Park Bus Stop Unfairness....

[marivaid]

The cost for guests not staying on site to purchase express passes vary greatly throughout the year. In February, for instance, the cost is $15.

And the current rate for, say, Royal Pacific with any discount (FL resident, AP holder, AAA, military) is $129 per weekday night, $149 per weekend night. Hard Rock is $149 per weekday night, $169 per weekend night.

I looked it up yesterday for September 2007 and the rack rate for Hard Rock was $264. My sister is dying to go,she'd have to gag and drag me there. I told her I can put a trash can on fire all by myself,call it Twister, and she wouldnt have to wait 40mns to see it.

 

[robinb]

I have to say that the bus service from the Boardwalk resorts really, really sucks. Sometimes the buses are shared by all of the resorts: the Swan, the Dolphin, the Yacht Club, the Beach Club and finally the Boardwalk. We stay at the Boardwalk and often it is quicker to get off at the Swan and walk across the bridge than to sit on the bus and wait for our stop.

Yet, the buses are usually pretty empty. So, more buses or fewer shared buses doesn't really make a lot of sense from a monetary standpoint. Why spend more money on gas and a driver when there is low demand. I wonder sometimes if this is a "chicken and the egg" scenario. Do they have fewer buses because of low demand or do they have low demand because they have fewer buses? Hmmm ....

 

[PlutoLuvr]

I looked it up yesterday for September 2007 and the rack rate for Hard Rock was $264. My sister is dying to go,she'd have to gag and drag me there. I told her I can put a trash can on fire all by myself,call it Twister, and she wouldnt have to wait 40mns to see it.

September is the deadest time of year to go to Orlando. If she's interested, don't look online. Call the resorts when it gets a little closer to September of next year, and she'll get a very low rate.

FWIW, I have to do the same thing when I book Disney rooms, call and find out what discounts are going on. The rack rates listed on WDW's website are high, too.

Until this year, since 2000, I've spent my anniversary at HRH on September 19th and never paid more than 169 per night.

 

[minnie61650]

Why would I want to look for these cameras at the DTD bus station when my family & don't take the Disney Transport buses there? Also you said it yourself that the Contemporary & other Deluxe Resorts don't have these camera's, so if they are no good to my family & me why should we see where they are?

I thought you might be interested because you expressed that you and dad mentioned to cast members you felt the bus service for the CR was poor when you went to DTD:

This might get me flamed by others who flamed the OP, but I am not going to be afraid to say it. I think WDW should upgrade the bus service for each Deluxe Resort. After all these guests pay the most $ per night to stay at these WDW Resorts, so why should Transportation not be any different. I can't tell you how many times my family & I have waited for a Contemporary bus at Downtown Disney & saw so many All Star Resort, Pop Century, Caribbean Beach & Port Orleans buses, before the next Contemporary bus. Because of that whenever we go to Downtown Disney we take my Dad's car which saves a lot of time & this is something we have mentioned to Cast Members that this part of the bus system needs to be fixed. So I think it's fair that guests at Deluxe Resorts should get the same great bus service that guests who stay at Value & Moderate Resorts. Afterall I have read so many posts saying how great bus service at Pop Century or Coronado Springs is, so why should Deluxe Resorts not be any different?

So if you want to examine the Value, Moderate & Deluxe Resort battle, guests at the Value & Moderate Resorts should stop & think how great their bus service is, before attacking guests who stay at Deluxe Resorts who complain about bus service just because we may get much bettter services & etc. In fact part of me thinks a bunch of people who flamed the OP have stayed at Value or Moderate Resorts & thought the OP was being a snob for posting this thread.

Maybe Disney has taken your concerns and is trying to address them by puting cameras at DTD so that the guests staying at the Deluxe Resorts will get the same great bus service that guests who stay at Value & Moderate Resorts do.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I thought you might be interested because you expressed that you and dad mentioned to cast members you felt the bus service for the CR was poor when you went to DTD:



Maybe Disney has taken your concerns and is trying to address them by puting cameras at DTD so that the guests staying at the Deluxe Resorts will get the same great bus service that guests who stay at Value & Moderate Resorts do.

