First Experience With the Bus Issues

[DVCSAMNH]

Can you imagine how busy the roads are going to get if we all start driving to the parks and to all our dinner ADRs? I doubt that that is in Disney's best interest. That leaves me with a little hope that they will work diligently to get the kinks out soon. Maybe??? Hopefully??? Before I go back???

And, I don't know if it's just my take on things but either the rental car companies are reducing their inventories or more people are already renting. So, if we all give up on the busses those rentals are going to get mighty scarce and very expensive.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Starr W. - I didn't mean 3 hours in one chunk. I was working it out with a 45 minute wait each time we are moving from one place to another. SSR to a park, park back to SSR for a break, SSR back to park for dinner, park back to SSR for the night. If the wait times are truly heinous then we'll be spending 3 hours out of every day waiting for buses.

There are a couple of times we'll take a cab out for an early breakfast, but I wasn't planning to make it a daily occurence. Like ClarabellCowFan mentioned, that cost adds up fast if you make a habit of it.

 

[Starr W.]

Starr W. - I didn't mean 3 hours in one chunk. I was working it out with a 45 minute wait each time we are moving from one place to another. SSR to a park, park back to SSR for a break, SSR back to park for dinner, park back to SSR for the night. If the wait times are truly heinous then we'll be spending 3 hours out of every day waiting for buses.

There are a couple of times we'll take a cab out for an early breakfast, but I wasn't planning to make it a daily occurence. Like ClarabellCowFan mentioned, that cost adds up fast if you make a habit of it.

DH always times the waits(he jots them down in his phone's notepage ) and he's flying home from Amsterdam today or I would ask him. I think 20-30 min is closer to the average for us, and this is based on Thanksgiving week at SSR. We usually come back in the afternoon for a swim. Sometimes we will eat dinner at DTD and then go back to a park or head back to a park and do CS for dinner(especially when we have done a TS for lunch). If I was doing dinner at Jiko's or any resort restaurant, I'd take a cab over from whatever DVC unless I could walk. We try to incorporate our ADR's into our park plans.

 

[tjhsr]

We just got back from a 10day stay at SSR and the buses were running pretty good for us. The longest wait was 20-25 min. and that only happen once. Most times we waited 5-10min. for a bus. We rent a car but use the buses for going to the parks. Oh yea we had a great trip it was our 12th stay at SSR and it just keeps getting better and more beautiful.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

DH always times the waits(he jots them down in his phone's notepage ) and he's flying home from Amsterdam today or I would ask him. I think 20-30 min is closer to the average for us, and this is based on Thanksgiving week at SSR. We usually come back in the afternoon for a swim. Sometimes we will eat dinner at DTD and then go back to a park or head back to a park and do CS for dinner(especially when we have done a TS for lunch). If I was doing dinner at Jiko's or any resort restaurant, I'd take a cab over from whatever DVC unless I could walk. We try to incorporate our ADR's into our park plans.

This trip is a little different for us because it has morphed into something COMPLETELY different than what it started out to be. We are currently on our 6th incarnation of resort arrangements, which includes 4 separate ressies over 16 consecutive nights. We just bought DVC last Monday, so that pretty much gutted everything I had already planned. We do book our ADRs around whatever park we'll be in, or book dinner at the resort where we are staying. We also have DxDDP for 6 of the 16 nights, so we want our signature dinners to fall within those nights. It's kind of a mess, but I think I have a grip on it now!

We will take a cab to breakfast a couple of mornings, but I think our dinners are all pretty accessible from the parks. I am pretty sure we have never waited 30 minutes for a bus, but we have never been at Thanksgiving, either. Hopefully the reports will improve as they sort out whatever they are doing to the dispatch system.

 

[Starr W.]

