 minutes or so it takes for a scooter to be loaded or unloaded will easily throw off the schedule. Yes, some problems are their dispatching system, but not all of them.

 

[graphite1326]

What if someone came to your job at quitting time and said that to you?

They do and I do help them.

 

[ShookieJones]

Rent a car

We noticed the bus service going downhill years ago. I know everyone can't do it, but we save extra money to rent a car when we go to WDW. If you time your travel right, it's actually a lot quicker than the bus.

YES YES YES - RENT A CAR!

I know one poster said something about it costing as much to rent a car as it is to fly...but I'm guessing he meant to drive a rent the car from wherever he is flying from.

With that being said...I've never paid more than $200.00 to rent a car for 8 days (once as little as $148.00). Plane lands you Pick it up at the MCO and you begin saving yourself about 2 hours a day traveling\waiting to travel during your WDW trip.

WORTH EVERY PENNY.

You'll also save a ton of time away from these boards NOT debating how bad Disney bus transportation sux. Actually there is no need to discuss it does s*ck

 

[Phonedave]

This last time I did notice some poor bus service - normaly I am a supporter of the service.

I have no problem if it is closing time and crowds are pouring out and the bus stops are jammed. That I understand, and it can be a hetic time to dispatch and monitor line lenghts.

However last week at around 1:00 PM (NOT a busy time) My kids and I walked up to the WL bus stop at Hollywood Studios. We were the second group in line. We waited for 70 minutes for a bus to come. In that time the line stretched to over 35 people. I forget what other resorts exactly, but in that time TWO doubles and a TRIPLE came by to the stops near us. In other words we had not had a single bus in 70 minute, but the stop next to us had three come by in that time frame, at times picking up a total of 3 people. That just points to poor and inattentive dispatching. A situation like that should NEVER happen. A bus breaks down and you are delayed - sure. Driver has to change because of DOT regulations - understandable. But to have total of 4 'extra' busses pass you by while you wait over an hour is not acceptable.


As an aside. The divers don't change the marquee, it is done by the system. At least so I am told. We had a bus pull up at WL with one park on it's marquee, and most people waiting ignored it, then someone noticed the maquee had changed and everyone got on. Somone said to the driver that when he pulled in the marquee said something differet. He replied "we used to be able to change them ourselves, but now the computer does it and sometimes it takes a while to register" Maybe it was the truth, maybe he was lying to CYA, but thats what he said.


-dave

 

[Thorpyness]

I'm about to experience the service again for the first time in 12 months, so will report back, but my experience is that the time of day is a factor in the wait times.
The human factor applies in the "service is getting worse" comments. Who is saying it's getting worse from a data perspective, having actually recorded times - err...nobody (except the UG maybe, but i'm guessing they are not contributing incognito).
I've found that in 3 visits of 2 weeks over 7 years that there's no discernable difference, some times you get lucky, and sometimes you don't. The don'ts seem to be in the afternoon or when you're going against the normal people flow. I actually think the bigger resorts are better here because they create more people traffic, therefore more bus demand.

 

[mightynine]

Funny - I haven't noticed any major issues with the buses, but I always go in what's considered the value season, or off-season, or whatever the heck it's called nowadays.

And just to balance out the thread, one time I had a ADR at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and I forget the circumstances that led to this, but the Animal Kingdom bus pulled up and actually drove us to the Lodge after we explained our situation (after clearing it with dispatch, obviously). Kinda weird to have the bus all to ourselves (just two people), but a good example of customer service.

I do think Disney should have a slightly better set-up between hotels for ADRs (Disney Taxis, anyone?), especially for those coming from the value resorts, instead of making you go to DTD or another park.

 

[BrerKev]

I am a strong believer in the Rental Car route. We have rented a car the last few trips. To me, I don't mind the added expense, because it gives us the freedom to hop from resorts/parks as we want. Plus we get to avoid the insanely long line for the POP bus at park close.

Renting from Alamo at the Dolphin is convenient as we still enjoy utilizing Magical Express.

 

[DisneyJoe]

when its one of the few experiences on property that causes the majority of guests a major headache

Majority? I doubt it.

 

[raven]

And there should be an equal policy in place, if there isn't, for CMs who show up late - especially if their job is to relieve someone. Take an hour from "late guy" and give it to "stayed late guy". But the union would never let something like that happen. God forbid.

Actually they do. If someone is acked to extend their shift for any reason Disney will compensate for that. And if you show up late it's a desciplinary action as well. Not much to do with the union there.

 

[NewfieFan]

I'm usually a big defender of the bus system as well. They do move huge amounts of guests everyday and for the most part my waits have been in the 20 min. range or less...

