Beware of Disney Driver

[jndmommy]

We had an absolute great time at CBR, up until the second to last day. The day before we left, there was a MAJOR incident with one of the bus drivers. Here goes my long vent. Every other bus driver we had left the back door of the bus open to get the carriages on through the back. My sister- in- law (13) took my dd (4) by the hand to go on the bus (through the back door, we were behind them with the carriages). As my dd stepped onto the bus, the driver closed the door on her leg, and started to pull away from the stop. Everyone inside & outside the bus was screaming at him. Since he was going so slow, my dh ran up and starting prying the rubber seal on the door open. The bus driver stopped but didn't open the door right away. About a minute or two later he opened the door, Disney Security went flying on the bus yelling at the driver. My dd was shaken up and hurt her knee. She fell when her foot got caught. The driver never asked if she was ok or said sorry. As we got off our stop, other passengers said they heard him mumble "Oh well, she shouldn't have been there." What a jerk, and that's going easy. We went straight to the front desk with our complaint, I wanted to speak to everybody. The manager of CBR contacted the supposed shift manager of transportation & also took my report. They sent their EMT's to our room to check her out along with some other Disney staff to document our complaint again. I wanted to know what would be done. They told us, since she appeared fine, it was now an internal investigation. That's not enough for me. I want to write a letter to the head of DisneyWorld & the head of their transportation. I want to know what happened to this guy, and how their hire such callous people for the "happiest place on earth." I know the head of DisneyWorld's address & name is on this site somewhere, so I'll look. If any of you know it, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks so much for reading my long vent.

 

[seashoreCM]

This applies to all buses and trolleys and subway trains in all cities worldwide.

As your children board or alight, hold the door.

If you are in a group on a crowded bus or train, it is more important for one person to get to the door as opposed to everyone staying together. That person can then hold the door for the others.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

Pounding near the front of the bus, making the maximum noise (hard object) would probably have been better.

 

[jndmommy]

Everyone was screaming and pounding all over the entire bus, front, middle and back. People who just came off the bus, turned around and did the same. And what should be said for the lack of concern after the fact. Poor example of a Disney employee.

 

[manhattan]

Don't take this the wrong way, but I never got on a bus using the back door, always the front door. Perhaps years of using the buses in NYC, but the back doors were always for exiting passengers. And the only time I saw drivers use the back door at disney was when a wheelchair was being loaded. Not that he was right, but the other drivers who were letting you board were wrong in letting people do that. I think his attitude was improper, but definitely write a letter if that is what you feel you must do.

 

[off to neverland]

JNDMommy,

This SAME thing happened to us on our last trip. The driver purposefully cloes me in the back door while I was entering holding my 2 year old daughter. She got my arm pretty good.......... AFter she finally opened the door, she verbally accosted me on the microphone for entering through the back door when I'm not supposed to.

I had no idea I wasn't supposed to enter there, and have actually been entering by the back door since we started going to Disney. I DO NOT make a habit of breaking rules, and would have never done it if I had known. Granted, there are NO ENTER signs there, I later noticed, but I had never taken the time to stop and read the signs before I entered.

And I also noticed that LOTS of bus drivers let people enter through the back-- it happens all the time.

I complained to the transportation manager, and demanded he make it up to me. I was sent a fruit basket the next day, and received turndown service at the hotel for the rest of my stay.

The scary thing is, I could have been very hurt, and worse..... the door COULD have shut on my little daughter.

I told my husband that I bet Disney will be sued in the next year for that....... I

 

[kaytieeldr]

I'm NOT excusing what either bus driver did (accidentally closing the door on an entering passenger) but aside from the rear doors being marked "do not enter", doesn't anybody notice that once passengers have left through the rear door that the driver generally closes that door while leaving the front one open for passenger access? I'm guessing the Guests who've had doors closed literally on them have never used public transit? The back door of the bus is used for unloading current riders (to empty out the bus faster) and to load wheelchair passengers and strollers ONLY. This means only the person pushing the stroller should be going in through the back door - and ideally be assisted by someone already ON the bus.

 

[off to neverland]

Since the accident, I have watched busses loading and unloading at WDW, and there are many who DO load through the back, believe it or not. In fact, right after I had my arm slammed in the door, my husband and I watched a bus at AKL load the passengers through the back, and not the front! The driver was actually standing by the door, laughing and talking to the people as they loaded.

At the Wilderness Lodge, where this happened to me, there isn't a specified line for the busses; they pull in sort of helter-skelter. This particular one pulled up so that the back door was right in front of me. The door opened, and my 5 year old son jumped on, and I followed him with my daughter.

All it would have taken was for the bus driver to nicely tell me I wasn't supposed to load through the back. Trust me, I would have never done it again...... ONe simple sentance is all it would have taken! It was so mean and hateful that the other passengers on the bus were making rude comments to the driver; we were all upset.

And I do want to clarify.... the door closing WAS NOT accidental. She did it purposefully, and even admitted as such as she was berating me on the microphone.

 

[betterlatethannever]

Entering through the back door is like jumping in front of everybody at a ride. If there is a long line of people waiting to get on the bus, many times I see people at the back of the line moving over to the rear door.

The driver is SUPPOSED to close the door when evetrybody exiting has done so.

Ed

 

[helenk]

Since the accident, I have watched busses loading and unloading at WDW, and there are many who DO load through the back

In all my trips to WDW the drivers have not allowed anyone but those using the wheel chair ramp enter through the back. There are signs posted, and I have heard drivers "yell" at those who do try to enter.
..
It does not make it right though that a person was injured, and certainly the bus driver should be more careful. I did have a bus driver start to close the back door as I was exiting the back, I was the last in line and I guess he thought everyone was out. I yelled loudly and he quickly stopped the door and opened it, but he did apologize.

