Really 5 stops!

[iluveeyore]

I thankfully, along with the 6+/- people I travel with, appreciate parking the car and letting someone else do the driving. I see so many threads about people stressed out about how long it takes, how many stops it took, yada , yada! I'm on vacation, we chat on the bus, we commiserate on the bus, we laugh at each other, we people watch, and sometimes even nap! I don't ever cut myself so short on travel time as to miss an ADR!! At 15 I feel comfortable letting my son and his friends take the bus and enjoy a bit more freedom than at home! They come and go, they've got the bus system down pat. It's all good!

Love the buses, I appreciate the bus drivers and their infinite patience Lord knows I couldn't do it!

My advice, relax people, you're on vacation, not a marathon!

I agree with this completely - if we drive down or rent a car, we only use it if we want to go outside Disney property, or maybe visit another resort. If we are doing parks or DTD, we use buses/monorail/boats, whatever Disney transportation is available. If I'm alone, I listen to my music or spend the time catching up on my journal - if DH or the kids are with me, we admire the palm trees, and enjoy the scenery, and usually strike up conversations with other Disney guests.

This way, we don't pay for gas, worry about which turning lane to be in, have to look at a map, or deal with other people's road rage!

 

[leanne2255]

My pet peeve is stopping at the non DVC resorts from the Boardwalk. Should Swan and Dolphin share DVC busses? I think they should have their own. Every year when I have to stop at those hotels, it makes me crazy.

 

[GAN]

My pet peeve is stopping at the non DVC resorts from the Boardwalk. Should Swan and Dolphin share DVC busses? I think they should have their own. Every year when I have to stop at those hotels, it makes me crazy.

I agree, that would be great. Unfortunately, from Disney's perspective they want the busses as full as possible and stopping at Swan/Dolphin accomplishes that. We were at BWV all last week -only once did we have a bus so full that it couldn't pick-up at every stop. The other trips, busses were @ 50-75% capacity.

 

[jade1]

My pet peeve is stopping at the non DVC resorts from the Boardwalk. Should Swan and Dolphin share DVC busses? I think they should have their own. Every year when I have to stop at those hotels, it makes me crazy.

Since the S&D bus stop is closer to the BWV's BW View rooms than the Boardwalk bus stop is-we would take the S&D bus anyway-first off and no waiting for the Yacht and Beach stops as well.

 

[tjkraz]

A couple general observations:

1. With regard to abnormally high waits, I do think folks need to see those for the outliers that they are. Is 90 minutes the Disney standard for one-way service from any given resort to a park? No...but things do happen. No matter how much Disney invests in transportation there will be situations which cause delays (traffic, mechanical, driver-related delays, guest-related delays, arrived at stop just after a bus departed, etc.)

2. Since we are all DVC members, I do think it's important to point out that any increases in service will hit us in the dues. That's true of transportation more than any other budget item, IMO. If the current Disney standard (hypothetical) is average 40 minute wait and we think it should be 20 minutes, our costs will virtually double. No two ways about it. More drivers, more buses, more fuel, more traffic.

If BW wants its own route, costs will more than double since Swan, Dolphin and occasionally BC/YC will not be sharing.

Due primarily to reason #2, personally I think the bus system is adequate as-is. Yes there are times when waits are exorbitant but there are also times when waits are shorter than expected. Mostly it's the luck of the draw.

Yes some routes have many stops but in my experiences, those buses with the multiple stops are rarely near capacity. If a mid-day Typhoon Lagoon bus can carry 30 passengers to all of the Epcot-area resorts, does it really make MORE sense to run two or three buses to the same hotels with 10-15 passengers each?

It doesn't take long to see the bus system for what it is. It's fairly efficient at park opening and in the evenings. In the afternoons when most guests are already in the parks and guest traffic is low, expect long-ish waits and more combined routes. At closing either be ahead of the crowds or expect to wait while multiple buses cycle through everyone waiting.

If that's unacceptable, make other arrangements such as:
* Rent a car
* Take a cab
* Choose a resort which requires minimal use of Disney transportation
* Alter your plans to avoid major bottlenecks

Service is not exceptional but it's adequate. And I do not like the idea of across-the-board increases in transportation costs to improve an amenity which guests do not utilize equally.

 

[tjkraz]

I agree, that would be great. Unfortunately, from Disney's perspective they want the busses as full as possible and stopping at Swan/Dolphin accomplishes that. We were at BWV all last week -only once did we have a bus so full that it couldn't pick-up at every stop. The other trips, busses were @ 50-75% capacity.

Shouldn't that be the owners' perspective, too?

BWV transportation is budgeted at $1.6 million this year; $.3276 per point. If we just double it, the dues increase would be 6% for this move alone...on top of whatever other increases are warranted for 2013.

And that's not even to improve frequency of service. That's just to separate BWV guests from Dolphin and Swan. When the buses are already no more than 75% of capacity by your estimation.

