Comedy of Disney Transpo

[Brer Brett]

Here now at POR. Trying to get to MK EMH. Been in line of a hundred plus for a half hour. During that time four Animal Kingdom busses roll by picking up maybe a total of 15 people. Two busses come by for MK. Who is running the controls here?!?

 

[ucfknight]

Had the same issue at POR last month. 3 empty Epcot and Animal Kingdom passed by for every 1 jam-packed Magic Kingdom bus.

 

[surferdave]

I experienced similar situations the last 2 trips, to POFQ & POR. I thought it was odd that I started waiting before 7 AM to go to a park with an EMH opening at 8 AM, watching bus after bus go by going to every other park that didn't open until 9 AM.

In general I find the bus system to be much slower than many people report here.

 

[eliz603]

Here now at POR. Trying to get to MK EMH. Been in line of a hundred plus for a half hour. During that time four Animal Kingdom busses roll by picking up maybe a total of 15 people. Two busses come by for MK. Who is running the controls here?!?

YES. Been through this many, many times. Not at POR, but it seems like everywhere else!! I've never understood this phenomenon.

In general I find the bus system to be much slower than many people report here.

This. We have always flown, but this time, we are driving. It's nice to know that we won't be at the mercy of the buses out at OKW.

 

[ConvenientTruth]

I've experienced the same thing at every resort I have stayed at...

It never fails...the one park I want to go to that day will appear to have a single bus dedicated to that park for the entire "world".

"This might be it kids"

"Sorry, Epcot again"

 

[Laz]

This is why I always have a car at wdw.

 

[ucfknight]

This. We have always flown, but this time, we are driving. It's nice to know that we won't be at the mercy of the buses out at OKW.

We only every try Disney transport for the Magic Kingdom because it drops you off right at the gate. So conceivably it can save a lot of time over driving and having to take a tram and then ferry/monorail. Every time we try to take the bus, though, we seem to have to wait 20 to 30 minutes for it to arrive at our resort, which negates the advantage over driving.

We always drive to Epcot, AK, and DHS because it is so much quicker.

 

[ConvenientTruth]

We only every try Disney transport for the Magic Kingdom because it drops you off right at the gate. So conceivably it can save a lot of time over driving and having to take a tram and then ferry/monorail. Every time we try to take the bus, though, we seem to have to wait 20 to 30 minutes for it to arrive at our resort, which negates the advantage over driving.

We always drive to Epcot, AK, and DHS because it is so much quicker.

I've done the driving thing enough to know that the monorail wait can be just as bad as the buses....

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

Agree. Can't stand the Disney bus system. Last trip we stayed at Yacht Club and walked to Epcot and DHS (or boat once to DHS) and took a cab to MK (drop off at Contemporary) and AK. Obviously some added cost but it saves me the hassle of waiting at a bus stop, sitting on a potentially crowded bus and then stopping at other resorts for additional pickup. The one time we took a bus last trip was after MK close and it was crowded with several tired, crying kids. Now I've got kids of my own and went through the screaming kids years at Disney so I'm not atacking kids/parents but it is certainly more relaxing not to have to deal with that.

 

[Karbase8]

The only time I had issues with the bus was staying at the Contemporary! We had to stop at the Polynesian and Grand Floridian and it was a big pain and they were slow getting there. The best transportation I had was at All Star Sports, we did not share a bus went straight to the parks and waited no more than 5 minutes.

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

Here now at POR. Trying to get to MK EMH. Been in line of a hundred plus for a half hour. During that time four Animal Kingdom busses roll by picking up maybe a total of 15 people. Two busses come by for MK. Who is running the controls here?!?

~You've got a great sense of humor. Seriously, where is the fleet coordinator??? Four empty buses is just inefficient and a total waste of gas, time and resources. How frustrating --especially for the guests who are waiting. Hope you enjoy the rest of your day!

 

[Magpie]

We've never had any problems with busses at the Pop Century. Usually one pulls up within 10 minutes, and we're on our way.

I remember last time commenting on how well they were distributing the busses, with new ones arriving one after the other to pick up the longest lines, while lower priority parks appeared to have fewer busses.

The busses are actually a big part of the reason we stay at Pop.

My brother in law, on the other hand, is at POR right now and commented that the only thing they've had any problem with this past week have been the busses. So I'm thinking we'll stick to the Pop!

 

[FLchick415]

We've never had any problems with busses at the Pop Century. Usually one pulls up within 10 minutes, and we're on our way.

I remember last time commenting on how well they were distributing the busses, with new ones arriving one after the other to pick up the longest lines, while lower priority parks appeared to have fewer busses.

The busses are actually a big part of the reason we stay at Pop.

THIIISSSS so much. LOL I'm so used to staying at Pop and having success with their buses that I'm actually nervous for my upcoming stay at CBR. I guess if I get too worried, I'll just drive, since I'll have a rental car.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

~You've got a great sense of humor. Seriously, where is the fleet coordinator??? Four empty buses is just inefficient and a total waste of gas, time and resources. How frustrating --especially for the guests who are waiting. Hope you enjoy the rest of your day!

Wondering the same thing about the coordinator. Our trip at the beginning of the February was at POR. There was a guy with a clipboard and dispatch radio at the main stop every morning. He made sure that all of the buses were getting filled, and even called in for a few changes to be made.

Maybe the coordinator was sick this morning?

 

[eliz603]

We only every try Disney transport for the Magic Kingdom because it drops you off right at the gate. So conceivably it can save a lot of time over driving and having to take a tram and then ferry/monorail. Every time we try to take the bus, though, we seem to have to wait 20 to 30 minutes for it to arrive at our resort, which negates the advantage over driving.

