Eddie Sotto's take on the current state of the parks

[Eddie Sotto]

We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge a few months ago and completely relied on resort-transportation and found it to be the opposite of what you described. :shrug:

I guess when it comes to these sorts of things, you always have experiences on two completely different ends of the spectrum.

I have not taken the busses in many years, but maybe they made them more direct and solved the timing issues. That would be great. I recall hours of waiting for busses and feeling my vacation was being eaten by waiting around.

 

[wdwmagic]

I have not taken the busses in many years, but maybe they made them more direct and solved the timing issues. That would be great. I recall hours of waiting for busses and feeling my vacation was being eaten by waiting around.

It depends which hotel you are at. And strangely enough, the deluxe resorts are getting more and more indirect. If you stay at the Yacht or Beach Club, your route to a park can sometimes look something like - Yacht Club, Beach Club, Boardwalk, Swan, Dolphin --> park.

With the Art of Animation Resort adding another 2000 rooms, the problem is going to get bigger soon enough.

If only Disney had a few billion $ hanging around to completely address the transit situation at WDW.

 

[Master Yoda]

I have not taken the busses in many years, but maybe they made them more direct and solved the timing issues. That would be great. I recall hours of waiting for busses and feeling my vacation was being eaten by waiting around.

Several years ago I did some rather informal time studies regarding driving vs buses. During a years worth of trips (roughly 30 days on property) I timed both driving and taking buses to the parks. I started a stop watch when I closed my resort room door and stopped it when I reached the line at the turnstiles regardless of the mode of transport. For the most part the buses were faster going to MK and the other 3 were about a wash. One little wrinkle that I added about half way through this project was asking my wife at the end of each trip to estimate how long it took and she would almost always give a longer time for bus travel vs. car travel. (ie bus really took 20 minutes she estimated 30. Car trip would take 20 minutes she would guess 15) Because the buses involve a fair amount of inactivity and in most cases multiple stops the old adage "A watched pot never boils" really seemed to come into play.

IMHO perception seems to be as much of a problem if not more of a problem than actual travel times. The simple fact is that when you are busy time will pass much more rapidly. When all you have to do is sit and stare at your watch it drags. One thing Disney could do to fix this is to bring elements of the interactive queues from the parks to some of the bus stops and buses.

 

[jt04]

It depends which hotel you are at. And strangely enough, the deluxe resorts are getting more and more indirect. If you stay at the Yacht or Beach Club, your route to a park can sometimes look something like - Yacht Club, Beach Club, Boardwalk, Swan, Dolphin --> park.

With the Art of Animation Resort adding another 2000 rooms, the problem is going to get bigger soon enough.

If only Disney had a few billion $ hanging around to completely address the transit situation at WDW.

I'd like to suggest it could be done substantially cheaper than you suggest and pay for itself within 10 years. I shall reveal a plan that could do just that. And no, it does not involve thousands of segways. :lookaroun:lol:

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Several years ago I did some rather informal time studies regarding driving vs buses. During a years worth of trips (roughly 30 days on property) I timed both driving and taking buses to the parks. I started a stop watch when I closed my resort room door and stopped it when I reached the line at the turnstiles regardless of the mode of transport. For the most part the buses were faster going to MK and the other 3 were about a wash. One little wrinkle that I added about half way through this project was asking my wife at the end of each trip to estimate how long it took and she would almost always give a longer time for bus travel vs. car travel. (ie bus really took 20 minutes she estimated 30. Car trip would take 20 minutes she would guess 15) Because the buses involve a fair amount of inactivity and in most cases multiple stops the old adage "A watched pot never boils" really seemed to come into play.

IMHO perception seems to be as much of a problem if not more of a problem than actual travel times. The simple fact is that when you are busy time will pass much more rapidly. When all you have to do is sit and stare at your watch it drags. One thing Disney could do to fix this is to bring elements of the interactive queues from the parks to some of the bus stops and buses.

