Just back - Opinions and Observations

[NavyDad]

Pan was a toss-up, but Jungle Cruise, Pooh, Pirates, Haunted Mansion - No problems. Again, biggest issue is really the waiting line at the kiosks. Why they don't allow you to book 4th and beyond on app is beyond me.

I have always been a fan of virtual queueing....

I can't believe they have not moved over to the App for 4th FP yet....

.....makes no sense that I can think of.....

 

[NavyDad]

Disney bus service is all too often disrespectful to Guests.

It is simply unconscionable to make Guests wait far more than the expected 20 minutes for a bus. EVER.

Any one Bus route is limited to so few Resorts that it defies logic when a bus does not appear after 20 minutes. Sure, there can be bottle necks at the Parks and/or Downtown Disney, but this should encourage a knowing Dispatcher to…..dispatch buses to a Resort when there is a bottleneck at the Parks/DTD.

Adding insult to injury, when a bus for a different Park pulls into a Resort and sees countless people waiting for a particular Park or two, it again defies logic that these bus drivers do not notify their Dispatchers. Matter of fact, after experiencing one of these moments myself, one bus driver had the audacity to say they could not communicate with a Dispatcher to deliver such a message.

Moreover, when there is such a long line at any one Resort, that same bus driver could notify the Dispatcher so that an additional bus can be sent. Why? Because we have all seen a few families left behind when the bus finally arrives and reaches capacity before every family can get aboard a bus.

Disney effectively requires Guests from their hotels to use buses to/from the Parks & DTD (or we could use cars and clog the parking lots). So I'll say it again, it is unconscionable that there are so many issues with Guests experiencing bus schedules that fail to meet the 20 minute expectation that Disney promises - this is most outrageous during the morning hours when guests are anxious to ride rides and spend money.

I'll be blunt, when I have a bad start to my day (like waiting 45 minutes or more for a bus), I am far less likely to spend extra money in the Parks. From a cost/benefit analysis, Disney should want to get each and every Guest to the Parks as soon as possible. Putting more buses in-route to pick-up Guests in the morning is in the best interest of Disney.

Having Guests wait more than the promised 20 minutes is unconscionable and is a money loser for Disney. Disney should do everything it possibly can to make certain this never happens. EVER.

And please, nobody should suggest that this is an uncommon occurrence. Far too many people have at least one bad bus experience per trip to Disney. Even assuming that every family stays for 10-days, this means at least a 10% failure rate for delivering buses at the 20-minute intervals promised by Disney. This simply shows that Disney transportation is disrespectful to Guests.

Just imagine if any other portion of your trip had a 10% (or worse) failure rate. Imagine if your favorite attraction was broken or closed for maintenance 10% of the time, or a restaurant had you wait for your ADR for more than 45 minutes 10% of the time, or your Magic Band failed to work 10% of the time, or Cast Members were rude 10% of the time….Disney would do something about it.

So I wonder why Disney does so little to improve the constant failure of their transportation system, particularly when there is money riding on any improvements.

Listen - I hear you on the bus system. I have a LOVE/HATE relationship with the Disney transportation. I love it most of the time but on the rare occasions when it gets snagged up I really, really, REALLY hate it. I'm willing to bet many of us are the same way....

Now, I will say that out of all my trips to various resorts from value to deluxe the transportation system worked on about a 99% success rate. The problem is that we as humans are influenced by emotion. Even if we something works great for us most of the time, that one time it does not and it really ruins your plans you are going to be much more likely to have a strong memory of it.

 

[NavyDad]

Being that I'm from NYC, I find the comment to be quite curious.

Of all the places I've traveled, some of the friendliest and most helpful locals are from the Northeast.

For instance, any Tourist standing on a corner with a map in Manhattan will be offered advice from many NY'ers who will gladly offer assistance without even being asked. Try the experiment in Paris.

As to the idea of being pushy - this is only really possible at Disney while waiting for the Parades and/or Fireworks. And frankly, I could anecdotally mention that foreigners (non-Americans) are less polite than Americans by virtue of pushing to the front of the crowds that have lined-up long before these folks arrive, but I have also found foreigners to be far more polite when it comes to not putting feet on public seats, or cleaning after themselves at Qwik Service places, and a host of other examples.

