Transportation time question

[Ralphlaw]

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The bus thing is odd and I was surprised when my TA told me. In the future I'd use Uber in your situation. Or even rent a car. Car rental isn't an option for me, but Uber is definitely my choice over the DCL transport from port - WDW.

Sounds like an excellent reason not to book a land and sea vacation with Disney anymore. If their own bus transportation is allowed to be so annoying, how can I trust them to do everything else right? Yeah, angry rhetorical question, but still it's amazing to me that having angry people on buses doing nothing for an hour is an acceptable procedure. Disney is a world class company with an unparalleled reputation for putting the customer first. Tiny details of the guest experience are debated and sweated over. Yet they allow hundreds of guests to sit in a parking lot for an hour after being rousted out of bed before the sun comes up. That's just wrong, and not up to Disney standards.

My News Year's resolution: Don't return to WDW after the cruise. In that one night after our cruise, we blew DVC points, bought park hoppers, and otherwise spent at least the equivalent of $1,400. Disney, because of your bus system, we'll be heading straight to the airport instead. I'm a veteran of 7 Disney cruises, and your insane bus system just convinced me to not go to the parks afterward. It reminded me of the cattle-herding that we suffered under Norwegian Cruise Lines.

 

[21stamps]

Sounds like an excellent reason not to book a land and sea vacation with Disney anymore. If their own bus transportation is allowed to be so annoying, how can I trust them to do everything else right? Yeah, angry rhetorical question, but still it's amazing to me that having angry people on buses doing nothing for an hour is an acceptable procedure. Disney is a world class company with an unparalleled reputation for putting the customer first. Tiny details of the guest experience are debated and sweated over. Yet they allow hundreds of guests to sit in a parking lot for an hour after being rousted out of bed before the sun comes up. That's just wrong, and not up to Disney standards.

My News Year's resolution: Don't return to WDW after the cruise. In that one night after our cruise, we blew DVC points, bought park hoppers, and otherwise spent at least the equivalent of $1,400. Disney, because of your bus system, we'll be heading straight to the airport instead. I'm a veteran of 7 Disney cruises, and your insane bus system just convinced me to not go to the parks afterward. It reminded me of the cattle-herding that we suffered under Norwegian Cruise Lines.

No! That's not what I was saying at all! I used Uber several times during our WDW trip..not bc I think their system is bad, I used Uber bc I am impatient lol.

My point was, If you want to get somewhere fast, don't use a bus. Anywhere.

Or-- do the late seating so you aren't up that early for breakfast.

 

[Phonedave]

Thanks for the input, but I would think that sitting around on a bus in a parking lot for an hour is more complaint-inducing than being the 6th resort served.

Pre-allocation of buses probably sounds good to the Disney people, but I think it stinks when it gets in the way of guest comfort. Why not have a simple list of each person/family going to which resort? Put them on a bus that's going there, and get that bus on the road as soon as it's reasonably full. If all buses are pre-assigned, prompt people like me will then be waiting around for late sleepers, slow breakfast-eaters, disorganized customs preparers, and (to put it bluntly) idiots. An organization that lumps diligent people with slow idiots is not doing its job as well as it could. If I'm stuck in the entry line at the parks because some bozo can't find a magic band, I move to a new line with minimal delay. If I'm stuck on a bus waiting for a late sleeping clueless idiot, I'm stuck for potentially an hour. Bad system.

Overall, it's the same feeling with lines at the attractions. A line that takes less time, but doesn't move, will make people angrier than a line that moves but actually takes longer. These days, the impression of moving forward is important. Sitting around the parking lot made a very poor impression, especially after being rousted out of bed at 6 a.m.

I can see Master Yoda's point. There has to be some sort of balance. I'm sure Disney does not fill a bus to capacity, so that they do have some leeway with scheduling, but you have to wonder just how many people are going to a specific resort when the come off of a cruise.

There are 27 resorts on property. The big Disney ships are at max 4,000 passengers and 2,500 at double occupancy. You can call that 2,500 families.Say 10% of those families go to WDW via DCL transfers after a cruise, that is 250 families, or about 10 per resort.Thats about half a bus load for each resort, So what that breaks down to is 2 or 3 of each "3 resort: busses. There really is not that much wiggle room. If a family is late to the bus (and not all people that get held up in customs are "idiots" somtimes things do happen), there are not that many other slots that can put that family into.

Having the first bus out at 9:00 AM means that there is a pretty good chance that all of the early families that are supposed to make that bus, will indeed be on the bus.

