Bus service at BC Warning!!!

[NHmouse]

Just back from seven days at BCV. The bus system was absolutely horrible!!
On monday evening it took us 65 minutes to go from BC to mk and this was after a 25 minute wait for the bus at BC. The buses were packed like sardines with the YC, BC, and boardwalk sharing a single bus and during the week add in the Swan and Dolphin as well. I am extremely disappointed in the level of service at this deluxe resort! On early open day at MK there were over 200 people in line for the bus at BC we waited over 15 minutes and when the bus came it was 3/4 full already! I know that times are tough at disney but this is not deluxe service!

 

[disney4me4ever]

Sorry to hear about your experience with the buses. In our many trips to WDW, we have always had good experiences (and have had had many stays at Beach Club). However, there have been a few threads expressing concern; but Tyler has posted and I thought they had things under control. I'm glad we have a car rented for next month!

Nancy

 

[LvsTnk]

OOOHHH, please don't say that

I thought they had things worked out too, it will be me and DS with special needs and there is no way I can fight a crowd to get on the bus. I have to break down his special needs stroller carry all of that and then help him get on.

Well, this is was the one good thing about his B-Day being in Sept. Low Crowds, but with FTP I hope this is still true.

***Please Ignore Me I'm Going In To Panic Mode (trip is in 10 days LOL)

 

[BCVOwner2002]

We were at BCV in June and did not have any problems with the transportation. Sorry you had problems. Annmarie

 

[Alison Wonderland]

I, too, was at the Yacht Club last week. I have one word to describe the bus situation there--abysmal.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by NHmouse
On monday evening it took us 65 minutes to go from BC to mk and this was after a 25 minute wait for the bus at BC.

With my math, that works out to be a 40 minute drive from BC to BW to MK. Unless there's something you're not mentioning, it doesn't make sense to me. There is no way it can take 40 minutes to get to the MK from the BC.

Originally posted by NHmouse
On early open day at MK there were over 200 people in line for the bus at BC we waited over 15 minutes and when the bus came it was 3/4 full already!

Well, it's illogical to expect there not to be crowds. Given what I know about that area, 200 seems like an exaggerated number. As someone who sees the lines every day, and how they can appear, I can tell you that often times the amount of people is less than what it appears to be. I've pulled into load zones where I swear there are more than 100 people there, but when counting as they board, it was 68.

Even still... here's another perspective to look at:

The dispatcher is not psychic, and does not know whether there are 7 people at the Beach Club or 70 people. They can only dispatch based of a pre-existing template, estimating the traffic flow. We do not know where you are going. We can only guess that a park might have additional traffic on an early entry day. It's impossible to guage exactly how busy it really will be. Some days are busier than others. The only way we can manage, is when a bus fills up, we send out another. But you're still going to have buses that fill up. Why send a half empty bus onto the MK, when you have guests still waiting at the next stop? And if you do send it on, you have guests complaining that it's half full, not realizing that shortly thereafter, there will be another bus.

 

[Marianne0310]

We just got back from a two week stay at the BVC, and my family and I agree. Although it may seem unlikely that it would take over an hour to get to MK from BVC it did. We waited for three buses to come to BVC before there was enough room for us to board, and all we could do was stand. We went to Ak on the 13th for a PS which we had no problem with, but it was the ride back from the park that was just awful. It took us an hour and twenty minutes to get back to the resorts that afternoon. We got to the bus stop at 1:00 and didn't get into the hotel lobby until 2:20. It took forever for a bus to pick us up as well as everyone else waiting in line. We had to stop at Blizzard Beach and pick up everyone waiting there with the same complaint.
Needless to say the bus was packed solid. We spoke to the front desk about it when we returned. It got to the point that we didn't even want to go back to MK because we just didn't want to wait forever for a bus to take us there. I did notice that there was a CM at the bus stop on a few occassions, I gave them my name and room # and asked if there was any way they could have someone contact me. No one ever did.

 

[jcanary]

Luckily we had rented a car. But one night my older daughter and her friend wanted to go to PI. They waited for over 45 minutes and no bus. Finally they called us, we were meeting some friends but on our way back and asked if they could get a ride. I could not believe it. This was about 5-6pm. I don't think I would go to BCV without a rental car. We never used the buses except for e-ride night. the best solution is to go to Epcot from there and take the monorail or bus. More walking but I am sure a lot faster. With the villas there and at BW, these resorts should be on its own with buses, especially during the busy seasons, and they should know when their resort is full, therefore the demand would be greater. After all that is common sense in the business world.

 

[NHmouse]

Although you may think that 200 is an exaggerated number it is true. the hotel and villas were pretty much at capacity. There was a cast memeber at the bus stop area directing buses and he reported on his radio that there were over two hundred people there! He was extremely alarmed at this and had radioed for more buses twice and was told that it would be at least a 20 minute wait for them and then the line just kept growing.
I have been to Disney world many times and have stayed at many different resorts including moderates and I can say it is rather frustrating to be waiting at a bus stop and watch 3 buses for Carribean beach come and g almost empty and 2 for Coronado while we who stay at a "Deluxe" resort wait over 20 minutes only to be treated like cattle. I love disney I just wish they paid more attention to this isssue.

 

[seashoreCM]

>>> Two buses going half empty to Coronado Springs and three going half enpty to Caribbean Beach?

What park were you at? If it was near those two resorts, the almost empty buses may have been sent there to pick up waiting inbound crowds.

I would not have guessed that early afternoon would be a peak period between all resorts and all parks, but maybe it is.