True but since drive to Downtown Disney having the camera's does not do us any good because like I said before, we do not take the Disney Transport buses to Downtown Disney. If the camera's were at the Contemporary, then it would be a different story.

 

[minnie61650]

True but since drive to Downtown Disney having the camera's does not do us any good because like I said before, we do not take the Disney Transport buses to Downtown Disney. If the camera's were at the Contemporary, then it would be a different story.

Actually I did not say the CR did not have the cameras I said:

.......

The bus stops at the values have different lines and loading for the different parks. So the cameras will help dispatch at the values. Same with DTD there are different bus stops for the different resorts.
The CR and other deluxes and mods most likely will not have the cameras
because the camera would only see a group waiting for bus but could not distinguish which bus or buses they were waiting for.

They might be at the CR. I don't know.
I think they would be especially helpful for the early morning buses.

Since DH and I drove to the CR and I used my walker for our ADRs in September I did not have a chance to see if the cameras were at the CR bus stop.

But since you do not care than I won't either.

 

[Metallicat]

I looked it up yesterday for September 2007 and the rack rate for Hard Rock was $264. My sister is dying to go,she'd have to gag and drag me there. I told her I can put a trash can on fire all by myself,call it Twister, and she wouldnt have to wait 40mns to see it.

kinda OT, but I've stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and while the hotel is quite beautifull and the rooms are nice, I'll never stay there again. #1. almost every night the fire alarms went off on our floor. first time at 3AM and nobody came up to tell us it was a false alarm. I was scared to death. (eventually an announcement came over the speakers to tell us it was ok)
#2. they put mini stereos in the rooms and people blast them. talk about loud neighbors! #3 if you get a pool view room, they play LOUD music until midnight and even 1AM. #4. once I saw half a joint (pot) that layed out in the hallway in front of my room for 2 days. I call someone to come and get it, they did, and when I came back to my room that afternoon, it was back in the same spot. I've also seen partially smoked joints out by the pool too. in fact our neighbors had it in our room and you could smell it all over the place. #5 they charge something like $7 per night parking fee. I was charged for several $12 valet parkings which I have never used. they took it off my bill after I found the error of course.

This has nothing to do with Universal. I LOVE Universal, but the Hard Rock hotel experience irritated me to the point of not staying there again even if it was FREE.

 

[kaytieeldr]

This might get me flamed by others who flamed the OP, but I am not going to be afraid to say it. I think WDW should upgrade the bus service for each Deluxe Resort. After all these guests pay the most $ per night to stay at these WDW Resorts, so why should Transportation not be any different.

Guests who pay more to stay at a Deluxe resort are paying for the RESORT's features, NOT special transportation privileges. Guests of Deluxe resorts who feel they deserve 'better' transportation than other Guests - as if monorails and boats are not enough - are free to avail themselves of alternative methods of transportation such as rental cars, town cars, taxis, limousines... Posters here seem to be forgetting that transportation is tied to park admission, not to resort class - otherwise, off-site Guests wouldn't be permitted to use the Disney transportation AT ALL.

In fact part of me thinks a bunch of people who flamed the OP have stayed at Value or Moderate Resorts & thought the OP was being a snob for posting this thread.

While in reality the posters who have disputed (NOT flamed) the original post most likely think the OP is whining over having to walk an extra couple of hundred feet when arriving at a park and thinking they deserve to have a shorter walk because they're staying at a Deluxe resort.

No flames. I am just pointing out that:

The Contemporary has 1,041 rooms.
The All Stars have 1,960 rooms at each resort for a total of 5,760 rooms.
Pop has 2,880 rooms.
CBR has 2,112 rooms.
POFQ has 1,008 rooms and POr has 1,024 for a total of 2,032 rooms.

So all of those resorts have twice as many rooms as the CR and perhaps that is why there are twice as many buses running for those resorts.

