New Express Transportation: $19/day or $29/week-SERVICE ENDING AUGUST 23RD 2017

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I hope they do hsve a regular time as in on the hour and hakf hour or set times other wise a 30 mon wait I might as well go with the options for free.

Also I wonder if they are accessible I am a wheelchair user. Not that I will probably use it. But just wondering.

 

[JustinD]

I like the Disney transportation that provides an experience, boats and trains and.. there should be more ideas... Buses do not do this.

Even the parking lot tram is part of the experience for me. Every morning, it is part of the building excitement. (what lot are we in? row are we in?) Every evening, it is part of winding down. "Move behind the yellow poles". "Driver, we are clear" beep beep. "Driver, we are clear the turn" beep beep. But those trams are fast and they load and unload fast. Buses are just...transportation. Walt knew this. That is why it was an adventure to get to the Magic Kingdom. Buses are not an adventure.

 

[HopperFan]

Yes, but instead of addressing the problem causing people to opt for Uber and cabs, they choose to set up a secondary pay system. Meanwhile, the issues with the main system remain (slow, crowded buses).

Now I have no idea where all those other folks are going in their hired cars ........ but the only reason I would hire a car is for a resort-to-resort trip, for ADR etc.

I really don't have issues with the buses at all except:

- Park closing. They need to add more Transportation Management to redirect buses from empty stops to full stops to move folks out.

- Values during BTG. Raise their rate and make them ride designated buses brought to their buildings. They travel in pods of 50+, several at a time, they will fill multiple buses leaving guests waiting forever. Once I had MK transportation make them go to an empty stop and wait for their own bus. The folks in the regular line all cheered the decision.

Disney has invested and is investing a lot of money into the transportation system, it just isn't always obvious.
- Articulated buses where they fit to carry more guests.
- All the new travel boards at bus stops - I wish they had this also on the tv in our room.
- Fixing Hotel Plaza Blvd to eliminate the traffic jams that all used to sit in getting to DS.
- DS Bus Depot. I know lots hate location, but I hated the old one, it's size and it's backup of buses able to get in.
- New flyover being built at MK will speed up the process of getting the buses to the park.
- Sounds like the changes at DHS entrances will speed up getting the buses in at park opening and out a closing.

 

[Scalemaster34]

Nothing has been taken away from those not paying for this service. Park to Park buses haven't gone anywhere. The same options you had before this are there after it.
There is really not much they can do to improve buses. They are darn good now. I said before, I think one would be hard pressed to find a municipal bus service run better.

Can't really compare this to the cabana experience either, since that is an add on. This is not. Not as long as they leave park to park buses in place.

Yeah last time we did park-to-park, it wasn't the buses that took so long. It was the walk to where the buses were, the walk from where the buses dropped you off and then the whole security process again. This has the advantage over the Uber and Lyft drivers of no need for security again... plus better pickup and drop off locations. $24 for a week worth of park hopping would be GREAT! $15... not so much.

But then... why not just make this the standard process for Park-to-Park transportation? In the long run there is a "cost" for every guest that goes through bag check and the scanners..... In the long run this would GREATLY improve guest "experience" with Park Hopping.

But the issue is, are these backstage areas capable of handling the park hopping rush that goes on when AK and DHS close early and MK is open late?

 

[denise5374]

The first post goes in to it. You will have kiosks set up to order it.

Thank..I read that post a couple of times and missed it every time

 

[MrInfinity]

I am thinking there are too many AP holders to build this in to the price for all AP to use all the time.
I'll be surprised if there is not a way for AP holders staying on site to get it for length of stay. I could be wrong, no doubt but if one asked, I bet the option is there now. Just wasn't part of the Q&A

I agree. I don't think this is meant to be a main form of transportation, getting you out of regular use of the buses, rather, an occasional hop option. If you're in one park, and you know to hop you have to go outside the park, wait for a bus and then go thru security and the lines again, or you're right by Buzz and you know you can get dropped off at Rockin Rollercoaster and you see there's no wait and a kiosk right there, it just might encourage you to drop $60 to whisk your family of 4 there right away. I see this as more of an impulse item than something they want all AP guests utilizing as their main transportation engine.

 

[JustinD]

Yeah last time we did park-to-park, it wasn't the buses that took so long. It was the walk to where the buses were, the walk from where the buses dropped you off and then the whole security process again. This has the advantage over the Uber and Lyft drivers of no need for security again... plus better pickup and drop off locations. $24 for a week worth of park hopping would be GREAT! $15... not so much.

But then... why not just make this the standard process for Park-to-Park transportation? In the long run there is a "cost" for every guest that goes through bag check and the scanners..... In the long run this would GREATLY improve guest "experience" with Park Hopping.

But the issue is, are these backstage areas capable of handling the park hopping rush that goes on when AK and DHS close early and MK is open late?

In this case "back stage" only has to mean the secure side of the turnstiles. Reconfigure the entrances to provide inside-security bus transfers.

