Here now, OMG buses.

[ttintagel]

I think everyone should have the chance to travel with a friend or family member with mobility issues. They'd learn some interesting lessons. Number one being that there are far more pita bus moments than happy happy whiz on in front of everyone, have the ramp work and not have the passengers witch and moan moments.

So much this. Needing an ECV on my last trip was one of the biggest eye-openers I've ever had.

People who complain about ECV's being loaded first should remember that they also unload last when you get to your destination. Doing it that way is in the best interest of everyone's safety.

 

[lucifie]

I have experienced long waits, but the people in ECVs that take up to 20 minutes to load from my experience are people who obiviously have no experience in using an ECV. Now this may because they they have hurt themselves and don't use one on a normal basis, but even though it may be rare there are people who abuse the use of ECVs (i.e. front of the line access for rides, shows, parades, etc.,).

I have a disabled child and have looked into how to get and use a Guest Assistance Card and Im pretty sue that everywhere it's discussed it is pointed out VERY clearly that a wheelchair/ECV/GAC is NOT a front of the line pass and it often results in longer waits. I haven't used it yet, but based n that information I can't imagine somene wanting to use an ECV just for that purpose.

 

[20yBWDW]

Couldn't your whole family have waited?

We just tore down the stroller when we expected the bus to come. It was a large double jogger, so we would put the kids in my lap and a seat (3 kids) And my husband would stand and hold he folded stroller.

As to the second part, that is generally what we did. Getting separated occurred on our first day, when we were not familiar with the buses. The two times we delayed people behind us were because of unexpected glitches occurring. Have you ever done something several times, found a system that worked, and continued with it, only to have something happen that threw a slight wrench into the plans?

As to the first part, we could have all waited, but we didn't because I was standing between ropes with three children, I started moving with them, then realized he had gotten out of line, but it never crossed my mind that people would not allow him back into line.

Now that I know, could my whole family wait every time there is a glitch with the stroller? Sure, we could, but there are circumstances where we wouldn't. If the very brief delay to others is the alternative to subjecting a bus full of people to cranky, overtired children if I wait for the next bus, I will go with the former. In an ideal world, there would be no glitches or hiccups in any plans, but when there are, we have to make the least painful choice. Sometimes the choice a bystander hates is actually made with others in mind and while not ideal, is the best choice one can make in the circumstances.

 

[KellyNY]

Our process was this: as soon as we saw our bus, I removed my DD from the umbrella stroller and DH folded it up. Then we all boarded the bus. One of the occasions that we held others up a bit, we were in the front of the line, the bus came around from behind another bus, he started to fold it, but realized there was something in it, a folder of pictures, and it took him a bit to get that out and put it in a backpack. We had not been keeping things in the pouch in the back of the stroller and another adult with us had put it there, so it was just unexpected. I made it to the bus with the kids, he was still at the line just finishing up, and the people behind him were annoyed. It was approximately 30 seconds between the bus arriving and the stroller being folded.

The second time, we followed the same process, but the clasp on the side of the stroller that holds it closed broke, the stroller popped open, and he reached for the clasp, and then had to fold the stroller back up and get it to stay closed. Again, the kids and I ended up about 3 yards ahead of him.

These situations make me very tense, especially because the first time, the couple behind us got huffy about it, so I am very self-conscious regarding the time, and know both situations were way less than a minute.

I agree with you that it is reasonable to start the process when the bus approaches. With an umbrella stroller without items stored in it, it's more than enough time. But things happen. And there seems to be the assumption on this thread that things happening just means we should break the stroller down way earlier to make sure that even if things happen, nobody is inconvenienced at all.

I do not see you did anything wrong, things do happen. Sometimes people step out of the bus just to trip over shoelace and hold everyone, sometimes people drop something so what, does not mean we should jump over each other or get upset, over what !?!. It is a good idea to get ready as much as possible but getting kid out before bus shows, esp. if it is a sleeping kid or not yet walking kid is overkill imo.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I think people should take a Remedial Bus Riding course before going to Walt Disney World.

 

[jnoble82]

I do not see you did anything wrong, things do happen. Sometimes people step out of the bus just to trip over shoelace and hold everyone, sometimes people drop something so what, does not mean we should jump over each other or get upset, over what !?!. It is a good idea to get ready as much as possible but getting kid out before bus shows, esp. if it is a sleeping kid or not yet walking kid is overkill imo.

Of course we're supposed to get upset! Didn't you hear? It's not just Disney World, its Call of Duty: Disney World /end sarcasm.