Airport transfers are a different story - those are jusr fill and go. Everyone is going to the airport. If you miss a bus, there is another leaving in 10 minutes as soon as it is full. Maybe the last few busses of the day hang around a bit, but not the early ones.

It does stink for families that want to get off the ship right away and go, but that is what mass transportation is, a comprimise. If you want to travel on a specific schedule, then you need personalized transportation. That is one of the reasons that I don't use Disney transfers from WDW to the Cruise - I don't like the time they arrive.

-dave

 

[Ralphlaw]

Here's what I would consider a better system:

A bus is waiting at the port for, let's say, 6 resorts. Example: If you're off the boat and going to Boardwalk, Beach Club, Yacht club, Swan, Dolphin, Caribbean Beach, or Coronado Springs, you get on bus 3. Your name is checked off the list, you get on Bus 3, and Bus 3 takes off within 15 minutes or so. Very reasonable. A new Bus 3 pulls up, or is already pulled in a little further down the lane. Later departees jump on that second Bus 3, and take off within a reasonable time.

Meanwhile, the first Bus 3 is off and running. The guests at the first few resorts are very happy. Sure, the 5th and 6th stops might be a little annoyed, but it beats sitting around doing nothing for an hour. Also, if no guests for, say, the Swan are on the first Bus 3, no worries, just don't stop there, taking us down to 5 stops instead of 6.

I guess I don't understand why this would be so difficult to implement. More stops, but far less waiting around. Sitting in a parking lot for an hour is simply unacceptable. Such a wait DOES NOT HAPPEN anywhere else with Disney. Things may take an hour, but there's the illusion of movement when it's happening. Here, every minute on the bus was filled with thoughts of what time was being wasted in a dull dull dull parking lot. Quite a terrible last impression of the cruise experience, and a wonderful reason to get out of town instead of spending additional dollars at the parks.

 

[Phonedave]

Here's what I would consider a better system:

A bus is waiting at the port for, let's say, 6 resorts. Example: If you're off the boat and going to Boardwalk, Beach Club, Yacht club, Swan, Dolphin, Caribbean Beach, or Coronado Springs, you get on bus 3. Your name is checked off the list, you get on Bus 3, and Bus 3 takes off within 15 minutes or so. Very reasonable. A new Bus 3 pulls up, or is already pulled in a little further down the lane. Later departees jump on that second Bus 3, and take off within a reasonable time.

Meanwhile, the first Bus 3 is off and running. The guests at the first few resorts are very happy. Sure, the 5th and 6th stops might be a little annoyed, but it beats sitting around doing nothing for an hour. Also, if no guests for, say, the Swan are on the first Bus 3, no worries, just don't stop there, taking us down to 5 stops instead of 6.

I guess I don't understand why this would be so difficult to implement. More stops, but far less waiting around. Sitting in a parking lot for an hour is simply unacceptable. Such a wait DOES NOT HAPPEN anywhere else with Disney. Things may take an hour, but there's the illusion of movement when it's happening. Here, every minute on the bus was filled with thoughts of what time was being wasted in a dull dull dull parking lot. Quite a terrible last impression of the cruise experience, and a wonderful reason to get out of town instead of spending additional dollars at the parks.

Because everybody pays $75 for a transfer. There is a cost for fuel, for the driver, and for the bus. That $75 is based on the average bus going out on the road with X% capacity.

What happens if a family of 3 gets on your bus #3 and after 15 minutes there is nobody else on the bus. Does it then depart? That bus trip costs way more than $225

Not to mention that there is not an unlimited supply of busses. Let's say a bus #3 departs every 15 minutes, evenutally you are going to run out of bus #3's. Oh, thats simple, just schedule more busses. That does not work either- what happens if they are not needed - well then you just paid for a driver, fuel, and a bus for no reason.

Really, it's just an hour on a climate controlled bus in a rather plush seat. Take a nap.

 

[21stamps]

Here's what I would consider a better system:

A bus is waiting at the port for, let's say, 6 resorts. Example: If you're off the boat and going to Boardwalk, Beach Club, Yacht club, Swan, Dolphin, Caribbean Beach, or Coronado Springs, you get on bus 3. Your name is checked off the list, you get on Bus 3, and Bus 3 takes off within 15 minutes or so. Very reasonable. A new Bus 3 pulls up, or is already pulled in a little further down the lane. Later departees jump on that second Bus 3, and take off within a reasonable time.

Meanwhile, the first Bus 3 is off and running. The guests at the first few resorts are very happy. Sure, the 5th and 6th stops might be a little annoyed, but it beats sitting around doing nothing for an hour. Also, if no guests for, say, the Swan are on the first Bus 3, no worries, just don't stop there, taking us down to 5 stops instead of 6.

