-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Transportation Problems
- Thread starter mattravels
- Start date
Dr. Dom
Member
When we were at POR in June of 2002, the waits were not that bad. I think we waited for the DTD busses the longest and that was no more than 30 "real-time" minutes. But, really, while I understand the frustration of waiting for transportation at WDW, be it a bus, the monorail, a ferry, etc., you're at Walt Disney World! You're not waiting in the rain for a bus to work or a crowded subway or sitting in traffic on a freeway travelling at all of 20-30 mph. My wife and I simply wait patiently and people-watch, one of the best pastimes at WDW.
The one concern I've ever had is getting out of Epcot after Illuminations or MGM after Fantasmic. It'll take a while, no matter what hotel you're staying at, but again, you're waiting for a bus to take you back to your resort while on vacation.
Considering the number of people and the number of different stops and routes the busses take, I think they do a fantastic job.
The one concern I've ever had is getting out of Epcot after Illuminations or MGM after Fantasmic. It'll take a while, no matter what hotel you're staying at, but again, you're waiting for a bus to take you back to your resort while on vacation.
Considering the number of people and the number of different stops and routes the busses take, I think they do a fantastic job.
This isn't directed at you PhD. You said it so I'm just letting people know.
Disney is now hiring FT and PT bus drivers.
If someone really is that upset about bus travel, quit your job, move to Orlando, become a bus driver, and make everything perfect. :lol:
Now,
I was at Sports this summer in June with several camps etc. The only time I waited over 15 minutes for a bus was for AK early entry one morning and buses were late getting started and when I saw my bus pulling out as I was approaching the stop.
Invero
Well-Known Member
This is not always the case. In fact, many times the buses are sitting, waiting for guests. Magic Kingdom might be a different story. But no matter the line, it does move quickly.
Those who think they can avoid those lines by driving fail to realize they have a different line to deal with... TRAFFIC.
jordanyosh
Member
Why the increase in drivers? Are many leaving? Retiring? Or is it just the addition of Pop,etc.....just curious.
DisneyPhD
Well-Known Member
Hi Tyler, I was wondering when you would get here. :wave:
We looked for you on our trip. While we did have a few good drivers, we did have a suprising number of bad situations. One driver (a nice young lady) was telling us about how each bus runs very differently and how it takes at least 15 to 20 min to get the hang of every bus you are driving. More then once at AKL the bus driver's stopped to pick us up, even after they had pulled away from the stop. (that was very nice!) As I said before, I don't blame the drivers, and I am more then guessing that all drivers don't like doing OKW because of the bad planning when the lay out of the resort was done. Even with just plain bad luck we had an overwelleming number of incidents with bus travel. Mostly AK and DTD. We had 2 bus drivers get lost, missing bus stops and documented accounts (by staff) of over 45 min waits (more then once.)
They tell you to allow enough time to get where you are going, but with a 45 min wait for a bus, 20 min in the resort and another 20 to get to the park, that is almost an hour and a half, you could drive in from over 60 miles away in that time period. I agree people need to relax, but it can be hard when you are waiting in 90 deg sun, no shade and at a bus stop that is in the middle of the road so your 2 year old could break away and run into the street at any time, kinda hard to relax.
We looked for you on our trip. While we did have a few good drivers, we did have a suprising number of bad situations. One driver (a nice young lady) was telling us about how each bus runs very differently and how it takes at least 15 to 20 min to get the hang of every bus you are driving. More then once at AKL the bus driver's stopped to pick us up, even after they had pulled away from the stop. (that was very nice!) As I said before, I don't blame the drivers, and I am more then guessing that all drivers don't like doing OKW because of the bad planning when the lay out of the resort was done. Even with just plain bad luck we had an overwelleming number of incidents with bus travel. Mostly AK and DTD. We had 2 bus drivers get lost, missing bus stops and documented accounts (by staff) of over 45 min waits (more then once.)
They tell you to allow enough time to get where you are going, but with a 45 min wait for a bus, 20 min in the resort and another 20 to get to the park, that is almost an hour and a half, you could drive in from over 60 miles away in that time period. I agree people need to relax, but it can be hard when you are waiting in 90 deg sun, no shade and at a bus stop that is in the middle of the road so your 2 year old could break away and run into the street at any time, kinda hard to relax.
