News from Jan 3-5 visit: buses construction and more

[wdwmom2+1]

WE stayed at all star sports Jan 3-5 only visiting Magic kingdom. But saw/heard some pretty interesting things. First at our fav place the all star sports when we ordered our food this time it was awful our fries werent even cooked. It took forever and several phone calls to get the bed rails deleivered. They forgot to do Express check out. Other then that the stay was pretty good.we stayed in the basket ball rooms, the only ones we had yet to stay in.

Magic Kingdom was wonderful we went Jan 4. got there right around opening saw everything in fantasy land with no wait. Had some good CM's who were in a great mood and joking about the "lack of lines" had a pretty good look behind 20,000 leagues when on dumbo. Nothing too new to report of. they were ontop of ariels grotto doing some work. The hub was all blocked off around the castle? not sure what for. Rode just about everything except stitch! by the time we got there around 2 fast pass was all sold out and too long to wait with the kids. but most wait times were good. the longest we waited all day was for aladdin magic carpets and that was about 10 min. Hada wonderful skipper on jungle cruise VERY FUnny!! Had two rides stop while there. The buzz lightyear stopped about 10 min when we were just about to get on and while on Haunted mansion stopped for about 15 min.

The most intersteing part was the bus ride back. the bus driver told us lots of INFO first they have a new fleet of busess they are replacing the ones that start with 27 the buseses that are being replaced have over 2million miles all done on the disney property! he also said that there 300 disney buses 1000 bus drivers and 51000 employeese in orlando aeara for disney and when the employees recieved a letter from eisner saying he is retiring in 2006 he stated when eh first started there were only 28,000 employees now there are over 100,000 worldwide.

Not sure if this is all new info but just what i heard! at downtown disney still had a lot of christmas decorations and stuff up. did have a big white tent by world of disney not sure what for?and still working on lego outside part and new store

 

[maxime29]

The new fleet of buses could be for the Disney transportation from MCO to WDW? Or are all the buses for that provided by Mears? Either way, they need to get more buses for the fleet I think with the increase of hotels and the amount of guests. Having to wait over 30 minutes for a bus from MGM or AK to the GF is troubling when they try to set a 15 minute period between buses.

 

[TravisMT81]

thanks for sharing, I didn;t know they were starting the hub work already.

 

[MonoRon]

good info thanks for sharing

 

[wdwmom2+1]

Also a note about the new tickets. We loved our one day tickets! because were florida residents two adults and one child cost 160.00 thats cheaper then we used to pay!

Anyone know what there doing to the hub?

 

[peter11435]

The new fleet of buses could be for the Disney transportation from MCO to WDW? Or are all the buses for that provided by Mears? Either way, they need to get more buses for the fleet I think with the increase of hotels and the amount of guests. Having to wait over 30 minutes for a bus from MGM or AK to the GF is troubling when they try to set a 15 minute period between buses.

I have only very rarely waited more than 15 minutes for a bus. Most of the time it is far less than that. I go about a dozen times a year and always a stay at a Disney resort and use Disney transportation all the time. The new buses are for the WDW fleet. They are Gilig Advantages. The same model used here in Broward County Florida. Invero told us about their purchase months ago.

 

[wdwmom2+1]

THe bus driver said the bus drivers never go to the same hotel twice in a row there dispatched to another hotel depending on what the need is or a different theme park. he said there are two people in the control room, controlling who goes where. and the main reason to this is that three is supposed to be a bus every 20 min . it takes the first bus more then 20 min to do the route so when there done there dispatched to another place. he said the buses with over2 million miles were just on disney property he said they are not aloud to leave disney property. so those miles were racked up going from theme park to hotel etc. Also He said there are currently 3 different types of buses the ones that are being replaced , another model, adn the new model, the first two types the manufacturers are out of business. the new kind is the same typeo f bus that is used for transpartion around orlando, and is manufactured in california.

 

[Lauriebar]

I have only very rarely waited more than 15 minutes for a bus. Most of the time it is far less than that. I go about a dozen times a year and always a stay at a Disney resort and use Disney transportation all the time. .

You are very lucky, or perhaps we are just unlucky! There have been several times we have waited in excess of 15 min. at the resorts for a bus. I'm not going to complain about it because it's still better that taking our car from place to place but, more busses would absolutely be appreciated!!

 

[wdwmom2+1]

the new buses are for the transpartion to the parks, Not mears. BUT they are replacing other buses not adding to the fleet. they said they have 300 buses and 1000 bus drivers.

