Disneyland Express - never again!

[thumpie's mom]

We are frequent visitors to Disneyland and when we fly in, we require wheelchair transport for my daughter. We have used Disneyland Express, run by Greyline on prior visits. While some of the trips have gone ok, it seems for the most part the driver's don't know how to work the lifts and/or the lifts have mechanical issues. We just returned from out last trip and we will NEVER use them again. On both the arrival and departure buses, the lifts/drivers had issues. The worst was our return trip to the airport. We had scheduled our departure time with them and when the bus arrived, the driver literally had no idea how to work the lift. It took him forever to get it down. Then we realized he had parked to close to the curb and I could not turn her chair to get her onto the lift properly. Once she finally on, he could not figure out how to make it go back up and was manually trying to crank us up. We got stuck and had to wait for another driver to come who supposedly knew how to work a lift. In the meantime, extremely hot air and gas fumes are blowing in my daughter's face (not good for a asthmatic), she is freaked out and crying. The second driver tries working on the lift and hear a loud crack and the lift dropped a few inches. I got my now hysterical child off the lift and refused to put her back on. The driver got in the bus and proceeds to start to leave without a word to us. After stopping him, I asked what we were suppose to do. He basically said since I refused to let her back on the lift, we were on our own. The second driver sent a request to dispatch asking for another bus. When that bus arrived, guess what? The lift was broken. 3rd bus arrived, and they could not get the lift to work. They eventually got it together and got us to the airport. Thankfully, I always plan to be at the airport well ahead of time. It was a horrible experience, my daughter was scared out of her mind and I was and am furious over how we were treated. We will never use the Disneyland Express again and do not recommend it for anyone who needs a wc lift.

 

[gap2368]

Wow I am sorry that happens I hope you find something that works for you on your next trip to Disney land

 

[nikkislaght]

Wow.. how to blow your customer service out the window... what a horrible ordeal for your daughter and you.. Hope your Disney time was amazing.. try not to let the D/E experience ruin your Disney memory..

Hope your future visits are better ..

 

[thumpie's mom]

Wow I am sorry that happens I hope you find something that works for you on your next trip to Disney land

Thank you! We will definitely be looking for another means of transportation next time. But, we had a great time at Disneyland and that is what we remember.

 

[thumpie's mom]

Wow.. how to blow your customer service out the window... what a horrible ordeal for your daughter and you.. Hope your Disney time was amazing.. try not to let the D/E experience ruin your Disney memory..

Hope your future visits are better ..

Thank you! We had a great time at Disneyland and those are the memories we remember

 

[jdb in AZ]

OP, do you have a plan for next time? When we went to WDW with DMIL and her wheel chair, we notified DME about the wheel chair and they had a lift bus to take us from MCO to the hotel. On the return trip, DME didn't have a lift bus available so they sent a special handicapped van just for us, at no charge, and we didn't have to special order it. It just showed up, right on time. I realize DME hauls a lot more guests than the Disneyland Express and DME has a lot more buses in their fleet, but it would be nice if Disneyland Express learned to handle customer service as well as DME.

 

[thumpie's mom]

Unfortunately, Disneyland does not work the same as WDW. We have had no problems when we went to WDW, we LOVE the DME and have never had a issue with them. We will probably try Super Shuttle as we have learned that they now have WC accessible vans. Thank you for the input, it is appreciated!

 

[SMD]

We are frequent visitors to Disneyland and when we fly in, we require wheelchair transport for my daughter. We have used Disneyland Express, run by Greyhound on prior visits.

If you want to send them a complaint, it's Gray Line, not Greyhound. Make sure you contact the right company to address the issues.

 

[thumpie's mom]

Thank you...good point. And yes, we are filing a complaint. We don't want another family to have this experience.

 

[kellygirl2]

We had a terrible experience with Disneyland Resort Express as well in July. I called prior to our trip to confirm our reservation and get information about accessibility for my husband. They took all of my information about our arrival and told me which bus we should try to catch after landing. I was also told that if we missed that bus for some reason due to our flight being late that all of the coaches were accessible and we could get on any bus.

We sat at the curb and waited for our bus. The driver got off the bus and was extremely rude. He was very short with me and told me that I should have called and made a reservation so he knew about the chair. I told him that I had called and given all of our information to them and he told me he had nothing in his paperwork - he was so rude and never once acknowledged my husband. After he saw my husband he huffed back to the bus to move it to open the lift. He opened the lift directly into a concrete bench so my husband had to go up over the side of the lift to get on as opposed to just rolling on. When we arrived at our hotel and got off the bus - he once again gave me a lecture about how I hadn't made a reservation and I had to better call before our return trip. I remained very calm and polite since we had our 5 year twins with us. He once again didn't acknowledge my husband in this whole discussion.

We ended up not using them on our return trip. We called and made a reservation with supershuttle. We had an excellent experience with them on our return trip. The driver arrived early for our pick-up (he said he likes to make sure that he has plenty of time to secure the chair in the van.) I was a full sized accessible van with a lift. We picked up two other passengers on our way and made it to the airport in plenty of time.

I would highly recommend supershuttle over DRE for anyone needing accessible transportation.

 

[bumbershoot]

If you want to send them a complaint, it's Gray Line, not Greyhound. Make sure you contact the right company to address the issues.

And change the wording in the first post so that those skimming know the right company. No need to throw Greyhound under the bus, so to speak.

I would highly recommend supershuttle over DRE for anyone needing accessible transportation.

While they might have worked better for you than the Disneyland Resort Express coach, they aren't without their issues as well, overall.

 

[thumpie's mom]

We had a terrible experience with Disneyland Resort Express as well in July. I called prior to our trip to confirm our reservation and get information about accessibility for my husband. They took all of my information about our arrival and told me which bus we should try to catch after landing. I was also told that if we missed that bus for some reason due to our flight being late that all of the coaches were accessible and we could get on any bus.

We sat at the curb and waited for our bus. The driver got off the bus and was extremely rude. He was very short with me and told me that I should have called and made a reservation so he knew about the chair. I told him that I had called and given all of our information to them and he told me he had nothing in his paperwork - he was so rude and never once acknowledged my husband. After he saw my husband he huffed back to the bus to move it to open the lift. He opened the lift directly into a concrete bench so my husband had to go up over the side of the lift to get on as opposed to just rolling on. When we arrived at our hotel and got off the bus - he once again gave me a lecture about how I hadn't made a reservation and I had to better call before our return trip. I remained very calm and polite since we had our 5 year twins with us. He once again didn't acknowledge my husband in this whole discussion.

We ended up not using them on our return trip. We called and made a reservation with supershuttle. We had an excellent experience with them on our return trip. The driver arrived early for our pick-up (he said he likes to make sure that he has plenty of time to secure the chair in the van.) I was a full sized accessible van with a lift. We picked up two other passengers on our way and made it to the airport in plenty of time.

I would highly recommend supershuttle over DRE for anyone needing accessible transportation.

We had the same thing happen...I called ahead of time and confirmed our need for the lift and which bus we would be catching. They took all of our info, but when the driver saw my daughter, he starts lecturing me about not calling ahead of time because now he has to go move the seats to make room for her wheelchair. I politely informed him that we had called, but stated since it was not on his paperwork, I must not have actually done it. They really need to improve their communications and customer service. Thank you for sharing your experience on Super Shuttle, we will be trying them next time.

 

[kellygirl2]

While they might have worked better for you than the Disneyland Resort Express coach, they aren't without their issues as well, overall.[/QUOTE]

I'm sure that supershuttle isn't perfect. I just wanted to give the OP some feedback on our experience with them. My husband has used Supershuttle quite often when traveling on his own and has always had a good experience with them.

 

[thumpie's mom]

While they might have worked better for you than the Disneyland Resort Express coach, they aren't without their issues as well, overall.

I'm sure that supershuttle isn't perfect. I just wanted to give the OP some feedback on our experience with them. My husband has used Supershuttle quite often when traveling on his own and has always had a good experience with them.[/QUOTE]
Thanks again for the input on Super Shuttle. We are using them in October when we do our cruise. It is good to know your husband has had good experiences with them!

 

[KPeveler]

I would contact Disney as well as the bus company. They are contractors and Disney should know about this for when the contract comes up for renewal.

 

[thumpie's mom]

I would contact Disney as well as the bus company. They are contractors and Disney should know about this for when the contract comes up for renewal.

Yes, I did send them a letter as well. Thank you for the input!

 

[pugdog]

I would contact Disney as well as the bus company. They are contractors and Disney should know about this for when the contract comes up for renewal.

Actually they are not contracted with Disney in anyway, unlike Mears in WDW which is contracted to provide transportation. They pay a royalty to have the Disney banner on the side of the buses but are not under any contract with them. That being said I would still complain to Disney about it so they know.

I would highly recommend supershuttle over DRE for anyone needing accessible transportation.

I would second Supershuttle as an alternative. DW and myself have used them in about a dozen different cities around the country including Anaheim. Yes they might not be perfect but we have not had any major issues with them. And all 20 different drivers have either been extremely nice or at least pleasant enough to ride with. Not a rude one yet.