I completely understand that a majority of the time they do run on schedule... I just know that on occassion, it takes longer than it necessarily should. I could go into the details about the time we left our room to get in line for the bus just after 8:00 to go to downtown disney and didn't get there until almost 10:00 but it doesn't serve any purpose as it probably was a fairly isolated incident during a peak time.
I do have to say though, that if you are a WDW novice, and you are staying at a resort, they do not advertise very well the fact that you may experience wait times of up to 20 minutes. They like to make it sound as if when you want a bus, it will be there. I personally like a more fixed schedule, like a normal bus route system, that still has some flexibility built in. I think there would be a lot less complaints if people were told that the bus would be there at 9:00, 9:18, 9:36, etc... than just advertising continuous service and then someone waits 20 minutes.... but again, just my opinion as a guest.
I understand that it may not work well for disney and after working for 5 years in hotels, I completely understand it would generate more scammer complaints, but in March when I was there, the 2 things I heard most often at the bus stops is a request for a set schedule or some sort of call system for quicker response....
Dwarful
Well-Known Member
Ok first off please don't flame me, this is just my opinion! 
But I think the most complaints coming from people, are from people who are not used to using public transportation on a regular or even semi-regular basis. Since our children were born we have always stayed at the all stars and have always used the buses. We have been at various times of the year w/ small children and 5 children w/ hubby and me. We have not had any problems, I think the longest wait time we had was about 20 minutes and that was leaving MK after spectro-magic/ fireworks in the sky last year over Memorial Day Week into the GayDays week, when there were lots of people. We had 5 kids, one stroller, a backpack (for the 2yr olds things) and we stopped bought ice cream , and then just talked about our favorite parts of the day. Complaining about a bus won't get it there any faster. For those who are experiencing long lines while trying to get to the parks, you might try leaving your room a bit earlier or later. We always head out to the parks early and don't usually wait more than 10-15 mins. which I think is a fair amount of time for the amount of people they are transporting.
But I think the most complaints coming from people, are from people who are not used to using public transportation on a regular or even semi-regular basis. Since our children were born we have always stayed at the all stars and have always used the buses. We have been at various times of the year w/ small children and 5 children w/ hubby and me. We have not had any problems, I think the longest wait time we had was about 20 minutes and that was leaving MK after spectro-magic/ fireworks in the sky last year over Memorial Day Week into the GayDays week, when there were lots of people. We had 5 kids, one stroller, a backpack (for the 2yr olds things) and we stopped bought ice cream , and then just talked about our favorite parts of the day. Complaining about a bus won't get it there any faster. For those who are experiencing long lines while trying to get to the parks, you might try leaving your room a bit earlier or later. We always head out to the parks early and don't usually wait more than 10-15 mins. which I think is a fair amount of time for the amount of people they are transporting.Dopey Dave
New Member
Originally posted by Dwarful
Ok first off please don't flame me, this is just my opinion!
Unfortunate that people now have to start off their postings with "please don't beat me for expressing my opinion".
Originally posted by Dopey Dave
Unfortunate that people now have to start off their postings with "please don't beat me for expressing my opinion".
Aw, that's nothing new. A walk through a few old posts will show more of the same. I don't know if that's supposed to make you feel better or worse, but there it is :lol:
DisneyPhD
Well-Known Member
Originally posted by Dwarful
Ok first off please don't flame me, this is just my opinion!
This is not a flame.:animwink: We've been going to WDW every year since 1996 and have never had any major complaints about Transportation until this year. We know pretty much how the system works at WDW which is pretty different from "normal" public transport. We like the fact the buses come about every 20 minutes and don't run on a set schedule. The complaints we had did not occur at any park closing. We know there are going to be lines (many times there were only 20 people waiting for the OKW bus when MK closed). Our biggest problems were the layout of the OKW resort and the busses to and from Animal Kingdom where we had a 60 minute wait going to the park and 45 minute wait for the bus back to the resort. There's nothing more frustrating than watching 3 MK buses pass and 4 Epcot buses and 2 DTD buses and 4 Studios buses and then see one full AK bus leave the resort with 20 people waiting to get on it.:brick:
niteobsrvr
Well-Known Member
Hey folks how about a numbers game....
