Disney WDW Bus transportation

[Minnesota!]

More busses may be more comfortable, but not better. I would rather stand on a full bus if I choose to than have to more for my vacation. And having to buy more busses, and pay for everything that they need to run the busses, would be a large additional cost. Which would be passes along to us, the guests. No thanks!

No one is being forced to use the busses. If they are not your thing, you can rent a car or rely on taxis to get around. The only people forcing young kids to stand on the busses are their parents, or whatever adult is with them on the trip. If that makes you uncomfortable, then don't have your child stand. Wait for a bus with open seating, or grab a taxi back to your resort.

exactly! I have no problem having my kids stand...but if I did have an issue with it, I would wait until a bus with room for us came by.

 

[ls3015]

I'm not feeling defensive, nor do I feel that you are not entitled to your opinion. But, as happens here so often, people start feeling that their opinions don't matter when the vast majority of others don't feel the same way.
Those 'other buses', just sitting there?? They are waiting to be dispatched. Yes, they could be boarding passengers, but for whatever reason they are not.

I am not going to belabor this point...but, at WDW, the powers that be have no issue with guests standing in the buses. The buses are designed for that. The bus system is not designed to allow every guest a seat. If that were the case they would use tour buses..similar to DME buses. That's the bottom line. The transportation system is there to move the most number of people at any given time. Each guest is free to either board and find a seat, or stand if no seat is open. IF they choose not to stand, they are free to wait for the next bus...it is the guests choice. BUT, Disney isn't going to put enough buses into the system to enable every guest to have a seat. That just isn't reasonable.

Most here are trying to be reasonable. You have the option of waiting for another bus, getting a cab or renting a car. Other than that, there just isn't another way. Disney will never put that many buses into service. It is not a limo company, it is public transportation. They will provide services that meet the needs of the majority of people.

I totally understand what you are saying, and have no problem with your reply. I do ride the bus's the way they are, No problems, I like the convince of not having to worry if I'm on the right road and most times if I happen to get a seat I will give it up so someone holding a child or someone older than myself, ( more senior than I) can set and I will stand. You keep giving options on other than riding the bus, I'm not asking for that at all, i just would like to see more bus's running, Period. I could be wrong but I remember back in the 80s and early 90s, there seemed to be a lot more bus's than their currently running today, I don't remember having to stand nearly as much, unless there is more people riding them now than there use to be.
I do also agree, Disney isn't going to put on more bus's unless they build more resorts and are forced to. Nothing at present time is going to change that, But I can ask and hope. Maybe the powers that be as you say, will read this thread and add a few.
It would be nice to see and hear from others on there opinions, pro or con,
every time I ride the bus's, and they are cramed to the limit I hear grumbling, so maybe some can voice their thoughts as well.

 

[ToddyLu]

It is a cold December night and I didn't have on a thick enough jacket--not only for that night but basically our whole trip last year. DH and I only use Disney Transportation when we get on property. We never take a car. Does it aggrevate me to wait for a bus on a cold night in FL? Nope...yes I am teeth chattering cold, my back and right knee are killing me, I am secretly hoping that I have used my best addition techniques and depth perception to see if DH and I will be able to sit or stand based on the lines created from the bus door to where we are standing. I look at DH, DH looks at me, we count, we wait, we move forward, we count, we wait, we move forward. Then two ECVs pull up. I grin to myself becasue I know there are jerks in line who have the "we were here first" mentality. This is part of my Disney experience, I relish this...One bus pulls up and there is a soft groan as the ECVs are loaded first...but wait...what's this...another bus is now pulling up and they are letting us board it while they are getting the ECVs on the other bus.

DH and I settle into our warm seats and begin to relax. More and more people get on board. Then on come two seniors, their daughter and two grandchildren..one asleep and one holding a light up Buzz twirly thing...(that should stay on for the entire trip back to the resort.) Well DH and I picked our seats togther and now we give them up. Grandma and Grandpa have had a long day, their daughter was worried about them not getting a seat when they boarded, but she has left it in the hands of Fate. She knows that they need these two seats and that the children will be safe in their laps. She choses to stand and hold on to the handle as a show of good faith and appreciation. Grandpa takes the seat because he had knee surgery 6 months ago and isn't going to argue with his daughter at this point. There is a bit of shuffling and one guy helps another move his stroller over. A baby in the seat across from us starts to scream bloddy murder. The windows are fogging up. The driver hasn't said a word to anyone other than to remind the last two people lucky enough to hop on to stand behind the yellow line "and do not lean against the door in the rear, please". The lights go off and we pull away.

