Disney transportation

[roliepolieoliefan]

I have always loved the Disney buses and never thought about renting a car. This trip though, I have to admit, I don't know if we'd resort to rent a car but the bus service isn't what it used to be. I understand that the buses run every 20 minutes but at times such as when HDDR lets out shouldn't more buses be put on that route? We stood under the shelter in the pouring rain along with the thunder and lightning for 20 min. until a bus showed up, but there were at least 3 buses full of people waiting. Kids were crying and scared and some obnoxious guy was swearing at his wife. Then at the beginning of the MNSSHP it was the same thing. I just think if they know more people are going to be in 1 place, send more buses. I also notice more resorts have to share 1 bus, making the buses more crowded. Just my 2 cents!

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by roliepolieoliefan
the bus service isn't what it used to be. I understand that the buses run every 20 minutes but at times such as when HDDR lets out shouldn't more buses be put on that route? [...] I also notice more resorts have to share 1 bus, making the buses more crowded. Just my 2 cents!

You're right, it isn't what it used to be. Things have drastically changed within the internal operations of Disney Transport. However, they have changed for the better. Flex Dispatch, which is now being used at all hubs (except TTC), has significantly increased our efficiency. The added benefit to Flex, is the ability to dynamically add more busses onto a route as needed.

As for the HDDR... we used to have special busses that would go directly to Disney Resort areas from FW... I really dont know why they discontinued them, and hopefully something will replace them.

As for resorts sharing... it really hasn't changed as far as I know. The only thing that does change is during peak times and slow times, routes will be adjusted.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

I noticed a couple of weeks the Epcot Resorts to Animal Kingdom busses took WAY too long inbetween. And, we always stopped at Blizzard Beach w/o anyone getting on or off - it was a wasted stop!

And, the Epcot Resorts need either greater bus frequency or seperate busses for each resorts. The busses became standing room only and there was still a long line waiting to get on a bus. You'd think for the prices those resorts charge they could have better bus transportation.

My trip a couple weeks ago was my first without a car, and quite honestly, I don't think we'd not rent a car again.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by CaliforniaDreaming
And, we always stopped at Blizzard Beach w/o anyone getting on or off - it was a wasted stop!

Well... the driver isn't psychic... they don't know if there will be anyone getting on or off. Just like if they pull into the Dolphin, and no one gets on or off... Not much they can do about it, and there's really no purpose in complaining about it. It's like stopping at a red light, with no oncoming traffic. It's a wasted stop, but ya gotta do it.

Originally posted by CaliforniaDreaming
And, the Epcot Resorts need either greater bus frequency or seperate busses for each resorts. The busses became standing room only and there was still a long line waiting to get on a bus.

In the mornings, busses are dispatched based on demand, and usually every 10 minutes. In the afternoon, busses are dispatched from DAK to the Epcot Resorts every 15 minutes, more frequently during peak seasons. Every time I drove that route this summer, it was rarely crowded, and 15 minute intervals seemed to work fine.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Originally posted by Chip 'n Dale Express


<<As for the HDDR... we used to have special busses that would go directly to Disney Resort areas from FW... I really dont know why they discontinued them, and hopefully something will replace them. >> My complaint wasn't that we had to take 3 buses back to our resort. My complaint was that more buses should be sent to an area when it is a known fact that there will be a crowd of people waiting to be picked up, such as after the HDDR. We waited 20 min. for the 1st bus to come and after the 1st bus left it took a good 10-15 min. for the 2nd bus to show up. Thats crazy! We got on the 2nd bus and there was still a good crowd waiting. I don't know how long they had to wait for the next bus.

 

[Eeyore1954]

Originally posted by roliepolieoliefan
My complaint wasn't that we had to take 3 buses back to our resort. My complaint was that more buses should be sent to an area when it is a known fact that there will be a crowd of people waiting to be picked up, such as after the HDDR. We waited 20 min. for the 1st bus to come and after the 1st bus left it took a good 10-15 min. for the 2nd bus to show up. Thats crazy! We got on the 2nd bus and there was still a good crowd waiting. I don't know how long they had to wait for the next bus.

Part of depending on Disney bus transportation is realizing that there are a limited number of buses to service all the hotels, parks, DTD, etc. I am sure people who leave the parks when they close would have the same "complaint." When my DW and I use the buses, we accept the fact that we may have to wait -- in the heat, or rain, or cool night air. It's all part of being at Disney. We try to make a game of guessing if/when the next bus that pulls around the corner is "our" bus or not. It's silly, but it helps pass the time and also helps maintain a good attitude.

