Is it just me or has Disney cut back on # of buses running?

[BC]

We have been to Disney lots of times and have occasionally had to wait over 20 mins for a bus, but not often. As far as bus service on our trip last week, it was awful! No matter if we were at a resort or a park, we never walked right onto a bus. First part of our stay was at Coronado Springs and as we had never stayed there, we thought it was just that resort. My daughter commented she would be glad when we got to the Boardwalk, but unfortunately it was worse!! One morning we waited about 40 mins. I wonder if Disney has cut back on the bus service since attendance is down with the economy like it is?

 

[DebbieB]

Boardwalk's bus service has always been bad, I always rent a car. Made the mistake of taking a bus to MNSSHP last October, took well over an hour with the wait, stops and actual drive time. The boat service to Epcot & DHS is good.

 

[zulemara]

no, they have not cut back on buses. This is a common misconception. They run nearly 300 buses everyday and I recently asked a bus driver if they cut back. he said they have actually increased the number running since the economy went south. If the bus service was not good, that's a combination of software/coordinators/unplanned events causing a problem.

personally, I never suggest, nor do I trust the buses. Watercraft and monorail only for me whenever possible. We shuttle..point a, point b, maybe point c or D depending on the route, back to point a. No deviation, simple transit. Buses are much more complicated in how they do things.

 

[aubriee]

It may have also just been what times you were arriving at the bus stop. I was at CSR Sept 26th-Oct 4th and had the best bus service I've ever had at any WDW resort. I never waited more than about 5 minutes for a bus and for some reason usually arrived just as a bus was pulling up. I never even came close to standing even a single time. Every bus had empty seats. Of course, I usually arrive for rope drop and leave before park closing, so that may have had something to do with it.

 

[francie57]

We used the BW buses in Aug. and never had a problem. We never waited more than 5 min. at the hotel and when leaving parks there was always one waiting. We drive to AK so can't offer any comment on that bus service but to the MK and back it was fine.

 

[wezee]

We were in WDW 10/2 to 10/11 and had great bus service at POFQ.We only had one bus go to Riverside the whole trip. We waited maybe 10min. at the most.
We did take the boat from MK to GF one afternoon and it was a long wait, plus the boat was so hot and muggy. No windows open or air cond. on a 95 degree day, made for very sweaty passengers.....so we passed on the boat ride and took the monorail for our second visit to GF.

Edit: Actually the super hot and muggy boat was the one that runs between DHS and the Swan/Dolphin and on to the Epcot resorts. We did take the monrail to GF the next night because I told DH I wouldn't chance getting on another sweltering boat.

 

[cranbiz]

personally, I never suggest, nor do I trust the buses.

Little harsh, don't you think?

Sorry, watercraft is not perfect either as the previous poster indicated. The friendship boats are a good example of some of watercraft's flaws.

How many times do the boats go down in inclement weather? Who is there to pick up the slack?

Don't get me wrong, I love a nice boat ride and use the ferry to get to MK when driving there but like all WDW transportation, it's one of many options. All have good points and bad points.

 

[Brian Noble]

I so love watching Cast Members in different branches of Transportation fight with one another.

They might not have cut back, but I had some bad luck on my trip this past February. There were two different days when we were heading to MK from OKW in the late afternoon, and both times we waited >35 minutes for a bus to arrive. Total transit time was more than one hour each time. On the other hand, these were the only waits I considered excessive.

 

[cranbiz]

I so love watching Cast Members in different branches of Transportation fight with one another.

They might not have cut back, but I had some bad luck on my trip this past February. There were two different days when we were heading to MK from OKW in the late afternoon, and both times we waited >35 minutes for a bus to arrive. Total transit time was more than one hour each time. On the other hand, these were the only waits I considered excessive.

Oh, I would not call it a fight, just a family squabble.

This just goes to show what happens when you let a computer schedule things and throw common sense out the window. New coordinators go strictly by the computer and old coordinators actually look out the window once in a while.

 

[gortman65]

New coordinators go strictly by the computer and old coordinators actually look out the window once in a while.

Here's hoping the new coordinators eventually learn to look out the window too!

 

[BC]

Just curious, we used Bus Stop 4 and luckily we did. When the bus finally did come at least it was empty. If we had walked over to Bus Stop 1, we would have had to stand every time.

 

[zulemara]

Little harsh, don't you think?

Sorry, watercraft is not perfect either as the previous poster indicated. The friendship boats are a good example of some of watercraft's flaws.