Thanks for pointing out the differences in total rooms between the Contemporary & other Resorts you mentioned. However since the Contemporary has 1,041 rooms how come they don't have more bus service? I am sure they are right up there with the Resorts you mentioned for total rooms,

Well, no - 1,041 is less than any of the other resorts whose information was provided by Minnie61650 (except individually the two Port Orleans properties - but they pretty much ALWAYS share buses, and they have the boat to Downtown Disney):
All Stars' 5,760 rooms minus Contemporary's 1,041 rooms is a difference of 4,719 rooms. The All Star resorts combined have over 500% more rooms (that's five times as many) than the Contemporary. Individually, each All Star resort has almost twice as many rooms as the contemporary. Much of the time, the three All Star resorts share buses. The All Stars need five or six times as many buses as does the Contemporary.
Pop Century's 2,880 rooms minus Contemporary's 1,041 rooms is a difference of 1,839 rooms. That's 276% MORE rooms than the Contemporary; therefore, Pop needs about three times as many buses.
CBR's 2,112 rooms minus Contemporary's 1,041 rooms is a difference of 1,071 rooms, or just over twice as many. Therefore, CBR needs about twice as many buses.
Port Orleans combined room count is 2,032 - minus Contemporary's 1,041 is 991, or slightly less than twice as many rooms; these resorts too, then, require about twice as many buses as the Contemporary.
Note that provided x times the number of buses could be replaced by x times the frequency of buses for the same result. Plus, the MK area resorts have monorail and/or boat access to the MK, and the monorail resorts have monorail access to MK and Epcot; the Epcot area resorts have boat and foot-powered transportation to both Epcot and MGM.

NO I am not missing the point, I was just stating my opinion. I thought based on the Contemporary's total room numbers they should have more buses, which is a fair thing to ask.

More? How? Current Disney bus transportation departs approximately every twenty minutes, from whichever location - more frequently as needed/available. How do you propose Disney provide "more" bus transportation for the Contemporary?

I think that if a hotel is further away from a particular park, it should get more buses for that particular route. I've sat for 45 minutes at the GF and Poly bus stops waiting to go to the parks..should not be!

In that 45 minutes, you could have been on the monorail, gone around to the TTC, changed to the Epcot monorail and, if MGM was your first destination, either jumped on the bus headed there or entered Epcot.

As for the camera being there, my guess is that they are there just for security & not to keep track of which guests is about to board which Disney Transport bus

While you might be 'guessing' at something, dreamergirl got the information directly from a Disney bus driver.

Anyone have a hard time comprehending the points I just wrote? It's in plain english. There's no cryptic hidden message to decipher. Come on, this post isn't about literary comprehension. This is not a Shakespearean play where you need to analyze each line and write a 20 page paper hypothesizing and theorizing what it could POSSIBLY mean.

Right. The OP means "I stayed at a Deluxe resort so I shouldn't have to walk as far from the bus to the park entrance as somebody who didn't stay at a Deluxe resort."

My two cents: If I paid for a red car, I expect to receive a red car. So, if I pay for a particular level of service, I expect that service to be returned. When a man is presented with a choice, and makes a choice, he expects his choice to lead to an outcome he wants, or else he would have not made that choice

My two cents. Nowhere in any Disney literature, documention, official website, unofficial websites, official guide book, unofficial guide books... is it even IMPLIED that Guests staying at Deluxe resorts will not have to walk one step further than necessary to get to a park.

Hopefully this will clear things up for you. The Contemporary has 1,401 rooms.

Ideally, THIS will clear things up for YOU. The Contemporary has one thousand and forty one rooms. That's 34% FEWER rooms than you're apparently misreading the room counts. NOT comparable to anything except an individual Port Orleans property. Since those two resorts' bus service is virtually always shared, Port Orleans has almost TWICE as many rooms as the Contemporary.

But the problem is, it's mostly the value resort advocates who were quick to get their panties in a bunch and were the first to cry foul. And to keep on crying it, over, and over, and over, and over.

