GOOD Disney Bus Experiences

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

I have a few stories that come to mind from our recent trip.

The first was an extended family on the bus going from Saratoga Springs Resort to Magic Kingdom. They were a large group, and I think we were the only other passengers. During the trip, the grandparents realized they'd forgotten their park tickets. The family knew the system, and were explaining to the parents how they had to get off the bus at the Magic Kingdom and find the right bus to get back to SSR. The driver must have overheard them. When we arrived at the Magic Kingdom, he pulled into the SSR space and announced, "No need to change buses. I'll take you back for your tickets."

Going back to Saratoga Springs one night from one of the parks, we heard a young couple in bride and groom ears ask the driver if it was possible to get to Downtown Disney on his bus. He explained that he could get them close, and they could either wait for the Downtown Disney bus or take the 10 minute walk. When we got to the resort, he announced the first three stops as, "Carrousel. This is not the stop for Downtown Disney." "Paddock. This is also not the stop for Downtown Disney." and "Congress Park. Newlyweds for Downtown Disney should get off here."

One night coming back from Magic Kingdom late, there was a child on the bus who just screamed the entire trip. We were at the Springs, so had to stay on the bus until the last stop. Slowly, the bus emptied at the first two stops. And finally, the family with the screaming toddler got off at Congress Park. We were the last ones on the bus for the short ride to the Springs. As I was about to get off, I asked the driver, "It's too quiet in here. I'd be happy to stay and scream for you on your trip back if you like." He indicated that wouldn't be necessary with a big smile and we said good night.

 

[Pats Dragon]

Once we were sitting out in the dark waiting on a bus to breakfast and a bus from another park bus stop came by and gave us our own private ride to breakfast. I love the buses.

 

[english rose 47]

Another bus story .. not at Disney but In Yugoslavia!!! Many years ago friends and I were on vacation in Yugoslavia . We caught a local busback from a big market, The locals , many older ladies dressed in black nodded at us and the driver recognizing we were not locaals asked us to "Sing English song" We did "OL'Mac Donald" It was a riot all the little old ladies joined in with the animal noises. To this day I coulln't tell you why we picked that song but it was hysterical!!!

 

[720L]

No problem with the buses from AKL!!

 

[PixiePop]

We've had some busses that were late, but never had a "bad" experience.

On my son's birthday a couple of years ago, the bus driver noticed his "birthday button". He lead the whole bus in singing Happy Birthday to him. By the time we reached the hotel, he was beaming. It was great that the driver would take the time to notice something like that.

 

[mickeymousemom]

I guess I've never quite understood the complaints about the bus system. We've stayed at POR twice and never had a problem. Yes, we wait. Yes, we wait longer than we'd like at times. Sometimes the busses are really crowded. We deal with it and enjoy our vacation. We've had some nice drivers along the way, and others who didn't have much to say. Overall I love the bus system. It keeps us from getting in and out of the car, taking a tram, etc. My DD3 thinks the busses are awesome!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

WE've been to WDW enough times that we've seen some good, some bad.

Mostly, we think the bus sytem is great. Overall it is very well run. Especially when you are going to a park for the day, and back to your hotel at the end of the day. The buses are very safe, much safer than having all those guests driving. Guests don't have to navigate around WDW, which can be tricky, people can drink alcohol safely. Most bus drivers at WDW are really great people who make a big effort to be fun and cheerful, and most of the guests are pretty courteous to each other once they are on the bus. I'm always impressed by the men who will let a woman, child, or elderly person have a seat (even though they are probably just as tired), and the people who are willing to double up to allow more people to sit (putting a kid in their lap).

We have decided though that if we KNOW we're going to dinner at a resort other than our own, then often that would be a good time to drive. It's just long trying to get from one resort to another late at night.

A few times we've encountered long waits for buses, but we have a pretty good sense of when to anticipate them. We've also had a few issues with people crowding each other to get ON the bus when there is no line queue. I think it would help if Disney made line queues at all main stops. The ones at the All-Star resorts are brilliant. The large mods should all have the same system at their central stops (CBR, CBR, PORR).

 

[bananahead]

i have had goo bus experences dis guy was bein funnay cause he made perople scrub the buss at midnight if they were bad like children he joked about it ititititit funnya



bananahead2

 

[P-Dust]

I think the prettiest sight in the World is your hotel bus coming around the corner. I LOVE WDW transportation. As stated above. We have had some wonderful drivers. Very informative. And funny. Patient. I LOVE, at the end of a long touring day, to drag our tired family on the bus and not know or care how to get to our resort.

Fabulous!

 

[tkitty]

Just back from POFQ. Disney transportation is the only way to go for me, This was my second stay at WDW w/ ME using only D buses. Many times standing only (glad I wasn't at POR) I think its still much more conveinent. We ate at other resorts, no problems getting around. Some drivers took alot longer than others, and most you would never remember.
Did anyone get "Sammie"? said he was from NJ. What a character! He had us laughing and singing for the whole trip! Then he dropped us up close at MK, even though it was not our spot They need more like him. Hopefully his jokes will improve!

 

[mustangmike45]

I love the buses! While the wait can sometimes get to be pretty long, I have never had a bad experience on a Disney bus. The drivers are always very nice and most of them are very talkative and full of interesting facts and info on everything Disney! I usually try and sit up close to the front of the bus and talk to the driver while in Disney. They seem to be the best source of info of all the CM's as I have always gotten the best tips and advice from them. Also last trip one of the drivers even invited me and my girlfriend to come to MGM for a CM night as his guests!

 

[SnoopyDancer]

For me, and I guess most people, the worst part of about the buses was the wait. If I had worn a watch, it probably wouldn't have seemed as long. Once we got on, it was fun to people watch. When I was there the second week of August, there were a lot of British people. I loved listening to their accents and the way they talk. I also enjoyed listening to the kids, with or without accents, talk about how much fun they were having.