Interesting study. I agree that the dwell time in the bus scenario constantly reminds you of what you are NOT doing. the notion that you are on an expensive vacation stopping at all the places you don't want to go, waiting for people that are not there, etc. only adds to the inner anxiety.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Disneyland now has to have the only valet parking system for theme parks in the known theme park industry. Although, again, I'm sure they never planned it to devolve into that. It's just they planned and operated the structure so cheaply and poorly that the smart folks don't have any other option but to valet the car at Downtown Disney. :lol:

Are you saying Disneyland Resort is the only place where people use valet to park their cars on the way to the parks? If so, that is not true. Universal Orlando has valet parking. To make things better, Valet Parking is included in a Premier Annual Pass, so all I pay is the tip at the end of the day.

 

[ChrisFL]

Are you saying Disneyland Resort is the only place where people use valet to park their cars on the way to the parks? If so, that is not true. Universal Orlando has valet parking. To make things better, Valet Parking is included in a Premier Annual Pass, so all I pay is the tip at the end of the day.

Actually Universal Orlando and DLR are very similar in the layout these days, both have 2 theme parks within walking distance, an entertainment/shopping/dining area and large parking structures...so it's not surprising that both offer Valet.

 

[KevinYee]

I also hear both extremes from people: those who love the bus experience (you can sit back and relax!) and those that hate it because they lose so much time. Personally, I want Eddie's vision of a real Progress City. Can't we just take PeopleMovers from park to park, or hotel to park? Of course it would take a long time - but it's a PeopleMover! What's not to love?

 

[ToTBellHop]

I also hear both extremes from people: those who love the bus experience (you can sit back and relax!) and those that hate it because they lose so much time. Personally, I want Eddie's vision of a real Progress City. Can't we just take PeopleMovers from park to park, or hotel to park? Of course it would take a long time - but it's a PeopleMover! What's not to love?

I wouldn't love leaving my Animal Kingdom at 2 pm for my dinner reservation at the Magic Kingdom...and at least when a bus breaks down, you can just transfer to another bus. Personally, I'm waiting for

 

[DisneyLeo18]

It depends which hotel you are at. And strangely enough, the deluxe resorts are getting more and more indirect. If you stay at the Yacht or Beach Club, your route to a park can sometimes look something like - Yacht Club, Beach Club, Boardwalk, Swan, Dolphin --> park.

With the Art of Animation Resort adding another 2000 rooms, the problem is going to get bigger soon enough.

If only Disney had a few billion $ hanging around to completely address the transit situation at WDW.

This is what bothers me. I haven't experienced waiting an unacceptable amount of time as some have suggested, but the numerous stops bother me.

I stayed at the yacht club last year, and was shocked how many hotels the buses stopped at. Also when the bus is making more stops, there will obviously be longer lines and more crowded buses.

 

[cblodg]

It depends which hotel you are at. And strangely enough, the deluxe resorts are getting more and more indirect. If you stay at the Yacht or Beach Club, your route to a park can sometimes look something like - Yacht Club, Beach Club, Boardwalk, Swan, Dolphin --> park.

With the Art of Animation Resort adding another 2000 rooms, the problem is going to get bigger soon enough.

If only Disney had a few billion $ hanging around to completely address the transit situation at WDW.

On our recent trip, it looked as though the S&D resorts were removed from the Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach Club loop. We took a bust from BC a couple of times to the parks and DTD (stayed at SSR) and it only seemed to stop there, BW and YC. Plus, the signage at MK showed them separated. Maybe just for MK though? :shrug:

This is what bothers me. I haven't experienced waiting an unacceptable amount of time as some have suggested, but the numerous stops bother me.

I stayed at the yacht club last year, and was shocked how many hotels the buses stopped at. Also when the bus is making more stops, there will obviously be longer lines and more crowded buses.

Staying at SSR, we had a 30+ wait for every park bus and DTD. Luckily we stayed in the Paddock building that was nearest the Congress Park stop and we just walked over to DTD. I don't know why, but SSR has to be one of the worst resorts when it comes to waiting for buses.