Let me be clear: there is nothing, repeat, nothing wrong with staying at a value resort

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with staying at a Deluxe resort, or a Moderate, or offsite. MY issue is with the OP being irritated over not being dropped at the WL stop and having to walk some extra distance to get to the park entrance. (Just for the record, if the OP had taken the bus from Wilderness Lodge to Magic Kingdom, they'd actually have been dropped off at the TTC and would have had to take the monorail, speaking of walking further). Really, the bus stops are signed for PICKUP, not dropoff.

Why would I want to look for these cameras at the DTD bus station when my family & don't take the Disney Transport buses there?

So you can confirm their existence; apparently, you seem skeptical. A few years ago, Disney tried an "on demand" bus response service by stationing CMs at all the resort bus stops. It must have worked; now they're using cameras so the CMs can be doing something more fruitful. Makes sense to me.

True but since drive to Downtown Disney having the camera's does not do us any good

On the other hand, NOTHING is stopping you from strolling out to one of the bus areas and looking for yourself. You don't have to actually BOARD a bus, or even wait for one to come.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Actually I did not say the CR did not have the cameras I said:



They might be at the CR. I don't know.
I think they would be especially helpful for the early morning buses.

Since DH and I drove to the CR and I used my walker for our ADRs in September I did not have a chance to see if the cameras were at the CR bus stop.

But since you do not care than I won't either.

It's not that I don't care, I just figure if we don't take the Disney buses to Downtown Disney I don't feel I should waste my time to see if the camera's are even there. That is the point I was trying to make. If for some reason we need to take the buses to DTD I will look for them, or I can ask some CM's to see what they know.

 

[dreamergirl78]

Tell me where I said no your are completly wrong? I said you maybe right, but I don't think the cameras had anything to do with it, because this is the 1st time hearing about that. I guess this is another example of Disboards members who don't care what your opinion is if you don't agree with the bulk of the responses.

Also for the record at the Contemporary bus station when going Disney MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom & Downtown Disney there is a sign it says buses run every 20 minutes, so that is why I mentioned the 20 minute rule. I don't have a picture of the sign to prove I am right, but I know what I saw & that is what the sign said.

Just because you have not heard about something or just because you didn't notice it, does not mean that it isn't true. That was NOT an example of a DISboards member not caring. That was a direct response to what you said to me. Are you really that sensitive? I didn't call you dirty names or lash out at you, I simply added my opinion and a response to your comment. You said in your post that the way I explained what happened made no sense and you then tried to rationalize it with your own thoughts on the matter. Do whatever you like. I was not trying to stir the pot, just pass on some information that I received on my last vacation.
I never asked for proof that there were signs posting a 20 minute wait or whatever for busses. Honestly, I could care less. I just stated I had never personally seen them.
And I never noticed the cameras either until the bus driver pointed them out to me. They were not hidden but not obvious either.
It is really funny how soooo many DISsers are "in the know" and heaven forbid if you should go against their grain. I realize there are MANY people on these boards with far more WDW experience than myself. But please don't be so quick to discount everything someone says just because you personally do not agree or feel differently. It isn't like I am weaving tall tales about the busses at WDW, it was a tid bit of info. Take it or leave it. Believe it or don't.

 

[susieq76]

Well.. I will say.. When I have taken that long long extra long walk back to the bus stop for the Values .. I always tell my husband.. oh I am so jealous of those Deluxe people that get to stay at the extra nice places.. they don't even have to walk very far coming back to their bus stop!!! So.. it could be that the op thought that when she booked her trip..

Come one people.. she is a diser.... lets treat her like we want to be treated...

That was the best quote.

I too, thought that when staying at the Values and walking what seemed like a million miles to the bus. Obviously not true.

I just can't believe how mean some of you were to this girl...

 

[CheshireVal]

On the flip side of the coin, it's really nice sometimes when you're staying at Pop and you get let off at the much closer deluxe bus stops.

 

[nativetxn]

This has been quite a discussion but I think it has run it's course. If you wish to continue to discuss this topic feel free to post it to our transportation boardhttp://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16.

Katholyn