New Bus enhancements in April

PoohsGang

New Member
what happened to the days when the bus drivers would talk? i remember them telling the riders about the parks.. now they just sit there..
We were there in Dec and most times we couldnt understand the drivers accents clearly enough to know if they were speaking english, I would imagine the automated speeches they have on the monorail would be the same as they would have on the buses, this would eliminate the need for clear english speaking drivers. Just a guess.
 

gsimpson

Well-Known Member
This is really too bad

Personally I have always liked the bus drivers who talk to the passengers, sing to/with the passengers, and host trivia with the passengers. Even though I have been to WDW dozens of times since 1981 I learn something new from the drivers more often than not (they do carry on conversations about things besides wild rumors you know). In order to save a buck Disney has chosen to hire more and more workers from out of the country (according to CNBC or one of the other financial television shows they are the 3rd or 4th larges consumer of L seriers visas for unskilled workers) which not too surprisingly results in people who are not Engligh speakers. Since non-English speakers who have not lived in the country more than a few months a) won't know anything to share and b) won't be able to articulate it any way we will get the same speil over and over again instead of the unique, very enjoyable, one of a kind show the bus drivers used to give. I assume all of the people that are saying this is good will forgo the ranting when Stitch comes over the spiel to talk trash about Stitch Kingdom, or my personal favorite don't forget to stop by (fill in the blank) to pick up your Pal Mickey. Just what I want when I am taking the kids back to the hotel to sleep, some marketing drech to get them going again.

Speaking of rants, mine has gone on too long.... sorry.
 

DME

Well-Known Member
I'm on the fence about a recorded spiel. I like the idea when the bus is headed from the resort hotel to the parks as you're excited and the days' just getting started but at 11pm or 12am, and I'm exhausted, it's kinda nice just to sit in the bus and relax, close your eyes abit and just unwind without being reminded by a spiel about what else there is to do in the park. I keep having thoughts of a non-stop spiel showing people going down Everest and splash mountain again and again and again. Or showing Pirates Pirates Pirates or advertising all the new stuff at the parks. We get enough of that in the room.

Don't get me wrong, I love all this stuff, it just would seem like too much at the end of a looooong day.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
I would imagine the spiels as you travel to the parks will give tons of info and, hopefully, the return spiels will just say they hope you had a magical day, yada yada yada...but I'm a bit wary that they might pull a Year of a Million Dreams ploy and decide to tell us about all of the incredible brand new attractions built just for the YoaMD, like Soarin' and LMX (they need something other than two new Nemo attractions to make us think they pulled out all the stops) and have the whole thing narrated by Stitch and he'll tell us about all the churros he's been giving up so guests could have their greatest dreams fulfilled. After all, "you couldn't have picked a better time to visit."
 

Teenchy

Member
This was bound to happen. We all read more and more posts and unfortunately have more and more experiences with cm's that are not as high quaility as the old days. Not to mention the earlier post about more non-english speaking or someone with a bit of an accent working in positions that need communication with guest.
What is the easiest way to solve the problem, get a recorded message, that will be consistent and always happy and cheerful.
Look many businesses have done this in some form or another. How many businesses do you call and the first thing you get are recorded messages instead of a live person. Heck many of the stores in our area now have half the check out counters as "self-serve" with recorded voice prompts. Its just a sign of the times. Remember the good old day while you still can.:rolleyes:
 

LudwigVonDrake

Well-Known Member
Hopefully when/if this happens, that Disney does it "correctly" and doesn't just hammer the marketing plan home to a bunch of tired tourists. Early in the day is one thing but whatever they do after, say, 9:00 p.m. needs to be "gentle" or the tired tourists will become cranky tourists :)
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Honestly, the best way to do this would be to allow drivers NOT to turn off the recordings, but to speak over them. They obviously don't want drivers who are having a bad day to be able to turn off the audio b/c they are cranky, but for those star bus drivers who like to entertain, let them. The majority (these days, anyway), who do not say anything or if they do, no one can understand them, have the pre-recorded spiel. I look more forward to the park music than the spiels, myself. It really builds the excitedment if as you approach Epcot, the Future World entrance music builds in the background. If timed well, they could almost have the music choreographed with what guests are seeing out their window (e.g. the first time you see Spaceship Earth, the background music hits a crescendo). I hope this is well-done and not just Stitch screaming at us.
 

