Express Transportation starting Dec 7th

[Mawg]

Wait, what is park hopper? What is the up charge for Park Hopper for? If you gave away park hopper for free then transpiration costs would sky rocket. The up charge for Park Hopper should be to discourage everyone from park hopping and to cover transportation costs of those that do. Now, they are going to charge for transportation again.

Will more people buy it if they offer worse service to the rest?

To me this sounds like, We will make them pay more for good service because we cannot offer good service to everyone else already paying quite a bit. Who comes up with this stuff? I hope some media article rips this apart. It's like Disney is admitting failure but that they will fix it for you if you pay more.

It's like a phone company saying this is your fee for service and if you ever have a problem and need to call us expect bad service but if you pay us more each month you can get right through to our customer service department and we can fix your problems right away. But know in advance that you will get screwed if you do not pay us more.

 

[Magic Feather]

This is one of many upcharge plans that have been in planning forever and are now being put into action. Expect MK's stop to be from the bypass or in Tommorowland (old galaxy theater). I believe AK's is suppossed to be near Harambe Theater. Other than that, I do not know to much. I would expect near TT for EPCOT and RnRC for HS but I have no info on those.

 

[WDWBryan]

This is very interesting. Would probably do it once just for the backstage aspect.

MK is probably gonna be a drop off next to the town theater.

Not sure about the others

Hollywood studios rockin roller coaster? cant imagine driving all the way around and dropping off next to sids

 

[FerretAfros]

I have to wonder what sort of headways they'll be operating. Even with buses ~20 minutes apart (which is perfectly reasonable when compared to most big city transit systems), I've never seen them so full that I couldn't board for mid-day park hopping. I can't see noticeably shorter headways for "express" transportation being feasible. Other than bypassing security and any walking within the park, I don't see how this will be any faster than traditional transportation

I also wonder how popular this will really be. Guests already have to pay $60 extra for park hopping capability, and they expect that there are people who want to pay another $14-24 per day for improved transportation?

I am really surprised that we have not seen some sort of upcharge related to the FastPass system yet.

I can only assume this is because 3 parks don’t have enough FP capacity to give out extras. If you start to sell 4th and 5th FPs, many guests won’t be able to get their standard 3 (not to mention that most of those FPs aren’t particularly useful). This is what happens when they focus on decreasing wait times without any focus on actually increasing capacity

 

[ryguy]

True most public transportation allows for standing, which boggles my mind. I would argue that most city buses don't go as fast as Disney buses. They have many more stops and the traffic doesn't allow for high speeds. No matter where you are, standing in an aisle of a moving vehicle is unsafe.

 

[GlassHalfFull]

24$ for multiday use during times like busy busy weekends may be worth it.. I may do it next year if/when we go, I will not wait on the dock for 2 boats to go from DHS to Epcot again, or 2 monorails from Epcot to get to TTC/MK at the end of the night.. this 24$ would be well worth my hour total that we wasted waiting for that second boat to get there and then have issues with people taking forever to unload etc at Swan and Boardwalk.. will also save my mother in law a significant amount of walking time on her bad knees. I may actually use this money grab that I normally would be up in arms about.. 15$ a day.. no bueno.. 24$ for my trip tho.. not too shabby..

 

[GlassHalfFull]

This is very interesting. Would probably do it once just for the backstage aspect.

MK is probably gonna be a drop off next to the town theater.

Not sure about the others

Hollywood studios rockin roller coaster? cant imagine driving all the way around and dropping off next to sids

there is already a nice bus turnaround for events behind the international gateway.. so I'd assume this will be dropoff in Epcot..

 

[Kevin_W]

After thinking about this for a minute, if they don't remove the amount of normal buses, this doesn't bother me. Takes more people away from existing buses and shortens the lines at security and the main entrance.

 

[deeevo]

Not very many people do park to park unless they are trying to squeeze multiple parks in a day or two. The issue is the horrendous bus service from the resorts. Although I was at WL last weekend for 2 nights and the bus service was great. Stayed a night in October at Coronado and it was horrible. I always wondered if the deluxe resorts get preferential treatment over the moderates and value's. I have noticed that at deluxe resorts have a cast member at the bus stops to answer questions and to call buses if needed. Never noticed them at moderates or value's unless I missed them.

 

[CastleBound]

While 15$ honestly isn't a huge price, I still find this to be super disappointing. Disney is really trying to exclude people at this point and aim towards the elite. It's happening more and more every day. I hate the fact that they actively make normal guests feel like second class when we don't pay for upgrades like this. If I'm standing outside of a park, waiting in a huge line for my bus, I will forever be hating myself for not spending the extra money for me and my family to get around quicker.

 

[ford91exploder]

Disney boasts that one of the benefits to staying "on property" is the complimentary transportation. I'm guessing they've been inundated with complaints of the complimentary transportation being horrendous. Instead of actually correcting the inefficient transportation problem it appears that they've come up with this awful solution.

Slight correction, Fixing the transportation network would cost money and anger Disney's REAL customer Wall St. So they came up with this which makes extra money and further hurts the transportation system for the 'poors' as buses were withdrawn from the 'poor pool' to facilitate transportation for the 'Wall St Dad's' yes that is Disney's new target market for WDW.

 

[xdan0920]

Just when you think they have run out of things to monetize....

 

[Andrew C]

this idea....makes even me say good grief...

 

[GhostHost1000]

why don't they just build a new transportation system like a monorail or some of the trams/trains they use at airports or bigger cities to move guests throughout their resort property


oh yeah... I forgot money and actual planning to make something work efficiently is involved nevermind

 

[ford91exploder]

I think Disney is monetizing everything they can. And if they COULD monetize FP, they would. But there really is no way to do that with the capacity they have currently. And new stuff coming in 5 to 10 years won't help either since 1) there's not enough and 2) they will likely have closed enough other stuff by then it will be a wash.

Don't worry monetizing FP's will come soon enough, It will happen when TDO needs a big revenue bump, Why else did TDO test TSMM as FP only in 2015 the only possible reason was monetizing FP access to 'Premium' attractions. Disney no longer CARES about the 'base' ticket holder.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

So, what's to keep TDO from further degrading the "regular" transportation to the point that this becomes "Standard Operating Procedure" for guests?

 

[Hakunamatata]

Just when you think they have run out of things to monetize....

When money no longer exists.

 

[ford91exploder]

And to the Disney management, it is seen as a win, with resources being used to their fullest capacity.

I knew we were in trouble here when reports came out saying one of the suits (maybe Staggs?) had visited the parks and remarked at how some of the attractions with short lines needed to be better utilized. His goal was to fill those lines. Unfortunately, it never occurred to him that would put him at cross purposes with a positive guest experience.

He understood perfectly well that was at cross purposes with a positive guest experience, The reality is he did not CARE about a positive guest experience his goal was a positive FINANCIAL experience for Wall St who are Disney's REAL customer and the ONLY one they care about these days.

 

[xdan0920]

actual planning to make something work efficiently is involved nevermind

The cornerstone that the resort was built on. Kicked to the curb in favor of fleecing guests.

 

[ford91exploder]

This is very interesting. Would probably do it once just for the backstage aspect.

MK is probably gonna be a drop off next to the town theater.

Not sure about the others

Hollywood studios rockin roller coaster? cant imagine driving all the way around and dropping off next to sids

Near the farmstand in DHS where they do the DVC pickups and dropoffs