I'm baaaaaaaaack. What is up with OKW Buses???

[Figaro30]

I have to say that I am infuriated over the bus situation at OKW. Every single time we waited for a bus we waited at least 35 up to 45 minutes. This is unacceptable. I was told that OKW members have voted to eliminate some buses to use their dues money for something else instead. I don't know if this is true but If it is I'd love to hear what everybody would rather have their money go to.

This was by far the worst resort transportation I have EVER encountered. Being a OKW member I'm definitely annoyed over this. My whole family was definitely annoyed.

We waited one morning at OKW for a blizzard beach AK bus. We waited 40 minutes for one to come. When I asked a bus driver how many buses are on the route he said 3. (I don't think so!!)

Coming back that day from BB/AK to OKW...we watched as 2 AK Lodge buses, 3 Carribean Beach buses, and 2 Corrinado Springs buses came and went with not ONE OKW bus in sight. It was really getting ridiculous.

I'd love to hear other peoples experiences and feedback on this situation.

BTW....other than this we had a fantastic time, weather was perfect, crowds were light, illimination cruise was exceptional, our room was way beyond perfection (except for some upstairs people noise), we never got the check-out day hangup, never used the dishwasher, and used the washing/dryer 3-4 times.

I'd be glad to share my whole trip for anybody interested.

Counting the day till our October 2002 trip now!!!

 

[rbuzzotta]

Sorry to hear about your disappointment with the transportation. I wouldn't know. We always use our car to get around!!!

Glad to hear you had great weather, crowds were light and you have fun!!!

 

[ritu_card]

Sorry to hear abt ur experience with the buses.............but glad you had a great trip.

Would like to ask if the weather was permitable for rides at blizzard beach.

Thanks.

 

[dianeschlicht]

HHMMMMM, We have never had bus problems at OKW, so will be quite dissapointed if the busing was changed without notifying members. I can't imagine that any members would "ask" for less bus service! I would hope that is a major part of our dues. Perhaps we need to let DVC know when we are not happy with buses.

 

[Figaro30]

Diane....when I was told this by the CM (that members asked to have less buses) I asked what then would the dues go to...he said he didn't know. He said that If I was at one of the meetings and vetoed to lessen the busses that I would be out voted.

I can't imagine that anybody would vote to have less busses. I'm planning on calling my DVC rep and complaining about this. Other than that problem our trip was fantastic. Unfortunately this problem was occuring every day because we took the busses sometimes up to 4 times a day. This could account for missing approx. 3 hours of our day waiting for busses.

It really was the pits!!

 

[dianeschlicht]

It does sound like that is a significant change. We have always felt the bus service to OKW was adequate, but sometimes slow in the middle part of the day when crowds are low. I can honestly say I have never waited more than 35 minutes for a bus even at the worst of times, and that was after Illuminations on New Years Eve '99/00!

 

[Figaro30]

The weather was great. We went to Blizzard Beach on last Friday. The water is really warm there. Me and my dad went. Did about 5-6 slides, the wave pool, and the lazy river.

It was great!

 

[PamOKW]

There was a survey (maybe two years ago?) asking whether OKW wanted to pay more for additional buses. There was never any question raised about fewer buses and reduced dues.

I have had occasional bad bus service....especially from DD at night. But, I have also had occasional bad bus service at just about every WDW resort. I've even been stuck on the monorail for 45 minutes or more twice.

I think members should report when they enounter these problems and give as much detail as possible. This may help DVC/WDW resolve the issue.

Some members' problems seem to be in a parallel universe to my own experiences. They have nothing but bad. This reminds me of how some people's description of CBR is so totally different than my own experiences that it seems like we are talking about two different places.

The best thing to do is keep DVC informed of problems so they can work on it. I know it's a pain, but if possible give details. Don't just say the bus service was bad....let them know on Tuesday, 10/7 at 1:00 p.m. I waited 75 minutes for a bus from OKW to MGM. The more detail the more they have to work with.

 

[BobH]

A friend of mine just returned from OKW. He was there from Nov 28 to Dec 2. I asked him about the buses and he said he had no problems.

I am a relatively new owner (1 yr ago) but how would an OKW Member make a request to lower bus service? I am under the impression that DVC basically votes for everyone at the annual meeting. It seems to me that a Cast Member who used the membership as an excuse for lowering the bus service better be careful with his statements. I never received any voting materials to vote by proxy. How do these annual meetings actually run? Do members who show up get to bring up items for a vote. This would seem unfair since I am sure there would be many thousands of members who do not attend. Any information on this topic would be appreciated.

 

[downontheBW]

Figaro30, Do you know if there is still boat service between OKW and DD? I have heard of the problems with bus service to DD (as in PamOKW's post) and had hoped to take the boat. We will be down there this weekend!

 

[Firefighter Mickey]

BobH,

Don't worry (or at least don't worry too much); when you signed your purchase contract, you basically signed away any voting rights you might have to DVC.

The cast member was flat out wrong, or at worst, lying. The membership did not vote to reduce bus service. If bus service has been reduced, then this action was taken directly by DVC and not by any vote of the membership. Frankly I hate it when CM's do this - if they don't know the answer, then they should just say "I don't know the answer" and then offer to put you in contact with someone that can appropriately handle your issue. Lying, or passing on rumors and mis-information just makes things worse.

DVC usually sends out a survey from time to time soliciting feedback from a selction of the membership on various issues - not all members get these, but if you believe DVC, they try to survey a representative cross-section of the membership. These surveys are what usually drives DVC policies. As was mentioned, the last survey asked about additional spending to increase bus service to a couple of select destinations, and the survey results were overwhelmingly negative.

The annual meetings are another way the DVC gets feedback from the membership, but I think that the survey's probably provide much better data quality since they hit a broader base.

There could be a number of factors at work here - bus service may be based partially on resort occupancy - it might not make as much sense to run the same number of busses for a resort that's at 50% occupancy compared to one at 100%. It might just have been an anomoly - I've no doubt that Figaro30 encountered exactly what was reported, but if there was a problem, the problem might have been only short term. This is all just speculation though.

 

[PamOKW]

Bob you are correct that we have no power. They do sometimes survey members and then change policy based on the survey. My feeling is that many of these have been set up to bolster plans DVC wants to make anyway. This would be like the survey where they asked about cutting back on towels prior to putting in the new policy.

I do not like it when CMs "blame the members". I remember one Sunday coming up from 3 nights at Vero to check in. There was a very long line but I hadn't made any complaint. The "greeter" CM who was supposed to be helping everyone pass the time all of a sudden went into a tirade about how members cause this problem because they are too cheap to use points to stay on the weekends. I was furious that she would make such a comment. Especially when I had just stayed the weekend at Vero and always stay weekends on every trip. I did not get into an arguement with her but did pass this situation on to DVC management. CMs don't always know what they are talking about and sometime talk too much.

 

[Figaro30]

it runs every 20 minutes. It seemed to be pretty dependable and right on time. We used this service 4x to go back and forth to DD and it was really nice. Everybody enjoyed it very much. Very peaceful and relaxing way to get to DD.

 

[Figaro30]

The CM I spoke to was actually a supervisor at OKW. I has asked to speak to a supervisor and he said he was a supervisor. He then asked if I was a member and I said yes. He then proceeded with his spiel about the members voting to decrease the buses.

 

[Figaro30]

Let me add this....

What about the people who are staying there on $$$, not points. I know if I paid 400-500.00 a night on a room only to get really shotty bus service I'd be really annoyed. Since there is no distinction between units paid by cash or points...it would seem that the bus service would have to be included as if it were a regular paying guest resort. All the other resorts, Boardwalk and WL share the same bus stops with the DVC villas.

This seems like this hurts not only the DVC members but also the paying customers at OKW. Whereas at BW and WL the buses are much more frequent and the DVC members don't suffer from this problem. So why only does OKW guests have this problem??

 

[Firefighter Mickey]

If you have the name of the person that you spoke to, then I think a letter to DVC management outlining your conversation would be appropriate.

 

[DebbieB]

What annoys me about the busses at BWV is that we have to share with S/D, YC/BC. By the time the bus gets to BWV it's often standing room only. Then on the way back we have to stop at each of the other resorts first (or get off at Swan and walk). S/D isn't even a Disney hotel and they get the first stop. I understand that BW isn't big enough to get our own bus, but at least we could be the first stop. I've been at BWV since Saturday, only used the bus to go to MVMCP on Sunday night. Waited about 20 minutes and it was standing room only both ways. I took the rental car to AK, DD & MK, boat to Epcot (or walk) and MGM. I'd rather drive than wait for busses and be crammed in.

 

[RobDoc]

So why only does OKW guests have this problem??

While it is upsetting when we have to wait for buses, it is a universal WDW problem. There are countless threads and posts on this board (and the Resorts Board) complaining about bus transportation. As one who always uses the OKW buses (and generally have few complaints at the times we go), I'm aware that there are times when the system is less than efficient.

