How could Disney Enhance the Bus Ride experience

[juniorthomas]

Something that could potentially make the bus slightly more fun and would cost next to nothing: theme each bus individually to some Disney property - ride, film, character, etc.

It doesn't have to be anything over-the-top or expensive, just something simple. Not a huge paint overlay on the exterior, but rather simple banner graphics above (in the slots normally reserved for ads for the next Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie, etc.). If they want to spend slightly more money, they could pipe in the soundtrack from the film or ride while you're traveling from place to place. Each bus would have its own unique identity, rather than its current theme of "generic infrastructure."

Each bus you get on the trip would have a different theme, and you could look forward to guessing what you might get next. One could be a Haunted Mansion bus, another could be a Winnie the Pooh bus, and so on and so forth. Imagine riding on the Space Mountain bus, with a star field overhead and the music from the Star Tunnel playing quietly in the background.

Think how much fun it is to guess what monorail color you're going to get next. Or what animal you'll get on the tail of your Frontier Airlines plane. I think it would be kinda fun.

Fantastic idea! It's so simple too. That is to say, the idea isn't rocket science, and wouldn't take years to figure out. I hope they do something like this. They did the tronorail, imagine a tron-bus!

 

[juniorthomas]

Require all riders to bathe and use deodorant before getting on board would be a start.

That should go for just about anywhere.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

Posting the estimated time of arrival for the next bus would be a great idea, and not that hard to implement. Most of the subway stations here in NY have that now, and it's incredibly helpful.

 

[daveo43175]

If you're on property, you're going to ride Disney buses. In my experience, those bus rides are probably the least Disney-esque part of being at WDW. Anyone have any ideas as to how they could spruce them up, either thematically or in any other way, to make them less of a drag?

I have always thought Disney has missed a golden opportunity on their transit system. Why are there not monitors telling guests about event schedules or ride closures or an advertisement about Disney restaurants. Something that would make visitors want to eat at a higher end place rather than a grab and go burger shack. When it come to sales, a captive audience is a precious thing.
It just surprises me they have never done things like this.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Posting the estimated time of arrival for the next bus would be a great idea, and not that hard to implement. Most of the subway stations here in NY have that now, and it's incredibly helpful.

Thats something that would be very useful. You show up at the bus stop and have no idea how long it's been since the last bus left, wondering how long a wait it's going to be. Or there are times I think that I would like to run back to the room and get something I forgot but I don't because I might miss the next bus.

 

[cinderellafan6]

I rode a bus one time and the bus driver interacted with us. He played trivia games with us and it was great. I knew all the answers so thats probably why I liked it so much

 

[Rowdy]

Posting the estimated time of arrival for the next bus would be a great idea, and not that hard to implement. Most of the subway stations here in NY have that now, and it's incredibly helpful.

And then the one time it's late, for whatever reason, ed off guests in the masses, complaining because the sign lied.

 

[CaptainJackNO]

And then the one time it's late, for whatever reason, ed off guests in the masses, complaining because the sign lied.

True, verrrrry True....lol.

Seems that's a bad enough problem, already. Don't need to add to it.

 

[juniorthomas]

I have always thought Disney has missed a golden opportunity on their transit system. Why are there not monitors telling guests about event schedules or ride closures or an advertisement about Disney restaurants. Something that would make visitors want to eat at a higher end place rather than a grab and go burger shack. When it come to sales, a captive audience is a precious thing.
It just surprises me they have never done things like this.

Truth.

 

[CP_alum08]

Why stop at upgrading the busses? Lets replace all the benches in/around property with those messaging, leather recliners.

Call me crazy, but isn't the point of a bus just to get you from point A to point B?

 

[CP_alum08]

I have always thought Disney has missed a golden opportunity on their transit system. Why are there not monitors telling guests about event schedules or ride closures or an advertisement about Disney restaurants. Something that would make visitors want to eat at a higher end place rather than a grab and go burger shack. When it come to sales, a captive audience is a precious thing.
It just surprises me they have never done things like this.