I could play this image over and over in my mind. We are from all walks of life with different expectaions, vacation goals and memories tied into this trip. It is one bus of 100 that are servicing the property that one night...but they do it over and over and over again. We are all tired but GOSH DARNIT WE CAN AFFORD TO GO TO DISNEY WORLD!!! This world class resort is offering to pick you up from the gate and take you back to your resort free. It is a modern marvel to me at how efficient this system has worked for us over the last 9 years. Sure we have had to wait a few times but we have enjoyed watching the people around us.

If there were more buses I would have missed this experience of being with other folks who are there just like me--

I know this thread wasn't the "tell the story of your recent bus trip back to AKV"....but I really really appreciate this experience and I consider it to be a fun and at least an interesting part of the evening. Doesn't anyone else feel like this.?? More buses wouldn't give this to me.

 

[ls3015]

It is a cold December night and I didn't have on a thick enough jacket--not only for that night but basically our whole trip last year. DH and I only use Disney Transportation when we get on property. We never take a car. Does it aggrevate me to wait for a bus on a cold night in FL? Nope...yes I am teeth chattering cold, my back and right knee are killing me, I am secretly hoping that I have used my best addition techniques and depth perception to see if DH and I will be able to sit or stand based on the lines created from the bus door to where we are standing. I look at DH, DH looks at me, we count, we wait, we move forward, we count, we wait, we move forward. Then two ECVs pull up. I grin to myself becasue I know there are jerks in line who have the "we were here first" mentality. This is part of my Disney experience, I relish this...One bus pulls up and there is a soft groan as the ECVs are loaded first...but wait...what's this...another bus is now pulling up and they are letting us board it while they are getting the ECVs on the other bus.

DH and I settle into our warm seats and begin to relax. More and more people get on board. Then on come two seniors, their daughter and two grandchildren..one asleep and one holding a light up Buzz twirly thing...(that should stay on for the entire trip back to the resort.) Well DH and I picked our seats togther and now we give them up. Grandma and Grandpa have had a long day, their daughter was worried about them not getting a seat when they boarded, but she has left it in the hands of Fate. She knows that they need these two seats and that the children will be safe in their laps. She choses to stand and hold on to the handle as a show of good faith and appreciation. Grandpa takes the seat because he had knee surgery 6 months ago and isn't going to argue with his daughter at this point. There is a bit of shuffling and one guy helps another move his stroller over. A baby in the seat across from us starts to scream bloddy murder. The windows are fogging up. The driver hasn't said a word to anyone other than to remind the last two people lucky enough to hop on to stand behind the yellow line "and do not lean against the door in the rear, please". The lights go off and we pull away.

I could play this image over and over in my mind. We are from all walks of life with different expectaions, vacation goals and memories tied into this trip. It is one bus of 100 that are servicing the property that one night...but they do it over and over and over again. We are all tired but GOSH DARNIT WE CAN AFFORD TO GO TO DISNEY WORLD!!! This world class resort is offering to pick you up from the gate and take you back to your resort free. It is a modern marvel to me at how efficient this system has worked for us over the last 9 years. Sure we have had to wait a few times but we have enjoyed watching the people around us.

If there were more buses I would have missed this experience of being with other folks who are there just like me--

I know this thread wasn't the "tell the story of your recent bus trip back to AKV"....but I really really appreciate this experience and I consider it to be a fun and at least an interesting part of the evening. Doesn't anyone else feel like this.?? More buses wouldn't give this to me.