 

[dulluth]

Although we rarely had to wait too long for a bus, sometimes a little after events like Fantasy in the Sky...and in that case, we were treated to a view of the water parade...but we tried to keep positive attitudes. We also made a guessing game of it, and just chatted with others who were waiting...no use worrying about it...at least we were waiting in WDW. I am having fun trying to respond to positive posters...didja notice that more people gripe than praise?

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

There were at least 6-7 purple, orange and yellow "settlement " busses also in the time we waited there. Some totally empty. And 2 Epcot buses, which the drivers both informed us were only going to the WL not back to Epcot. So the buses were there just not enough on our route. And We always rely on Disney transport and I have never complained before, but its kind of hard to play games while you are standing in a shelter full of wet people and screaming and crying scared kids including mine with the thunder and lightning in full force all around you. And in response to my"gripe". I'm stating a fact so people can be aware if they decide to see the HDDR. We never had this problem prior to all the cutbacks and I'm not sure if that even has anything to do with it. And my other posts, about my trip everything else is pretty much positive. And you know what they say hindsight is 20/20. Its difficult to know what you would do unless you were in the exact situation.

 

[Palmrc]

Maybe I see the good things before I see the bad ones. But on my resent trip to WDW in September I was amazed at the fact that on some occations my DW and I whould be the only people on a bus. That to me was extremely good service! Financialy that is not a very good deal, to use a vehicle that has a 50+ person capacity for only 2 people, and they didnt even realy make us wait. (Probably 2 Min) Sometimes I did notice the wait, when we would walk to the bus stop just in time to see the one we wanted driving away, but thats just bad luck. All in all I think the service was fine. To me it would be a lot more stressful to rent a car, have to park to the car jungle in what feels like a mile walk to the park entrance, not to mention the fact that you have to find that car when you leave (it kinda upsets the rental company when you dont ) in which time you relize they all look the same and since its not the usuall car you drive at home you might not even remember what color it was, but to top it off if you leave when the park closes and youve succeeded in finding you car now you have to try and greece your way out of their! Ya, I think I will continue to use the bus transportation (1. Wait for bus, 2. Get on bus, 3. get off bus at the right stop, 4. Find room and go to bed.) It just seems like less of a hassle!

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

I don't think we would ever rent a car . We had good service except for 2 incidents, 1 being the HDDR. If we ever do that again, we'll probably invest in a taxi especially if we know in advance its going to thunderstorm.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I agree with palmrc. We can honestly say we have not waited very many times for an extended period. Our worst expereinces have been when travelling on the bus between DTD and OKW. We usually try to take the ferry or walk on the path.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by Palmrc
not to mention the fact that you have to find that car when you leave (it kinda upsets the rental company when you dont ) in which time you relize they all look the same and since its not the usuall car you drive at home you might not even remember what color it was, but to top it off if you leave when the park closes and youve succeeded in finding you car now you have to try and greece your way out of their!

A random off topic funny story... This happened many, MANY years ago... apparently, the folks in parking were slightly bored that day, and decided to park cars by color. Section X was for white cars, section Y was for blue cars, and section Z was for red cars... etc... By the end of the night... you wouldn't beleive how many confused people there were, because all white rental cars look the same... lol.... Needless to say, those parking folks didn't park cars the next day.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

LOL!!!

 

[mitros]

We gave up using the busses years ago. Every so often though, we try it again to see if there are any improvments. We just did that in October, and unfortunatley, we are back to using our car and other methods. We were waiting for a bus at mk to go back to okw,and counted at least two and sometimes three buses to all the other resorts and only one to okw in the same time span.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by mitros
We gave up using the busses years ago. Every so often though, we try it again to see if there are any improvments. We just did that in October, and unfortunatley, we are back to using our car and other methods. We were waiting for a bus at mk to go back to okw,and counted at least two and sometimes three buses to all the other resorts and only one to okw in the same time span.

Depending on what resort, busses are dispatched to different areas based on demand. Old Key West has always been a very very low demand route, and as such MK busses usually run at 17 min intervals from there. By comparison, just a few load zones down, All-Stars are a very high demand area, and have busses every 7-9 minutes.

OKW happens to be my favorite route to drive, and coincidentally, I do get it quite often. I can tell you, during midday times, that route is dead. 75% of the times I drove through OKW, I had a deadheaded bus. (Empty) The other 25%, I had less than 10 people. A funny side story... my best friend Cat used to work the OKW Securiy Kiosk... (She's the one who's high on pixxie dust when she waves HI to everyone)... she would always wave to the empty bus, since she couldn't tell who was in there... lol

Nighttimes are a bit different as well. Whereas All-Star Movies you'll have 500 people... OKW might only have 50. Obviously, we're not going to send an equal amount of busses to each load zone.

