Disappointed in the Disney bus service

[French Quarter]

What? :shrug:

I think the poster was refering to the perception that many people have about bus drivers starting untrue rumours about changes to the World.

 

[parkgoer]

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the wait times, or if it was like this a few years ago before the decline in the bus service, but i notice the buses around here go at least 10mph slower than the posted speed limits. It's not just a few buses, it's all of the buses. Maybe a new regulation since the bad year they've been having. Combining that and all the traffic/traffic lights, That could easily increase the "20min wait time" by 10 minutes or more. But yes, I agree the bus service has gone down and this is no excuse for them to falsely advertise the wait times.

 

[IndyDisney]

I look at it this way, if you don't want to wait then rent a car.

Or bring your own. :lookaroun

I've known since I was a kid that the bus system will, at some point, cause you to be late/irritate you/cause you to have less time in the pool/have to wait an extra 10 minutes in line at an attraction. It's a nice perk to have, but having a car makes all the difference. Always have, always will. To be at the mercy of Disney Transportation, whether it be good or bad, means having to deal with someone else having the final say in your scheduling.

 

[lebeau]

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

We were there in March as well. And for the first time ever, I understood the bus complaints! It was horrible. To the point where I don't know if I can ever convince my wife to stay on property again. We will almost certainly rent a car next time. But once you shell out for a rental car, you have to start looking at off site options. When you start factoring in the savings of staying and dining off site, suddenly staying on property isn't looking like such a great deal anymore.

Disney, in the long run, if your bus service continues to slide, it's going to wind up costing you money.

 

[French Quarter]

But yes, I agree the bus service has gone down and this is no excuse for them to falsely advertise the wait times.

Maybe it would be helpful for the thread if someone posted the actual wording of this advertising from Disney. Going by my memory (which isn't always a good thing to go by), they say that the average wait time is 20 minutes. That means that there will be times when you wait longer and times when your wait is shorter.

I don't think they ever give anything resembling a guarentee that the bus will not take longer than 20 minutes to arrive. I've always read it as more of a guesstimate. So, if we had a quote from Disney, that might help in our discussion.

 

[WishIwasThere]

Bus service bad?...you guys are just realizing this now...I've yet to have a trip that hasn't had a bad bus experience in it. Ok, the last one last September, that is only because we rented a car and never used the bus.

 

[TinkerBelle8878]

The problem with the bus service boils down to two major causes, too many individual buses and (I know this won't be the popular cause but its true) too many resorts/dvcs.

I went to WDW May 09 and previous to that my last trip was back in 2000. There was a vast difference in bus service from one trip to another. I stayed at the same hotel both times so it didn't boil down to Value/Mod/Deluxe when comparing.

If memory serves in 2000, the TTC was utilized far more than it is now. You took a bus to the TTC and from there boarded a bus to your location, or you took the monorail for Epcot/MK. That is if you weren't already staying at the monorail loop/ or the epcot/mgm boatlaunches.

This drastically cut down on all the wait times and the sheer amount of bus stops at each park and hotels. It certainly only dispatched buses when there was a need and there were always buses waiting. I'm sure it also cut down on costs and pollution.

Maybe there needs to be a return to this?

There are also safety issues that I noticed more this time with packing people into the buses and major problems that would've arisen had the bus stopped short.

 

[luckyeye13]

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.

That part is indeed true. Once the journey code is entered into the computer by the driver, the destination sign will change for each leg of the journey based on a location trigger, just like the announcements. Sometimes, this trigger will not be picked up right away (or occasionally, not at all) and the destination sign will take a while to change. I've even seen where only one of the two signs (front or side) will change, with the other changing a minute or two later. On the flip side, sometimes the change will be triggered too quickly and I've heard the "Hello everyone and welcome aboard the Walt Disney World transportation system" spiel play as the bus is pulling into its load zone.

 

[Magenta Panther]

I really, really think that WDW needs to install benches at wait stops. After walking all over the parks, the last thing I need is to stand for any length of time on sore feet. Really ruins the fun. WDW could put in really long benches, like oversized church pews, in place of the railings. Walt once said he didn't want anybody to have sore feet at Disneyland. Man, what he'd think of WDW! I bet HE'D make them put in benches!

 

[captainkidd]

Biggest issue I have with the buses isn't the waiting. That tends to stink from time to time, but what I can't stand is paying all that money to stay at a Deluxe Resort, sharing buses with other resorts, and having to stand. To me, that's bull. I accept that if we choose to stay at a Value, we're not paying top dollar, and therefore shouldn't expect top of the line service. But if I'm paying to stay at the GF, I think's it's absurd that we should have to stand on the buses. Paying top dollar should trickle down to everything at the resort, not just larger rooms and more dining options.

 

[IWorkWTeeth]

I can't agree more! We totally bypass the busses. I find spending the $$ on a rental car is SO worth not having to wait for the busses. Sometimes you feel like your spending your vacation on a bus or waiting for a bus! It is a nice perk for staying at the resorts, but you have to have LOTS of patience and long-suffering! LOL!

 

[Grizzly Hall 71]

I know everyone can't do it, but if possible, rent a car. Here's why:
1. You'll be on your OWN time. Leave and go when you please.
2. You can plan better and know exactly where and how long it's going to take you to get there.
3. Once TDO notices a larger increase in rental cars they'll correct the current problems with the bus systems.

