Is Disney trying to lower attendance at water parks?

[joelkfla]

CSR is actually under a mile, more like .7 and does have some off and on shade.

This is a Google Earth trace of the walking path from CSR's lobby front door to BB entrance. The pedestrian entrance to BB is thru Winter Summerland. It measures out at 1.1 mi.

 

[JRennie]

Lack of AC???

Ya, there's a whole thread about it on this forum with people complaining about it not being on in restaurants, gift shops and attractions at times. People have reported that cast members told them it was a cost saving measure.

 

[JRennie]

Many people flying in don't rent cars, so no.

Exactly! A disney vacation costs enough and I'm no interested in adding on the cost of a rental car. I'm canadian and with the dollar being bad it adds up very quickly.

 

[maxiesmom]

Ya, there's a whole thread about it on this forum with people complaining about it not being on in restaurants, gift shops and attractions at times. People have reported that cast members told them it was a cost saving measure.

People have been saying that exact thing for years. Including claiming they were told it is a cost saving measure. I think many of them are the same people who turn their air super cold in the resorts so they can use blankets. To me the air is comfortable, I don't want it so cold that it feels like a shock when I go back outside. Or so cold I need a sweater when inside.

 

[Boski]

People have been saying that exact thing for years. Including claiming they were told it is a cost saving measure. I think many of them are the same people who turn their air super cold in the resorts so they can use blankets. To me the air is comfortable, I don't want it so cold that it feels like a shock when I go back outside. Or so cold I need a sweater when inside.

Yep every summer it gets brought up!

 

[aretha30]

I saw the article yesterday. This just confirms the need for us to drive our car to the WP's. We are fortunate enough that we drive down so we have our van, if we didn't though we'd be getting rid of our WP and more passes. What a hassle it would be to go to DS to switch buses every time we plan on going. This year we have 5 day passes with the WP and more and will be down for 11 days so we plan on being in the WP's for at least 4 days. Depending on how this trip goes it may be the first and last time we add the WP to our passes.

 

[McKelly]

I absolutley HATE this idea. We are planning quite a bit of waterpark time next summer. I hope it's scrapped by then! Otherwise I will have to figure out the price difference between a rental car and taking cabs 3-4 times to the waterparks.
At least we can get a ride there...if we go right away in the morning. I am reading that right........buses will go to the waterparks from the resorts before 1pm?

 

[Turn the Page]

Ok I guess I am confused. The last two times we were at TL (so Oct 2015 and May 2013) we had to take the Disney Springs bus from the resort and it would stop at DS on the way then go on to TL. In the afternoon (after 1 PM) in 2013 it left TL and dropped us off at DS where we had to get a resort bus and in 2015 all the buses went to EPCOT and dropped us off there and we had to get a resort bus there. Granted, I haven't been to BB in over a decade so maybe that is the difference but I really do not get what is different about this bus route than it has been the last 4 years.

Am I missing something?

 

[I M Fearless]

I'm of the opinion that they are trying to run the water parks as if they were hotels.

i.e. At 90% capacity while they are open

I feel they are trying to save money by compressing the attendance into a narrower window of time so that the water parks fill quickly to capacity when they open, remain busy all day, close earlier.

From an operational point of view this would save money, however only in the short term.

Long term this is a bad idea, if the quality of the guest experience diminishes it is a very bad move long term.

 

[McKelly]

Ok I guess I am confused. The last two times we were at TL (so Oct 2015 and May 2013) we had to take the Disney Springs bus from the resort and it would stop at DS on the way then go on to TL. In the afternoon (after 1 PM) in 2013 it left TL and dropped us off at DS where we had to get a resort bus and in 2015 all the buses went to EPCOT and dropped us off there and we had to get a resort bus there. Granted, I haven't been to BB in over a decade so maybe that is the difference but I really do not get what is different about this bus route than it has been the last 4 years.

Am I missing something?

Probably not. I thought I recall the Epcot transfer to only be temporary while Disney Springs was being built. But I have gone to the waterparks when it went straight to and from the resort at all times of the day. Much preferred then the transferring...........and waiting.

 

[jkstewart1800]

I am so glad that I found this thread. It looks like in the AM when you are leaving your resort and heading INTO Typhoon Lagoon you take the Disney Springs bus without transfer... but on the way HOME you will have to transfer buses... So, my plan will be to take the bus at arrival and then cab/uber back.

 

[I M Fearless]

It would make sense with Typhoon Lagoon if the buses ran:

Morning:
DTD-Resort-TL-DTD

In the afternoon:
DTD-TL-Resort-DTD

This route could then serve both venues without any change of buses and it would maybe add 5 minutes to a guest's journey if they were travelling to DTD in the morning, or returning from DTD before the water park closed in the afternoon. This could work in guests favour if the buses were more frequent but served both stops.