Crap happens and people have to be respectful of each other. I never cared about waiting. I did it in the park for hours, I can do it again for 20 minutes. Or kids being noisy. Heck, we had a ride on a bus once where a kid cried the whole time. Kids cry. I doubt the parent was enjoying the experience. And a few parents joke with their older child (when the baby and family got off the bus) that now he know how he sounded when he was whining which they hoped he grew out of soon to which a parent with even older kids said "They don't stop whining when they get older, they just whine different."

 

[KellyNY]

In our case, it was because I grabbed the toddler and other two children and started moving because I did not want to hold up the line, and DH stepped to the side to fold the stroller, and nobody would let him back in the line. It never crossed my mind that nobody would let him back in the line and he would not get on the bus. I was a Disney first timer.

In the future, if he had to step aside, we would all step aside with him, but knowing it would involve another 20 minute wait and having to do the whole thing all over again, (get kid back in stroller, wait again, push kids past bedtime, end up with standing room only with exhausted children), I would probably hold people up for that brief period over subjecting other people to my cranky, overtired children standing on the second bus.

Wow, people would not let him back in, so rude. It had to take only few minutes, so those people had to see him stepping out. I am speechless and this is rare for me.

 

[Keegansmommy]

We will be going in January with my aunt who will be using an ECV AND we'll have a double stroller.

 

[KellyNY]

Of course we're supposed to get upset! Didn't you hear? It's not just Disney World, its Call of Duty: Disney World /end sarcasm.

Crap happens and people have to be respectful of each other. I never cared about waiting. I did it in the park for hours, I can do it again for 20 minutes. Or kids being noisy. Heck, we had a ride on a bus once where a kid cried the whole time. Kids cry. I doubt the parent was enjoying the experience. And a few parents joke with their older child (when the baby and family got off the bus) that now he know how he sounded when he was whining which they hoped he grew out of soon to which a parent with even older kids said "They don't stop whining when they get older, they just whine different."

Funny expression but totally out of line in that situation. Kids do cry. One thing when kid cries at TS place and parents do completely nothing, another thing when you just can't do a thing. I flew from Europe for 16 hours with a mom and a little kid, few months old, sitting but not walking. He cried all 16 hours, nothing helped, we all tried to play, talk, distract him. What she was suppose to do, jump out. She looked so tired and helpless but she could do nothing. Sometimes things just happens, consideration on both sides is a big thing.

 

[20yBWDW]

Of course we're supposed to get upset! Didn't you hear? It's not just Disney World, its Call of Duty: Disney World /end sarcasm.

Crap happens and people have to be respectful of each other. I never cared about waiting. I did it in the park for hours, I can do it again for 20 minutes. Or kids being noisy. Heck, we had a ride on a bus once where a kid cried the whole time. Kids cry. I doubt the parent was enjoying the experience. And a few parents joke with their older child (when the baby and family got off the bus) that now he know how he sounded when he was whining which they hoped he grew out of soon to which a parent with even older kids said "They don't stop whining when they get older, they just whine different."

Was that recent? We had a very similar experience recently, and it looks like we were at the same resort at the same time. Our child who is normally a chatterbox and going through a whining phase just stared silently and open-mouthed, then commented about the crying toddler after they got off the bus. We tried the "how do you think you sound and people around you feel" lesson. A friendly family nearby, who had been subjected to our son's whining on an earlier bus, laughed and made a comment in a similar vein, that we had a few years of whining ahead of us.

 

[pampam]

I don't have a problem with strollers. They are folded when people take them on the bus. If not, the drivers are pretty good at stopping them before they board to do so.

I don't have an issue in principle with the scooters on buses - but this September we found it to be more of a "problem" than ever before - not that people were using scooters, but that the bus loses so many seats for each scooter and there seemed to be so many occasions where there were 2 scooters to be loaded. That means 6 seats gone for the scooters, another 2 for the two occupants to transfer to and say another 4 seats for their respective parties to be seated with then (that's assuming that they each had two others with them - in some cases there are more!) So there goes 12 seats before they even start loading

They need another solution to this. It's no good getting frustrated with the poor folk confined to mobility aids, but clearly the system is not working as well as it could

Solution would be to have no seats in the wheelchair spaces. Then no seats would be lost. But I don't think that's the solution you're looking for.

 

[jnoble82]

Was that recent? We had a very similar experience recently, and it looks like we were at the same resort at the same time. Our child who is normally a chatterbox and going through a whining phase just stared silently and open-mouthed, then commented about the crying toddler after they got off the bus. We tried the "how do you think you sound and people around you feel" lesson. A friendly family nearby, who had been subjected to our son's whining on an earlier bus, laughed and made a comment in a similar vein, that we had a few years of whining ahead of us.