How many times do the boats go down in inclement weather? Who is there to pick up the slack?

Don't get me wrong, I love a nice boat ride and use the ferry to get to MK when driving there but like all WDW transportation, it's one of many options. All have good points and bad points.

yes, we have our faults IE lightshow, ferries in the water bridge, or whatever else comes our way. However, we shuttle back and forth between two and maybe 3 points(talking MK here). Because of this, one boat is never very far behind another.

As for inclement weather, the Ferrboats are the only ones at MK to go down on any kind of consistent basis and they don't take long to go back into operation. Once in a while upper management decides to actually care about the operation and will shut us down when we shouldn't be, but aside from that, we don't go down much at MK. Now monorails on the other hand....they owe buses AND watercraft quite a bit

The point you bring up about coordinators and computers is exactly the reason for the varied experiences. I have asked drivers about this before and they told me the same thing.

For future reference to the poster about the GF route, the 2 boats on the MK-->GF-->Poly route are 39 passenger open modified sailboats. No AC but usually a good breeze. I never load to capacity because it's not comfortable. There's another rule I should add...."don't tell me you can squeeze on the boat because the people around you disagree"

 

[aubriee]

Just curious, we used Bus Stop 4 and luckily we did. When the bus finally did come at least it was empty. If we had walked over to Bus Stop 1, we would have had to stand every time.

I was in building 8A, so used Bus Stop 4 also. Again though, I usually caught buses early in the mornings and left the parks before closing. It may have just been my timing, but it seemed that usually a bus was arriving almost as soon as I walked up every day. I thought CSR had the best bus service of any WDW resort I've ever stayed at (and I go to WDW several times a year). I also liked how the CSR bus stops were all so close to the park entrances. I booked CBR for the Bounce Back next year, so am going to miss that.

 

[goofy4tink]

It's really the luck of the draw. I've had decent bus service at BW as well as less than wonderful service there. If you arrive at the bus stop about 10am, just as the bus to MK is pulling away, you are going to have a longish wait for the next one...could well be over 20 mins. The vast majority of guests head to the parks for rope drop, or close to that. The buses tend to come a bit less often an hour or so after park opening.
But, generally speaking, the buses do a very good job of getting us from point A to point B. Let's not forget that it is mass transit..it is not a personal shuttle service.

 

[Brian Noble]

Exactly.

I really am to the point where I'm willing to drive just about everywhere, including MK. That trip might average an extra 5-10 minutes by car than by bus, but I *know* how long it will take, rather than wondering if it will be 25 minutes or 65 minutes. Some people don't mind that uncertainty, but it really does drive me crazy.

About the only time I'll let Disney do the driving is if I'm planning to have a second BEvERage with dinner.

 

[dburg30]

I love reading the threads here . One of the great things about WDW is there are so many ways to get around. I've used busses / boats 95% of the time and taxis the others. I know that I could possibly be 'wasting' less time if I drove myself, but my wife and I have decided that neither of us wants to drive, we are prefectly happy just letting the busses take us whenever they happen to show up (which is usually less then 20 minutes). Oct 2010 will be the first time we'll have access to a car, since part of my family will drive down. So we may see what it's like to use a car, and perhaps will start renting while we are there. Who knows

 

[Waseller77]

We recently had pretty bad bus service to and from SSR. On Sun., Sept 27, we waited for almost 1 hour from the bus from MK to SSR at about 2pm. We saw 4 AKL busses before we got on our SSR bus. On Sept. 28, we also waited for about 45 minutes for a bus from AK to SSR at about 11am. It seems with such inconsistent service, there has to be a better way!

 

[Minnie&Nana]

It's really the luck of the draw. I've had decent bus service at BW as well as less than wonderful service there. If you arrive at the bus stop about 10am, just as the bus to MK is pulling away, you are going to have a longish wait for the next one...could well be over 20 mins. The vast majority of guests head to the parks for rope drop, or close to that. The buses tend to come a bit less often an hour or so after park opening.
But, generally speaking, the buses do a very good job of getting us from point A to point B. Let's not forget that it is mass transit..it is not a personal shuttle service.

We've always enjoyed the buses - for us it's park of being immersed in the magic. Sure we've had some waits at times, but for 25 yrs we've had mostly very good bus service. We've stayed at most all deluxe resorts except WL, moderates except CSR and POP. In our experience the longest waits at any resort have been for DTD buses - with the exception of POP...those buses have been excellent (longest of all was at GF).