We always drive to Epcot, AK, and DHS because it is so much quicker.

We will most likely be driving to the MK just for the monorail ride for the kids, or at least the first time we go. They love it, and this is the first time we haven't been at a monorail resort in quite some time.

But my DH HATES waiting on the bus. We've been less than impressed with the bus service at the deluxe resorts, so much so that we usually stay at a monorail resort just to cut down on the time spent even using a bus. The longest we've waited for a bus was nearly an hour at Blizzard Beach to take us back to Wilderness Lodge. We got so desperate to get out of there we were willing to take a bus to any monorail resort, then get to CR to take the boat back. But there weren't any of those, either. We just sat and sat and sat.

 

[AThrillingChase]

The only time I had issues with the bus was staying at the Contemporary! We had to stop at the Polynesian and Grand Floridian and it was a big pain and they were slow getting there. The best transportation I had was at All Star Sports, we did not share a bus went straight to the parks and waited no more than 5 minutes.

I experienced this at the Poly. Yes you get the monorail, but the million stops at the other area resorts drove me nuts. I was actually very surprised by the AKL busses though, with the resort being more secluded, they only stopped at jambo and kidani and then straight to the parks. So really, staying at jambo house it was nonstop to parks, with 1 stop on the way back. And since the bus uses the highway mostly I did not find the driving times to be much more than a couple of minutes which is easily made up when you aren't making multiple stops. It was the best bussing I have had at any resort.

We've never had any problems with busses at the Pop Century. Usually one pulls up within 10 minutes, and we're on our way.

I remember last time commenting on how well they were distributing the busses, with new ones arriving one after the other to pick up the longest lines, while lower priority parks appeared to have fewer busses.

The busses are actually a big part of the reason we stay at Pop.

My brother in law, on the other hand, is at POR right now and commented that the only thing they've had any problem with this past week have been the busses. So I'm thinking we'll stick to the Pop!

I actually much prefer the busses at values! With one main bus stop, and such a big resort, they have always only stopped at the one resort and straight on till morning!..oh wait I mean straight on to the park... (in my defense tinkerbell is at both!)

Wondering the same thing about the coordinator. Our trip at the beginning of the February was at POR. There was a guy with a clipboard and dispatch radio at the main stop every morning. He made sure that all of the buses were getting filled, and even called in for a few changes to be made.

Maybe the coordinator was sick this morning?

I remember these CM's, but I only saw them at the main stop outside the food court like you saw, at busy times of day. The other million stops they make are out of luck! I am trying to remember the direction the busses went at POR...I wonder if when they fill up there is an exit so they don't have to make the full circle.

 

[mrsdaly]

If you are staying at POR (where we stayed), they go to POFQ first. So they are probably filling up because of the popularity of EMH and not coming to the POR. I had the same problem waiting for a bus at the outside bus stops at POR. I didn't realize that they were filling up at the main bus stop at the lobby and not coming around. OOPS.

 

[PeterPanic]

Here now at POR. Trying to get to MK EMH. Been in line of a hundred plus for a half hour. During that time four Animal Kingdom busses roll by picking up maybe a total of 15 people. Two busses come by for MK. Who is running the controls here?!?

I won't attempt to explain how the (any) bus system works because that would take up a number of pages all by itself, but, in simple terms, you answered your own question when you stated... "trying to get to MK EMH", Since MK is the only place having EMH that morning or afternoon, whatever, it will be taking longer to load, unload and make the circle. In this case I am assuming that they have the same buses on for a location going to MK during EMH, but the probably don't, that's not the way it usually works. I also expect, like most frustrated people the actual number of "other" buses going Animal Kingdom might be exaggerated a tad. But, if you think about it there are 4 parks (if that was the only place that they went) so you would see 3 other buses before you would see your own.

Remember that every resort would have at least the number of people waiting to get to EMH as your resort. I'm sure, also, that the scene you describe would be cloned at every single resort. They didn't single out POR and have them hold back on that resort because you folks hadn't gotten to riot stage yet. Disney has a finite number of buses and they must be everywhere dealing with places with only 15 getting on or 100 getting on. They cannot reroute a designated bus to carry the overload of one place without making others wait twice as long. It's all very normal and the reason that I always use my care. I've heard it mentioned so many times that they can go there without having to drive. Well, it's a trade-off. You drive or you wait, it's your choice.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

If you are staying at POR (where we stayed), they go to POFQ first. So they are probably filling up because of the popularity of EMH and not coming to the POR. I had the same problem waiting for a bus at the outside bus stops at POR. I didn't realize that they were filling up at the main bus stop at the lobby and not coming around. OOPS.

It doesn't alway go to POFQ first. We've had POR buses that stopped at POFQ first, some that NEVER stopped at POFQ, some that went around the POR outer loop Depots first, and some that NEVER went to the outer loop Depots.

How they decide when to do this, I'll never know. But, like I said, during our week we had an awesome bus coordinator at the main depot who kept things running like a well oiled machine.

 

[2Tiggies]

It doesn't alway go to POFQ first. We've had POR buses that stopped at POFQ first, some that NEVER stopped at POFQ, some that went around the POR outer loop Depots first, and some that NEVER went to the outer loop Depots.

This is true. Having spent our fair share of time at POFQ we have got used to not sharing buses for MK with POR. Each resort has it's own MK buses from our experience.

The other park buses are often shared except at peak times when each have their own and AK is almost always shared.

For POR sometimes the best strategy is to get to POR's first bus stop so you get onto that bus before it has a chance to fill up