The only people riding the busses (supposedly) are people staying on property. As soon as you turn the TV on in your room, exactly what you said comes on. Seeing it in one place is enough.

 

[Theosus]

I rode a bus one time and the bus driver interacted with us. He played trivia games with us and it was great. I knew all the answers so thats probably why I liked it so much

I've had that experience. Was very nice. He could even do the character voices very well. Now they just sit and drive and push the "welcome to magic kingdom, as you exit the vehicle, please collect your belongings, watch your head and step, and take small children by the hand." the only thing missing is the "por favor mantanganse alejado de los puertas" phrase from the monorail.

I wish they would add a swipe system, to ensure resort guests only get on. Maybe one swipe per adult, instead of everyone, so you aren't having to swipe four kids cards.

I also wish they would revamp the electric granny rule. Nothing sucks like waiting thirty minutes for a bus, only to have the bus, as well as an electric granny vehicle arrive at the same time (with her ten family members in tow), all hop the cue line and get on first. I understand loading the ECV first, and maybe letting on one handler, but everyone else should have to get in line.

I only used the bus once this trip. Hated it. I figured out several ways around the bus system that seem to work much better.
Drive. Never had a line to wait in at the three newer parks. For MK I just park at contemporary or Polynesian and take the monorail. Of course, I plan a dinner at said resort that night so I have the right to be there, I'm just there eight hours early.
I drive out at night, and my daughter waves to the sardines packed in the bus. My SIL showed me two years ago driving is faster. We would leave at the same time, she would drive and we would do the "mad bus dash". She beat us to the resort Every Time!

 

[aka_emilicious]

That was a fairly sizable discussion a month or so back. This would bottleneck the system more than it already is. The last thing that needs to happen is dealing with people hunting and digging for their room cards.

That's very true! I would probably get annoyed with people "not in the know" and digging for room cards. I usually go during off times, so my main problem is waiting a long-ish time for a bus to arrive. That or I have terrible luck, lol.

 

[CaptainJackNO]

Why stop at upgrading the busses? Lets replace all the benches in/around property with those messaging, leather recliners.

Call me crazy, but isn't the point of a bus just to get you from point A to point B?

LOL....true. Shows how spoiled we can get. lol

 

[10Magic]

Wait Time Board For Buses

I agree with a few previous posts about some sort of system to let you know when the next bus will come. Sometimes you get to the bus stop and within seconds the bus is there. Other times, you wait a half-hour, when you could have been doing something else. Why not have a board up (similar to the wait times at the attractions) reading "Next Magic Kingdom Bus: Aproximately 8:50". I know circumstances (breakdowns, wheelchairs etc.) could throw things off, so maybe a sign showing when the LAST bus departed from the stop could be an alternative. SOMETHING to keep you somewhat informed would be better than nothing.

 

[sambres8]

"let us do the driving - you'll be home soon"

I must have heard Jimmy Buffet's "Margheritaville" 10 times on my last trip to WDW (played it on the ride back to OKW). I like that they start playing the music en route to the resort, it's a nice touch. Though I totally agree, WDW could totally capitalize on the transit system. People on the busses would be willing to listen to anything. Plus, it'd be nice to be briefed on goings on around the parks anyway.

 

[goofntink]

Would you rather we spend money on improving the current bus fleet with what everyone is suggesting,or adding to it and improving wait times? We have in the past 2 weeks put 35 brand new busses into service (#'s 5023-5058) and will have an additional 45 in service by September (will have 100 total new by the end of the year).

The company does use the busses for advertising.On the back of the buses there are signs for DVC,and the inside of the buses have advertising for movies Dvc and other Disney product overhead.

