Just back: bus service experiences

[Belle1962]

For the first trip ever we decided to rely mostly on Disney buses. I am still recovering from surgery and assembling and dis-assembling the ecv just wasn't going to cut it. I was very worried about buses and the ecv after reading many recent posts about too crowded buses, long waits, rude drivers, etc. We stayed at All Star Movies.

We never had a problem with the buses. There was only one time when there was already one ecv on the bus and the driver did not board me--HOWEVER he must have called for another bus because one was there within 5 minutes to pick us up.

Never waited more than 15 minutes for a bus. (I timed it)

I was always the only ecv at the bus stop. (Note: we did mid-day for EPCOT and park opening for MK, AK and Studios). We did two park closings: Studios and MK. At the MK we left after the fireworks--while the line was huge I was the only ecv at our stop. At the the studios we left after Fantasmic--again the line was long but we were the only ecv. I was either very lucky or people are shying away from the buses.

The drivers were always pleasant and helpful. The other guests were not rude (or at least not loud enough for me to hear or staring at me).

During mid-day the bus did stop at all 3 All Stars: First Sports, then Music and Movies was last but during the morning and after park hours there was a bus dedicated to each All Star (Sports, Music and Movies).

Yes--the All Star stops were the furthest stops away at the parks (except at MK & AK--where the stops were in kindof a u or horseshoe shape and they were on the far side but ASMo was the second stop)


My only issue was at MK park closing. the bus was packed---the driver had me sit in the ecv and strapped me in--having people hover above you with their arms lifted up to hold onto the strap--not fun (and kinda smelly ) would avoid that experience in the future.

Overall I give the bus experience two thumbs up--HOWEVER there was some time management adjustments as we are not used to adding wait time for the buses to our travel time.

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for the report.
We had no problems on our last trip (last few days of March 2010 and first 13 days of May).
We stayed at OKW. Several times there were ECVs or other wheelchairs. With a small wheelchair, it's pretty easy for us to get on the bus, but there was one time where a larger size ECV was already loaded in the spot directly across from the back door. We did have to wait for the next bus because there would not have been enough room for us to get by and have DD's wheelchair loaded into the spot in front of that.

We avoid the times when the bus would be full, by waiting to leave after park closing until the crowds thin. Doing that, many times, we were not only the first wheelchair waiting at the bus stop, but actually the first guests waiting. That does help avoid comments from other guests.
Since DD can't get out of her wheelchair and sit on a bus seat, she has no choice but to sit, with people hovering over her, if the bus is standing room only. DH and I usually sit when we get on the bus, but if it looks like anyone would be standing close to DD's wheelchair, we get up and stand there instead (we usually wait to offer our seats to someone who looks like they need it).

Anyway, glad to hear your experience was good.

 

[Karalynn]

So great to hear this! We are planning a trip, either Oct, Dec, or Feb.... that's another post! My dd10 is in a wheelchair full time now so I've been wondering if we should bite the bullet and stay at a monorail resort, rent a car or just go with the flow and come what may with the buses. When we went in 2006 she was small enough to use a stroller as a wheelchair so we just carried her on the bus. I've also been reading those negative posts, it's got me worried!