I guess I don't understand why this would be so difficult to implement. More stops, but far less waiting around. Sitting in a parking lot for an hour is simply unacceptable. Such a wait DOES NOT HAPPEN anywhere else with Disney. Things may take an hour, but there's the illusion of movement when it's happening. Here, every minute on the bus was filled with thoughts of what time was being wasted in a dull dull dull parking lot. Quite a terrible last impression of the cruise experience, and a wonderful reason to get out of town instead of spending additional dollars at the parks.

I understand your frustration, but at the end of the day the responsibility and "fault" does not fall on Disney.

The only way to depart somewhere exactly when you want is to use private transportation...and the only way to guarantee a room ready, several hours before check in time, is to reserve that room the night before.

If you choose not to do either of those scenarios, then you have to be flexible with wait times for a mass transit system, and planning that you way have to wait for a room.

 

[Ralphlaw]

Because everybody pays $75 for a transfer. There is a cost for fuel, for the driver, and for the bus. That $75 is based on the average bus going out on the road with X% capacity.

What happens if a family of 3 gets on your bus #3 and after 15 minutes there is nobody else on the bus. Does it then depart? That bus trip costs way more than $225

Not to mention that there is not an unlimited supply of busses. Let's say a bus #3 departs every 15 minutes, evenutally you are going to run out of bus #3's. Oh, thats simple, just schedule more busses. That does not work either- what happens if they are not needed - well then you just paid for a driver, fuel, and a bus for no reason.

Really, it's just an hour on a climate controlled bus in a rather plush seat. Take a nap.

I wouldn't expect a big bus to go out carrying one family. My system would not send a bus out until it was reasonably full. What happened for us last Saturday was a trip to only three resorts: Port Orleans, BoardWalk, and Beach Club. The bus waited until 8:45, and was only about 60% full.

Instead of having a 60% full bus that waited nearly an hour, why not have the first Bus 3 take guests to 6 or so resorts. I assume it would fill up to an acceptable capacity reasonably quickly, let's say by 8:10. Then it hits the road.

A second Bus 3 then pulls up at 8:15 or so. I assume enough guests will be riding this bus for those same 6 resorts to make it reasonably full before it took off around 9:00 or so. If that is not happening, then perhaps another resort could be added, or some pre-planning could be done to make sure that the particular busses to particular resorts will be reasonably full. If a second Bus will only have 12 guests on it, fine, then add another resort stop to help fill it up.

Under my proposed system, each bus would essentially service twice as many resorts. Bus 3A will leave early, and Bus 3B will leave later. The longest wait in the parking lot would only be a half hour to 45 minutes at most. Yes, there would be more stops, but the people in the first 3 or 4 stops would have nothing to complain about, and the later ones probably wouldn't complain anyway because they wouldn't know any better and because they would not have been sitting in a dull dull dull parking lot for an hour before moving. Plus, if certain resorts don't happen to have any guests, that stop would no longer be necessary at WDW, thus speeding things up even further.

Look, I could rent a car, call uber, call a cab, whatever. But this system could be better. In my opinion, it is currently unacceptable, and improvements could be implemented. A bad system should not stay in place. It hurts the company, and should be fixed.

 

[DisneyJoe]

I wouldn't expect a big bus to go out carrying one family. My system would not send a bus out until it was reasonably full. What happened for us last Saturday was a trip to only three resorts: Port Orleans, BoardWalk, and Beach Club. The bus waited until 8:45, and was only about 60% full.

Instead of having a 60% full bus that waited nearly an hour, why not have the first Bus 3 take guests to 6 or so resorts. I assume it would fill up to an acceptable capacity reasonably quickly, let's say by 8:10. Then it hits the road.

A second Bus 3 then pulls up at 8:15 or so. I assume enough guests will be riding this bus for those same 6 resorts to make it reasonably full before it took off around 9:00 or so. If that is not happening, then perhaps another resort could be added, or some pre-planning could be done to make sure that the particular busses to particular resorts will be reasonably full. If a second Bus will only have 12 guests on it, fine, then add another resort stop to help fill it up.

Under my proposed system, each bus would essentially service twice as many resorts. Bus 3A will leave early, and Bus 3B will leave later. The longest wait in the parking lot would only be a half hour to 45 minutes at most. Yes, there would be more stops, but the people in the first 3 or 4 stops would have nothing to complain about, and the later ones probably wouldn't complain anyway because they wouldn't know any better and because they would not have been sitting in a dull dull dull parking lot for an hour before moving. Plus, if certain resorts don't happen to have any guests, that stop would no longer be necessary at WDW, thus speeding things up even further.