Blizzard Beach really needs a dedicated bus route as changing at AK makes little sense for guests or Disney.

 

[Klayfish]

We've never stayed on property, so we've always used a car to get to the water parks. When we walk past the bus stops there, they are usually fairly empty, so I presume ridership to the parks is low. This is one of the things we love about having a car with us at WDW, we don't have to wait for anything.

I know this is a matter of opinion, but for me a crowded WDW water park is less fun than a crowded WDW theme park. There is no FP+, you stand out in the hot sun in the queues to wait to get on the water ride and there's just less overall room than in the theme parks. So I won't complain if they try to keep the crowds down.

I'd guess most people who fly in and stay on property don't rent a car, but rental car deals can be had really cheap. We moved to Atlanta two years ago, so we now drive. But before that, I spent the first 40+ years of my life in the Philly area. So we would always fly down. Rental car competition at Orlando airport is fierce, so they'll give cars away. Last time we flew down, in 2012, we got a car for something like $25/day, maybe less. We've also found screaming deals flying into Tampa or other nearby airports and driving in.

 

[Mom of Jack 2009]

Ya, there's a whole thread about it on this forum with people complaining about it not being on in restaurants, gift shops and attractions at times. People have reported that cast members told them it was a cost saving measure.

Not happy to hear about this. I'll be there in August!

 

[DekrRini]

I agree. It always seemed like a giant waste of time. I hated being on the bus that had to detour to the water park, for maybe 1 or 2 guests.

The times I rode the bus and it stopped at BB, there were NO guests either to be dropped off OR picked up. Major waste of time.

 

[luvallprincesses]

I am so glad that I found this thread. It looks like in the AM when you are leaving your resort and heading INTO Typhoon Lagoon you take the Disney Springs bus without transfer... but on the way HOME you will have to transfer buses... So, my plan will be to take the bus at arrival and then cab/uber back.

That's what I'm thinking about doing.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

We've never stayed on property, so we've always used a car to get to the water parks. When we walk past the bus stops there, they are usually fairly empty, so I presume ridership to the parks is low. This is one of the things we love about having a car with us at WDW, we don't have to wait for anything.

I know this is a matter of opinion, but for me a crowded WDW water park is less fun than a crowded WDW theme park. There is no FP+, you stand out in the hot sun in the queues to wait to get on the water ride and there's just less overall room than in the theme parks. So I won't complain if they try to keep the crowds down.

I'd guess most people who fly in and stay on property don't rent a car, but rental car deals can be had really cheap. We moved to Atlanta two years ago, so we now drive. But before that, I spent the first 40+ years of my life in the Philly area. So we would always fly down. Rental car competition at Orlando airport is fierce, so they'll give cars away. Last time we flew down, in 2012, we got a car for something like $25/day, maybe less. We've also found screaming deals flying into Tampa or other nearby airports and driving in.

We will be there end of July and cannot find anything remotely reasonable, as in $39+ a day. We might have different price poitns we consider reasonable I've searched through all the internet search provides such as Orbitz and travelocity and have also checked Costco. We've found the price or Orlando cars to have jumped to outrageous levels the past few years. A few years ago you could get rental cars for $7 a day. $25+ is not really reasonable to me.

 

[JRennie]

Not happy to hear about this. I'll be there in August!

I will be there in August as well and I don't handle heat overly well.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I checked into it but was told the chance of finding one with two car seats would be highly unlikely. I could always call a second car - but that's still kind of a crappy option. So it's either take the new bus route, call two separate ubers (for four total round trip) or just skip the water park.

Guests also have the option of renting a car.

Usually renting from MCO is the lowest $ per day option, but there are (or at least used to be ) a few onsite options. (?Alamo and National? I think?) One is to use the WDW Car Care Center as your rental location. The shuttle picks you up.

Another option to try is the "return to a different location" option: rent from MCO and return at the WDW CCCenter.

I think there are also rental offices at the Dolphin hotel, and at least one of the non-WDW hotels near Disney Springs has a rental office.


Some offsite hotels also have car rental offices.

 

[megster1123]

Guests also have the option of renting a car.

Usually renting from MCO is the lowest $ per day option, but there are (or at least used to be ) a few onsite options. (?Alamo and National? I think?) One is to use the WDW Car Care Center as your rental location. The shuttle picks you up.

Another option to try is the "return to a different location" option: rent from MCO and return at the WDW CCCenter.

I think there are also rental offices at the Dolphin hotel, and at least one of the non-WDW hotels near Disney Springs has a rental office.


Some offsite hotels also have car rental offices.

If I'm renting a car, then I also have to either rent car seats or drag mine from home. Neither option is appealing. It seems like getting to and from a location that we have paid tickets for should simple using the Disney transport. And IMO this change makes it more trouble than it's worth. If I have to resort to renting a vehicle just to get my family to the water park for the day - not worth it and no thanks. I'll just drop the water park.