Problem with buses?

[KeithC]

My family just got back from our 21st trip to Disney. We usually stay on property and are very familiar with the Disney buses. We encountered something that was unusual for us. On June 4 we were at Epcot. After Illuminations, we took our time walking around the World Showcase before getting to our Pop Century Resort bus stop. The area for Pop Century took up two of the resort numbered stops. The lines were spilling even out of these two areas. That wasn't the thing that really was unusual. We realize that after the end of the park day - long lines for buses are to be expected. However, the thing that was unusual was that non Disney marked buses with bus drivers not wearing the expected Disney purple uniforms pulled up to the Pop Century stop to pick up guests. Many of the guests did not want to board these buses as a security issue. In the post 9-11 world, we feel that this practice is not necessarily a safe one. How does the guest know when a bus is legitimate or not? We were wondering if this is something that Disney is now doing routinely - or was there some kind of labor dispute with bus drivers on this day. The reason we wonder if it could be a labor dispute was because of the presence of empty Disney buses sitting across the parking lot. Many of these buses would circle around and pick up no one. They did not designate any resort on their front sign. Thanks - just wondered if any one else had these questions or experienced something similar.

 

[Feralpeg]

I don't know the answer to your question. They are currently negotiating a new union contract and the Teamsters (Disney bus drivers are a part of the Teamsters) are the ones who have opposed the new contract. In fact, they reported on the local news that Disney brought in outside buses to take other cast members to and from the voting place because they didn't want the regular bus drivers to influence them.

 

[disnut8]

I believe there are booths near the bus stops specifically put there for people to ask questions about the bus system. Did you ask the bus driver what was going on? Did you ask at the Disney bus booth? You can also call WDW-INFO and ask them what was going on. Or even call Pop Century. And if you didn't want any of those options, there's always 911. Or walk over to where the Disney buses were located and ask the drivers.

This might sound really callous but doing something to a Disney bus isn't going to send out any kind of message at all.

 

[KeithC]

There was nobody at the booths. We waited till a Disney bus finally picked us up. When we got back to the POP I asked a security guard about the non Disney buses. He seemed very apprehensive about answering my questions. He did mention that non Disney buses had been used for the past few days.

The guard said that the Disney Cruise Line buses were not run by Disney.

 

[Mischa]

I sure hope this all gets resolved before we head down to WDW this week.

This past December we had trouble going from Epcot to SSR one night. We missed one bus because it was full, the driver was very rude when I asked when the next bus would be (he actually yelled at me to tell me his bus was full - duh I could see that!) We proceeded to wait over an hour for a bus when there were several just sitting and waiting across the road. When the bus arrived it asked for passengers going to OKW. Ticked me off because we'd been waiting for over an hour. I asked the driver and he said "ain't my problem, dispatcher said to pick up OKW passengers." Needless to say I got really angry (this didn't feel like Disney it felt like DC!) Finally another bus showed up to take us to SSR. And yes I did complain! It was also good that this was the last day of our vacation and not the first. I really don't want to have to go through that again!

 

[jjms97]

We were there as well on June 4th and stayed at POP. We left EPCOT just as Illuminations was beginning and we had a full bus, but no wait.

Now on June 6th when the lightning storm shut down the water parks early, we did have to wait 40 minutes at POP for a bus to MK. They had apparently diverted many buses to BB & TL to get guests back to the resorts. (We saw 4 buses returning from Blizzard Beach while we waited patiently for ours to MK). Put us a tad late for our ADR, but we called dining and they noted it in our reservation for us.

Other than that, no problems with buses even after late night events. So sorry for your experience.

 

[taximomfor4]

Twice on 2 different trips (Dec and March) we got on unmarked buses. It was jut me and stepmom. We thought it was odd, but they took us to our resort, and that was IT! (they were nice buses, too, like Charter buses)

 

[Starr W.]

We were down in early May and saw alot of 'training' buses that would pull up at MK with no message then would pop up 'training' and just go through.

 

[disneyagain]

We rode a charter type bus from Epcot back to ASMo on Fri 4/06/07. There was a bunch of us waiting for busses and the charter type buses would pull in to the middle of the parking lot to pick up, I"m assuming off-site guests. Then one pulls up to the AS spot and says that he is going to AS. 50 of us piled on and off we go to AS. I'm assuming at peak times disney contracts with outside companies to keep up with the demand. If there are labor issues, they may need to contract for additional busses if the workers are calling out sick etc.... It was nice riding on a bus where everyone had a seat

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

During peak times, Disney may not always have enough buses and/or drivers to handle the extra capacity.