Lets take Port Orleans as the example resort and roudn the number of rooms off to 3000.
Now figure an average of 3 people to a room for a total of 9000 people.
The average bus officially holds 72 but lets round that up to 75.
Thats approximatley 120 bus loads of people.
Now lets say they are all going to the Magic Kingdom at the exact same time (8:00 am) and that is a thirty minute round trip. The number of busses available for the Magic Kingdom on this route is 6.
That means every bus must make 20 trips to gather and move all the guests.
20 trips at 30 minutes is 600 minutes total to move those 20 loads of people to their destination.
That means the last bus loads of people will arrive at the Magic Kingdom after a gruleing 9 hour and 45 minute wait at 6 pm.
An Alternative solution would be to assume that all guest should arrive at their Desitnation within 30 minutes of arriving at a bus stop. THus you would need 120 busses to serve Port Orleans during the rush times alone.
Now figure some resorts are smaller and some way larger so that the average resort has 1300 rooms with 3 people. There are 21 resorts including Ft. Wilderness, Saratoga, and Pop Century.
Every 1300 guests would be 17 bus loads of people all moving somewhere at the same time. That would require 357 buses to be used only between 8 and 9 a.m. Unfortunatley, its just not that simple as you can see in the Port Orleans example. Just imagine the numbers for the All Stars. That would take the entire current Fleet alone.
After that moment in time, it takes less than half that many to service the resorts for the rest of the day inluding closing (since closing times are often staggered). However you still have to pay 357 drivers for at least a 6 hour day even though they only worked maybe 1.5 hours.
Lets take Port Orleans as the example resort and roudn the number of rooms off to 3000.
Now figure an average of 3 people to a room for a total of 9000 people.
The average bus officially holds 72 but lets round that up to 75.
Thats approximatley 120 bus loads of people.
Now lets say they are all going to the Magic Kingdom at the exact same time (8:00 am) and that is a thirty minute round trip. The number of busses available for the Magic Kingdom on this route is 6.
That means every bus must make 20 trips to gather and move all the guests.
20 trips at 30 minutes is 600 minutes total to move those 20 loads of people to their destination.
That means the last bus loads of people will arrive at the Magic Kingdom after a gruleing 9 hour and 45 minute wait at 6 pm.
An Alternative solution would be to assume that all guest should arrive at their Desitnation within 30 minutes of arriving at a bus stop. THus you would need 120 busses to serve Port Orleans during the rush times alone.
Now figure some resorts are smaller and some way larger so that the average resort has 1300 rooms with 3 people. There are 21 resorts including Ft. Wilderness, Saratoga, and Pop Century.
Every 1300 guests would be 17 bus loads of people all moving somewhere at the same time. That would require 357 buses to be used only between 8 and 9 a.m. Unfortunatley, its just not that simple as you can see in the Port Orleans example. Just imagine the numbers for the All Stars. That would take the entire current Fleet alone.
After that moment in time, it takes less than half that many to service the resorts for the rest of the day inluding closing (since closing times are often staggered). However you still have to pay 357 drivers for at least a 6 hour day even though they only worked maybe 1.5 hours.
Dwarful
Well-Known Member
well I must confess I didn't read through every page of this thread before I posted, and we haven't been this year but are looking forward to our trip next year. We haven't stayed at OKW so I can't comment on the bus set up. We have been satisfied w/ the bus system at the all-stars which tend to get a lot of complaints from others. I always think those complaining the loudest must either be first timers at the all stars, first timers using the bus system, or those poor unfortunate souls who think they should be getting monorail service when paying only $50 a night ! I would be highly disappointed waiting an hour or more trying to get to MK in the mornings, we have never seen a line of hundreds waiting at the all stars, but again, when we gos movies, sports and music have always had their own buses running to the parks, I know they have shared in the mid day time but on our mornings we never shared so lines were not extremely long.
nikechic
New Member
I was at OKW at the same time you were and never once ran into the problems you are saying. I know that the buses have to take a longer route around the resort but that is because it was built around the golf course, therefore there is no continous loop around the resort. I have stayed at OKW over ten times and this is the first complaint I have ever heard anyone have about the buses.