Express Transportation - The Most Magical Experience at WDW

[DuckTalesWooHoo1987]

It's $29/person for SEVEN days...making it ~$4/day per person. You are forced to buy either 1 day for $19 or 7 days for $29. For long stays, it's a no brainer.

We usually stay 9 to 10 days and only have the DVC annual pass. It IS a park hopper TECHNICALLY but I'm assuming it's not eligible for this deal. I totally agree that that's a good deal for what you get though. Would still love for it to service resorts as well.

 

[Movielover]

Not if the hoods are made from black plastic bags...

Still too expensive, they would instead just knock you out with a baseball bat... I mean a "Mickey's Fun Stick". After rendering you unconscious they will chuck you in the back of a van and take you to your next park where you will wake up having been "magically" transported without seeing any of that undesirable, totally-cool-to-see behind the scenes areas. So in short you still get the quick transport times and the Pixie Dusters get a well deserved "reality check" to the head. Everyone Wins!

 

[DisneyPan]

So, are the windows on the bus blacked out, so you can't see backstage areas once traveling on the bus? That could be a cool idea to make it more immersive and less "transport-like".

I love the idea and can't wait to try it. Being a former CM I think it's brilliant, but I'm not so happy about guests seeing backstage areas. Also, I don't like guests starting their visit in the middle of a park. Each park is a story that unfolds starting at the entrance. Despite all that, I think it's a great idea and hopefully they develop the idea depending on its popularity.

 

[Movielover]

Also, I don't like guests starting their visit in the middle of a park. Each park is a story that unfolds starting at the entrance.

Yeah but if you re-watch a movie you have seen plenty of times do you skip the trailers at the beginning to get to the good stuff quicker?

 

[DisneyPan]

Yeah but if you re-watch a movie you have seen plenty of times do you skip the trailers at the beginning to get to the good stuff quicker?

You're so right. And that's why I think it's a great idea, for those of us who have seen these movies a million times.

 

[mrerk]

We usually stay 9 to 10 days and only have the DVC annual pass. It IS a park hopper TECHNICALLY but I'm assuming it's not eligible for this deal. I totally agree that that's a good deal for what you get though. Would still love for it to service resorts as well.

You are defiantly eligible for this. AP's are park hoppers.

 

[Chef Mickey]

So, are the windows on the bus blacked out, so you can't see backstage areas once traveling on the bus? That could be a cool idea to make it more immersive and less "transport-like".

I love the idea and can't wait to try it. Being a former CM I think it's brilliant, but I'm not so happy about guests seeing backstage areas. Also, I don't like guests starting their visit in the middle of a park. Each park is a story that unfolds starting at the entrance. Despite all that, I think it's a great idea and hopefully they develop the idea depending on its popularity.

No blackout...you can see everything perfectly. It's pretty amazing actually.

I agree with you on the point about the parks telling a story from the entrance, but this service is probably going to be used by people who have been to WDW quite a lot. I love WDW as much as anyone and have no problem skipping Main Street on a hop from another park. I'll walk down Main Street other times.

 

[Phonedave]

Is it strange that I would pay $29 per person for this when my wife and I go for 4 days in November for F&W, but I think I will pass when the whole family (us + 3 kids) goes for a week over the summer?

I think it is because when we go as a family, we do a lot less hopping - those kids slow us down (even the 18 y/o) - I don't think we would get the value out of the $150 for the trip.

However, when my wife and I go for F&W we find ourselves going to one park for a certain attraction we want to do, but then shooting over to EPCOT for F&W. Sometimes we ever want to go a a different park, but we don't because we have a reservation for a ticketed event at F&W and don't want to risk missing it. This service would go a long way to allowiing us to schedule much tighter over those 4 days.

-dave

 

[bhg469]

So, are the windows on the bus blacked out, so you can't see backstage areas once traveling on the bus? That could be a cool idea to make it more immersive and less "transport-like".

I love the idea and can't wait to try it. Being a former CM I think it's brilliant, but I'm not so happy about guests seeing backstage areas. Also, I don't like guests starting their visit in the middle of a park. Each park is a story that unfolds starting at the entrance. Despite all that, I think it's a great idea and hopefully they develop the idea depending on its popularity.

Thats a very smart way to think about things. These decisions are the brain child of bean counters and not the imagineers that truly want this to be an immersive vacation. The me me me people can have their back stage views because its clear they aren't interested in a truly immersive experience. They are just happy to pay to offset the shortcomings of Disney's transportation system.