Excellent post, love it, gives a great idea for a new thread. tell the story of your recent bus trip.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I don't think standing is allowed on the DME buses. Once just as I was getting on one to go back to the airport, a family came running up screeching that they had missed their DME bus and had to get on ours or they were going to miss their flight. The CM with the clip board and also the bus driver informed them that there would not be room for them on our bus. The dad demanded that since their plane left before ours that some us be forced to wait for the next bus, so they could have our seats. The driver and CM both said that was not happening and they should have been there in time to catch their bus. Anyway in the course of the arguement the dad let it slip that they knew they were supposed to be there three hours before their flight, but thought it was stupid to get there that early, so had intentionally missed their assigned bus planning on just catching a later one, then they got tied up in DTD, then the buses going from DTD back to the resort was late, so they were later than they thought they'd be and absolutely had to get on our bus. When again told that there would be no seats available for them and no way were they kicking some of us off, the dad said they'd just stand then and proceeded to climb onto the bus, motioning for his family to join him. The driver informed him that standing was not allowed on a DME bus and asked him to exit the bus. The dad said they'd been standing on buses all week, and again motioned for his family to push their way past the driver. The driver informed him that a DME bus had different rules than a Disney bus and standing was not allowed. The dad still refused to exit the bus, when told to do so. A manager had to be called from inside the resort, to get him off the bus. We left, so I'm not sure what happened, but the guy was sceaming at the manager that they'd better not miss their flight.

Wow that's something you don't see everyday.

I am wondering was your bus late leaving because of this Dad who was arguing that him and his family should have been allowed on.

 

[aubriee]

Wow that's something you don't see everyday.

I am wondering was your bus late leaving because of this Dad who was arguing that him and his family should have been allowed on.

If you do a search of my old posts you'd see that I posted about that experience right after I got back from that trip. It was a little wild. lol Someone had asked if it was really necessary to catch DME three hours before their flight or if it would be OK to just catch the next bus. In my post I informed them of my experience just a few days before and mentioned that not only did this family delay us by several minutes, but that we still had one more resort to stop at, then we got caught in a pretty bad wreck on the way to the airport and so got tied up in traffic. Plus we were the second stop at the airport, then security was really bad that day. By themselves the little problems wouldn't have been a big deal, but because those little delays kept adding up I was getting a little panicky about catching my flight. It was one of those really weird days where if anything could possibly go wrong it did. By the time I finally caught the tram and got to my gate, it was almost time to load. I absolutely had to go to the bathroom, which didn't help. By the time I got out of the bathroom, they were just starting to board. I use DME several times a year and have always arrived well in advance of my flight, but not that trip. Little delays just seemed to keep adding up. I have to admit though, that if it had just been the crazy family tieing us up at the resort, it wouldn't have delayed us that much. We'd have still gotten to the airport in plenty of time. It was just the other delays and slow security that day that caused us to be almost late.

 

[goofy4tink]

It is a cold December night and I didn't have on a thick enough jacket--not only for that night but basically our whole trip last year. DH and I only use Disney Transportation when we get on property. We never take a car. Does it aggrevate me to wait for a bus on a cold night in FL? Nope...yes I am teeth chattering cold, my back and right knee are killing me, I am secretly hoping that I have used my best addition techniques and depth perception to see if DH and I will be able to sit or stand based on the lines created from the bus door to where we are standing. I look at DH, DH looks at me, we count, we wait, we move forward, we count, we wait, we move forward. Then two ECVs pull up. I grin to myself becasue I know there are jerks in line who have the "we were here first" mentality. This is part of my Disney experience, I relish this...One bus pulls up and there is a soft groan as the ECVs are loaded first...but wait...what's this...another bus is now pulling up and they are letting us board it while they are getting the ECVs on the other bus.

DH and I settle into our warm seats and begin to relax. More and more people get on board. Then on come two seniors, their daughter and two grandchildren..one asleep and one holding a light up Buzz twirly thing...(that should stay on for the entire trip back to the resort.) Well DH and I picked our seats togther and now we give them up. Grandma and Grandpa have had a long day, their daughter was worried about them not getting a seat when they boarded, but she has left it in the hands of Fate. She knows that they need these two seats and that the children will be safe in their laps. She choses to stand and hold on to the handle as a show of good faith and appreciation. Grandpa takes the seat because he had knee surgery 6 months ago and isn't going to argue with his daughter at this point. There is a bit of shuffling and one guy helps another move his stroller over. A baby in the seat across from us starts to scream bloddy murder. The windows are fogging up. The driver hasn't said a word to anyone other than to remind the last two people lucky enough to hop on to stand behind the yellow line "and do not lean against the door in the rear, please". The lights go off and we pull away.

