Next Gen Busses

[Lensman]

Maybe park hopping. But I highly doubt these chargers are the FAST charging thus your probably only going to gain a little bit especially if you're using your phone while attempting to charge it.

I would think most people who are forward thinking enough to carry a cable with them also would carry a battery or an ac adapter. Though finding a regular outlet at the parks can be a near impossible task

Hopefully they'll be more charging spots at park dining locations, but you're right that there's probably a correlation between someone carrying a charging cord and them having a power bank.

Here's something that will make you feel better, though. I saw this additional photo in the blogmickey article that shows the charging unit to be a 4.2 amp 2 port unit, so probably 2.1 amps per port.

Don’t know how electric would work, but the company I work for bought several large diesel Kenworths that had a natural gas conversion engine. The longevity just wasn’t there. Most were on their 3rd motor by the time we retired them. They had large, complicated, hard to change spark plugs and other associated ignition components that a simple diesel motor doesn’t have. Diesel is still king to pull a load for a million miles.

Yeah, natural gas doesn't provide the maintenance advantage that all-electric does, and there's not a real abundance of electric bus companies and availability right now, though this will change over the next 5 years. I wonder if it's also a factor that Disney routes don't have the stop-and-go city traffic that most municipal bus routes have? That's where electric buses really shine. Disney would also have to make a big switch in commitment from biodiesel to electric and install new charging infrastructure. They own their own biofuel facility so I'm not sure how they'd redirect the output - I think they use the portion not used for transportation for CHP (combined heat and power), so I don't think they'd have a problem. Even so, if they think too much about it they might discover that biodiesel -> CHP -> electric buses might be less efficient than biodiesel -> diesel buses.

 

[ptaylor]

I wouldn't really call these next gen busses. I would guess the USB chargers are likely a standard part of the city bus now. If the busses were electric (and even self driving), now that would be next gen!

I do have to laugh at the USB chargers though. I can just see someone attempting to charge their iPhone standing up, shoulder-to-shoulder with 50 other guests after a day at the MK. People getting tangled up in cables. Good times!

 

[imarc]

Not sure how I feel about having character on the buses.

Looks really cheesy and kinda feels like a cheapening of the Disney World experience as other than the occasional monorail wrap and prior to the skyliner you didn't see the characters outside the parks.

I feel like you already see the characters everywhere in and around the resort.

They're on the sign as you enter the property, they're on billboards selling DVC, they're at the resorts, they're on the Magical Express buses, and at the golf courses.

 

[danlb_2000]

Maybe I missed something? Where do the scooters go? Don't see any fold up "avoid me" seats?

In the shot of the USB ports I believe you can see the tie downs blurry in the background.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Oohh how many guests are going to forget their phones now while riding the bus..

Also, this comes to mind of the protoype sorcerers class bus they had a few years back...I'm surprised nothing happened with this...


I Mean while the narration is nice on the busses too bad they don't do what Universal does with a having video screens and letting you know info of the park, hours, etc...

 

[Slowjack]

So, I've stayed off-site the last few trips and I'm just wondering if this seat arrangement is new? If not, how long ago did we lose seats in rows?

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I feel like you already see the characters everywhere in and around the resort.

They're on the sign as you enter the property, they're on billboards selling DVC, they're at the resorts, they're on the Magical Express buses, and at the golf courses.

They’re supposed to be. They live there.

 

[MisterPenguin]

It would probably be fair to post a link to the story instead of just taking the photos. This is BlogMickey after all, not Clueless, we still like Blog Mickey, right?

http://blogmickey.com/2019/07/new-buses-with-usb-charging-and-wi-fi-debut-at-walt-disney-world/

The OP has the link, or was that edited in?

 

[MisterPenguin]

Hey, remember when Disney was intentionally letting their bus transportation go to pot so as to bilk people out of money for the van-hopper and Minnie Van services?

Yeah, fun times.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Hey, remember when Disney was intentionally letting their bus transportation go to pot so as to bilk people out of money for the van-hopper and Minnie Van services?

Yeah, fun times.

Not really.... hadn’t they pretty much just bought the articulated busses when they started Minnie vans? Or was that sarcastic?

 

[MisterPenguin]

Not really.... hadn’t they pretty much just bought the articulated busses when they started Minnie vans? Or was that sarcastic?

There was a whole conspiracy theory movement that Disney was purposely making guest experiences get worse solely to upsell them on upgrades to avoid those poor services. The bus theory was one of them... all the evidence to the contrary notwithstanding: dedicated bus lanes, new buses, new bus terminals, alternative free transportation with the gondolas, bus ETA monitors at the stops and then on MDE, large scale highway reconfigurements, etc...

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Well there’s always a good conspiracy theory! Ha

 

[GhostHost1000]

Those wrapped busses scream all star resort

I liked the classy look they have now much better.

Where do the ecv’s go or are they designing a separate bus system for those users. (Which I think would be ideal honestly just not sure how to pull it off maybe on demand at any location like Minnie vans almost?)

 

[Jon81uk]

other than the occasional monorail wrap and prior to the skyliner you didn't see the characters outside the parks.

and the massive arches on entry to property that have Mickey and Minnie either side of it.

 

[Jon81uk]

Those wrapped busses scream all star resort

I liked the classy look they have now much better.

Where do the ecv’s go or are they designing a separate bus system for those users. (Which I think would be ideal honestly just not sure how to pull it off maybe on demand at any location like Minnie vans almost?)

You can see the wheelchair straps in this photo.

View attachment 386392

 

[Driver]

welcome to the USA, where gasoline is still King!

All WDW busses run on 50/50 biofuel mix.

 

[NickPytlinski]

Don’t know how electric would work, but the company I work for bought several large diesel Kenworths that had a natural gas conversion engine. The longevity just wasn’t there. Most were on their 3rd motor by the time we retired them. They had large, complicated, hard to change spark plugs and other associated ignition components that a simple diesel motor doesn’t have. Diesel is still king to pull a load for a million miles.

unfortunately for the atmosphere you are right.
a company wont invest in something that is going to cause them more problems than if they buy diesel.

 

[Driver]

Not sure how I feel about having character on the buses.

Looks really cheesy and kinda feels like a cheapening of the Disney World experience as other than the occasional monorail wrap and prior to the skyliner you didn't see the characters outside the parks.

The inside looks really nice though.

Are these busses New New or have the interiors just been refurbished?

Brand new as in 0- miles

 

[Driver]

Or Battery Powered

Don't think they've ever done any electric bus testing on property.

Would he a good test of the technology as they could maybe install quick wireless charging at the bus stops

They tried a battery powered bus a few years back, it failed. It could not keep up with the demand of even a few hours.

 

[Driver]

I hope these buses are to supplement the current fleet rather than replace. The current ones still have plenty of life left in them methinks. On another note, I miss the old 90s Disney Transport livery.

It's going to be a little bit of both. They are planning to retire approximately 40 nova busses they are the oldest of the fleet starting with #4815 that has the 2 hidden Mickey's on the back. And with that the total fleet count will still increase, as the current fleet size is at 390 . The total of new bus purchases is 76. As far as " life left" DOT recommends retiring busses at 500,000 miles, Disney does makes an effort to satisfy that recommendation.