Exceptional Bus Drivers?

[disneydarling09]

I have noticed a decline in the past few years of fun or exceptional bus drivers.... I know that Disney had them start using the pre-recorded message but sometimes there is still that one great bus driver who is willing to give a spiel or be entertaining!

I think that is such a great expierience... having a funny bus driver when coming home from a loong day in the park! I was wondering if anyone had any stories to tell about funny/entertaining bus drivers??

 

[jorgetheviking]

I dont have one of a funny bus driver but one time we were on the wrong bus and the driver offered to take us where we needed to be at the end of her route before starting over again.

 

[jonnyc]

Bus Driver: "Please keep you arms and legs inside the ride vehicle at all times"

They proceeded to deliever an excellent spiel about Disney history, i wish i could remember there name!

On our first trip back 2000 we had a wonderful Mears bus driver for one of the shopping trips called Bill. He kept telling the kids to stay sober.

 

[julsie]

last year we had a great driver on the bus going to MK.. he was really funny and did a quick quiz in the bus where we had to shout out the answers.

 

[mwbrown]

Arms and Legs Inside

We had a great driver our last day going to MK last week, and he too said as we were approaching the security gate leaving Pop to keep our hands, arms and feet inside the ride vehicle. He then proceeded to speak for the majority of the ride, giving us the hours of operation of all the parks, the extra magic hours for that day, the route to get from MK to all the different parks, etc...

Also had a cool driver one night coming home who played WDW trivia with people the whole was home. I had a sleeping 7 year old on my lap, so didn't really participate, but it was cool.

It was really interesting to hear the guesses as WDW's daily hydro bill. People had a huge range of guesses, but none of them were even close; Disney generates some power through various methods including apparently incinerating all their grass clippings...

Anyway, other than waiting for a bus to Epcot for 30 minutes while no less than 9 MK buses came and picked up less than 10 people at a time (and the people who started jumping the Epcot line and catching the bus to MK to transfer to the monorail for Epcot), we had a good experience with the buses this trip. Even rode from Downtown Disney to the Animal Kingdom Lodge on a bus with just my family of four on it; it was like our own really big limo...

 

[RachelP6877]

we had a bus driver that made all kinds of Disney balloon animails mickey, tigger,ect.....

 

[cblodg]

I've had a lot of fun and entertaining bus drivers. But the one that really helped me out and sticks in my mind is from my last trip.

I had really hurt my back trying to pull out the pull-out couch bed that morning and I stayed behind at the resort; mind you I'm 23 but really hurt my back. My back started to feel better so I figured I'd try and meet my family at EPCOT. Well, I made it to about Morroco and had to sit down. My parents and family met me at the bench and I could barely stand all the way up. I decided to head back to the hotel and ended up using the handrails and fences all along the topiaries to get out of EPCOT.

I made it to the OKW bus stop and had to sit down on the ground as there were no benches at our stop. An All-Star bus stopped to unload at the OKW stop. I tried to stand up and just couldn't get all the way up. The bus driver was so nice and came off the bus and helped me get up. He then asked me where I was going and I told him back to OKW. He helped me get on the bus, and seeing no one at the AS stop, called the dispatch office and told them that he was going to take me back to OKW.

He was so nice to drop me off right at my building. I couldn't thank him enough!

 

[NewfieFan]

We had a great bus driver coming home (AS Music) from the MK one night! He made us all say "Wheeeee" when we went over the speed bumps and told us these were included in our ticket price! :lol: He then made everyone sing "The wheels on the bus" but he had about a dozen lines for the song. Of course the kids were loving this but the funniest line was the last one which he told all the adults to sing - "Your money on the bus goes bye bye bye, bye bye, bye..." We all laughed to kill ourselves on that ride home. He was by far the best bus driver we had the whole trip!!!

 

[RiversideBunny]

we had a bus driver that made all kinds of Disney balloon animails mickey, tigger,ect.....

How was he controllling the steering wheel?

:lol:

 

[mwbrown]

I know this is off-topic, but my favourite funny cast member from the last visit was at the end of the Pirates of the Carribbean when the cast member at the unloading area say into the microphone "Yo ho, yo ho, it's time to get out of the boat!"

My daughter was still chuckling about it an hour later...that to me is the small things that Disney does so well...

 

[tink68]

last year we had a great driver on the bus going to MK.. he was really funny and did a quick quiz in the bus where we had to shout out the answers.

I think I had this guy too one time. Very funny. :lol:

 

[kcw]

I have to say that I've never had an overly excited/happy/fun driver, but I've certainly never had a bad one. BUT (and a little OT, I apologize), I am consistently disappointed with the lack of appreciation that some people show.... I mean really, how hard is it to simply say thank you to the driver when exiting the bus?? Or to say hi or at least smile when getting on??