I could play this image over and over in my mind. We are from all walks of life with different expectaions, vacation goals and memories tied into this trip. It is one bus of 100 that are servicing the property that one night...but they do it over and over and over again. We are all tired but GOSH DARNIT WE CAN AFFORD TO GO TO DISNEY WORLD!!! This world class resort is offering to pick you up from the gate and take you back to your resort free. It is a modern marvel to me at how efficient this system has worked for us over the last 9 years. Sure we have had to wait a few times but we have enjoyed watching the people around us.

If there were more buses I would have missed this experience of being with other folks who are there just like me--

I know this thread wasn't the "tell the story of your recent bus trip back to AKV"....but I really really appreciate this experience and I consider it to be a fun and at least an interesting part of the evening. Doesn't anyone else feel like this.?? More buses wouldn't give this to me.

And here I thought I was the only one who felt this way. I have met some pretty terrific people on the buses. I have seen wonderful acts of generosity. I have seen teenged boys showing incredible good manners, making their moms glow with pride. Yes, sometimes we have to stand up...and having that kind of positive attitude makes it all worth it. Thanks for sharing your story.

If you do a search of my old posts you'd see that I posted about that experience right after I got back from that trip. It was a little wild. lol Someone had asked if it was really necessary to catch DME three hours before their flight or if it would be OK to just catch the next bus. In my post I informed them of my experience just a few days before and mentioned that not only did this family delay us by several minutes, but that we still had one more resort to stop at, then we got caught in a pretty bad wreck on the way to the airport and so got tied up in traffic. Plus we were the second stop at the airport, then security was really bad that day. By themselves the little problems wouldn't have been a big deal, but because those little delays kept adding up I was getting a little panicky about catching my flight. It was one of those really weird days where if anything could possibly go wrong it did. By the time I finally caught the tram and got to my gate, it was almost time to load. I absolutely had to go to the bathroom, which didn't help. By the time I got out of the bathroom, they were just starting to board. I use DME several times a year and have always arrived well in advance of my flight, but not that trip. Little delays just seemed to keep adding up. I have to admit though, that if it had just been the crazy family tieing us up at the resort, it wouldn't have delayed us that much. We'd have still gotten to the airport in plenty of time. It was just the other delays and slow security that day that caused us to be almost late.

I remember your original posting of this. And if I remember correctly, some other person posted about it as well??? I think that maybe there was another family that may have been asked to take a later bus in order to accomodate that poorly behaved family??? But I could be mistaken.
It's that 'it's all about me and my personal needs' mentality. Really annoys me.

 

[ftwildernesspopup]

While buses are not the best choice for moving people across an expansive property, they do their job and do it well. I think that WDW just grew so much and the allure of expanding the property was just too great for management. Operating the resort WITHOUT a more permanent and efficient form of transportation is going to kick them later.

The more and more oil prices go up, the more expensive it becomes to operate the fleet. Right now it's a stop-gap measure because corporate is not interested in investing in an alternative method like light rail or something similar.

 

[goofy4tink]

While buses are not the best choice for moving people across an expansive property, they do their job and do it well. I think that WDW just grew so much and the allure of expanding the property was just too great for management. Operating the resort WITHOUT a more permanent and efficient form of transportation is going to kick them later.

The more and more oil prices go up, the more expensive it becomes to operate the fleet. Right now it's a stop-gap measure because corporate is not interested in investing in an alternative method like light rail or something similar.

Doubt it. Buses keep on rolling all over the country, in urban areas. Disney does it better than most cities...with a larger budget I would imagine. I doubt you will ever see anything other than bus service on that large a scale at WDW. Light rail is not going to get it done...no way to improvise if there is an issue. I can't imagine the cost of building something to service all the various resorts to the parks, at least not on that kind of scale.. This is why the monorail hasn't been expanded..nasty expensive.

 

[honeymo78]

I think the buses are great and standing is pretty much the norm on public transit here in the philadelphia area. Even the regional rail can end up with standing room only depending on the time of day. Buses seem to be a pretty efficient means of moving hundreds of people at Disney and it works well in the city too - not everyone is near the train or subway. There have only been a handful of time where we have been truly disappointed in the bus service - and that's in at least 20 visits. We learned to speak up if we've been waiting quite a while. A quick word to another bus driver or a quick call at the courtesy phone has gone a long way to speed up service.

 

[ftwildernesspopup]

Sure you can't improvise, but if the routes are generally the same you really don't need to.

