Bus Weirdness

[Sparrow'sLady]

We had the most bizarre experience on a bus in December.

The driver had a level of arrogance and self-importance like I have never seen. We were going from MK to WL, short ride. As he was shutting his doors his introduced himself, told a story about how fantastic he is, asked who on the bus had ever heard of him, told everybody he had a website dedicated to himself and asked everybody to pull it up. People were mostly ignoring him. He kept asking who pulled up his website, who could get to it the fastest and proceeded to share that it is was filled with all of the amazing things he has done throughout the years. Saw himself as a celebrity. He could not stop patting himself on the back. I appreciate his military service, but the rest of it was just bizarre. He did this for the entire ride. You could tell people were uncomfortable at some point. Good thing it was a short ride. When we were getting off the bus, he continued to tell people to look him up and visit the website dedicated to him.

Was chatting with somebody who got off the bus with us about this and they said somebody else, a different guy, did this while going to EPCOT from WL.

It was weird. Is this something drivers are encouraged to do now, to engage their passengers? In 25 years of going to Disney, this was a first.

 

[reddog21]

It was weird. Is this something drivers are encouraged to do now, to engage their passengers?

If so, it's annoying. I don't need engagement; I just need to get from point A to point B and have politeness if I ask a question. It doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.

 

[Mle8308]

Reminds me of a driver we had when going over to ALK. We wanted to visit the resort so we took the bus from the MK. He did not stop talking the entire ride, it was annoying and after a few minutes you could tell all the passengers/guests had had enough of him. He didn't catch on... He kept telling really bad jokes and talking about himself, for the entire ride. As we all got off, everyone was making comments about it being one of the longest bus rides they had ever experienced, and it wasn't about the distance! Some CM's just don't understand they are not supposed to be "the show", the parks and resorts are, they are there as Cast Members to support and enhance the experience - not be the experience!

 

[foodiddiedoo]

This is one of the reasons I love to have my own rental car when staying at Disney World. I don’t think I could have dealt with something like that after a long park day.

 

[gottalovepluto]

NOPE. I'd report it. You're not paying Disney money to be subjected to a bus ride length personal ad. "shoutout to our military from a vet up here!" or something small and sorta personal- cool, fine, whatever. But a bus ride length ad that makes guests uncomfortable in order to drive clicks to your website while on your employer's dime? Nope.

 

[gottalovepluto]

This is one of the reasons I love to have my own rental car when staying at Disney World. I don’t think I could have dealt with something like that after a long park day.

This is not remotely normal bus driver behavior.

 

[ClaraOswald]

That is so bizarre! Of course, now I'm curious...do you remember the name or website? I want to see what this guy is going on about.

The only time a bus driver ever engaged with anyone on a trip was one evening they came on and said it was someone's birthday and that we should sing happy birthday. Then they said it was actually THEIR birthday. But they did it in a fun way and we all sang to them. It was cute.

But that's about as far as I'd want to go in hearing anything from the driver. Usually I just want to zone out and relax.

 

[loves to dive]

That is weird and the first time I've ever heard of it and I've been going and using the buses since 1983. I have had some driver's make jokes or say there is a birthday on board or a princess/prince or might even say something about themselves as a joke but it's always obvious it's a joke. Usually they smile and greet everyone when they board, turn on the recording and drive. I don't think it would have bothered me since I tend to zone out and ignore just about everyone and everything while on the bus (except the few times kids have decided to spill something on me or kick me or lay on me, can't help but notice that).

 

[Narcoossee11]

As mentioned above, cast members are DOING A SHOW. They are 'actors'.
The driver has to do something to fill the void during their 8-10 hour shift.

 

[Simba's Mom]

This reminds me of the times when bus drivers, usually at night, when the buses were extra crowded, used to ask trivia questions about WDW, tell little Disney jokes, tell little "behind the scenes" facts, generally make the time go by, make it fun. Unfortunately, those times were lots of years ago! They were fun.

 

[lanejudy]

I’ve had chatty bus drivers — but not “pat myself on the back” stuff. Usually trivia, etc.

 

[_19disnA]

I would certainly report such behavior to Disney. I doubt they would appreciate their employees trying to direct attention to their personal website while performing their job for Disney.