 

[seashoreCM]

? I'm guessing the Guests who've had doors closed literally on them have never used public transit? The back door of the bus is used for unloading current riders (to empty out the bus faster) and to load wheelchair passengers and strollers ONLY. .

In Boston, there are several places where passengers board at both doors. (Also in Boston passengers must exit the front door on most bus routes and some streetcar routes.) In Cleveland on some streetcar routes passengers board rear doors and exit the front door, or at least used to.

At least to me, the Disney buses had "do not enter" signs quite visible at the back doors.

 

[jndmommy]

This was not meant for anyone to get flamed. I am aware that on public transport you do not in most cases enter on the back of the bus. I do not need bus etiquette 101. However, if the driver looked in his mirror he would've seen the line of people entering from the rear besides my child. You are not supposed to arbitrarily close your doors. First you check your mirrors. So either he did it maliciously or he didn't check the mirrors. My feeling goes with maliciousness. His behavior following the incident proves that. He stared rather than opening the door immediately and then didn't give a you know what that it happened. I am not saying we were not in the wrong, for not paying attention to the signs. Its quite possible I just never looked for them. I just did as previous drivers had told us to. It is just extremely unbelievable that a bus driver would not so much as inquire as to the condition of the person. Wrong, right or whatever, human decency/compassion on the part of the driver was zero. Had he made some type of inquiry we probably would not have complained/reported it. That is what surprises us most.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Since the accident, I have watched busses loading and unloading at WDW, and there are many who DO load through the back, believe it or not. In fact, right after I had my arm slammed in the door, my husband and I watched a bus at AKL load the passengers through the back, and not the front! The driver was actually standing by the door, laughing and talking to the people as they loaded.

Okay there are two differences here. One, the Guests were boarding the bus through only one door, and two, the driver was at that door, NOT in the driver's seat. So he or she was FULLY aware of all passengers boarding through that door.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

As my dd stepped onto the bus, the driver closed the door on her leg, and started to pull away from the stop. Everyone inside & outside the bus was screaming at him. Since he was going so slow, my dh ran up and starting prying the rubber seal on the door open. The bus driver stopped but didn't open the door right away. About a minute or two later he opened the door, Disney Security went flying on the bus yelling at the driver. My dd was shaken up and hurt her knee. She fell when her foot got caught. The driver never asked if she was ok or said sorry. As we got off our stop, other passengers said they heard him mumble "Oh well, she shouldn't have been there."

JMO, but it doesn't matter whether or not there are signs saying "do not enter" or anything to that effect. Either the driver (a) was extremely careless, or (b) he closed the door on purpose and started pulling away with people still outside. The OP also said --

However, if the driver looked in his mirror he would've seen the line of people entering from the rear besides my child.

jndmommy, I know you said you and DH were outside the bus while your SIL and DD entered. Were there people behind you as well, or were you the last to enter the bus from the rear? I'm just curious if this driver was going to drive off and split up a family or if he was going to leave other passengers behind.

Hopefully Disney Security saw enough that this driver was either fired or reassigned to scooping up the waste in the Kilimanjaro Safari.

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm really sorry this had to happen to you. No excuse what-so-ever for what the driver did to that poor girl. But, I have to say that in all my trips to WDW, I have never seen a bus driver allow those with strollers to board through the back door of the bus. Only those who qualify as 'handicapped'. The drivers have always closed the back door as soon as all the passengers have gotten off. Then, you had to board through the front door, with your folded up stroller. I have heard many drivers yell at those trying to get on quickly by using the back exit just before the door closed. But, your driver was way out of line just driving off!!! I don't care if bells and whistles went off to stop anyone from getting on via the back door. The driver should have seen what the situation was, and not moved that bus!!!! No excuse.
I really think that all the bus stops need to have those que lines like they have at the parks and now at Pop. Although, I did see people abuse the que line at Pop also...seems they didn't feel the need to wait in the line like everyone else and thought they could just hop on through the back door or shove their way into the que line at the front entrance to the bus.
Hopefully the young girl is okay. Can understand why she would be badly shaken up. Again...sorry this had to happen to your group!!

 

[SueM in MN]

There are 2 versions of this same thread.
Here's a link to the other one.

 

[boomhauer]

If this is what happened, the driver was completely wrong for doing that.

However, so were the people trying to get on the bus from behind. That is cutting in front of people in front of you. The only people allowed in the rear entrance of the bus are handicapped people, not people with children, and not people with strollers.

What the driver SHOULD have done, was let them on the bus, then got up, made them get off and get in the back of the line.

 

[clkelley]

I agree with many posters here. 99% of the Disney bus drivers we have ridden with have not allowed anyone to board on the back of the bus except for those with wheelchairs and ECVs. On a couple of occasions I have seen folks request to bring a large stroller in the back AFTER waiting in line and asking the driver. The drivers usually allow that.

The case where the entire bus was loading in the back may have been a case of the front door malfunctioning.

Carol

 

[JimFitz]

Load the buses like normal people and this would not happen.

FYI, you can not climb through the windows to get a seat either.

 

[jndmommy]

Thanks for pointing out the obvious! You as well lack sensitivity to a child. Have a Magical Day! Hope we don't bump into you in WDW or Jersey.

 

[off to neverland]

It never fails to amaze me how incredibly rude some people on these boards can be.