 

[flavious27]

I also hear both extremes from people: those who love the bus experience (you can sit back and relax!) and those that hate it because they lose so much time. Personally, I want Eddie's vision of a real Progress City. Can't we just take PeopleMovers from park to park, or hotel to park? Of course it would take a long time - but it's a PeopleMover! What's not to love?

It hasn't been done on a large scale before. I also wonder what the cost per mile would be compared to the monorail, along with the capacity per hour.

 

[flavious27]

On our recent trip, it looked as though the S&D resorts were removed from the Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach Club loop. We took a bust from BC a couple of times to the parks and DTD (stayed at SSR) and it only seemed to stop there, BW and YC. Plus, the signage at MK showed them separated. Maybe just for MK though? :shrug:



Staying at SSR, we had a 30+ wait for every park bus and DTD. Luckily we stayed in the Paddock building that was nearest the Congress Park stop and we just walked over to DTD. I don't know why, but SSR has to be one of the worst resorts when it comes to waiting for buses.

They do the same grouping with the all star resorts, 1 bus for 6k rooms. :brick:

 

[TP2000]

I have not taken the busses in many years, but maybe they made them more direct and solved the timing issues.

They didn't, and they haven't.

The point about the time tracking of both buses and rental cars to get around WDW was a good one. I can fully appreciate that I wan't wasting a whole lot of extra time by being at the mercy of the WDW bus system during my Animal Kingdom Lodge stay. But the experience as a whole; the waiting, the neck-straining to see if those headlights are our bus, the shuffling and jostling, the intimate seating with people I wouldn't want to sit next to at a dinner party, etc. makes it seem much longer.

It would be nice if they could upgrade the buses themselves to be more like a Tokyo Disneyland level of service.

I generally stay at the Tokyo Bay Hilton, a "Good Neighbor" hotel on the Resort Monorail loop. But they have buses that take you to the parks also, or that take you the 150 yards from the Hilton lobby to the monorail station. The Tokyo Disneyland buses are gorgeous retro-modern vehicles inside and out, totally unique, and operated by flawlessly gracious and efficient Cast Members in immaculate uniforms, right down to white gloves and starched pillbox hats.

Tokyo Disneyland Resort is a great example of Disney designing and operating a fun and efficient bus system.

 

[ChrisFL]

I really like those buses as well, at least from the outside, but do they have room for everyone's strollers and ECV's like WDW has?

The current WDW fleet is about as special as, well, nothing at all really makes it special.

I had some family members visit a few weeks ago, waiting for a Disney bus and they were talking about how many Disney buses were in the fleet. I was guessing about 120, but someone else said 200 buses. Does anyone know the actual number?

 

[Admiral01]

I really like those buses as well, at least from the outside, but do they have room for everyone's strollers and ECV's like WDW has?

The current WDW fleet is about as special as, well, nothing at all really makes it special.

I had some family members visit a few weeks ago, waiting for a Disney bus and they were talking about how many Disney buses were in the fleet. I was guessing about 120, but someone else said 200 buses. Does anyone know the actual number?

I believe the exact number, at least as of this summer, was like 211 buses in the WDW fleet. It was around 210. I wrote it down, but I have lost my notes.

 

[trs518]

It is truly amazing the size of Disney's transportation fleet, buses, boats, and Monorail, that they allow anyone to use without a fee. I know we pay for it in some way when we're there, but there is no obvious fee.

 

[EmperorMilenko]

I believe the exact number, at least as of this summer, was like 211 buses in the WDW fleet. It was around 210. I wrote it down, but I have lost my notes.

Could be far off but in my trip earlier this month, I recall hearing a cast member say there were over 300 busses in the WDW fleet

 

[ChrisFL]

I've thought for a while that Disney should use some kind of Personal Rapid Transport between the hotels and parks, but most of the systems are too new and haven't been thoroughly tested.

 

[TinkerBell9988]

Just stumbled upon this great post on a blog that I frequent:

http://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2010/12/third-queue.html

Its about queue lines and theming... I know, I'm a few posts behind! But I thought I'd share.