Disney Buses and Accidents

[Simba's Girl]

I did a search function and was surprised that there was so little threads on this topic.?

Anyway as far as DWT goes here is the question...(story comes later) Have you ever been involved in an accident while on a Disney bus? What was the outcome? How did Disney handle the situation? Were you satisfied with the way it was handled?

Here's our experience...Last October we were vacationing at ASSp with FIL,MIL my 2 DDs (then 4 and 1) and me and DH. The first full day we were there we awoke early and headed out to MK on the first bus of the day. The bus was very empty (mabe 12 people total) We chose the back seats (I think that's where my oldest wanted to sit-preschoolers). Our bus ended up hitting a car just outside of Blizzard Beach (on the rear drivers side-the car was a gold colored mabe Aurora?) and DD and MIL went *FLYING* Thank God that MIL had DD#1 held tightly otherwise we would've spent our vacation in the hospital. Scared DD #1 to death! Me and DD #2 ended up 2 seats in away from where we were sitting (again Thank God for the fact she was in a sling!).
After it happened the driver called whoever they call (supervisor?) and they ended up comming and another bus. We weren't allowed off the bus until we filled out an accident sheet with our name and addresses and our ages and where we were staying and where on the bus we were sitting when the accident happened(that took a while). Anyway the supervisor asked us if anyone was hurt, and since DD looked like she had a couple of welts but was otherwise unhurt I asked for an icepack. *YOU wouldn't believe the response* "We don't have them, if you need one we will have to call an EMT/Paramedic" She was pretty rude and made me feel bad for asking. DD#1 is small (25Lbs soaking wet at the time). Talk about covering your butts, this is ridiculous. We ended up declining medical assistance and went off on our day (30 minutes later). I would've thought that they would want to check up on us or something-a letter a CM calling to check but NOTHING we have had no communicaiton at all from them since the accident. Is it too much to ask for a letter or a phone call? Really? Because that's all we would need. (obviously Disney is a money machine but honestly, that's all it would've taken!) Is it a "you ride Disney Transportation at *your* own risk"?

Heather

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

Heather
Sorry to hear about your experience. WDW is in there own little world. They try to keep everything out of the media,TV,etc when something wrong or bad(accident,suicide,hostage situation,etc) happens on WDW property.

There was a thread a while back about a Disney Bus catching on fire, on WDW property. You would have been surprised at some of the responses to that thread.

Here is the thread below on the Disney bus burning.......

http://130.94.75.33/showthread.php?s=&threadid=447726

 

[Simba's Girl]

Wow, Nick! You sure have alot to say

Anyhoo, I was thinking about it this way...Lets say I am driving my friends, or kids friends in the car somewhere and there is an accident-luckily though no one is hurt. Wouldn't I still call and check on them the next day?

 

[seashoreCM]

Somehow I as the transportation host would not have thought about following up to see if you werefeeling better.

But if you did need something I am sure it (ice pack, etc. including the EMD's trip to bring it to you) would have been furnished free of charge.

All properly run transportations services nowadays try to get the names and addresses and sitting positions of all passengers. Among other things this is to prevent bystanders from boarding the bus, waiting around a few minutes, getting off again, and suing the bus company.

If you lost a lot of time in the mishap, you probably wouldn't have difficulty getting a quantity of fastpasses upon asking later.

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

On my last WDW trip (Nov 03) went to Tampa one day to ride the new trolley (light rail). Coming around a corner (quite slowly) the trolley hit an auto which darted out in the troley's path. I did not feel any jolt. Sure enough the transit supervisor showed up and handed out a questionnaire to everyone aboard.

 

[Simba's Girl]

Somehow I as the transportation host would not have thought about following up to see if you werefeeling better.

Scarry, but you are probably right, after all it is a me-myself-and I type of world. Where has customer service gone? Could you elaborate on that comment? Do you just not care or are you too busy to think about it?

Riding in public transportation is certainly different from a service provided to guests at a hotel.

What if we refused to provide our info (just a thought)?

Are you a CM is that what the 'CM' after your name means?

 

[XStAnt]

I'm sorry about your accident and I'm glad everyone was okay. I'm not trying to be mean or rude but I'm not sure what you want Disney to have done (other than being a little nicer). All mass transit companies insist on accident reports to prevent fraud. Disney is a big company and an enticing target to unscrupulous people. It prevents pedestrians from "hopping on" the bus after the accident, claim they were on it all along and that they are injured. It also prevents fraudulent claims being made later. Think if an unsavory park guest overheard you talking about the accident. They could go to an ER, then call Disney and claim they were on the bus and threaten to sue. If they never filled out an accident report at the scene Disney (or any company) can make a strong case that they were not involved in the accident.

