Testing TV's on Disney busses

[cjjudd]

:wave: :wave:
I saw pictures in the photo album of some kind of test bus with
tv's on them, what is that all about.

 

[77johnson77]

Yeah, the other day I was flippin' through them, and I saw the T.V.'s on the buses, I wonder if they will be there when I'm there start of april, I hope so, and they must be on a few buses so I wonder what ones?

 

[s25843]

Its been a few months since they tested em...

 

[77johnson77]

do you know if are they getting them back??

 

[mikeb_86]

What thare testing tv's on the bus, its this a interactive thing?

 

[Invero]

Bus 2780 had the test monitors a few years back, but no word on if they will ever appear on all the buses. Probably not.

 

[Donfan]

TVs

Originally posted by Invero
Bus 2780 had the test monitors a few years back, but no word on if they will ever appear on all the buses. Probably not.

Tyler,

What were they testing? Is it just to give disgruntled riders something to watch? Or were they really expecting to do something interesting with them? Like the post above asks, were they interactive at all?

 

[Invero]

I was not there to see the test, but if it was anything like the monitors on other major TA's, then it was something to alert riders of stops, or to entertain while riding. (ie: trivia, stuff like that)

 

[Woody13]

The Downtown Disney Buses (old and new) have TV's in them. The older Van Hool buses have regular CRT displays while the newer buses have LCD monitors. They show DVD movies on the TV's. Such movies as "The Wizard of OZ", "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", "Lion King" and others are very popular among guests.

When they are not playing the DVD movies, the DTD buses play a local FM easy listening station over the sound system. Both the movies and the FM music work great to keep the bus "chatter factor" in check.

 

[Dizknee_Phreek]

um, Woody, do you mean ALL of the DTD buses have tv's? cause my past couple of trips i haven't seen even one tv on a DTD bus. just wonderin'.

 

[Woody13]

Originally posted by Dizknee_Phreek
um, Woody, do you mean ALL of the DTD buses have tv's? cause my past couple of trips i haven't seen even one tv on a DTD bus. just wonderin'.

The Hotel Plaza Blvd. Buses (DTD) are run by Fleetwood Limousine. They run (last time I checked) Vanhool, General Coach and Bethany buses. The Vanhool's and General Coach buses have the TV's (over head monitors). The Bethany buses (i.e. large vans) do not have the TV's. The Vanhool's seat 60 while the General Coach's seat 43. The Bethany's are small and seat maybe 15 or 20?

You'll have to be more specific as to your particular circumstance.

 

[Dizknee_Phreek]

Originally posted by Woody13
The Hotel Plaza Blvd. Buses (DTD) are run by Fleetwood Limousine. They run (last time I checked) Vanhool, General Coach and Bethany buses. The Vanhool's and General Coach buses have the TV's (over head monitors). The Bethany buses (i.e. large vans) do not have the TV's. The Vanhool's seat 60 while the General Coach's seat 43. The Bethany's are small and seat maybe 15 or 20?

oh, so you're just talking about the non-Disney resort buses?

 

[10 min. to wdw]

those tv's that were in the pics were a transit television network system. we have them on the busses where I work and they only get complaints, I don't know what disney would do with them, becuase the transit agency gets them for free, the advertisers pay transit tv to be on them, they show a little 3 min clip of some old tv show then play about 10 mins of advertisements. the nice part to them is they are automatically triggered by a gps system to announce the stops and can change the destination sign form there control pad making it so the driver can take care of everything at there fingertips. also they can be a cuase of a accident, nothing is worse then when you know your driving a empty bus down I-4 late at night in the rain and all of the sudden someone is talking inside the bus it makes everyone do a double take the first few times.

 

[disneydummy125]

I think that it would be a good idea if Disney added tvs to the regular park buses. That way, on the ride to the park they could show a video on what to see and do in the park.

 

[Woody13]

Originally posted by Dizknee_Phreek
oh, so you're just talking about the non-Disney resort buses?

Sorry! Yes, I was talking about the Hotel Plaza Blvd. buses that serve the seven hotels on Hotel Plaza Blvd. near DTD. I should have made the distinction. I didn't mean to confuse the issue.

 

[SirNim]

There's enough to see out the windows...

 

[Invero]

Originally posted by Woody13
The Hotel Plaza Blvd. Buses (DTD) are run by Fleetwood Limousine. They run (last time I checked) Vanhool, General Coach and Bethany buses. The Vanhool's and General Coach buses have the TV's (over head monitors). The Bethany buses (i.e. large vans) do not have the TV's. The Vanhool's seat 60 while the General Coach's seat 43. The Bethany's are small and seat maybe 15 or 20?

Wow... they cram 60 seats on those VanHools?? Yipes, that must be tight. The typical seating on a 45 footer is 55pax, and even that is sometimes tight.

Bethany is actually a company that Fleetwood runs. They have the cutaways that you describe, as well as a handful of MCI 102DL3 coaches.

 

[Woody13]

Originally posted by SirNim
There's enough to see out the windows...

I agree! However the real advantage is that the audio track keeps the bus chatter to a minimum. Also when people do speak, they tend to reduce their volume so as not to disturb other riders that are interested in the audio.

 

[Woody13]

Originally posted by Invero
Wow... they cram 60 seats on those VanHools?? Yipes, that must be tight. The typical seating on a 45 footer is 55pax, and even that is sometimes tight.

Bethany is actually a company that Fleetwood runs. They have the cutaways that you describe, as well as a handful of MCI 102DL3 coaches.

Hi Invero! I only know that the Vanhool's seat 60 because you inspired me to actually count the number of seats! You are, of course, the WDW transportation expert. I have learned a lot from you about the monorails and buses. I also have learned a lot from you about the Pop Century Resort. As luck (bad) would have it, you took a week of leave when I was there to visit during early February. I did get to meet one of your co-CM's, Brian. He was very helpful and he spoke very highly of you.

However, back to bus transportation. I really like it when WDW bus drivers do a spiel for the guests. Some do Disney trivia, some do trip information while others just tell funny jokes. However, some say nothing. Based upon your statements and niteobservers comments (and my own experience) I think I understand the legal problems associated with regular bus driver spiels.

With the advent of Pal Mickey, I'd like to see a similar system set up on the buses so that as the buses travel through WDW, different spiels would play for the guests. It would be a combination of information and entertainment. The jokes and location descriptions would change and rotate on a regular basis while the information parts would change with season, hours, rehabs, etc. to prevent boredom.

Also, the Vanhool seats (all of them) are very comfortable. I've never felt cramped at all.:wave:

 

[WDWRLD]

With all the technology today it would be pretty cool if the Disney Transport Buses had those monitors and would play a spiel simular to the resort tvs. With satalights (sp) they could even have them linked to the parks and interfaced with the onboard destination signs. When say the bus was heading to MK the monitors could show a short mk spiel then show that days park hours, parade and firework times, and even the current wait times for the rides. Heck they could even advertise for upcoming movies.