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

 

[MickeyMagic]

I, too, was at BCV the week of 8-18-03. Bus service was horrendous and enough to make me question whether I want to stay there again. Part of the time they had 5 resorts sharing buses to/from MK (Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club, Beach Club & Villas, and Boardwalk). Midweek they split off the Swan & Dolphin to their own buses. It was terrible!

Early entry transportation was a joke - we waited in line for a bus for over 30 minutes. We finally got on the third bus (standing room only). We got to EE at 8:15 instead of being through security & at the gate before 8:00 like planned. When we got on the bus, there were over 100 people waiting.

I have reservations at BCV again for October, but if the bus service is as bad as this trip, I may consider selling my BCV points!

 

[seashoreCM]

>>> early entry transportation a joke

Never managed to get myself up in the morning early enough to make rope drop on EE at MK but maybe this November in the heat of Thanksgiving I will give it a try.

Being a single person I don't have the problem of the bottleneck in the bathroom that slows most families down on EE days.

I'll make a point of observing the very first bus to see whether crowded conditions occur that early.

Then, if too many people are delivered to the park that early they will be waiting at the turnstiles.

Will be at All Stars, not Beach Club, for budget reasons.

I don't think you can get to EE by car, isn't one of the ways day guests are disallowed EE is not opening the parking lot (monorail & ferry to MK) that early?

 

[drogerstn]

I don't think you can get to EE by car, isn't one of the ways day guests are disallowed EE is not opening the parking lot (monorail & ferry to MK) that early?

It's been a while since we went to the MK for EE, but we were able to park at the TTC and ride the resort monorail to the park. We had to show our room key at the ramp going up to the monorail.

We have gone more recently to other parks for EE and parking is no problem.

 

[Geoff_M]

Yes, you can take your car to EE with no problem. They'll check your room key at the monorail ramp and/or park turnstile.

As good a job as Tyler & Co. do, my advice is if you're trying to hit a time certain event (EE rope drop, PS, etc.) and you don't have a long time to spare, your best bet is to drive yourself. The only asterisk to this is advice is MK since the buses drop you at the gate whereas you still have to factor in the time for a ferry or monorail from the TTC if you go via car. With MK, unless the situation is really bad with the buses (like a long line at the resort bus stop for a bus that's shared with several other resorts), the buses are hard to beat.

 

[the disney queen]

For the prices Disney charges for most Deluxe resorts, each Deluxe resort should have their own buses for transport to and from the parks. It is absolutely ridiculous (strictlly IMHO) that buses pick up from 5-6 deluxe level hotels. You might as well stay at DTD if it's going to be that way. We stayed at BWV once, and after the horrible bus service (waiting, waiting, waiting, only to have to STAND on the buses because they filled up at the YC/BC and S/D), we will never stay there again. The transportation is indeed abysmal.

 

[capegirl]

We ran into this problem when at the Contemporary this past April. If we wanted to go to MGM, AK or DTD, we had a long wait.
The ride to DTD was ridiculously long. We stopped at Poly, GF, BC, and even TL. By the time we got there we were half alseep.
The resorts really do need their own busses especially during peak times.

 

[NotUrsula]

Tyler, I have to ask; why don't the bus shelters (and boat docks, too, come to think of it) have cameras?

It would seem to be logical that being able to actually SEE the number of people at a given stop would be the best way for the dispatchers to gauge the need at any given time. It would also help immensely in determining whether passengers who complain are actually exaggerating what took place.

I know that there are sometimes warm bodies assigned to work the stops, and that is good, but cameras could be there 24/7, and don't need breaks!

 

[beccasmom]

I do have to agree that the bus transportation at the BCV complex is not up to speed compared to the other resorts. Our home resort is OKW, but we like to try other DVC resorts every once in a while.

I think the OKW bus system works extremely well and we rarely have any complaints there. However, on both of our stays at BCV, the bus transportation was not a high point. I would be especially dismayed if BCV was my home resort.....I think this is something that Disney really needs to work on. Sharing during times of lower occupancy is a fine idea, but when the parks are busy, it adds considerably to the frustration level of the guests.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by NotUrsula
Tyler, I have to ask; why don't the bus shelters (and boat docks, too, come to think of it) have cameras?

It would seem to be logical that being able to actually SEE the number of people at a given stop would be the best way for the dispatchers to gauge the need at any given time. It would also help immensely in determining whether passengers who complain are actually exaggerating what took place.

I know that there are sometimes warm bodies assigned to work the stops, and that is good, but cameras could be there 24/7, and don't need breaks!

Indeed, that would be a great idea, one of which I wish they would implement. However, there would be no place to watch the monitors as it stands now. Our dispatchers basically sit in a Chevy van, and dispatch from a wireless tablet PC. They'd have to build us a few Mobile Command Units with satellite uplinks and all sorts of neat gizmos and gadgets. I'd hate to think of the cost though...

 

[NotUrsula]

"... Our dispatchers basically sit in a Chevy van, and dispatch from a wireless tablet PC. They'd have to build us a few Mobile Command Units with satellite uplinks and all sorts of neat gizmos and gadgets. I'd hate to think of the cost though... "

Why not make the cameras wireless webcams? Keep the photos refreshing on a few seconds' rotation, with transmission back to the server for display on a really plain-vanilla inhouse webpage. Use a split window on the laptop, so that the photos show back while other work is being done. The pics really don't need to be much larger than thumbnails. If you are just scanning for people, the photos that are filled with people rather than just posts & bushes will definitely catch your eye.

I just KNOW that somewhere among the legions of bright young IT types who work for the Mouse are people who could pull this off using the wireless network. I know for a fact that WDW has one of the most sophisticated wireless networks currently in existence; the company I work for runs some serious software on it. Our apps are huge.