Look, I could rent a car, call uber, call a cab, whatever. But this system could be better. In my opinion, it is currently unacceptable, and improvements could be implemented. A bad system should not stay in place. It hurts the company, and should be fixed.

If they receive enough negative surveys and complaints, they will adjust accordingly.

 

[Phonedave]

Instead of having a 60% full bus that waited nearly an hour, why not have the first Bus 3 take guests to 6 or so resorts. I assume it would fill up to an acceptable capacity reasonably quickly, let's say by 8:10. Then it hits the road.

Why do you assume that? When a operation such as Disney transportation schedules busses, they look at things such a the throughput of customs, the times people are disambarking, historical wait times, and a whole slew of othere data, they just dont wing it and say "yeah, the bus should be full by then"

A second Bus 3 then pulls up at 8:15 or so. I assume enough guests will be riding this bus for those same 6 resorts to make it reasonably full before it took off around 9:00 or so. If that is not happening, then perhaps another resort could be added, or some pre-planning could be done to make sure that the particular busses to particular resorts will be reasonably full.

Disney has already done such pre-planning. Their plan is make the busses wait until 9:00 AM.

Now, this is assumption on my part, but I would suppose that people would be less upset by waiting in one spot at the start of the trip, than waiting the same amount of time at the end, while other guest appear to get better treatment. I am sure that some guest experience person somwhere did a survey and found that a person would rater sit on a bus until 9:00 AM, have to bus stop at 2 other resorts, and then drop them off at 10:30AM, then have the bus leave at 8:10 AM, stop at 5 other resorts, and drop them off at 10:30 AM same drop off time, but it seems like a different experience.

What I think Disney really needs to do is just clearly communicate that the first bus leaves at 9:00 AM, and people can then make their decisions accordingly. Get off the ship early, so they are sure they dont miss that bus, and then maybe wait for an hour on it, or try and get to the bus at 8:50 and hopefully not miss it.

 

[Ralphlaw]

When we got on the bus around 7:50, there were about 15 other people on board, all for Port Orleans, Boardwalk and Beach Club. The drivers and coordinators outside were apologetic, and obviously heard huge complaints every day about it. All of us onboard were very disappointed and grumpy when told that we wouldn't be leaving for an hour or more. ALL OF US. We were all talking about it, complaining how screwed up it was that we had to make it to breakfast by 6:45 only to be sitting in a bus for over an hour. Many of us considered calling cabs, but realized that the cost for a one way trip would probably be at least $100.

In any event, the system is anger-inducing for virtually everyone. We ALL had to wait for an hour. None of us got dropped off at the resorts within a reasonable time. Face it: The only reason this system is in place is:

1. Disney finds it easier to organize.
2. Bus drivers have an easer time stopping at fewer resorts.
3. Bus drivers have an easier time organizing luggage for fewer resorts.
4. Coordinators won't have to monitor to see which buses are actually filling up, and are therefore able to leave.
5. A simple roster and unbending schedule is easier for every Disney employee involved.

The Problem: Each of the above 5 things is good for Disney workers, but not for the guests. When the guest experience comes second, harm comes to the company. That's exactly what the current system does, and I am NEVER going to use it again. Thus I am probably NEVER going to do a land and sea Disney vacation again that involves going back to the parks after the cruise. This will hurt Disney in some small way, but many other similarly situated and annoyed people assuredly feel the same.

One thing that set Disney apart was how well we were treated on Debarkation day. It isn't easy to do this for Disney, especially for all the cast members who have to turn over the ship for the next cruise. Yet they take the time and do it all exceptionally well. All that effort is potentially wasted if the final impression and memory is of guests sitting in a parking lot for an hour. All those extreme efforts, from waiters, stewards and stevedores on down, are for naught if a stupid bus system still makes a significant percentage of the guests angry. Bad system. I assume it will not be allowed to continue because angry guests will let their voices be known--somehow. At a minimum, word will get out, and fewer people will rousts their carcasses out of bed for a 6:45 breakfast when they know that they won't be leaving port until 9:00 anyway. I assume mad rushes at luggage and customs will ensue around 8 to 8:30, which will make the buses even more late. And Stewards will get an even later start for their turnover. And waiters. Stupid Stupid Stupid.

By the way, I just took the computer survey, and no specific question asks for detail on the debarkation and trip back to WDW. Is it any wonder that this messed up system is allowed to continue?