First Experience With the Bus Issues

[DVCSAMNH]

Just returned today from a terrific trip to SSR. I think this is trip #7 there and it gets better every time. The Grandstand buildings nearest the pool are definitely my favorite place to stay at all the DVCs so far.

I've been reading a lot of threads on these boards from people who have been having serious bus issues lately and I have to admit that I thought they were just unlucky. Because in six trips to SSR I could probably count on one hand the number of times that I waited more than 15 minutes for a bus to or from anywhere. Well, no more. This trip I don't think we waited less than 25 minutes ONCE in the entire trip.

I understand that gas is getting expensive and they may be trying to conserve so I am not expecting them to send a bus every 10-15 minutes like they used to.

Two return busses from MK returned to SSR after 30 plus minute waits stuffed way beyond capacity. Reminded me of the Pop busses going by in the old days And this was late afternoon, not closing!

We had to get to Epcot one morning for the Gardens of the World Tour and after waiting 30 minutes we ran back to the room to get the car keys and took the car. No bus in sight.

On our second day going to Epcot there was a coordinator at the depot timing the busses. The depot was full of people waiting for a MK bus. When we got there there had already been 35 minutes between MK busses and one showed up about 10 minutes later with another showing up 5 minutes after that. They needed that second bus because the first one filled up at the Grandstand and the driver wasn't even going to bother going to the Carousel. That means the people at the Carousel and stops beyond waited more than 50 minutes for the MK bus. We waited 30 minutes for our bus. I asked the coordinator what time the last Epcot bus had come. She told me 9:26. Our bus arrived at 10:17. More than 50 minutes between busses. From my short conversation with her she said that things are getting worse, not better. And all she was able to do from her post was have someone check the GPS system to see if a MK or Epcot bus was in the area heading to the resort. She wasn't able to dispatch a particular bus.

I'm not a big letter writer, but I do feel the need after this trip. Disney's bus system used to work pretty well, this was a disaster.

I've always enjoyed being chauffered by the busses. Even though we always have a car we prefer the transportation system or walking. But, next trip we will probably drive everywhere we can unless they fix what they've broken.

 

[alldiz]

Glad you loved the Grandstand.....that will be the next area I would love to stay in.
Sorry about your bus times....they are obviously still working out some kinks.
I've been lucky so far myself but....When I was at OKW last month...people were waiting over 1 hr and 15 min for a bus to the M.K.
Kerri

 

[justjudy]

We just returned from a stay at OKW and it was not out of the ordinary for us to wait upwards of 45 minutes to an hour for a bus. Epcot and MK were the worst. One driver drove us to All Star Sports from Magic Kingdom, then had to go all around Robin Hood's barn to get us back to OKW!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Oh, no!
I was just reading about approximate travel times from SSR to the parks in my UG last night. We'll be there for 6 nights in August. I am hard core about being at the parks before they open, then we come back for a break and go back out for dinner. That means we are always trying to get somewhere on a time schedule, so this info really scares me!

We have never rented a car, and I wasn't planning to start. I guess we'll just see what the reports are like over the next couple of months!

 

[jgus]

We're heading down in 1 week to. We were not planning on getting a car. Now I'm torn on what to do.....

 

[DVCSAMNH]

Oh, no!
I was just reading about approximate travel times from SSR to the parks in my UG last night. We'll be there for 6 nights in August. I am hard core about being at the parks before they open, then we come back for a break and go back out for dinner. That means we are always trying to get somewhere on a time schedule, so this info really scares me!

We have never rented a car, and I wasn't planning to start. I guess we'll just see what the reports are like over the next couple of months!

As you can see by the above posts, it's not just SSR. We had some issues at BWV in February but we gave up earlier and just used the car for everything. I have to admit I was stubborn this time and tried to stick it out with the busses.
I did ask the bus coordinator if the problems were accross the board and she said that they were. They were not limited to one resort. Some days one resort may be worse than another but that's about it. She did say they have been working on the problems for two months so as reasonable people, by August you would expect them to be running a little more smoothly.