So really, if we arrive at a place with certain prejudices, we will always find examples that reinforce our prejudices. But if we have an open heart, then we will likely find people from other places are far more like us than different.

It's all about the perceptions of people who behave differently than you are used to....

I am in the military and deal with all kinds of people on a daily basis (for 16 years). You have good and bad people from everywhere but it is very easy to be put off by people who behave differently than you are used to.

I am from rural PA not far from Hershey Park. When I was a kid the daily crowd was mostly locals. As I got older, and Hershey started expanding they really pushed to advertise in larger markets (NYC & DC) to bring in guests from a larger area and with more disposable income. There is a big difference in what is acceptable behavior to people who live in Amish country and people who live in one of the biggest cities in the world. Those differences are VERY easy to pick out...

I have a good friend of mine who I worked with for 5 years. She was from Jersey but lived right accross the river from NYC and spent a lot of time there. In the office she was super polite and very good at her job and very good with people.

One day (after working with her for a few years) I rode in a car with her for the first time. Honestly, I thought she was having a stroke or was on drugs due to her behavior behind the wheel. She would constantly ride within 6 inches of another cars bumper, changed lanes every 15-30 seconds, used her horn like it was a deadly weapon. I had never heard her use profanity before that day, listened as she screamed out the window at nearly every driver that we encountered that would make me blush to type even if I could use those types of words. At the end of the ride I just stared and her in shock and told her I couldn't believe the way she drove. She just replied that in NY you have to drive that way to survive.....

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

I have a good friend of mine who I worked with for 5 years. She was from Jersey but lived right accross the river from NYC and spent a lot of time there. In the office she was super polite and very good at her job and very good with people.

One day (after working with her for a few years) I rode in a car with her for the first time. Honestly, I thought she was having a stroke or was on drugs due to her behavior behind the wheel. She would constantly ride within 6 inches of another cars bumper, changed lanes every 15-30 seconds, used her horn like it was a deadly weapon. I had never heard her use profanity before that day, listened as she screamed out the window at nearly every driver that we encountered that would make me blush to type even if I could use those types of words. At the end of the ride I just stared and her in shock and told her I couldn't believe the way she drove. She just replied that in NY you have to drive that way to survive.....

I love my fellow Jerseyans.


Oh and we only drive that way because the freaking PA drivers NEVER MOVE OUT OF THE LEFT LANE!

 

[clsteve]

Oh and we only drive that way because the freaking PA drivers NEVER MOVE OUT OF THE LEFT LANE!

They're just getting in the correct lane for all those *%?#!! traffic circles ya'll seemed enamored with. The ones that "drive" we'uns, rather slower on the uptake, Southerners straight back to sippin' from the still.....

SOA -Solid, objective feedback, btw. Thanks!

 

[Mad Hattered]

They're just getting in the correct lane for all those *%?#!! traffic circles ya'll seemed enamored with. The ones that "drive" we'uns, rather slower on the uptake, Southerners straight back to sippin' from the still.....

I got in one of the those roundabout thingies in Boston back in March and I'm still trying to get out of it!

 

[ArwenMarie]

It's all about the perceptions of people who behave differently than you are used to.... I am in the military and deal with all kinds of people on a daily basis (for 16 years). You have good and bad people from everywhere but it is very easy to be put off by people who behave differently than you are used to. I am from rural PA not far from Hershey Park. When I was a kid the daily crowd was mostly locals. As I got older, and Hershey started expanding they really pushed to advertise in larger markets (NYC & DC) to bring in guests from a larger area and with more disposable income. There is a big difference in what is acceptable behavior to people who live in Amish country and people who live in one of the biggest cities in the world. Those differences are VERY easy to pick out... I have a good friend of mine who I worked with for 5 years. She was from Jersey but lived right accross the river from NYC and spent a lot of time there. In the office she was super polite and very good at her job and very good with people. One day (after working with her for a few years) I rode in a car with her for the first time. Honestly, I thought she was having a stroke or was on drugs due to her behavior behind the wheel. She would constantly ride within 6 inches of another cars bumper, changed lanes every 15-30 seconds, used her horn like it was a deadly weapon. I had never heard her use profanity before that day, listened as she screamed out the window at nearly every driver that we encountered that would make me blush to type even if I could use those types of words. At the end of the ride I just stared and her in shock and told her I couldn't believe the way she drove. She just replied that in NY you have to drive that way to survive.....

Lol

I do think you have to drive uh assertively or you will keep getting cut off, but sounds like she was at the extreme end of rudeness there!

 

[Bilierka]

OK, so I was very much against FP+ from the onset. Here is my opinion of both after 10 days in the world.

MB's we had a bunch of issues with the first 2 days. Nobody's tickets were tied to the bands. After the 2nd day, that was resolved, except for the occasional blue light getting into the park, but that happened before MB's as well, so no surprise. No real advantage over the cards, other than everybody has to wear their own. I think it's kind of silly to expect a young child to want to wear one for an extended period of time, but it is what it is.

FP+ - I'll break it down simply. In theory, idea is OK, but the number needs to increase (especially in Magic Kingdom), and tiering needs to go away. We never had problems with our FP+ not working. The MDE app at times was fast and fantastic, and at other times was slow and inaccurate. It would allow us to change a FP, then we'd go check and it wouldn't show up. That was annoying. Biggest problem of all - The kiosks. We never waited less than 10 minutes to get access to one to make 4th selection and so on. If they moved this over to the app (and got the app working the way it should), then it would be great. But what is the point of standing in line to get something that is supposed to let you avoid standing in line?

I found that the best way to make use of FP+ was to pick out the most popular selections first thing in the morning, then choose rides like Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Pooh, Jungle Cruise, Pirates for later in the day. The FP return time never seemed to be more than 30 minutes later for those. Problem is, rides that never had lines before (It's A Small World, Pirates, Imagination, Carousel, Teacups) all have lines now. And rides that had shorter waits of around 20-30 minutes, now have waits of 40-60 minutes.

So, there are definitely bugs to work out. Most CM's seemed happy to help. We ran into some fantastic ones, and we ran into some miserable ones.

Bottom line - It's not nearly as bad as I feared, and there is great potential for the system, but there's much work to do.

Parks - Magic Kingdom and Epcot had it's typical share of walls up. Lots of cracks in pavement at MK, but other than that, the park looked good.

Downtown Disney - Avoid at all costs. Only having the 1 bus stop has created a disaster area at the Marketplace bus stop. It's not worth the trip.

Tour Groups were everywhere, but were pretty well behaved. Seems like some rules have been put in place for them. Universal was a different story. They were obnoxious, rude and disrespectful there. Thumbs up to Disney for whatever they have done to improve this problem.

Transportation - We stayed at the Boardwalk and it was awful. We waited 30, 40, even 60 minutes for a bus. Most times it was standing because they picked up at Yacht and Beach first. Loved the resort but will never stay there again because of the bus issues.

I'll post a separate report on food in the restaurant section.

.....
,,,,',yikes you pay a a fortune to stay at the boardwalk and the bus service stinks"""' I stayed at POP and the bus service was awesome""""""

 

[mom2rtk]

.....
,,,,',yikes you pay a a fortune to stay at the boardwalk and the bus service stinks"""' I stayed at POP and the bus service was awesome""""""

We stay at Pop FOR the bus service. I won't stay anywhere with shared bus service or multiple internal stops. I've lost count how many times we've stayed at Pop. And we've been very happy with the bus service every time. It took me a while to realize what everyone was always complaining about the buses for!

 

[VbChristy]

..... ,,,,',yikes you pay a a fortune to stay at the boardwalk and the bus service stinks"""' I stayed at POP and the bus service was awesome""""""

I've always been irritated with this. The moderates have better busses than the deluxe resorts. That is ridiculous and unacceptable. I agree with he bus system sentiments by JZCool or whatever his name was

 

[Planogirl]

I've always been irritated with this. The moderates have better busses than the deluxe resorts. That is ridiculous and unacceptable. I agree with he bus system sentiments by JZCool or whatever his name was

That might depend on the moderate. The service is spotty at best from Port Orleans.