 

[peter11435]

The new buses are Gillig Advanteges, the older model are standard RTS(regional transit system) buses. The Nova LFS is the other model, the have about 70 of these.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

he also said that there 300 disney buses 1000 bus drivers and 51000 employeese in orlando aeara for disney and when the employees recieved a letter from eisner saying he is retiring in 2006 he stated when eh first started there were only 28,000 employees now there are over 100,000 worldwide.

:zipit: Just gonna keep my mouth shut about the Disney employees since he recently lost thousands of loyal CMs due to the sale of the Disney Stores...

Great update though! Interesting information on the busses!

TheDisneyGirl02

 

[TomorrowlandTyler]

The most intersteing part was the bus ride back. the bus driver told us lots of INFO first they have a new fleet of busess they are replacing the ones that start with 27 the buseses that are being replaced have over 2million miles all done on the disney property! he also said that there 300 disney buses 1000 bus drivers and 51000 employeese in orlando aeara for disney and when the employees recieved a letter from eisner saying he is retiring in 2006 he stated when eh first started there were only 28,000 employees now there are over 100,000 worldwide.e

I always thought there were more than 300 busses but I'm proabaly wrong But good to hear they are getting new busses to replace some of the older ones.

The hub was all blocked off around the castle? not sure what for.

Does anyone know what the hub is blocked off for?

 

[jasondiff]

I think the hub is blocked off for some prep work for the new Cinderellabration show.

 

[peter11435]

I always thought there were more than 300 busses but I'm proabaly wrong But good to hear they are getting new busses to replace some of the older ones.


Does anyone know what the hub is blocked off for?

I believe there are about 316 buses, however they usualy only run about 280.

 

[disgolfer]

You are correct about the hub being blocked for the construction of Cinderellabration.

 

[OliveMcFly]

When we were there last month we had the chance to ride on a new Disney bus. We were coming home from a park, too. It was very nice. It has PADDED SEATS!! Anyone remember the accordion buses? That may have been another resort though.

 

[Poncho1973]

I've said it before... I'll say it again...

Rule #1 in Disney Rumors... NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER believe a rumor that comes from a WDW bus driver. That's like walking into a mall and asking the dude fixing the fountain about the price of a suit in Macy's.

Same goes for facts. Although... I would tend to believe them on topics such as the # of buses. I wouldn't believe them on overall headcount or any business related items.

 

[Figment1986]

I know Disney is getting new busses... dont know how many.. I saw them, Had 04 next to the code on the bus.....

(probably goiung to do that now to keep track of how old and new these buses are.....)

 

[ThreeCircles]

I know for certain that some of the busses have left Disney property.

As you can see in my signature, I did back-to-back cruises on the Disney Magic the last week in August and first week in September. Well, as I'm sure many recall, that was the time period for one of our hurricanes.

We could not make it back to Port Canaveral for the end of the first cruise, which, by the way, was extended to ten nights, so we had to dock at Port Everglades. So many people had to be moved from the port to WDW (or elsewhere) and from Port Canaveral and WDW to Port Everglades (for the next cruise) that they had to use a TON of WDW busses in addition to the DCL busses.

I have a pic of them somewhere. Have to find it.

 

[Invero]

Here's my two cents:


The new Gillig Advantages are here to replace some of the older GMC RTS buses that are 25 years old or so. However, as of this time, those buses are still running strong, and are in daily service. As such, we 'technically' have 300 buses. (195 RTS, 71 Nova LFS, and 34 Gillig Advantage) However, some of the RTS buses have been retired already (due to maintenance issues), so the number is probably hovering around 290 or so. We probably run 150 on average, 225 during peak times.

A lot of our older RTS buses have over an estimated one million miles on them, some even have over an estimated two million. All done on Disney property. Remember, it's not where you go, but how long the bus is on the road. Many of our buses are on the road 18-21hrs per day. Buses are allowed to go off property for maintenance reasons and for special events, but these are very rare. We use the Novas for them because they have tires that are rated for highway travel, while the RTS are governed to 50-55mph.

As for bus companies being out of business, that part isn't totally true. General Motors, who originally made the RTS is still in business. TMC, who later took over the RTS was a subsidiary of MCI, which is still in business. But like GM, they decided to get out of the transit bus market. NovaBUS took over production of the RTS, and also produces the LFS. They ended production of the RTS in 2002. They still are in business, but no longer sell to the US market. They are owned by Prevost which is owned by Volvo which is owned by Ford.

We now do have over 1,000 bus drivers. We recently hit that number back in November, I believe.