Yup! I'm not sure of the exact date though. I think the family with the cry baby got off at All-Star Music. My mom wanted to pip in that even 30 year olds whine

 

[kaytieeldr]

Like I care about you and the other DINK's who have to wait an extra second while we fold the stroller.

It's genuinely impressive that you're among the very rare guests who have your child/ren out of the stroller before or as the bus arrives, and that your stroller folds in a second.

Whats not impressive is your smugness and misplaced sense of superiority. Enjoy!

 

[20yBWDW]

Yup! I'm not sure of the exact date though. I think the family with the cry baby got off at All-Star Music. My mom wanted to pip in that even 30 year olds whine

LOL! Well, the family with the crying kid on our bus got off at the second All-Star resort, and we were the third. We commented that it was the nicest bus, because even after the family with the crying child got off, everyone seemed understanding about it. I don't remember which date either, but it was dark outside, and we only had two days when we returned after dark, the 1st and the 2nd.

You may have been one of the people we held up with our stroller issues. My apologies.

 

[nonzerosum]

I think people should take a Remedial Bus Riding course before going to Walt Disney World.

I couldn't agree more! I've seen some pretty atrocious "bus etiquette" on the buses. Clearly many people who use the WDW buses have not used public transportation in major cities. I saw the worst offenders at the GF last trip. Blatant line cutting, pushing, putting backpacks on seats so as to not have to sit beside anyone else, not offering up your sit to someone else who clearly needs to sit. Very rude!

 

[jnoble82]

LOL! Well, the family with the crying kid on our bus got off at the second All-Star resort, and we were the third. We commented that it was the nicest bus, because even after the family with the crying child got off, everyone seemed understanding about it. I don't remember which date either, but it was dark outside, and we only had two days when we returned after dark, the 1st and the 2nd.

You may have been one of the people we held up with our stroller issues. My apologies.

If we were on the same bus, I want to say it was the 2nd and we were heading back from Downtown Disney. I don't remember any stroller issues so no apologies needed! I honestly felt bad for the parents. It was late in the evening, and their kid was crying on a bus full of strangers! Crying kids don't really bother me that much. I've done planetarium shows at my work with crying kids. 9 times out of 10 the parents leave, some embarrassed, most apologizing. I just tell them kids cry and its dark. Its not a huge deal. Trust me, after doing shows full of loud, talking, fart-noise making 6th grades, I'd take a crying baby any day of the week.

 

[20yBWDW]

I couldn't agree more! I've seen some pretty atrocious "bus etiquette" on the buses. Clearly many people who use the WDW buses have not used public transportation in major cities. I saw the worst offenders at the GF last trip. Blatant line cutting, pushing, putting backpacks on seats so as to not have to sit beside anyone else, not offering up your sit to someone else who clearly needs to sit. Very rude!

My complaint was on a bus from Downtown Disney, my mom and I were sitting with my 3 kids and a backpack on our laps, and at the first resort we stopped at, a bunch of young people got onto the bus. You could tell they were already vying for seats, and when we got to our resort, they were blocking our seats, presumably from other seat-seekers, but effectively blocking us from getting up.

On the other hand, we had one bus where everyone was offering everyone else seats. No child was sitting in their own seat, they were all on laps (younger kids) or standing (older kids). A young teenage boy offered me and my daughter his seat. An older man stood to offer a seat to a mother holding a baby, then a young woman without a child stood to offer the seat to the older man, then a younger man stood to offer a seat to the younger woman, until we all started joking about musical chairs.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I think what I find annoying isn't just people who can only post negativity, but also people who take one bad thing (let's say those brown napkins) and jump from that one observation to sweeping conclusions about the entire corporation and/or society in general. Generic brown napkins means Disney doesn't care about the details or customer service! Generic brown napkins means Disney is run by bean counters who only care about the bottom line! Generic brown napkins are symptomatic of the decline of society in general, everything sucks, and it'll never be as good as it was in the old days.

When really, a "generic brown napkins" means is that the napkins are made at least in part from recycled paper Disney gets awards for being green.

 

[pampam]

Surprised no one has mentioned the large strollers blocking the aisles. Something most people don't realize is that many strollers will fit underneath the seats.

 

[North of Mouse]

Surprised no one has mentioned the large strollers blocking the aisles. Something most people don't realize is that many strollers will fit underneath the seats.

They will ???? Haven't seen very many thin enough to do that - maybe a few of the smaller umbrella strollers! Under the seats is not very *deep* the way the bus is made and the seats bracing.

And yes, there has been posts about the larger ones blocking the aisles!