 

[Grizzly Hall 71]

Biggest issue I have with the buses isn't the waiting. That tends to stink from time to time, but what I can't stand is paying all that money to stay at a Deluxe Resort, sharing buses with other resorts, and having to stand. To me, that's bull. I accept that if we choose to stay at a Value, we're not paying top dollar, and therefore shouldn't expect top of the line service. But if I'm paying to stay at the GF, I think's it's absurd that we should have to stand on the buses. Paying top dollar should trickle down to everything at the resort, not just larger rooms and more dining options.

Not being rude, but if you don't want to ride a bus with other people who don't spend the "top dollar":
1. Rent a car.
2. Get a limo service.


I understand where your coming from, I'm a DVC member so I know about that. But the service is for everyone to enjoy together.

 

[RedBaron]

That's exactly what I think every time I'm standing there in a 200-person line (usually at MK or Epcot) while the All Star stop is empty. Why would he sit there and send bus after bus to other stops, while not sending one to ours?

I've literally been in a line for Port Orleans at the MK at closing, waiting for 5 buses before I could get on, and have seen a bus sitting at an empty stop. I've also seen two buses stacked at another overloaded stop (usually because bus #1 is picking up an ECV), while we're lucky to get one in the same time period.

I wish I were exaggerating. I wish this was just me venting because I'm too impatient. But we've been so pathetic that we've actually timed buses at our stop compared to others, and have counted buses at other stops compared to ours (we had that much time on our hands, waiting in line). I wish I could find the Times Guides we wrote our "logs" on. :lol:

This reminds me of an experience I had about 3 years ago in September with my mom waiting for the bus at Epcot going to POFQ. Literally every other resort bus stop was empty and the line to our resort had hundreds of people waiting. We had to wait for 5 buses to arrive before we finally got on a bus back to the resort. It took forever.

Also in the mornings we would have to wait at least 20-30 minutes every day sometimes 45 minutes to get the bus going to what ever park we were visiting that day (and it always seemed that the bus were were waiting for was always the last bus to show up). And then having to stop at all the bus stops at PO and then driving to the park took forever. We would get up early in the morning every day, skip breakfast to save time, and by the time we would finally get to the park it was nearly time for lunch.

My most recent trip, 3 weeks ago, I had my husband with me so we drove this time. It was fantastic. No waiting and door to door transportation service. :lol:

 

[graphite1326]

I can honestly say I have only had to wait one time in my several trips and that was at Blizzard Beach. I went last week, stayed at French Quarter, and never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a bus.

However, there has been a couple of times it seemed that the bus driver was taking the long way around. I know for a fact that once we left MK and the driver went the back way to our resort (All Star Sports). It took forever. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[Tom]

I can honestly say I have only had to wait one time in my several trips and that was at Blizzard Beach. I went last week, stayed at French Quarter, and never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a bus.

However, there has been a couple of times it seemed that the bus driver was taking the long way around. I know for a fact that once we left MK and the driver went the back way to our resort (All Star Sports). It took forever. Has anyone else noticed this?

You got very lucky with those waits!

As for the routes, there are a handful of "checkpoints" on property that each bus must pass through when heading to/from somewhere. These are the points where they radio in and get their next instructions.

So yes, sometimes it can seem like they're taking a strange route. There may also be the rare occasion when a driver misses an exit or forgets where his/her next destination is, meaning they have to circle back.

 

[ILikeDaMonorail]

Well, most of the time my family stays at the Shades of Green and because they have the buses just for the hotel theres never too bad of a wait. But, one year we stayed at the Contemporary and we had some bus issues. Nothing too bad but my parents decided that if the bus wasn't there in 10 minutes we would just take the monorail to the TTC and get a bus. I guess this could be a matter of how often a bus runs to the hotel/park.

 

[Ralphlaw]

Two things: First, bus service to/from the deluxe resorts is rarely too long of a wait. It would appear that you get what you pay for. From Downtown Disney it makes good sense to walk from the Boardwalk to Canada, but I would wilt in the August heat.

Second, I always take a cab from Downtown Disney, although taking a bus to DTD is rarely a long wait for us.

On a side not, how miserable is that August heat? I gotta say, we were there in early June for the Star Wars Weekend, and I was drying up like a stick of humid beef jerky. I can't imagine how bad August would be.

 

[worldfanatic]

I must be one lucky SOB.
Because we never seem to have problems with the bus system.
Sure, on occasion we have to wait over 25 minutes, but not very often.

I've been going to WDW for 20 years, and I really haven't noticed a major decline in bus service.
WDW has certainly gotten busier. But for the most part, bus, train and monorail service has kept up nicely.

Yep, I must be one lucky SOB.
Or............................others must be looking for things to cry and whine about.

That's OK. They can blow there money on rental cars.
Just makes Disney transportation even less crowded for me.:wave:

 

[DisneyLeo18]

Two things: First, bus service to/from the deluxe resorts is rarely too long of a wait. It would appear that you get what you pay for. From Downtown Disney it makes good sense to walk from the Boardwalk to Canada, but I would wilt in the August heat.

Second, I always take a cab from Downtown Disney, although taking a bus to DTD is rarely a long wait for us.

On a side not, how miserable is that August heat? I gotta say, we were there in early June for the Star Wars Weekend, and I was drying up like a stick of humid beef jerky. I can't imagine how bad August would be.

Being from NY it feels pretty brutal down there in August. I try to head down in August any year I can because I like to go for my birthday, but sometimes it's like walking into an oven. Ever since I went in December, I don't think I ever want to go back in the summer.

And as for rental cars, I've had one a few times while staying on-site and never drove to the parks. As long as the wait may be for the buses it's still easier I think.