 

[mom2elle]

I am super excited about the potential of this for my family. We are a family of 6, out kids are 9, 13, 18&21. We only get to Disney every 2 years and we go full speed while we are there. Our next trip is Dec 31-Jan 7 so this option could save us a lot of time. And the cost is not so much when compared to the cost of the entire trip! I can't wait to hear reviews!

 

[HopperFan]

I like the Disney transportation that provides an experience, boats and trains and.. there should be more ideas... Buses do not do this.

Even the parking lot tram is part of the experience for me. Every morning, it is part of the building excitement. (what lot are we in? row are we in?) Every evening, it is part of winding down. "Move behind the yellow poles". "Driver, we are clear" beep beep. "Driver, we are clear the turn" beep beep. But those trams are fast and they load and unload fast. Buses are just...transportation. Walt knew this. That is why it was an adventure to get to the Magic Kingdom. Buses are not an adventure.

See this just further proves we all have different perspectives on everything at Disney from Cabanas, to Deluxe vs Value, to buying extra experiences ........... to transportation. HATE HATE HATE the trams. They are SO LOUD, the speakers are SO LOUD, the people getting on/off do not turn on the brains and hold it up in the parking lot. I will do anything to avoid them ......... arrive early to MK and AK needed, but I walk from my car to the parks if I can.

 

[Boski]

Nothing has been taken away from those not paying for this service. Park to Park buses haven't gone anywhere. The same options you had before this are there after it.
There is really not much they can do to improve buses. They are darn good now. I said before, I think one would be hard pressed to find a municipal bus service run better.

Can't really compare this to the cabana experience either, since that is an add on. This is not. Not as long as they leave park to park buses in place.

Maybe I did a poor job expanding on that point. Over the years the Disney experience, IMO, has been going down. This express transportation has nothing to do with the base experience. But the base experience is not what it used to be. What I'm simply saying is Disney should concentrate on that as opposed to coming up with special events or add-ons.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

All I can think of is the show aspect that was built into the entry of the parks.

Whatever. Who cares about show.

 

[Barbara76]

I wish I could picture where all those busstops are... I need a map, lol.

 

[Number Six]

Nothing has been taken away from those not paying for this service. Park to Park buses haven't gone anywhere. The same options you had before this are there after it.
There is really not much they can do to improve buses. They are darn good now. I said before, I think one would be hard pressed to find a municipal bus service run better.

Can't really compare this to the cabana experience either, since that is an add on. This is not. Not as long as they leave park to park buses in place.

They're adding capacity just for this? If not, then something is being taken away: buses normally used for other routes.

 

[AngiTN]

All I can think of is the show aspect that was built into the entry of the parks.

Whatever. Who cares about show.

I'm wondering if they are thinking that as someone hoping from park 1 to park 2 these guests will use the main entrance at other times. So they get their show experience then

 

[patster734]

Interesting. But I'll wait for $1000 helicopter transfers between the parks. Just kidding of course.

 

[AngiTN]

They're adding capacity just for this? If not, then something is being taken away: buses normally used for other routes.

They are using vans, from what I understand. Not buses. Vans are not used for other routes. Though I could well have that wrong.

No matter what, I still do not believe things are being taken away, this is an addition.

 

[miamimi]

Nothing has been taken away from those not paying for this service.

You don't know this for sure, since Disney could easily take transport CM's from other areas to staff this.

 

[Anal Annie]

As AP holders I doubt we would do it very often as they already make good money on us and we usually go back to our resort in-between parks....BUT I could see buying it on a day-by-day basis if we were there at a super busy time of year. For example we're going next summer during the July 4th week. With heavy crowds and possibly trying to make it to an ADR in a different park I could see buying it for just that day. As already pointed out, security lines & unreliable times in park hopping complicates things if you hop for ADR's. I will definitely wait to see what the reviews are on the service tho before shelling out any extra bucks.

It is no skin off my back for those who want to use the service. Being budget conscious tho we would only do it on very rare occasions.

 

[JustinD]

Maybe I did a poor job expanding on that point. Over the years the Disney experience, IMO, has been going down. This express transportation has nothing to do with the base experience. But the base experience is not what it used to be. What I'm simply saying is Disney should concentrate on that as opposed to coming up with special events or add-ons.

I agree with you on this one. I think that this comes from having more "business" type bean counters in charge, rather than artistic types. There has to be a balance between these types of people to make Disney work. But a business guy generally thinks in terms of "how long will it take to make a profit" when spending money. That is how you end up with piecemeal projects, cheap projects, and upcharge projects. It is hard to justify big improvement projects this way until things get really bad and you need them to increase revenue again. HS got pretty bad before the big project.

Then again, that is just my opinion. What do I know? And on that note, I am moving on. Talk of buses makes me negative. I don't want to be in a negative space when I think about DIS.

Happy day for all.

 

[AngiTN]

You don't know this for sure, since Disney could easily take transport CM's from other areas to staff this.

I was wrong and I know better. There are always folks who will find fault with anything Disney does. No matter what it is. I knew better.