Just back -weird Disney bus experience

[goofyernmost]

I can't imagine why the bus driver got lost. I would have assumed those people were very well trained!

Anyways.. at least it wasn't like what happened to me and my mom.. we were in NYC on vacation and got on the wrong subway and ended up in one of the worst neighborhoods in Brooklyn!

OK, time to pull out of fantasy mode and into reality. Bus drivers are human. Just like yourself, they can make mistakes no matter how well trained they are. I have known drivers that have been doing the same job for 28 years and still manage to miss a turn in the route and have to backtrack to get on route.

Why? Because someone insisted that the driver be talkative and answer questions while he or she is driving down the road. Questions like, why is the bus late (while lined up in bumper to bumper traffic) or Why doesn't Disney provide a bus to Universal Studios or any number of brain numbing questions. Disney drivers, on top of that, are expected to "play games", start sing alongs, tell funny stories and remember everyones name just so their experience can be magical.

I don't know why the young lady in question reacted quite so dramatically but I suspect, based on my experience, that the real reaction was much more subdued than reported. We all tend to embellish a little when relaying a problem situation. Common sense must be used in any situation. A bus full of people should not have created a feeling like anyone was going to get killed and like mentioned by another poster, me thinks that one has been watching to many movies. The idea that a person can hijack a bus load of people when almost everyone has a cell phone is not even remotely logical. Are you also aware that buses, like the ones in WDW, are geared for slow speeds. They couldn't get above 55 miles per hour downhill (there are no downhills in Florida) with a tail wind. The bottom line is that placed in reality the movie "Speed" would have last about 45 seconds because it never could have maintained 50 miles per hour under those circumstances before it was blown up. Not the cleverest choice of escape vehicle. Yes, the world is different but some things remain constant. This constant is that 50 people is way more than 1.

 

[jima53]

Maybe he had found some interesting florida plant life to smoke that made him forget. The buses are an excellent way for workers to interact with the passengers and have a good working experience,,, you just have to want to do the job and realize its a job that puts you in the customers eye all the time you are working.

Jim

 

[blondeheroine]

I think the post that sticks out in my mind is the bus driver who ran over the guard rail and almost off into the ditch. Now THAT would have truly scared me.

The OP's dilemma would have annoyed me. No doubt, but I can understand if the driver was new.

We always laugh about the buses. We make bets as soon as we get on about how the driver will try to sling us to the other side of the bus while making a turn. We had one driver one night going to the AK Lodge that I was certain was attempting to flatten us into the windshield.

And we were in the back!

 

[goofy4tink]

Yikes!!! Seems to be a fair amount of 'judgemental' posting going on here. To the OP...Kim, I'm sorry your kids were upset. I can easily see how they would be. With life the way it is today, I would have been distressed if I had been in the same situation.
For those of you who think the whole thing has been 'dramatized', and why would a 19 y/o be 'scared'...please....it is entirely within the realm of possibility, with the current political climate, that some demented person, or persons, could hijack a Disney bus. I don't care how many people have cell phones...guns will always beat out a cell phone. So.....would it have been likely? No, probably not. But, I can see how people could get it into their heads.
And I'm sorry, but if a driver is going to be entrusted to move people around WDW, then they should be pretty comfortable with the property. I have talked to drivers and it would seem that they have a pretty rigorous training schedule. I decided I couldn't do it. So, I'm thinking that possibly Disney did sub-contract out some of the driving. We have all heard that Disney can't get enough 'good' drivers lately. And with the extra crowds, and people constantly complaining about the poor bus service in WDW, well, I guess they tried to remedy the situation.
So.....it may be time to stop critizing the OP. Could she have 'embellished' the story, or possibly her kids stretched the reality? I guess so. But, I think that sometimes we tend to go overboard when we hear something negative about Disney and try to make the person who has the complaint seem to be off the wall or to be expecting too much. No one is perfect...not Disney, not our posters, not our moderators..no one.

 

[Smileybug]

Yikes!!! Seems to be a fair amount of 'judgemental' posting going on here. To the OP...Kim, I'm sorry your kids were upset. I can easily see how they would be. With life the way it is today, I would have been distressed if I had been in the same situation.
For those of you who think the whole thing has been 'dramatized', and why would a 19 y/o be 'scared'...please....it is entirely within the realm of possibility, with the current political climate, that some demented person, or persons, could hijack a Disney bus. I don't care how many people have cell phones...guns will always beat out a cell phone. So.....would it have been likely? No, probably not. But, I can see how people could get it into their heads.
And I'm sorry, but if a driver is going to be entrusted to move people around WDW, then they should be pretty comfortable with the property. I have talked to drivers and it would seem that they have a pretty rigorous training schedule. I decided I couldn't do it. So, I'm thinking that possibly Disney did sub-contract out some of the driving. We have all heard that Disney can't get enough 'good' drivers lately. And with the extra crowds, and people constantly complaining about the poor bus service in WDW, well, I guess they tried to remedy the situation.
So.....it may be time to stop critizing the OP. Could she have 'embellished' the story, or possibly her kids stretched the reality? I guess so. But, I think that sometimes we tend to go overboard when we hear something negative about Disney and try to make the person who has the complaint seem to be off the wall or to be expecting too much. No one is perfect...not Disney, not our posters, not our moderators..no one.

AMEN!!

 

[cleo]

How did a comment of compassion for a girl's fear turn into 'an attack' on her mother, her psyche and her sanity? I made a comment that was about a 2 on the 'worried scale' and people took it to the level of a 20! Relax, folks. No one (including the Moderator) thinks the girl is insane and her mother is a bad parent. I even went so far as to say I was sure the parents were addressing the situation and that it was understandable the girl could be scared, given todays news events.

But the OP did say the daughter thought she was going to be killed. I stand by my statement that it's a bit more fear than the situation would warrant. I made no comment on whether or not the girl had the reason or the right to feel that way, I just think (and have said) if it were my daughter I'd be putting my focus there rather than trying to get some poor fool fired, or whatever it is the OP wants done.