By the way there have been Company and I.T. people on property in past 2 weeks looking at the monorail and bus fleet talking about putting monitors in the monorails and buses for showing Company advertising and commercials such as DVC and Disney Vacation Planning. Will also include Disney cartoon short clips and park videos and such if they do it. Believe someone posted seeing some of them on one of the monorails.

Wanted to add we did a couple of years ago try some different paint schemes on 4 RTS buses. They were painted different colors with different theming,but it proved to be too expensive.We are looking at possibly doing something similar using vinyl wrapping as was done for the Tronorail since we use that same product for the signs for DVC applied to the back of the buses as I mentioned above. They are exploring either contracting it out or doing it in house thru Central Shops.

 

[CaptainJackNO]

Would you rather we spend money on improving the current bus fleet with what everyone is suggesting,or adding to it and improving wait times? We have in the past 2 weeks put 35 brand new busses into service (#'s 5023-5058) and will have an additional 45 in service by September (will have 100 total new by the end of the year).

The company does use the busses for advertising.On the back of the busses there are signs for DVC,and the inside of the busses have advertising for movies Dvc and other Disney product overhead.

By the way there have been Company and I.T. people on property in past 2 weeks looking at the monorail and bus fleet talking about putting monitors in the monorails and busses for showing Company advertising and commercials such as DVC and Disney Vacation Planning. Will also include Disney cartoon short clips and park videos and such if they do it. Believe someone posted seeing some of them on one of the monorails.

I believe there are a few newer buses that have T.V.'s on them. Aren't there?

 

[goofntink]

I believe there are a few newer buses that have T.V.'s on them. Aren't there?

No none of them do. The ones you maybe are thinking about are the Maingate buses for the Downtown Disney area resorts such as the Hilton and Double Tree on Hotel Plaza, or the Cruise Line and Magical Express. Those all have T.V's on them, and the Maingate buses are not our buses.

 

[mp2bill]

They could add some TVs and play old school Disney cartoons to keep the kids entertained.

Like it

By putting the money in the parks and not the transit.

Negative Nelly

Disney could have a monitor showing where the next bus is, and some indicators telling us a new bus has been sent. They already have an impressive computerized dispatch system. There could be a phone app too.

Like it

theme each bus individually to some Disney property - ride, film, character, etc.

they could pipe in the soundtrack from the film or ride while you're traveling from place to place. Each bus would have its own unique identity, rather than its current theme of "generic infrastructure."

Each bus you get on the trip would have a different theme, and you could look forward to guessing what you might get next. One could be a Haunted Mansion bus, another could be a Winnie the Pooh bus, and so on and so forth. Imagine riding on the Space Mountain bus, with a star field overhead and the music from the Star Tunnel playing quietly in the background.

Like it

I would really 2nd the idea of some sort of ETAs for the buses. Knowing if you just missed one or how long you have, to go to the bathroom or get something to drink, would be awesome.

My thoughts exactly. Happened to me once before...forgot a sweatshirt and didn't wanna chance running back to the room for it.

They could hire a CM for each bus (positive job growth, right there!) to lead the interactivity.

Love it. My original thought was to have characters (maybe some of the older/lesser known ones) on the buses to get things kicked off.

I have always thought Disney has missed a golden opportunity on their transit system. Why are there not monitors telling guests about event schedules or ride closures or an advertisement about Disney restaurants. Something that would make visitors want to eat at a higher end place rather than a grab and go burger shack. When it come to sales, a captive audience is a precious thing.

Makes sense.

And then the one time it's late, for whatever reason, ed off guests in the masses, complaining because the sign lied.

Well, you can't let that deter you from wanting to make something better. If they were worried about something being perfect every time, then nothing would ever get done.

Call me crazy, but isn't the point of a bus just to get you from point A to point B?

Yeah, in the same way that restaurants are just a place to eat. Why theme them to say...18th Century America, a British Pub, or an African Safari theme?

Also, the Tronorail was a colossal waste of money which everybody hated, so I think they've learned their lesson. :brick: