Bus service was embarrassing, but your help was great!

[pwoodham]

To everyone who gave such great advice to us before we left, thank you very much. Your knowledge made a huge difference in our thinking and planning for my MIL's scooter. We rented from Randy's Mobility, and they were great. They were there when we arrived and on time when we left. They even changed out the scooter when we thought there was trouble with it (turned out to be operator error!).
We just had one troubling experience, and it was with the buses. We wanted to take the scooter to the MK with us on Saturday night, and so decided to ride the bus in order to get it transported there. We waited about 35 minutes for a bus, and the first one to show up was packed. Even so, the driver pulled up to let us on. There was a bus right behind her with a few people on it, also going to MK. She actually made everyone who was standing on her bus get off and get on the other bus. She then let us get on with the scooter. We were really embarrassed. To make things worse, not everyone could get on the other bus and about 10 people had to wait to get back on the bus she'd just made them get off. On the way back, we again waited about 35 minutes in line to get a bus to BCV. My MIL would have simply skipped the parks if it meant getting on the buses again. We decided to rent a scooter at the park and leave our weekly rental at the hotel when we visited AK and MK again.
I know many folks love the bus service, but it was not a good option for us. Even so, we did work it out and had a wonderful vacation. Thank you for all your help!

 

[SueM in MN]

glad your trip went well.
That bus situation is puzzling though. In almost 15 years of travel with a wheelchair, we've never had anything similar to that happen to us. We have had the situation where the first bus was full and the driver stopped to let us know that the next bus was wheelchair accessible and would take us.
The only thing I can think of is that the first bus driver knew that the other bus either did not have a wheelchair lift or it was not working.

 

[Nanajo1]

I've never had a bus driver make people leave the bus to make room for my scooter. Rather, the driver tells me another bus is on the way. This happened even when the bus did not have people standing but most seats were full. Sorry if your MIL was embarassed. Hope you had a good trip.

 

[daughtersrus]

One our two trips with my daughter in her wheelchair. they always loaded us first and then let the people waiting in line.

We had a bad experience on our last trip July '02. Our first night there, we went to DD. We left pretty late and the bus to FW didn't have a working lift. It did have straps to tie down the chair. A VERY nice gentleman (fellow guest) suggested that he and my dh lift our daughter and her chair up the stairs (she's only 8 and weighs just about 30lbs). Once on, the driver attatched the chair. She also offered to drive us to our loop instead of making us switch buses at the Outpost inside FW. The kind man offered to ride with us to our stop but another teenage boy offered to help instead. ~~~The kindness of strangers!

We didn't have as nice of trip trying to get to AK however. We waited for 45 minutes for a bus because the first one came but didn't have a working lift. We offered to carry our daughter on but the driver wouldn't allow it. By the time the next bus came there was a HUGE line. The bus also goes to BB before AK. The driver had to ask some people to move from their seats since her had two chairs to put on. The bus was VERY crowded. Some had to wait for the next bus but no one was asked to leave. We overheard a few nasty comments from other guests about how crowded it was because of the two wheelchairs. From that point on, we decided to take the boat to MK and EPCOT but to drive ourselves to AK, MGM, DD...It just wasn't worth the hassle.

I really hope that they look into improving the transportation. It can be a frustrating way to start the day!

 

[HugsForEeyore]

Last year, I traveled to WDW with my friend who uses a power chair, and I was in charge of picking the resort to stay at. I picked Animal Kingdom Lodge partly because of this issue of buses already being full. I did some research and noticed that Animal Kingdom Lodge did not share buses with any other resort, so in theory the bus should be pretty empty after everyone gets off at the resort bus stop or park bus stop. And I was right! When we stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, we always boarded first on an empty bus, and no one ever had to move. I also would have felt bad to make others lose their seats on a full bus. So the buses worked out great - our only minor problems was that some bus drivers did not know how to strap down the chair, so we would do it instead.

Reading this post made me feel glad I chose Animal Kingdom Lodge. It worked well for us.

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[LindaDVC]

Many times people have been asked to move from the seats that fold to lock down the chair. We have gotten a few nasty comments but most people are nice. Early on it stressed me now I just enjoy our day and don't let it phase us!

Over all our trips we have had two drivers angry about haivng to use the lift. They may have had a rough day (still not a good excuse) or personal problem so I don't let them get me down either.

In fact the last time we had a grouchey driver who obviously didn't want to load Dan I made a msitake that turned out to be the trip joke! When she asked where at OKW we needed to get off -- my tired brain said Polynesian---
I meant to say Peninsula bus stop!!
The look she gave could have killed and Dan corrected me! I started laughing and before long she was too! The rest of the trip she kept joking about taking us to AK, Downtown disney, and anywhere except OKW!

Linda