In the last few weeks there have been many comments about transport to/from WL/VWL (it shares many routes with Poly and GF). We stayed at Contemp last weekend and none of the monorail resorts have a bus to DD until after 4PM- you must travel to TTC and wait for a bus there..and even after 4- your bus first stops at TTC to pick up other riders.

The Contemp shares it's AK and MGM buses with the TTC also- both coming and going. BWV must share buses with S&D, Y&B. It's definitely not a perfect system, but is public transportation- which most of us are unfamiliar with...except at WDW.

As for the OKW owners, there was a survey about 5 years ago asking if we'd want to pay more to add 1 more Epcot and 1 more MGM bus between noon and 6PM. The members at that time indicated that they didn't want that to happen. I read the response as "We don't think 1 more bus will improve the transport" - not that "we don't care about bus transport". During those hours- there are few riders on any bus anyway. More empty buses wouldn't help the whole system.

Unfortunately, some CM's have chosen to describe that survey in just the opposite fashion- that the members didn't want better bus transport. All we were allowed to vote on -in the survey- was whether we wanted to pay for 2 more buses per day.

I always ask the bus drivers for an approximate schedule and usually have no more than a 15 minute wait at any time of the day. We like to think of the buses as just another attraction- and enjoy the ride. At times when the WDW roads are busier and more guests are driving themselves- the bus schedules do get slowed down. As more guests require wheelchair access, the buses get slowed down. Many issues here and no easy solutions. IMHO, more buses won't solve anything.

 

[Figaro30]

Well what we ended up doing at OKW was instead of getting off at our normal bus stop which was the hospitality house we would get off at Peninsular Road. The hospitality house is the last stop when you return back to the resort. A 10 minute ride from EPCOT turns into a 25 minute ride after it loops around the complex. Towards the end of the trip we realized this and decided to get off at Peninsular Road and just walk back - This saved us about 15 minutes. We actually got off there once went into the General store for about 15 minutes bought some stuff, walked back to our unit and we just saw the bus pulling up to the hospitality house bus stop. We couldn't believe how long it took to loop through the resort. This helped a lot.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Figaro30,

Sorry you had problems with the bus service during your trip. We were there 11/27 - 12/5/01 and guess we were just plain lucky.

The bus service actually surprised me. Except for a 15 minute wait coming back from MK one afternoon, we never waited more than 5 minutes for any bus. Most times it was at the stop and we had to boogy to catch the bus. They seemed pretty good about waiting. (unlike NYC buses ) A few times we were the only passengers. There was never more than 10 people on the bus, coming or going.

One day I did notice a few people waiting for an Epcot bus. They had waited quite a while. We were headed elsewhere and our bus arrived at the stop 2 minutes after we did. We left them standing at the stop.

I'm not much of a bus taker. We had a rental car to free us from relying on disney buses. We were in building 11 directly across from Community Hall. (last bus stop) Since the bus stop was right there, we decide to try it out. We could also walk back to our car if the wait became too long. But like I mentioned, we never had the wait more than 5 minutes.

We drove our rental to the parks only once. We went to MGM and then onto The Flying Fish for dinner. It was extremely convenient to drive "across the street" to the Boardwalk from the MGM parking lot. We also drove to Downtown Disney one evening - parking was worse than any bus wait! Circled for 25 minutes before finding a spot - I should be used to this coming from NYC! Guess I didn't expect it on vacation though!

Debated on driving or taking the bus one evening when we had a PS for the California Grill after spending the day at MK. MK closed at 6PM and our PS was for 6:15PM. I was worried about the bus wait and necessary bus transfer at DD. We bused it again and again we lucked out BIG TIME. The bus arrived at the Contempary stop when we exited the building. One of the kids ran ahead (LONG covered walkway) to see which bus it was and signaled to us it was our DD bus. The bus waited for us and we hurried on. When we got to DD, the Old Key West bus was right behind and about to leave the depot when we waved frantically for it to wait. We made it back to our unit in 30-35 minutes!!!

I guess we were EXTREMELY lucky this trip. I honestly expected some wait but was surprised at our good timing every day. Sorry that you were not as fortunate.

OKW seemed pretty deserted most of our trip - plenty of parking around Community Hall. It seemed to pick up a bit the last few days before Walt's birthday. Talked to one of the bus drivers when we were the only riders - they make the drive even with an empty bus. Maybe too many empty buses meant they cut the number of buses which = longer waits.