Until this past March!!! I don't know if we were there at the wrong time or what but our whole family was commenting on it (and we're not complainers about the bussing at Disney). Every time we got in a queue it was 30 min. or more... true story! We started timing busses as well and we would see some of the same stuff that has already been mentioned. We once saw three busses come for AK (and not a soul at the bus stop). The MK stop had a line going out into the road and it was 40 mins. before a bus showed up.

And one time I was leaving DHS (and this was towards the end of the trip) and I saw a bus at our stop. So of course we take off running to "catch" it. When we get there we discover this bus has a protein spill on it :hurl: and the bus is waiting for some sort of clean up crew or something. This is totally not the bus drivers or Disney's fault but you think they would have sent another bus in this case. Nope we sat there and waited forever!!! At one point I offered to clean it up for him... he just chuckled at me... but I was serious! :lookaroun

 

[cslafferty]

I am a strong believer in the Rental Car route. We have rented a car the last few trips. To me, I don't mind the added expense, because it gives us the freedom to hop from resorts/parks as we want. Plus we get to avoid the insanely long line for the POP bus at park close.

Renting from Alamo at the Dolphin is convenient as we still enjoy utilizing Magical Express.

We actually had a car with us - we drove down from MI. We were reluctant to use the car because 1) we had never had a problem with the busses in the past, and 2)we had heard horror stories about waiting for a tram to take you to your car.

On our last day, after we had checked out of Pop and were getting ready to hit the highway back to MI, we needed to stop at DTD to pick up ears we were having embroidered for our nephew and niece. It was about 6pm and all the lots were full! My DH had to drop me off and circle the parking lot while I ran in the rain to pick up our stuff. So, I'm not so sure that driving your own car is really the answer.

Thanks to everyone who responded! Always enjoy getting feedback:wave:

 

[Goofnut1980]

I really don't want to sound crabby here but this seems to be a huge deal for some people. I think that if the buses bother you to any great extent, you might want to look into other options (i.e. resorts closer to the parks, car rentals, etc.). I'm not saying what Disney should or should not offer when I make that comment. I'm just saying that it might increase your enjoyment of the resort.



This is where I'm coming from too.

I think it would be really nice if Disney improved their bus system. Obviously, the less time we spend waiting for buses the better. But even after the discussion on this thread, I still see this as a free service that I'm not paying for. I guess that's why the wait doesn't bother me so much.

Some have said that it's included in the price of admission to the theme parks. I don't get that because I can pay the same price to go to Universal or Sea World for the day and I don't get the use of a bus system. Also, non-resort guests pay the same price to go to Disney as resort guests and the former technically don't get to use the buses.

Others have said that it's included in the price of your room. If that is the case, than the price of the room minus bus fees must be super low...at least at the Values. If I book a room at a Holiday Inn around here on the side of the road, it will cost me more than a Value room at WDW. The people at the Holiday Inn are not going to pay my bus fare to get around the nearby city. They also aren't going to pay to get me from the airport to my hotel room.

The buses to me are simply a gift, not a service that I'm paying for. Absolutely, this gift looks good on Disney and may entice people to come stay there. But it's still a complementary service. I really appreciate that the buses are there. If they didn't have them, I'm pretty sure they would still charge me the same for my room and my park tickets. I'd just have to rent a car on top of all of that.

I guess I am one of those people that gives Disney the benefit of the doubt. I think they offer an amazing product. There are areas that can be improved but I don't think they really owe me anything. I feel that I get more than my money's worth every trip or else I definitely wouldn't go back.

This could not have been said any better! I have been to the parks many times over the years and different times of the year.. and maybe once out of that whole time I have waited about 20ish minutes... But you have to understand the time of year you go and also possibly the resort you are staying.. The more guests at a resort, the more people will be using those buses... I drive usually to Disney, and if it seems like a lot of people going to the park from hotel on bus, I drive. Disney doesn't charge for you to park your car at any of the parks if you are staying on property... So why not take a tram... They run every 90 seconds... just my thought

 

[French Quarter]

Amen to that. The days of "use DTD as a Transfer Point" are effectively over - very hard to get in OR out of DTD. The best escape mechanism from DTD? Just get on ANY resort bus - whatever one happens to show up. Then do the obligatory transfer to a park buss.

Edit: Dear Wife reminded me of something we learned from a DTD CM....
It's actually a fairly short walk to one of the Saratoga Springs buss stops. This is ALSO a great DTD escape mechanism.

Also, if the timing's right, you can always catch a boat over to POR or POFQ and take a bus to the park from there.

 

[imagineer boy]

And who can forget their horrible rumor spreading? Death to bus drivers! :lol:

 

[Tom]

And who can forget their horrible rumor spreading? Death to bus drivers! :lol:

What? :shrug: