UPDATE PAGE 8 - A very serious issue with WDW...

[Tinkerbellcrafter]

QUOTING: TOMANDLORI- 2nd ... This is a company that leads the world in innovations in the amusement park and entertainment business. My thought is, as I wait there for the bus, "IS THIS THE BEST THEY CAN DO?????????? They make Johnny Depp go from a pirate to a skeleton for petes sake, can they not get me from my resort to the Magic Kingdom in less than an hour????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I get ornery when I am vacationed -out.

 

[Mississippian]

I almost always stay at BWV, which is my home resort. The bus service is not the greatest, but the boat is fairly convenient to MGM, and EPCOT is a very easy walk. Also, if we are running the least bit late and are at any risk at all of missing the MK park opening, I take a cab to the Polynesian and take the monorail to the MK. It costs about $12. Other times I reach the MK by walking through EPCOT, which is quite enjoyable. Be sure to take the cab to the Polynesian or another hotel, because if you say the Magic Kingdom they will take you to the Ticket and Transportation Center and you will have to get in line with several thousand other people.

When going out for a nice dinner, it is best to take a cab rather than to rely on Disney transportation. The evening buses are not reliable anywhere, and you are likely to get all hot and sweaty. No fun.

All in all I spend less than $60 per trip on cabs, a pittance compared to the total cost of the vacation. And it is certainly cheaper than renting a car, which I don't want to have to be bothered with.

 

[boettj]

I almost always stay at BWV, which is my home resort. The bus service is not the greatest, but the boat is fairly convenient to MGM, and EPCOT is a very easy walk. Also, if we are running the least bit late and are at any risk at all of missing the MK park opening, I take a cab to the Polynesian and take the monorail to the MK. It costs about $12. Other times I reach the MK by walking through EPCOT, which is quite enjoyable. Be sure to take the cab to the Polynesian or another hotel, because if you say the Magic Kingdom they will take you to the Ticket and Transportation Center and you will have to get in line with several thousand other people.

When going out for a nice dinner, it is best to take a cab rather than to rely on Disney transportation. The evening buses are not reliable anywhere, and you are likely to get all hot and sweaty. No fun.

All in all I spend less than $60 per trip on cabs, a pittance compared to the total cost of the vacation. And it is certainly cheaper than renting a car, which I don't want to have to be bothered with.

I think that Disney needs to go back to the personable drivers where at any given time you could get on your bus and share b-days, anniversaries, sing songs, etc. I feel that that was part of the magic! One of the things my daughter remembers from her first trip when she was 4, was getting on the bus and singing zippity dooda(sp?)

I think both of you sum up the fix nicely. Mississippian offers the fix for now, and Tinkerbellcrafter offers Disney the long term fix. I just hope that Disney is ready this post.

We do the rental car for more reasons than the bus system. However, the bus system has gotten worse and worse. It's timing. The people that say they have not had to wait or the ones that have timed it right. The ones that have wait as much as an hour don't have good timing. Which I fall into the not having good timing category.

My main reason for not taking the bus is our 2.5 DD. I want her in a car seat. It's a piece of mind thing.

However, people are right, part of the draw for most staying on property is the transportation system. The boats and Monorail don't have delays. It's just the buses. Disney needs to take back control of the buses and sort this out.

 

[rantnnravin]

We DVC owners have paid for our accommodations ahead of time.
If we rent a car, there is no necessity (real or perceived) to spend our vacation dollars at Disney.
If Disney forces us out of relying on their transportation system by providing substandard service, when we hop into that car to get to a theme park, what's to stop us from driving a few extra minutes to go to Universal (from whom we can get a week's worth of admission for little more than the cost of a one-day ticket at WDW) or to one of the numerous restaurants and dinner shows in the area?
Disney had better think long and hard about the long-term impact of the lack of service they are providing. The short-term monetary savings will come back to bite them long-term. Especially if all they ever get from us again is our $15000 and yearly dues.

 

[CarnotaurDad]

I guess we are on the other end of this issue.

We absolutely HATE renting a car at WDW and with over 9 trips in the last three years, have never waited more than 25 minutes for a bus (and I am very, very impatient).

I love not having to drive, walking through the parking lots, hot car, etc.

To each their own but we have no regrets about using the WDW bus transportation.

 

[bonnielynn]

We just got back, yesterday (SSR). I noticed that at the Springs stop there was cast member noting the times of the bus arrival. So they must have a clue that everyone is complaining about it.

We never had a problem getting a bus at SSR, but if we were trying to get back, there was always a wait... and plenty of people complaining about it.

 

[hellerjw]

We will be happy to be at WDW, and realize it's not worth sweating the small stuff.

We feel the exact same way. My job keeps me wound pretty tight and if I can't force myself to relax at WDW then there is no reason to go. As with most workaholics, myself included, it takes a lot of work to keep from working.

 

[ransom]

As with most workaholics, myself included, it takes a lot of work to keep from working.

Yup! And for us type "A"'s, it's hard not to stress over things like making it to rope drop, ADRs, etc.

My solution was to extend the length of the vacation so that there were enough days at the beginning for me to get out of "work" mode, and then to also make sure I always leave plenty of time for transportation no matter where I'm going. So I spend a lot of time waiting (either because I got there early or because I had to wait a long time for transport), but I'm surprised that I actually don't mind that. I'm still with DW in WDW, and whether we're sitting on a bench waiting for a bus or riding Space Mountain, that's all that really matters.

 

[jade1]

We usually stay at BCV or BWV and most of our ADR's are at EPCOT, so we know exactly when we can leave our room and walk over in 15 minutes.

Still, bus service used to be good everywhere. It's a shame to hear its getting worse.

 

[jamstew]

I find the Bus system to be a Huge Drawing card to stay on site. Anyone remember driving all over to find a parking place, especially at DTD? Waiting in the long lines to get into Magic Kingdom to park? We have our car, We don't want to fight all that traffic, we enjoy chillin, am I the only one? If I have to go back to driving my car, well I might as well stay off sight too. Then I had a much larger room and cheaper food. It all goes hand in hand to me. It's the buses that even made me look at the Disney Hotels. I have a Timeshare that I can trade into Orlando, I used it to stay one mile from Disney's Main Gate everytime we came. If, all of a sudden I have going to have to Drive my car again, Well...

I couldn't agree more! I hate driving, and if I'm going to have to do it onsite, why would I spend the extra money to stay there (I also have a traditional timeshare that I've used to transfer into very nearby properties for years). For those of us who take children & grandchildren, renting a vehicle to carry 5 adults plus 3 carseats is just impractical. As much of a hassle as airports are, there's no way we're going to haul carseats from home. Disney advertises that buses run approximately every 20 minutes as an incentive to get people to stay onsite, and they need to do whatever it takes to make that happen. More than 30 minutes is inconvenient; 45 minutes is totally inexcusable.

 

[DebbieB]

I drive all the time and never have seen much of a line to get into the parks (I do go at slower times). At Downtown Disney, I always park over my McDonalds, plenty of spaces there.

 

[izzy]

They make Johnny Depp go from a pirate to a skeleton for petes sake, can they not get me from my resort to the Magic Kingdom in less than an hour????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

[abiomom]

I was in WDW from Sept. 12 through the 21st. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and really wondered if it was just us. We waited for a bus to Blizzard Beach one morning for over an hour. It was horrible. The day we went to Typhoon Lagoon, we waited over an hour to return to our resort. Every bus diver that we complained to said the same thing, "call and complain because we know it's bad". The boats to/from Magic Kingdom was not too great either. I will definitely be getting a rental car from now on. But then that sort of defeats the purpose of staying on property.

 

[lugnut33]

I was in WDW from Sept. 12 through the 21st. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and really wondered if it was just us. We waited for a bus to Blizzard Beach one morning for over an hour. It was horrible. The day we went to Typhoon Lagoon, we waited over an hour to return to our resort. Every bus diver that we complained to said the same thing, "call and complain because we know it's bad". The boats to/from Magic Kingdom was not too great either. I will definitely be getting a rental car from now on. But then that sort of defeats the purpose of staying on property.

It doesn't defeat the purpose, it allows you to pop in and out of the bubble whenever you want to save money. Nothing wrong with that. And, for those with an independent spirit, having a car is freedom.

However, if you like the buses, by all means use them, it's a good service.

 

[DaveH]

I did a last minute DVC trip in Jun and stayed at SSR and OKW. Every morning there was a CM at bus stops taking times down. Some areas the busses were fine and others were not. When I was there it was busses to and from EPCOT. When I got home I wrote DVC with what went great and what was wrong. I am going to make a habit of doing this. The more we write DVC and contact managers when we are there. The better a chance to get it fixed. I have not been a fan of Mears for years. I am surprised ME works as well as it does. If they have taken over the daily bus system at the resorts, we are going to see this stuff for years. If our trip in Late Nov and early Dec has bad transportation, I will be doing non park trips due to the high costs of tickets and such. I will either go to Universal for a couple of days or just chill.

 

[Jeremy&Susan]

I did a last minute DVC trip in Jun and stayed at SSR and OKW. Every morning there was a CM at bus stops taking times down. Some areas the busses were fine and others were not. When I was there it was busses to and from EPCOT. When I got home I wrote DVC with what went great and what was wrong. I am going to make a habit of doing this. The more we write DVC and contact managers when we are there. The better a chance to get it fixed. I have not been a fan of Mears for years. I am surprised ME works as well as it does. If they have taken over the daily bus system at the resorts, we are going to see this stuff for years. If our trip in Late Nov and early Dec has bad transportation, I will be doing non park trips due to the high costs of tickets and such. I will either go to Universal for a couple of days or just chill.

Be carefull with Mears and ME. We had an experience last December with them that stopped us from ever using them again. The bus at SSR to the airport was over an hour late (can't remember exactly how late but it was WELL over an hour). If that wasn't bad enough, the bus they sent had a braking issue where the air that keeps the brakes from locking up, kept loosing pressure.
We were up front and the buss driver kept saying he didn't think we would make it to the airport. He kept rollign through stop signs and red lights to "Keep the brake system from locking up and leaving us stuck at a red light."
I have no idea why Mears would ever let a safety issue on a bus go and then put passengers on that bus, but they did. Also my opinion is that it would have been FAR better to get stuck at a red light with no air pressure, than rolling through a stop and getting hit or hitting someone else.
The bus trip ended with the driving stopping at the first drop off point at MCO and telling everyone they had to get off there because the bus would not be able to go any further, "The brakes were locked up and no air to release them".

IMO Disney is too worried about profit margin and working to get stock price up to pad executive salary and they have stopped trying to make their customers happy. We love Disney just wish they would get back to the basics of pleasing their customers who love their concept.
Another example, they keep building DVCs but they aren't expanding (to any great length) or building any new parks. Too crowded.

Enough of my rambling, the Mears thing just stirred up a REALLY bad memory.

BTW, I did contact DVC and they got our feedback but never responded with an apology or what would be done to ensure it wouldn't happen again. So much for customer service.

 

[DaveH]

I am surprised what you described doesn't happen more.

 

[jade1]

I am surprised what you described doesn't happen more.

It did to us from VWL last summer. Literally ran through the airport and luckily had checked our bags and got boarding passes that AM with NWA-or we would have been up a creek. After waiting over an hour and 1/2, they ever so slowly stopped at POLY and then GF. The bus seemed OK, but must have been some traffic problems as well. We are trying it again though-just planning to leave plenty of time.

 

[seashoreCM]

Way OT: Electronic control and/or scheduling systems lead to delays:
http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=54863

If you plan plenty of time to get to your ADR via Disney Transport and experence severe delays or if you are held up in the morning at the Animal Kingdom parking lot entrance, write out a diary of what happened pointing out times. Then if the concierge still won't seat you after those already waiting for their ADR's but before subsequent ADR guest arrivals because you are late, go to Guest Relations next.

You should aim to be back at your resort an hour before Magical Express bus time back to the airport. You can always ask for and get bus times back to the airport more than 3 hours in advance of your flight. If your last Disney activity would be a meal, it is better to do that at the airport.

I ... bus could say MK and they were really going to EPCOT...

OT: Happened a lot on the MBTA (Boston's transit system) but they're getting better now that they're installing GPS driven automatic station announcements , which don't work well if the posted destination and route doesn't match the actual destination and route.

It makes me really happy when transit outdoes and "shows up" the private motorist and it makes me sad when transit doesn't work well.

I have rented a car because I often go offsite for dinner and for some non-Disney attractions, also a car is convenient for leaving things and some clothing in while going to the water parks. But usually I take the buses to the theme parks.

 

[nittany89]

Stayed at SSR 9/26 - 10/1. We had the exact opposite experience with the bus system. Most of the time we did not wait longer than 5 minutes. Only had to wait about 15 minutes once for a bus to Magic Kingdom from SSR. We were in the Grandstand, but often walked over to the Springs stop so that we didn't have to ride around the resort.