This trip is a little different for us because it has morphed into something COMPLETELY different than what it started out to be. We are currently on our 6th incarnation of resort arrangements, which includes 4 separate ressies over 16 consecutive nights. We just bought DVC last Monday, so that pretty much gutted everything I had already planned. We do book our ADRs around whatever park we'll be in, or book dinner at the resort where we are staying. We also have DxDDP for 6 of the 16 nights, so we want our signature dinners to fall within those nights. It's kind of a mess, but I think I have a grip on it now!

We will take a cab to breakfast a couple of mornings, but I think our dinners are all pretty accessible from the parks. I am pretty sure we have never waited 30 minutes for a bus, but we have never been at Thanksgiving, either. Hopefully the reports will improve as they sort out whatever they are doing to the dispatch system.

Good luck! From what I hear Thanksgiving was a breeze compared to this past Spring Break period.

Glad you have a grip on it. I'm waiting to see the park hours for November, I'm just starting to plan off last Thanksgiving EMH. They didn't really change from 06 to 07, so I'll go with that.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Good luck! From what I hear Thanksgiving was a breeze compared to this past Spring Break period.

Glad you have a grip on it. I'm waiting to see the park hours for November, I'm just starting to plan off last Thanksgiving EMH. They didn't really change from 06 to 07, so I'll go with that.

We have never been over Spring Break, but DS's district doesn't go on break over Easter. This year he was out March 10-17. At Easter we are lucky if he gets the Friday or Monday off. Those are the make-up days if we have any ice storms, so I don't want to count on having those off.

Good luck with your planning! If the buses are horrible in August we'll give you a heads up so you can think about how to handle it!

 

[Starr W.]

We have never been over Spring Break, but DS's district doesn't go on break over Easter. This year he was out March 10-17. At Easter we are lucky if he gets the Friday or Monday off. Those are the make-up days if we have any ice storms, so I don't want to count on having those off.

Good luck with your planning! If the buses are horrible in August we'll give you a heads up so you can think about how to handle it!

We get 5 "calamity" days in OH before we have to start making up. Our district tacks them on to the end of the year, we get out this year June 5. Last year we had to make up 2 days, none this year(only used 4) . We're leaving the 8th to go out to Park City UT.

I'll appreciate the bus update and enjoy your first trip as DVC members.

 

[SueM in MN]

We were at OKW from April 4 thru April 14.
The one thing we noticed, both at the resort and at the parks/DTD, was that there often seemed to be no rhyme or reason for when the buses came. We might be waiting for 30 minutes for a MK and see 3 buses in a row at 10 minute intervals for Epcot (or you could see the reverse). Sometimes the first bus would be packed, the second bus would have a few people and the third bus would be empty.
We saw the same thing when we were at the park or at DTD trying to get back to OKW.
We also noticed that a lot of the time, the bus we took back to the resort was not going back to where we caught it (like we caught it at Epcot and noticed when we got off at OKW that it was going to the Studio). And, more often than not, our bus left us off at a different resort's stop at a park because the driver's next trip was not back to OKW.
I think all that switching around has a lot to do with less consistent times. If the driver was just making round trips from here to there, the time was more 'even'.

 

[LisaS]

We had a similar experience during our stay in AKV in late Apr/early May. We had decided to play mini-golf at WinterSummerland. During the long wait for a Blizzard Beach bus, two buses came for everywhere else: two MK buses, two Epcot buses, two Studios buses. When the next bus that came was a third Epcot bus, we decided it was a sign and we went to Epcot instead!

 

[njmeisje]

We were at BCV the week of April 19th-26th. We had a rental car, so we only used the bus on MK days. Boy, the MK buses were awful! There were not enough of them, and they were not running nearly often enough for the amount of people waiting, and the number of strollers! I never saw so many strollers on the bus. And HUGE strollers too. When the buses did come, people packed on them. We were really unhappy.

Question - can you drive to the MK on Early Morning Hour days? Can you get in the hour early if you drive? I am likely to do this next time.

Thanks,
Diane

 

[efinn88858]

or is Disney transportation an issue at all the resorts?

 

[SueM in MN]

or is Disney transportation an issue at all the resorts?