 

[DuckTalesWooHoo1987]

I started thinking about this and it hit me. I wish that this could also take you to your resort but since we are members at BLT couldn't we just take this to the MK and then walk over like we always do? Or does it drop you off to where you would still have to walk really far to get back to the entrance of MK and then start the walk to BLT?

 

[jloucks]

Thats a very smart way to think about things. These decisions are the brain child of bean counters and not the imagineers that truly want this to be an immersive vacation. The me me me people can have their back stage views because its clear they aren't interested in a truly immersive experience. They are just happy to pay to offset the shortcomings of Disney's transportation system.

I think it is far less immersion compromising than the grand hordes of people swarming the regular buses like a bunch of sweating orcs.

 

[larryz]

I started thinking about this and it hit me. I wish that this could also take you to your resort but since we are members at BLT couldn't we just take this to the MK and then walk over like we always do? Or does it drop you off to where you would still have to walk really far to get back to the entrance of MK and then start the walk to BLT?

Hence my comment about the advantage of using this service while staying at an Epcot-area resort.

In the MK, it drops you back by CoP/Buzz Lightyear.

 

[bhg469]

I think it is far less immersion compromising than the grand hordes of people swarming the regular buses like a bunch of sweating orcs.

Maybe if there were enough regular busses/drivers, it wouldn't be an issue though... Even less so with multiple forms of transportation

 

[DuckTalesWooHoo1987]

Hence my comment about the advantage of using this service while staying at an Epcot-area resort.

In the MK, it drops you back by CoP/Buzz Lightyear.

Yeah and then I assume you would have to walk back to Main St to the exit wouldn't you? I mean there's probably not an alternate exit they would let you use if you were actually walking to BLT? Also you could use it for quick monorail access if you needed to since it drops you right there at Spaceship Earth.

 

[IMFearless]

If the solution is teleporting people back and forth, I'm all for it. I agree the bus is a flawed system, which is why I don't think "improvements" to the existing system really dramatically change anything.

The best thing they can do is what they are doing now. Charge something for super on time and exclusive service. The express transportation is 100% perfect besides the lightning issue where they stop running it for safety reasons. If you can explain to me why they do that, I'd love to know (the other buses run in bad weather).

Could it be that during bad weather there is generally mass exodus from the parks and they need all the vehicles they can get to help transport the damp masses back to their hotel rooms?

 

[Chef Mickey]

Could it be that during bad weather there is generally mass exodus from the parks and they need all the vehicles they can get to help transport the damp masses back to their hotel rooms?

Possibly, but I think it has to do with backstage issues with guests.

 

[newhorizons1]

After reading your review I am very intrigued by this pass. We park hop every day that we are there, but honestly we've stuck to driving our own car to the parks because bus transportation is just awful. This would eliminate a lof of the problems that we have with getting from park to park. However, I don't think this would be a wise purchase for our next trip this November. We will be traveling with our son, who will be 15 months old during our visit. That means we will be going to the resort throughout the day to let him rest. Otherwise, I think this would be well worth the cost for us to try.

 

[Phonedave]

Hence my comment about the advantage of using this service while staying at an Epcot-area resort.

In the MK, it drops you back by CoP/Buzz Lightyear.

We thought about this when we were just down there last week, but the service does not start until later in the day, so it is not useful in the morning if you are trying to get to a different park. We were at Boardwalk, and if we could have walked through EPCOT and then rode to a differet park, we would have tried it, but the morning timing did not work out. It would have been great to do bag check and metal detector at the International Gatway every morning, and then be deposited directly in whatever park we were going to. but since EPCOT does not open until 9:00 AM, and then you are looking at a 10:00 AM bus at the earliest, you are not getting to another park until much too late.

-dave

 

[Sundown]

I purchased the Express Bus for a week for $29.99. I actually only ended-up utilizing it once! D'oh! But I knew that going in. I wanted the ability to more quickly get from park to park if I needed it.

But...one little gripe. The last bus left early from the Magic Kingdom to Animal Kingdom EMH! It was supposed to leave at 11:00PM. I actually ran to the pick-up and got there right before 11PM and there was no one there. I ran out the back exit and saw the tail-lights of the bus leaving, along with some castmembers leaving for the night.

I looked at the time and it left a little too early. No biggie. I know watches can be off a minute or two. And it was for the better, as leaving for the hotel at that time was the best idea.

 

[MOUSEGIRL]

For those of you that have used this how long was the bus rides from park to park? say from Animal kingdom to Magic Kingdom ?

I love the idea of skipping baggage check, the long walk from the bus stop to the actual gate and not being stuffed into a bus.