I think it's a bit of a cycle though- those drivers who are laughing and singing with their passengers are probably more likely to get smiles and thanks on the way out- which encourages them to keep doing that, while those who simply drive their bus rarely get acknowledged, which certainly provides no motivation to go above and beyond....

 

[Turcicus]

My wife and I were staying at PO:FQ on our honeymoon, and we had a dinner reservation at Boma. Not realizing that the Animal Kingdom bus didn't also go to the Lodge (we're much more learned now!), we hopped on. We sat near the driver and got to chatting with her, and when she discovered our situation, she said she'd take us to the Lodge if no one else boarded. Sure enough, no one else got on and she drove us right to the front door of AKL!!

 

[krankenstein]

Back in 2004 there was a set of pins I was after, each one was located at a different place on property (MGM, MK, Epcot, DtD, DAK, Contemporary and ASSP). The last one I needed was at ASSP, but we were staying at Pop. Anyway, one night we catch the ASSP bus instead of Pop and ride over to the resort. We get off and get the last pin and catch the bus again. Keep in mind that we were the only people getting on the MGM bus b/c it was close to 10 pm, anyway the bus driver looks at us and says "Why are you going to MGM, you know it is cosed, right?" We respond by saying we are going to catch the bus to Pop and told him what we were doing at ASSP. He tells us "Don't worry about getting the Pop bus, I will take you by on the way from MGM, b/c I shouldn't hav anybody getting on now." Sure enough, nobody gets on and he takes just the 3 of us to Pop.

That was one of the most magical experiences I have had at Disney. It was very cool of the us driver...I just wish I remembered his name.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We had a fun bus driver once. We were being picked up from AK headed back to Pop. Of course everyone is totally and utterly dead on their feet dragging their exhausted bodies onto the bus. As he shuts the door and starts to pull away he starts his act with, "Soooo...how's everyone feeling this evening?!" in a very overly upbeat tone. Everyone just groaned and chuckled. So the persistant driver comes back with, "Oooh..now..you all are PAYING for this FUN! Come on! Where's the Disney magic?!" He then proceeds to lead a singalong of none other than ZipADeeDooDah. It took only a few moments for everyone to get into it. Every adult on the bus was singing at the tops of their voices. It was great. Our singalong was followed by Disney jokes and other funny comments. By the time we got back to Pop we were all energized and bouncing off the bus feeling a million times better.

I think it was our Feb 07 trip we had a bus driver from MK to Pop that kept fussing at everyone as we were loading that he wanted to squeeze more people in. I'm telling you there wasn't even enough standing room after he was done. People were getting quite irrate because he wasn't paying attention to just how many folks were crammed in and the strange contorted positions they were standing it to keep making room. My family was smooshed waaaay in the back. My hubby was standing in front of me leaning waaaay over the top of me and my then 9 year old son who was sitting in my lap (and as light as he is that doesn't change that he's just big now). So the guy is griping until he's overloaded the bus, shuts the doors, turns out the lights, then wants to start a sarcastic, not-so-funny comedy spiel. We couldn't hear all that great where we were because we're sitting against the engine compartment. So we started talking with the people around us as we normally do. All was well. Then, and I still can't believe this, Mr. Bus Driver wants to Shhhooosh us. The bus got dead silent. I announced in a very loud, sarcastic tone, "I knooooow I didn't just get shooshed by a freakin' bus driver!" The bus erupts into rolls of laughter. Mr. Bus Driver wan't too happy that he was being upstaged, I guess. He continued his act after a few moments but you could tell he wasn't happy. The guy was just rude. And I thought it was a bit much that he was practically forcing people to pay attention to his lame-o act and scolding if anyone wanted to speak amoungst themselves. Grrrr!!!!:fork:

 

[BillsFanGabe]

Yeah everytime that I have gone theres at least that one bus driver who is really entertaining and fun. It's usually the older guys, they ask triva questions and talk about the park history and stuff, I like it when you get drivers like that, its great to talk with them and hear what they have to say and stuff.

 

[Pluto Princess]

About 10 years ago.... I think :lookaroun... when my sister and I were still elementary school age, my family went to MK in the middle of the day duing the off season, so we had the bus to ourselves... I remember that the bus driver just kept pretending that we were on a boat or a plane by saying things like " in case of an emergency, your seats may be used as a floatation device"... It may seem a little bit corny now, but it sure made my sister and I laugh back then!

 

[xsupaxmanxsfnex]

We had a really good one on my last trip a few weeks ago. We were all crammed in at the TTC going to DHS and he was on the speakers almost the whole time. He was asking us Trivia about animated Disney movies and he was pretty funny. All together very entertaining. I wish there were more like that. Not the ones that take their time and take 2o minutes to load a lady in a wheel chair(I'm not making fun!) onto the bus.