 

[mitros]

Just wondering, how do they know where to dispatch the busses? There wasn't anyone around, like a cast member ,that could have called for a bus to come sooner due to the amount of guests waiting for the bus. And as I said before, there were a number of buses that were going to other resorts and they were leaving practically empty. If a driver from one resort comes to the bus stop and there is no one waiting,but sees that another stop has a lot of guests waiting, can he change his destination and pick those folks up instead, or, can he radio someone and let them know of the situation at the other stop? Just wondering.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by mitros
Just wondering, how do they know where to dispatch the busses? There wasn't anyone around, like a cast member ,that could have called for a bus to come sooner due to the amount of guests waiting for the bus. And as I said before, there were a number of buses that were going to other resorts and they were leaving practically empty.

They're there. You just can't see them, or perhaps just don't notice them.

Flex Dispatch isn't a Demand-based dispatching system. It's still based on set dispatching times and whatnot. This is how it works:

Our old system was that each bus gets a specific route, and a list of dispatch times out of the MK. Often times, you'd have some busses that would be running early, and end up returning to the MK early. These busses would just sit at the MK for 10 mins or so before reaching thier dispatch time. Some other busses might end up getting delayed, and would be running 5-10 minutes behind schedule. And worse yet, if a driver had to take a bus out of service, it would leave a gap in the schedule.

With Flex Dispatch... The central dispatcher now has all those dispatch times in a list. The next bus into the MK gets the next dispatch in line. You'll notice as the bus enters the MK (post 11:00), they will stop and get a new destination. By doing it this way, we eliminate the chances of service interruptions. Busses will always be on time. If a driver is running late, they just get the next in line dispatch, and voila, they're on time again. If a bus goes out of service, the system doesn't even get impacted.

I hope I explained it clear enough If you need anything clarified just let me know


(BTW: This is just Flex... 11am-park close... Not to be confused with Magic On Demand which is 8am-11am, and Floating which is post park close)

 

[seashoreCM]

Here is a good question. Have rectangular routes been tried and work well?

Example: During morning rush, bus picks up from All Star and runs full to MK (long leg). Then nearly empty short leg to Polynesian/GF. Then full long leg to AK. Then nearly empty short leg to All Star.

Since the 20 minute base service is still needed going back to the resort in the morning or to the park late in the day, some buses continue to operate point to point. The buses added for peak loads do the rectangle routes.

Epcot being near the middle of "the world", its routes probably do not lend themselves to rectangle operation.

As far as not suddenly changing its destination and thus passing up waiting park crowds going to resort #2, the bus may have been assigned to report to resort #1 to fetch people there but hopefully this empty run will be a short leg.

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

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by seashoreCM
Here is a good question. Have rectangular routes been tried and work well?

Example: During morning rush, bus picks up from All Star and runs full to MK (long leg). Then nearly empty short leg to Polynesian/GF. Then full long leg to AK. Then nearly empty short leg to All Star.

That's pretty much almost Magic On Demand.

Busses are based out of "Zones"...

Zone 2 (MK) = Contemporary, Polynesian, Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, Fort Wilderness
Zone 3 (EC) = Port Orleans (FQ & RS)
Zone 4 (ST) = (Coronado), Caribbean, Swan, Dolphin, Yacht, Beach, Boardwalk
Zone 6 (AK) = All Stars

Busses are staged in a convenient area within these Zones. For example, Zone 6 stages between Sports and Music. These busses pick up at their home zone for all 4 theme parks. An example run...

In the Z6 staging line... Assigned to pick up Movies for Studios... When I get to the Studios, I drop off, and then check for any "Upstream" guests. Upstream is anyone headed back to my Zone. If there is no one (95% of the time), I head over to Field 4, and get my next assignment. They will have me pick up in thier Zone for my Zone. So, I'll get Swan, Dolphin, Boardwalk for DAK. Once at DAK, check for upstream guests to the All-Stars. If none, I'll head back to staging. If I do have some, then I will drop them off, and pick up for my next assignment that I got via radio.



On a side note... resorts that typically have very little demand... Old Key West, AK Lodge, and formerly Coronado... those resorts are flex'ed from the individual hubs for the morning time. Once Caribbean re-opens, not sure if Coronado will remain in the MOD system.