 

[asmit4]

We LOVE the bus service at the all stars. We hop on any AS bus and have never had any trouble. OTOH- AKL buses were TERRIBLE. I think it might have to do with the # of people they service. Mods and values service thousands every day- I think most deluxes are smaller so the # of buses set up to serve them just isn't enough.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Most times we shared with Swan and Dolphin, but from DTD, all 5 shared 1 bus. It was ridiculous.

That was our experience may 2013 too. We stayed BC, but all 5 resorts shared DTD busses.

 

[alicat8]

Taking a cab to and from DTD is well worth the money.

Thanks

 

[disneymagicgirl]

It's all about the perceptions of people who behave differently than you are used to....

I am in the military and deal with all kinds of people on a daily basis (for 16 years). You have good and bad people from everywhere but it is very easy to be put off by people who behave differently than you are used to.

I am from rural PA not far from Hershey Park. When I was a kid the daily crowd was mostly locals. As I got older, and Hershey started expanding they really pushed to advertise in larger markets (NYC & DC) to bring in guests from a larger area and with more disposable income. There is a big difference in what is acceptable behavior to people who live in Amish country and people who live in one of the biggest cities in the world. Those differences are VERY easy to pick out...

I have a good friend of mine who I worked with for 5 years. She was from Jersey but lived right accross the river from NYC and spent a lot of time there. In the office she was super polite and very good at her job and very good with people.

One day (after working with her for a few years) I rode in a car with her for the first time. Honestly, I thought she was having a stroke or was on drugs due to her behavior behind the wheel. She would constantly ride within 6 inches of another cars bumper, changed lanes every 15-30 seconds, used her horn like it was a deadly weapon. I had never heard her use profanity before that day, listened as she screamed out the window at nearly every driver that we encountered that would make me blush to type even if I could use those types of words. At the end of the ride I just stared and her in shock and told her I couldn't believe the way she drove. She just replied that in NY you have to drive that way to survive.....

I just woke my husband up next to me in bed b/c I was laughing so hard at that story.

 

[tkgdisney]

One reason the groups are better us the need for each to have a magic band or card for FP. In the past they ran from park to park to let in groups using the same tickets. One ticket let in one person per park. They got FP in advance, tours made money. Now that is stopped. Universal may have to change to stop the same issue. Fewer groups at wdw, more at universal. Works for me!

 

[dzaharchuk]

We stayed at the Riverside two years ago in October, which should have been a somewhat lighter time, the bus service was TERRIBLE. Every bus that arrived at our stop was already full, and that was after waiting up to 45 minutes for buses, often. Never. Again.

It was a beautiful resort, what a shame.

 

[dzaharchuk]

As a pp said, at the very least, Disney should think about all the time wasted that we would have been in the parks, spending money!

 

[sonofanarchy]

As a pp said, at the very least, Disney should think about all the time wasted that we would have been in the parks, spending money!

What they should think about is the money not being spent at DTD. I can't imagine going there once and wanting to go back with the current condition it's in, and unless you take a taxi.

 

[Maggie Lizer]

SoA, thank you for the report! I also wish they would do away with the tiers, but I doubt they will - I am surprised they haven't made 2 tiers at MK to separate Anna/Elsa & Mine Train, and maybe FoF Parade, from the rest. But they really need to fix the MDE app so you can add the 4th/5th/6th/etc. FP+ from your tablet or phone rather than waiting at some kiosk. Seems stupid to wait on a kiosk line for 20 or 30 minutes to "avoid" a 30 minute ride line, but maybe that is just me.

And I agree about the buses sucking big time. We stayed at POR a couple of months ago, and the buses were always crowded. I am glad we were the first stop, because several mornings we left the entire crowd at the last stop and who knows how long it took for them to get a bus to the parks.