Does that really seem like a move owners would stand up and cheer about? A 6% dues increase just to eliminate stops at the D & S?

 

[Maddysdaddy]

And this is why my family prefers to go to Disneyland...

 

[GAN]

Shouldn't that be the owners' perspective, too?

BWV transportation is budgeted at $1.6 million this year; $.3276 per point. If we just double it, the dues increase would be 6% for this move alone...on top of whatever other increases are warranted for 2013.

And that's not even to improve frequency of service. That's just to separate BWV guests from Dolphin and Swan. When the buses are already no more than 75% of capacity by your estimation.

Does that really seem like a move owners would stand up and cheer about? A 6% dues increase just to eliminate stops at the D & S?

Uh ...yeah. I'm an owner so why would I want that -my point was that it sounds good but as long as the busses aren't full it will never happen. The service we got from the transportation was great this past stay -I wouldn't change anything.

 

[tjkraz]

Uh ...yeah. I'm an owner so why would I want that -my point was that it sounds good but as long as the busses aren't full it will never happen. The service we got from the transportation was great this past stay -I wouldn't change anything.

Perhaps I misread but the way you phrased it comes across as an indictment, IMO.

Unfortunately, from Disney's perspective they want the busses as full as possible and stopping at Swan/Dolphin accomplishes that.

I don't think there's anything unfortunate about it at all. Not every bus should be "standing room only" but it's in the best interests of both Disney and DVC owners that Disney keep transportation costs at a reasonable level. We don't need buses that are less than half full combined with higher dues.

 

[GAN]

Perhaps I misread but the way you phrased it comes across as an indictment, IMO.

I don't think there's anything unfortunate about it at all. Not every bus should be "standing room only" but it's in the best interests of both Disney and DVC owners that Disney keep transportation costs at a reasonable level. We don't need buses that are less than half full combined with higher dues.

I think you're over-analyzing all this -Leanne said she had a "pet-peeve" about stopping at S/D. ...no one was ever suggesting that it should be changed. And sure, in a perfect world we wouldn't have to waste our time stopping there -I may be assuming wrong, but I think most everyone knows that isn't going to happen. I believe that's all that we were trying to say.

 

[goofy4tink]

AKL and kidani are the same resort.

AKL-Jambo House, and Kidani.

A couple general observations:

1. With regard to abnormally high waits, I do think folks need to see those for the outliers that they are. Is 90 minutes the Disney standard for one-way service from any given resort to a park? No...but things do happen. No matter how much Disney invests in transportation there will be situations which cause delays (traffic, mechanical, driver-related delays, guest-related delays, arrived at stop just after a bus departed, etc.)

2. Since we are all DVC members, I do think it's important to point out that any increases in service will hit us in the dues. That's true of transportation more than any other budget item, IMO. If the current Disney standard (hypothetical) is average 40 minute wait and we think it should be 20 minutes, our costs will virtually double. No two ways about it. More drivers, more buses, more fuel, more traffic.

If BW wants its own route, costs will more than double since Swan, Dolphin and occasionally BC/YC will not be sharing.

Due primarily to reason #2, personally I think the bus system is adequate as-is. Yes there are times when waits are exorbitant but there are also times when waits are shorter than expected. Mostly it's the luck of the draw.

Yes some routes have many stops but in my experiences, those buses with the multiple stops are rarely near capacity. If a mid-day Typhoon Lagoon bus can carry 30 passengers to all of the Epcot-area resorts, does it really make MORE sense to run two or three buses to the same hotels with 10-15 passengers each?

It doesn't take long to see the bus system for what it is. It's fairly efficient at park opening and in the evenings. In the afternoons when most guests are already in the parks and guest traffic is low, expect long-ish waits and more combined routes. At closing either be ahead of the crowds or expect to wait while multiple buses cycle through everyone waiting.

If that's unacceptable, make other arrangements such as:
* Rent a car
* Take a cab
* Choose a resort which requires minimal use of Disney transportation
* Alter your plans to avoid major bottlenecks

Service is not exceptional but it's adequate. And I do not like the idea of across-the-board increases in transportation costs to improve an amenity which guests do not utilize equally.

Have to agree. The S/D pay for these buses. So, if the S/D had their own buses, that would mean BW buses would, most likely, now always include YC/BC on the route. There is no way that BW is going to have it's own buses. Just isn't going to happen.

 

[jade1]

AKL-Jambo House, and Kidani.


Have to agree. The S/D pay for these buses. So, if the S/D had their own buses, that would mean BW buses would, most likely, now always include YC/BC on the route. There is no way that BW is going to have it's own buses. Just isn't going to happen.

Yep, and then S/D buses would be mad when they are full of BWV guests getting off and walking over the bridge to BWV. At least when the busses are full after Wishes etc.