I bought the unofficial guide which has a great transportation chart, so I knew that some waits may be longer than others.

 

[TDC Nala]

I would say 8/10ths of my Disney bus experiences are pretty good.

 

[JulielovesDisney]

We had an...interesting...bus driver during our trip from Epcot to our resort, OKW. We just finished doing an EMH at Epcot, so it was well after midnight, and everyone was tired and was looking forward to a quiet ride home. Well, that wasn't going to happen with this particular bus driver. He was waaay over caffinated. He was singing all kinds of Disney songs from The Lion King, and rides. Yes, he even dared to sing "Its A Small World". Needless to say, the entire bus replied to the song with a groan and a couple comments. He started out annoying, but then it got entertaining. He made a very funny comment on a Disney Police car that was randomly braking on the road with a 40 foot bus right behind them. Very funny!! It turned out that his wife actually just delivered thier first baby (a girl, if I remember correctly) two nights ago. She was a week early, so he couldn't get time off from work. So he was very happy and obviously excited. So I couldn't blame him. If I was in his shoes, I'd be doing the exact same thing. It was a great ride, and he had the whole bus cracking up.

 

[OhhBother]

My favorite bus memory came on an "all-girls" trip when I was in my early 20s. There were four of us, and we were giggling and being generally obnoxious in that pack of girls way.

We were on a bus to Pleasure Island by ourselves, and the driver talked to us and sang the whole way there. Right before he dropped us off, he reminded us what happens to "wicked" people when they go to Pleasure Island -- they turn into "jacka---." We all laughed hysterically for 15 minutes.

It was a fun time, and I always think of that any time I'm headed to Pleasure Island. By the way, he was right. We had a few too many jello shots and drinks in beakers, and all control was lost!

Amy

 

[disneysnowflake]

In mid December 2004 we were staying at POFQ. It was cold. DH lost his brand new pair of gloves. The POFQ gift shop didn't have gloves, so I decided to go alone on a bus to DTD looking for gloves. Yep. $8 a pair plain black stretch gloves. lmbo. DH wanted to nap, so alone I went.

On the way back I was the only person on the bus. I had a great ride back with the female bus driver. We stopped for birds to cross the road in a little line. She told me all kinds of funny stories. It was awesome. I laughed so hard.

On that same trip we got on a bus to MK from POFQ. The driver sang and played harmonica. We all cheered for him. He was so nice and very talented.

In October 2005 we did have a really nice driver. He was an older man who did Disney trivia. That was fun.

 

[Christabel]

The only bad Disney bus experience we had was when my mom and I were at the Downtown Disney Marketplace one morning, and ended up waiting around 40 minutes for a bus, then going to Pleasure Island, the West Side, Typhoon Lagoon, the Swan/Dolphin, and the Yacht Club before finally getting back to the Beach Club. Dang Epcot resort bus. XP

Our best one was with a bus driver on the way back from Magic Kingdom on our last night. It was around 11 PM, and everyone was stumbling half-dead out of the theme park after Wishes. After we got on the bus, the driver started giving all the potholes we hit names, making jokes (ie. "Oh, how nice, someone's getting a souvenier from Disney World!" when we went by someone getting a ticket for speeding), and telling trivia. It was really a treat and ended our Disney vacation on a great note, rather than just falling asleep! (Especially on the Boardwalk/Swan/Dolphin/Yacht Club/Beach Club bus. XP)

Another interesting bus situation... We were heading to Downtown Disney again one night, and we ended up on a bus alone with two other families with younger kids and a group of rowdy, probably-had-been-drinking college-age kids. The bus driver told them the Marketplace stop was the one for Pleasure Island, and they got off there. XD Don't really know what to make of that one...

 

[DiszyDeanette]

I loved the busses! Even when they were packed and standing room only, I never had a bad experience with them.

One night leaving MK stands out in my mind. The POR/POFQ line was loooong. Like 3-4X longer than any of the other lines, almost back to the main gate LONG. Within minutes of realizing the situation, we had multiple bus pickups and it seemed like every other new bus coming in stopped for us until the line became more manageable. Now I could say "IT was awful, the bus was so crowded, never again, blah, blah..." Or I could see that Disney had no way of knowing EVERY person staying at POR/POFQ had woken up with the bright idea of going to MK that day (it was a little bizarre) and they did what they could to take care of the situation as quickly as possible. I applaud them for that!

One more item on my list of why WDW is the perfect vacation -> No worries about transportation!

 

[Mom to a Princess]

I love the Disney bus system. In the past I have driven to disney but have never felt the need to use my car. Now that I am a single mom I love the DME!! Not having to worry about my luggage and dd is wonderful.

 

[Cinders Mum]

we have had no problems with the bus systems ... okay the poly buses can be a little slow at times, however, once we realised this we just factored in a little more time to get to our destination.

The best, absolute best service we've had is at the All Star Resorts ..... the buses are fine, the lines are managed well so no rude guest behaviour (the likes of which we experienced last year at a moderate).

The bus drivers were great, we even hopped on a bus to the Polynesian from DTD, as our plan was to jump over to MK on our final morning, having checked our bags in at DTD, and when we got chatting with the driver (we were the only passengers) he asked us if we were off for breakfast at the Poly, so we told him no we were off to MK just taking the quickest route ...... awwww bless him, he says, he'll do one better and take us directly to MK himself .... and he did.

It was a little thing for him to take a different lane on approach to MK, but it meant the absolute world to us, and we were so grateful for his kindness.

So nope I have no complaints about the buses at all.

Val
xx