From what I heard at park and DTD bus stops, I'm quite certain it is a Disney transportation problem at all resorts, rather than just DVC.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

We were at BCV the week of April 19th-26th. We had a rental car, so we only used the bus on MK days. Boy, the MK buses were awful! There were not enough of them, and they were not running nearly often enough for the amount of people waiting, and the number of strollers! I never saw so many strollers on the bus. And HUGE strollers too. When the buses did come, people packed on them. We were really unhappy.

Question - can you drive to the MK on Early Morning Hour days? Can you get in the hour early if you drive? I am likely to do this next time.

Thanks,
Diane

With the costs of stroller rental now at astronomical prices, more and more people are opting to either bring their stroller from home or purchase the one for about $50 at the resort gift shops so that means more strollers on the buses.

 

[Grandbuddy]

From what I heard at park and DTD bus stops, I'm quite certain it is a Disney transportation problem at all resorts, rather than just DVC.

For some reason, the crowds were really crazy (Easter was much earlier this year), and we often watched three buses arrive and leave for Epcot or another park, before a Magic Kingdom bus would arrive. Our wait times were not as extreme as some of those mentioned however. (I'm thankful, as we had a 4-yr-old with us.) Our worst moment was actually trying to get out of the MK after fireworks, at about 11 p.m. They were apparently going to do another parade (I guess???) just before midnight closing. The people claiming places for viewing and the people trying to make for the exits created total, total gridlock. (I'm too old to hold and carry a child all the way from the castle to the exit, while barely moving, but I had no choice!)

Oh, despite the above, we had a wonderful trip, and I would do it again in a moment. Just might set up to watch the fireworks a little closer to the exits.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

For some reason, the crowds were really crazy (Easter was much earlier this year), and we often watched three buses arrive and leave for Epcot or another park, before a Magic Kingdom bus would arrive. Our wait times were not as extreme as some of those mentioned however.

I absolutely agree with Grandbuddy. Maybe because Dis knew that Easter week would be crazy, they ran more buses? We arrived on 3/21 and left 3/28. Our longest wait time was 15 - 20 minutes max. I would definitely write a letter with the wait times. I hope they address the issue, as to me, this was one of the biggest selling points of staying on Disney property.

 

[Starr W.]

Common comment on these threads "3 Epcot buses in a row". I have seen that too. First time was last May(definately not a busy time the first weekend) when we stayed at VWL. Saw it again at SSR over Thanksgiving, even the DHS bus was packed, along with the MK bus. We usually start out at 8:30 am -9:00am. But the funny thing walking over to the main pool one morning about 10 ish I see 2 MK buses in a row go by.

All I can figure out is whoever is in charge of dispatching buses Epcot.

 

[DVCSAMNH]

All I can figure out is whoever is in charge of dispatching buses Epcot.

According to the bus coordinator that I spoke to, it's a love smitten computer.

 

[scootert]

We never understood why people would drive themselves to the parks - until this year. We were only there 2 nights the first week in May and it was crazy. First of all I have to say it was busier than we've ever seen it for early May. We stayed at BWV and took the bus to the Magic Kingdom one day and Animal Kingdom the next. Service from the resort was pretty normal (20 to 30 minutes) but coming back was a whole other story. We waited a minimum of 30 minutes each time and were fortunate to make it on the bus. Each time they were absolutely packed and another bus loads worth of people left waiting.

We had dinner one night at California Grill - in the past we would have taken the bus to MK and walked over. After our experience, we got in the car and drove.

Hopefully they'll get things worked out soon.

 

[TDC Nala]

I have two trips where I plan to rent a car - one because I am going to Universal and the other because I arrive late. On that one I may keep the car only one night. I make a lot of short trips and I don't want to pay to rent a car for them.

Sustained waits of more than an hour for the buses may not move me to rent cars - just to make fewer trips or to make my only bus trips to dinner and Downtown Disney - no parks. (If that happens I won't need my AP anymore)