Disney bus monitors at resorts

[chemnerd09]

This sounds like a great idea. We won't be needed the buses for our trip in December because we plan to walk to the parks or take the monorail, but we will be needing them for our trip in May.

 

[andyman8]

As of now, I believe they are at GF, AKL, and POR. I haven't seen them at most others though I know the plan is to keep adding them so that could change any day.

To the poster that asked, I utilized the YC bus stop to get to DTD from DHS a week or two ago and there was not one there, so I'd assume that's the case for BC as well but I'll check next week at W&D.

 

[mrcarder]

We have seen them at AllStar Movies ~3 yrs ago and POFQ the last couple of years, off-season. Most did not interact with folks in line, occasionally entering their info. A very few would talk to us, and proactively talked back to the bus folks to either try to reroute or change the next destination or let us know how far away the next one was. But like I said this was rare, maybe once or twice per trip, the other monitors were not helpful or interested.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Is this for the purpose of monitoring wait times and which parks have the most guests waiting to go there? That would be great!!! I hate it when there's a loooong line for one park, and no buses, and let's say a short line for AK, and 5 buses go by for that park...

 

[goofy4tink]

I have seen CMs monitoring bus stops at a lot of resorts, usually in the mornings. And yes, they were at BW, BC, and SSR.

 

[MouseMomx2]

1) Most DVC's don't utilize them, as bus routes are regular.
2) All other resorts use them, so many buses can be flexible.

Over the years I have seen the CM monitors at Saratoga Springs, Old Key West, the Wilderness Lodge, Kidani and the Boardwalk. DVC bus service works the exact same way as it does at non-DVC resorts.

We have not seen any of the new, non-human monitors during our current stay.

 

[strangedesign]

Just got home from the Poly and can confirm the do not have them there.

 

[JimS4210]

We're at OKW, leaving tomorrow and I haven't noticed them anywhere around here.

Jim

 

[Silver Queen]

We were at Kidani last weekend and saw the bus arrival boards. They were quite accurate. Some posters are confused by this thread and are referring to the CM supervisors who have been seen at various resort bus stops from time to time for several years. We appreciated having the information boards.

 

[joelkfla]

We were at Kidani last weekend and saw the bus arrival boards. They were quite accurate. Some posters are confused by this thread and are referring to the CM supervisors who have been seen at various resort bus stops from time to time for several years. We appreciated having the information boards.

Actually, there are 3 things mashed together in this thread:

1. The arrival time displays, which AFAIK are only at the 3 resorts mentioned, and are still officially a test, not roll-out. At POR, it's only at South Depot.
2. Transportation Coordinators, who usually have laptops or tablets, spend most of their time sitting in a van or company car, usually don't interact much with guests (there are exceptions), and do have the power to call for additional buses, or sometimes even change a bus' destination.
3. Transportation Greeters, who are college kids usually with a tablet or clipboard, do interact with Guests (some more than others), and have no special powers. Their role is to assist Guests, alert bus drivers when a wheelchair is waiting in a crowd, track bus arrival times for management, and notify coordinators when there is an extended wait for a bus to a particular park.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

We had someone doing this at POR in May/June of 2011. I thought it was very nice. They didn't have the TVs with the information at that time though, unless I missed it.

 

[freckles04]

It looks really cool! We used the South depot once during our stay at POR last month, and that particular morning the TV wasn't working, so we didn't get to see how it worked out. We had a lot of long bus waits on this particular trip, and it would have helped to know approximately how much longer rather than feel like the bus was never coming!

 

[Allison]

Actually, there are 3 things mashed together in this thread:

1. The arrival time displays, which AFAIK are only at the 3 resorts mentioned, and are still officially a test, not roll-out. At POR, it's only at South Depot.
2. Transportation Coordinators, who usually have laptops or tablets, spend most of their time sitting in a van or company car, usually don't interact much with guests (there are exceptions), and do have the power to call for additional buses, or sometimes even change a bus' destination.
3. Transportation Greeters, who are college kids usually with a tablet or clipboard, do interact with Guests (some more than others), and have no special powers. Their role is to assist Guests, alert bus drivers when a wheelchair is waiting in a crowd, track bus arrival times for management, and notify coordinators when there is an extended wait for a bus to a particular park.

This. People are talking about several different things here.

I see the coordinators and greeters regularly at the stops.

 

[WEDWDW]

Actually, there are 3 things mashed together in this thread:

1. The arrival time displays, which AFAIK are only at the 3 resorts mentioned, and are still officially a test, not roll-out. At POR, it's only at South Depot.
2. Transportation Coordinators, who usually have laptops or tablets, spend most of their time sitting in a van or company car, usually don't interact much with guests (there are exceptions), and do have the power to call for additional buses, or sometimes even change a bus' destination.
3. Transportation Greeters, who are college kids usually with a tablet or clipboard, do interact with Guests (some more than others), and have no special powers. Their role is to assist Guests, alert bus drivers when a wheelchair is waiting in a crowd, track bus arrival times for management, and notify coordinators when there is an extended wait for a bus to a particular park.

And just to clarify for everyone,OP is asking about #1,the Arrival Time Displays(TV "Monitor",not Cast Member "Monitor".

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . Why wouldn't the DVC resort bus routes be flexible as well?

1) DVC resorts, for some reason, are more predictable for people-flow.
2) I could take wild guesses, but they would be pure speculation.
3) But, ONLY from working Concierge Desk at SSR, OKW, WL-VWL,
. . . DVC guests, IN GENERAL, seem to leave a little latter
. . . maybe they have seen WDW so often, they take their time
. . . and, of course they can eat breakfast in their units
4) Previously, there were "monitors" at DVC's.
5) But, they primarily took passenger data surveys for the Ipad.
6) They did have walkie-talkies for buses, but they were mainly there for surveys.
7) Occasionally, they are out at DVC's, but these are to validate/change survey results. *

* In engineering terms, these surveys are referred to as "samplings". If one
marks numbers at specific times, the "sampling" is deemed as valid. As an
example, if twelve samplings at 10:17am average six passengers, then it can
be determined that this will become the future load at that time.

 

[ktlm]

We experienced them at GF last December. As far as accurate, it is kind of relative. For example, we got there and it said bus arrival time was in 5 minutes. Then the time would keep changing further and further out, until we waited 25 minutes. The bus got there when it said it would, but that time kept changing over and over on the monitor as we stood there. The CM advised that especially with shared buses, the time changes if they have to load Ecvs at the other resort, the bus fills up, it hits traffic or a stop light etc. We never had one actually show up at the time the monitor showed when we first got to the bus stop. The time on the monitor always changed.

As far as the CM transportation greeters, for years we have almost always seen one at the bus stop in the mornings around rope drop time at all the resorts where we have stayed. Rarely if ever have we seen them any other time of day. We always chat with them and DD often pin trades with them. They are usually really nice friendly college program kids. We always feel sorry for them because we've seen some of them have to deal with a lot of people yelling at them about delays for buses, full buses, crowded buses etc., so we are sure to try to be extra friendly with them when they are dealing with that from others because we know it isnt their fault.