 

[Noreendisfour]

I don't understand. Did the bus coordinator say specifically they were running less busses because of the price of gas? Did any one ask the bus coordinator what these "problems" were they were trying to work out for 2 months now?

I just had a conversation the other day about how I don't mind taking the bus everywhere in WDW, now do I have to change my mind?

 

[lisareniff]

WOW! Bus service doesn't sound too good. I guess I will let my DH rent a car after all.

Thanks for all the data.

 

[DVCSAMNH]

I don't understand. Did the bus coordinator say specifically they were running less busses because of the price of gas? Did any one ask the bus coordinator what these "problems" were they were trying to work out for 2 months now?

I just had a conversation the other day about how I don't mind taking the bus everywhere in WDW, now do I have to change my mind?

No, I was just cutting them some slack with regards to the price of gas. Sorry if I rambled and it got confusing. The busses at SSR used to be amazing. Even if the bus was just pulling away as you walked up to the depot another one came along a few minutes later. I just figured that with the price of gas that this would no longer be the case. Just an assumption on my part that Disney would be conserving like most of us are.

I only spoke to the coordinator for a couple of minutes. She was busy with a walkie-talkie at the same time. But, she did tell me that all busses are computer dispatched now. The bus dispatchers have mostly been let go. Where in the past if they needed a bus at SSR to pick up for MK a PERSON used to be able to dispatch one with just a phone call. No longer. What employees and guests alike can't figure out is why these busses can't run at pretty regular intervals. It just isn't happening.

One weird thing I noticed was that the drivers were pulling up to the Grandstand and she was yelling to them where they were going. The two drivers that pulled up when I was there were surprised and got off to check the electronic banner on the outside of the bus. They thought they were going somewhere different. One complained that he hated never knowing where he was going.

Even though I had a long wait, it was a pretty interesting 1/2 hour!

 

[Noreendisfour]

Well the new computer dispatching sounds OK to me because at least there is a hope that the glitches will be worked out. It's just a shame that people were on vacation during these trial periods. At least it's not a gas issue (yet) and disney isn't just running a less than efficient bus system trying to save money.

Thanks for the update on the buses though. I'm staying at SSR in August and we are tacking a week at Disney onto another location in Florida so we have been talking about returning the car when we get to Disney, maybe we'll hang onto it. We still have time before we make that decision.

 

[mopee3]

Maybe the high price of fuel may help Disney put up more Monorails??

M

 

[FLYNZ4]

Maybe the high price of fuel may help Disney put up more Monorails??

M

Florida has pretty expensive electric rates. Not as expensive as HI, but a lot higher than much of the USA.

/Jim

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

We were at PORS from Sunday 5/11 to Friday 5/16 then moved to OKW where we are staying until Monday. We had HORRIBLE experiences with the bus system at PORS. Every single bus was packed well beyond capacity and took much longer than usual (more than 30 minutes) to arrive to pick up. After a frustrating day of trying to use Disney transportation with 3 kids in tow including 1 in a stroller we gave up and would just take a cab most of the time. $75 in 1 day for cab fare and we went online and found a rental minivan at the Alamo location on property.

We will NEVER stay on property again without a car.

Oh and we also waited about 45 minutes for DME and we weren't the first people in our line (not sure how long the people in front were there before us).

I am very disappointed in the Disney transportation system. I can understand the need to cut back because of fuel costs but there has to be a happy medium somewhere.

 

[CarolMN]

I think something else is going on - we had no trouble with bus service for our late April/early May trip. But the crowds were relatively lighter that week than what is being reported (or predicted) for the rest of May.

I don't think Disney is cutting back on bus service to save fuel - it's more likely that they had trouble finding enough drivers or that more buses than expected were out of service. Anyway, I think it is a problem that they know about and will fix as soon as they can. JMHO. YMMV.

Sorry to hear about the bad experiences.