I'm not surprised they didn't have an icepack handy. But they did offer to call the EMTs for you. I'm not sure what else you wanted them to do for you. I agree they could have been a little nicer but that tends to be the times we live in. The whole matter only took 30 minutes--that's not a long time.

As for a follow up call, I agree it would have been nice. But why do people expect a follow up call. You said you were uninjured. Accidents can happen anywhere--Disney is no different than any small town. Plus, I can't tell from your post whether it was the bus driver's fault or the car driver's fault. But other than being a nice gesture, what would a phone call have done for anyone?

Again, I'm not looking to be mean. It just seems to me Disney did what they should have (offered medical assistance, got incident reports, got you on your way in 30 minutes) and the only real complaint you could have is that they could have been a little nicer. I hope I didn't offend anyone with this post.

 

[momof2inPA]

"Fear of being sued" is no excuse for poor customer service, especially when your whole company was built on excellent customer service.

 

[Poohlovr]

Obviously, I can't speak for Disney on this topic, but, several years ago, part of my job, as administrative staff, was taking accident reports on a local level for a major national retailer.

It was drilled into us that we were to be totally non-committal. We were not allowed to offer anything that the person involved in the accident did not specifically request, beyond "I can call 911 for you and get an ambulance" if they claimed to be injured.

Any offer made on our part could be interpreted as an admission of liability if we were sued.

If the person involved told us they were not injured and refused to be seen by EMS, that was it. We, as a corporation, did not contact them again.

Wanna' know why? LAWSUITS.

That follow-up contact can put the person involved into the mindset of "Wow--they must really be worried that I'm going to sue them. Hmmmm..I wonder how much I could get.... I bet they'd settle out out court for a few thousand at least and I Wouldn't have to do anything but get a lawyer to threaten to sue them.....Hmmmm"

You don't want to give them that idea.

I'm sure Disney isn't any different in this area.

And who really is to blame?? Companies have to take steps to prevent lawsuits. Unfortunately, this is one of them.

 

[seashoreCM]

If I Ran The Zoo, by Dr. Seuss

Originally posted by Simba's Girl

Scarry, but you are probably right, after all it is a me-myself-and I type of world. Where has customer service gone? Could you elaborate on that comment? Do you just not care or are you too busy to think about it?

Are you a CM is that what the 'CM' after your name means?

I would want to give the injured guests all the amenities I suggested earlier and in other of my posts, and refund the admissions and missed events for the time they were unable to enjoy their Disney stay.

I strongly believe that a legitimate use of plastic use-repeatedlty-use-anywhere-use anytime fastpasses (I think they do exist) is to make up for inconveniences.

It is still necessary to take steps to prevent abuse of Guest Assistance Passes (someone else's post) and amenities as I have suggested, and to protect the corporation from frivolous lawsuits. To this end I believe that Disney can and should interrogate persons before doling out amenities. (And cities should have the right to thorougly verify that persons receiving handicapped parking privileges are indeed entitled to such.)

There "has got to be" a way of making injured guests happier without increasing the likelihood of a lawsuit, I don[t know how yet. Meanwhile if the company did not offer help, that would increase the chance of a lawsuit IMHO.

Email or PM me RE where I am a CM.

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

Still, I would not have thought about making a phone call or sending a basket of flowers a few days later.

 

[Simba's Girl]

Ok ok ok, so you're (most of you) are saying that by not following up, and offering medical assistance via EMT/paramedic, they are covering they're butts for fear of lawsuits. Fine, but sure leaves a bad taste in my mouth (because it was *this close* to being really bad).

I wonder though, now that I've learned where not to have smaller children sit (the hard way), is there something that can be done safety wise to inform guests that that back seat is not a proper place for children under a certain age? *begging you not to think that I'm stupid by putting my kid there, just don't think of such things on vaca all the time KWIM?*

Actually, we all (my family) were chatting while it happened and since we were at the back of the bus we had no idea if the bus didn't stop in time or the car cut the bus off.

I honestly wonder though, how often this happens (minor accidents-no injuries)?

Sure takes the magic out of the whole thing when you think of it.

seashoreCM-I hit your link, and found the answer to my question. If I Ran The Zoo, by Dr. Seuss-good book? LOL

XStAnt-yes I did want them to be a bit nicer and mabe if they had I wouldn't feel like they were just taking my money (if that makes sense?). No I don't think you were being mean, that's the type of explanation I was looking for.

Thanks everybody for the input!