During these times, instead of having the guests suffer, they contract out to Mears for extra help. Mears will then give what they can, and then sub-contract out what they can't handle.

 

[pednurse]

We were there from May 31-June 7. I don't recall which day it was (we were at Epcot 2 different days), but one of the evenings when we went to the bus stop for Pop, a charter-type bus pulled up with Pop Century displayed on the front of the bus. The driver was dressed in Disney's bus driver uniforms, but as we got on she made sure everyone knew it was a borrowed bus (not belonging to Disney) so to make sure there was absolutely no eating or drinking on the bus. It was a GM hybrid bus that evidently Disney had on loan to try out. What really amused us as we got off (and it was a wonderfully comfortable ride on very soft padded seats!) was that it had Indiana license plates. After seeing all the Florida license plates all week it was a nice taste of home to see an Indiana one, albeit a bit strange for being a bus at Disney. Took a picture of it because it was so amusing to me. BTW it was a black bus with GM Hybrid written across the sides. Maybe that is what you saw?

 

[lorli]

I'm curious about this also. We will be there the end of the month and I wonder what to expect.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

During peak times, Disney may not always have enough buses and/or drivers to handle the extra capacity.

During these times, instead of having the guests suffer, they contract out to Mears for extra help. Mears will then give what they can, and then sub-contract out what they can't handle.

I had no idea WDW ever did this. When I am there in August I am going to look for these buses so I can see them in person.

 

[taximomfor4]

I had no idea WDW ever did this. When I am there in August I am going to look for these buses so I can see them in person.

I saw them in 12/05 (rode in one back to the hotel), and in 3/06 (the bus filled before we got on, so we got the next bus -- a typical Disney one). I LOVED riding in the charter-type one. Everyone got a seat, and they were cushy, too! Bad thing was, there were several wheelchairs waiting and they can't go on the charter buses.

 

[Jestocost]

We've never wound up on one of the unmarked buses, but when we were there this past Christmas our WDW bus driver pointed out a line of non-Disney back-up buses that were being staged in one of the far-away parking lots by the TTC.

 

[cranbiz]

In periods where the demand for buses exceed the buses in the Disney fleet, charter buses are contracted. This will be most prevalent at closing times. This was done at MK last week as MK's close was at 11pm and AK had EMH until 11pm with EPCOT and MGM having 9pm and 10pm closings we needed more buses for the demand. It is a normal practice and you should not worry. Most times the bus has a sign in the windshield indicating what park it is servicing.

The black Hybrid is on loan for testing. It is operated by a Disney bus driver.


MK is a major training hub, you will see a lot of training buses go through there. A training bus will not pick up guests until the trainor is satisfied the learner is ready.


BTW: Complaining to a driver will get you nowhere. All we do is drive the bus and go where our supervisor sends us. We do our best to accomodate you, and complaining about an extended delay to the driver who is there to take you now is pointless. Complain to someone who can actually do something. Go to Guest Services or to a manager to register complaints. They have the power to request that another bus be dispatched, not the driver.

 

[HelenePA]

We were on a Mears bus while down there going to MGM one morning.. it was nice.. very nice. ME type bus... wish I could have been in one of those all week long... not that I have ANY complaints about the disney buses... even at the end of the night for Sports there were no lines... it was awesome! I'd go back to Sports in a heartbeat!

 

[sue Z]

Tyler you beat me to it!!! I was just on my way to reply to the reasoning behind the coaches being used in place of disney transport!
cranbiz you beat me to it too!

 

[manning]

We stayed at River Side last NYE. We rode back to the resort from EPCOT on a charter bus. Best ride we ever had. Those were NICE seats.

 

[helenk]

This happened to us one night during our trip 5/19-5/24. We had left the MK after Wishes and the lines waiting for the buses were huge. We were staying at the CBR and our queue line was full and the line was down the walkway that runs by the lagoon. Several charter buses came to our area, not just for the CBR but a few other resorts as well. The nice thing was that the buses were large there were alot of seats (comfy seats too) the bad thing was that instead of going to each of the villages at the CBR we were dropped off at the Custom House and then had to use the internal buses to get back to the resorts.
I really do wish the the Disney buses could fit more people, the seating arrangements really do not make a lot of sense to me.