 

[Tiggerismynameo]

We have a trip upcoming next week, and I have already planned on renting a car. In our case, we are there for three nights, and when you consider the time you spend waiting for the ME, then the time you wait for each of the busses to go to the various parks, it really is a no-brainer. ($140 for convenience, although that number may be slightly skewed by the $5 a gallon gas at the station next to the airport.)

This will be our fourth trip in a year, and each time, I have seen it get a little worse, and I don't expect that this summer will be any better, because it seems that Disney is experiencing a rather large influx of guests, based upon their recent financial results.

For what you likely will spend at the parks and in travel costs to get to Disney, I have to guess that a couple hundred is rather relative to the overall cost of the trip.

 

[Mike]

I know people have different opinions on this, but as long as I have been going to WDW I always rented a car - or had mine with me if we drove. Typically the only park we use a bus for is the MK but occasionally we drive there as well. I cannot stand riding the buses - just not my idea of vacation. I love the ability to come and go on my schedule. Plus, with the Disney Dining prices getting out of control, I love having the ability to go to off-site restaurants or to make runs to Super Walmart to stock up the villa.

Hearing these stories further validates that the money I spend on a rental car is money well spent. I know others do not like to drive on vacation and rely on the buses. For their sake I hope Disney Transportation resolves these issues quickly.

 

[DVCtinkerbell]

We were there at the end of April and transportation was a mess. We went to dinner at Boma's from BWV. We left at 5:30 PM and did not get back to BWV until after 10 PM (no shopping, no looking at animals, no wait to be seated), and that was getting off the boat from the Hollywood Studios at the Swan and Dolphin. We had to transfer through a park to get to BWV from AKL. The boat line was so long I could not see the end of it. We waited over 45 minutes for a boat alone. I felt sorry for the families with small children.

I would have to say though that the families from the World Cheerleading group was well taken care of. Our bus back to BWV one day took a family to Port Orleans. Another day, a family at AKL got on the bus and complained to the bus driver that they would have to take a cab back to the Wide World of Sports complex. The bus driver allowed them to board and dropped them off somewhere between AKL and Hollywood Studios (it was late and dark, so I don't know exactly where we stoppped). Then transportation was arranging another bus to pick them up to take them to WWS.

When I talked to the front desk at BWV they did not care at all. Just an "oh well" attitude. They gave me a business card to contact guest relations.

 

[DVC Mike]

Typically the only park we use a bus for is the MK but occasionally we drive there as well. I cannot stand riding the buses - just not my idea of vacation. I love the ability to come and go on my schedule. Plus, with the Disney Dining prices getting out of control, I love having the ability to go to off-site restaurants or to make runs to Super Walmart to stock up the villa.

We drive down just so we'll have our car. I like being independent of the busses and being able to go wherever we want whenever we want, without having to wait at a bus stop.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I have no desire to drive around WDW property. On the flip side, I have no desire to spend 3 hours out of every day standing at the bus stop.

I have been reading here, on Resorts, reader reviews al AllEars, and there seems to be absolutely NO rhyme or reason to wait times.

DH thinks we might need to just forego our midday breaks, but in August we are all so cranky by mid-afternoon I don't think skipping the break is a good idea.

What to do, what to do...

 

[Starr W.]

I've never stood waiting for 3hrs at a resort or a park. I think probably our longest wait at a resort was 45 min, around 30 at a park. Sometimes you just miss the bus you're looking for, same when you leave a park during the day.

My eldest DS, myself and a handful of others were all surprised as we were walking up to the BC/YC/BW/Swolphin stop at AK. Approaching was a line of buses, including ours. We all laughed as it was the first time we ever timed our departure from a park correctly. This was about 1:30-2pm Sunday of MLK weekend.

Though I'm still wondering why in the mornings, you sometimes see a rash of Epcot buses, sometimes 2 or more in a row. I've seen this at SSR and VWL.

I think I read on the Transportation board, posted by a WDW bus driver there is another impementation starting that will notify the bus dispatch of load factors and allow them to notify drivers to change routes, yada yada yada.