Camille59

New Member
Hopefully when/if this happens, that Disney does it "correctly" and doesn't just hammer the marketing plan home to a bunch of tired tourists. Early in the day is one thing but whatever they do after, say, 9:00 p.m. needs to be "gentle" or the tired tourists will become cranky tourists :)

Would you be willing to send your request into our bus managers? If you are a frequent guest, you could make a differnce. Trust me on this. I am a WDW bus driver and I know for a fact that our transportation department would listen to you before they would listen to our view points. :brick:
 

Camille59

New Member
what happened to the days when the bus drivers would talk? i remember them telling the riders about the parks.. now they just sit there..[/quote

I can give you a reason for this: Morale is low. I am not making an excuse, by any means. If someone came up to you and said that a trained primate could do you job, how would you feel? How would you feel if a guest scolded you for something that didn't happen on your shift? Please look at us as individuals. One bad apple doesn't always spoil the whole group. We are human beings after all.
 

Camille59

New Member
I just wish they went back to the RTS model. I really dislike the new ones.

Love you!!! I am a big fan of the RTS's too. However the company is more fond of the low floor buses, and most of our guests like them too, especially the elderly guests or those guests who have a hard time stepping up three steps.
 
Love you!!! I am a big fan of the RTS's too. However the company is more fond of the low floor buses, and most of our guests like them too, especially the elderly guests or those guests who have a hard time stepping up three steps.


Camille you of all people should know they dont make RTS's anymore. :ROFLOL:
 

Dagger

Member
Hopefully when/if this happens, that Disney does it "correctly" and doesn't just hammer the marketing plan home to a bunch of tired tourists. Early in the day is one thing but whatever they do after, say, 9:00 p.m. needs to be "gentle" or the tired tourists will become cranky tourists :)

Well said, as usual! I was thinking maybe several different recordings also, although, everyone loves riding the monorail!
 

socalkdg

Active Member
Also it will be great if they can pull this off by April of this year but they have not begun to train on the computer system thats onboard the bus. With over 1000 drivers its going to take some time.:)
I imagine its dispatching that will need to learn the computer system, not the drivers.
 

DisneyMusician2

Well-Known Member
I always enjoyed the monorail spiel pre-Stitch. If it is anything like that, or maybe something with background music and trivia, that would be a great addition to some of those sleepy late nite rides, and perhaps the presence of other sound might discourage the Pop Warner crowd when they are there...
 

New2WDW

New Member
Disney Bus Schedules from the Resorts
Big changes coming to the Disney bus fleet. The buses are being outfitted with GPS units which will become operational in April, 2007. The buses will have automatic Guest counters to track ridership. The bus marquee will automatically update indicating where its traveling to. Remote cameras will be installed to monitor the busier loading zones in order to better respond to Guest demand.
The biggest change will be the addition of background music with "automated spiels" to keep the guests entertained and informed during the trip.


Sounds good to me! Background music would be nice!:sohappy:​
 
I rode a WDW bus that had the recorded spiels and background music a couple of weeks ago and they were pretty nice.

The spiels did not promote a thing. Then again, the bus I was on was heading back to the All-Star Sports Resort from Downtown Disney.

The music was all from the parks and I think it made the trip less dull and boring. Don't worry--it wasn't loud or anything. It was loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to drive people crazy.

I'm also in the camp that think this is a good idea...and to all you naysayers out there, "Don't worry about a thing".

P.S.: FYI, Stitch is no longer part of the monorail spiels.
 

WDWRLD

Active Member
I think the ideas are great. One possible downside.......the tourgroups will now music to go with their singing.
 

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