Obviously you can't reach the entire property with another form of mass transit. I did not mean that buses would never go away. But there must be some point where you look at your system and realize a bus only service no longer is economical or feasible.

I am sure that, had the monorail or other system been expanded at the same time as the growth of the resort, would be a primary carrier rather than buses. But because they decided for whatever reason to put it off, or "when we have the money we will expand it". But at this point there is just too much to build and it's far too expensive to play "catch up"

I for one don't really mind the bus, but would rather take a monorail or something else.

 

[norrodh]

Thank you to all who have made kind remarks about the buses. As part of the transportation system, we really try to do our best! They really try to not have people wait that long and are working on new ways to move the masses everyday. I have to say, I am amazed sometimes when I leave a park at closing with a packed bus and I return to pick up more people, how much they have cleared the load zones out. So they do have alot of buses!! Also when a park is closing, other parks come over and help out that park so it can clear out quickly. They also train us very well as most of us had our CDL-s when we started and it still is a 6 week training! I drove a school bus for 11 years before coming to Disney so having people standing and sardined on my bus freaked me out a little bit but you get used to it and now I enjoy it cus you get to talk to the people who are standing near you. Its kind of hard to talk to the guests when they are all sitting and trying to keep your eyes on the road. Also, they will probably never expand the monorail as it is too expensive to build and too expensive to maintain and its also not the most reliable. They will always need the buses which is good for us - we will always have jobs!!

 

[MOmousefan]

I would much rather ride the buses than drive on WDW property. I have never waited more then 20 minutes at the PoP Century bus stop. Leaving the parks at night has taken longer but I notice they will stack 2-3 buses side-by-side until the surge has abated. I will admit that on a hot humid day 20 minutes can seem like an eternity. I would much rather be waiting for a WDW bus right now then sitting here at home!

 

[muchadoaboutdisney]

I consider the buses to be part of my Disney experience, plus I really don't want to see my car on vacation because it will just remind me of reality. The buses come regularly and it is a simple and free means of transportation.

I do have one thing to say to people considering buses: If you cannot BE NICE to the Bus Drivers then Please don't use them. It is not the Drivers fault if everyone leaves the park at the same time, they are just doing there job. On most of my trips, on at least one night the people at the bus stop act like complete animals toward the drivers because they are too self-absorbed to think that the driver is just taking orders and that even after they get YOU home they still have to go back until every last person is out of the park. You will get home, so, don't turn yourself into an animal just because you have to wait a little longer than you'd like. Your on vacation keep the blood pressure down.

Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[maxiesmom]

I totally understand what you are saying, and have no problem with your reply. I do ride the bus's the way they are, No problems, I like the convince of not having to worry if I'm on the right road and most times if I happen to get a seat I will give it up so someone holding a child or someone older than myself, ( more senior than I) can set and I will stand. You keep giving options on other than riding the bus, I'm not asking for that at all, i just would like to see more bus's running, Period. I could be wrong but I remember back in the 80s and early 90s, there seemed to be a lot more bus's than their currently running today, I don't remember having to stand nearly as much, unless there is more people riding them now than there use to be.
I do also agree, Disney isn't going to put on more bus's unless they build more resorts and are forced to. Nothing at present time is going to change that, But I can ask and hope. Maybe the powers that be as you say, will read this thread and add a few.
It would be nice to see and hear from others on there opinions, pro or con,
every time I ride the bus's, and they are cramed to the limit I hear grumbling, so maybe some can voice their thoughts as well.

Keep in mind the Disney busses they use the majority of the time now have less seating on them than the busses they used to use, so it is quite possible you are standing more often. The busses are designed that way.

I remember when I started going to Disney almost 20 years ago they had forward facing seating on both sides, and a narrow aisle in the middle. You used to hang onto the seat backs when standing, they didn't have any straps hanging from the ceiling. But you can cram more people onto the busses that have the larger standing space. And it is also easier to get disabled people onto the newer busses with the larger open space.

Doesn't mean they are running fewer busses. They are just designed so that more people do stand.

Again, if you are not comfortable standing on a bus, then don't. Use a taxi if you don't want to get on a full bus and don't wish to wait. Sure it is a small added expense. But if you truly don't feel safe, then I don't understand getting on a full bus and being worried the whole time. Disney doesn't expect everyone to have a seat on the busses, so why not be proactive and take care of yourself?