Recent Experience on the DL Express Bus

[Kdbruin]

This was my family 's fourth time taking this bus to and from LAX. This time I felt like the drivers were less friendly and more aggressive in the freeways. We also found it odd that the driver dropped us off behind our hotel (Sheraton Park) and had us walk across a side street and through the parking lot to get to our hotel with all of our luggage. We have used this service while staying at this hotel before and we were dropped off in the front. We will continue to use this service so long as our son needs to be in a car seat but not sure if we will continue after that.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Did you contact the bus company to let them know about your experience? I would write to them to describe what happened (and let them know that you are a repeat customer and have previous experience for comparison). Let them know that you feel their service is slipping and why. Maybe it was just this particular driver or maybe they've had a change in management. Whatever the reason, it can't hurt for them to know what's going on.

 

[Kdbruin]

Yes, I was thinking of contacting the company. I also informed the woman at the DLH who takes your payment.

 

[vicarrieous]

What has been your experience with hotel drop off order? I hear they always drop off at the three Disney hotels first. Is this true?

 

[bumbershoot]

We will continue to use this service so long as our son needs to be in a car seat but not sure if we will continue after that.

I’d just buy a cosco scenera for travel and use transportation providers I like.

Once he’s in the total backless booster stage, the Bubble Bum is awesome

 

[AuntieKels]

We’ve used the service 3 times. In 2015 it was great! In 2016 it was fine. In 2017 it was horrible and we won’t use it anymore.

We waited 75 minutes for the bus to pick us up at LAX when we arrived. On the trip back to the airport our bus was over an hour late which caused some people to be panicking about missing flights. He didn’t have all the seats available and needless to say, the bus was more than overcrowded being so late. People had 10yo kids sitting on laps. The driver was overwhelmed and very rude. He snapped at my husband to help him load everyone’s luggage which is part of the service we paid for. Then when we arrived he had to gall to complain about his tips to us. We contacted the company after we got home and they gave us a full refund which was nice but they didn’t seem fazed by our experience. To the drivers defense he was dealing with terrible working conditions and his paycheck for the day suffered because of the companies handling of whatever happened that day.

We will use Lansky in the future because they provide car seats and will guarantee pick up and drop off on time. This trip we’ll be bringing car seats so Lyft it is!

Please contact the Express company AND Disney. Disney is recommending this service and it’s not up to standard in my opinion.

 

[lalasmama]

Yes, I was thinking of contacting the company. I also informed the woman at the DLH who takes your payment.

For what it's worth, DL has nothing to do with the company. The company leases the name. Still, with even just leasing the name, they appear to be Disney-approved, which creates problems when they are subpar.

 

[Kdbruin]

What has been your experience with hotel drop off order? I hear they always drop off at the three Disney hotels first. Is this true?

When you get on the bus at the airport they will ask which hotel you are going to. If there are people staying at the Disney hotels than yes, they drop off there first. The first stop is always the Disneyland Hotel as that is where the ticket taker is.

 

[Kdbruin]

Thanks for the responses. I also found it interesting that on the way to the airport the driver did not stop at the Grand CA to pick people up. I want to say they have stopped there in the past.
Also, the valet at our hotel informed us that the bus drivers tend to do their own thing. Some will pass by slowly and if they don’t think they see anybody, they will just keep on going. They advised us to let the valet know that we were waiting for the bus so they could flag them down otherwise they may have left us there.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Yikes! This sounds like a horrible service.

We also get a Cosco scenera. We use it on the plane. We’ve bought seats for our infants for years. We Uber.

 

[vicarrieous]

Thanks for the responses. I also found it interesting that on the way to the airport the driver did not stop at the Grand CA to pick people up. I want to say they have stopped there in the past.
Also, the valet at our hotel informed us that the bus drivers tend to do their own thing. Some will pass by slowly and if they don’t think they see anybody, they will just keep on going. They advised us to let the valet know that we were waiting for the bus so they could flag them down otherwise they may have left us there.

Do you know if they have a list of people if they have advanced purchased tickets?

 

[OneThree]

We have used DLRE for two trips and had mixed results each time.

Our first time out of SNA the driver from SNA to the DLH was great but on the return the bus was late and the driver was overly aggressive on the freeway IMHO.

2nd trip the driver from LAX to the DLH hotel just couldn’t stop honking the horn. He laid on it every chance he got around the terminals, on the freeway, on side streets approaching the DLH. Our return driver was excellent. He was on time, super smooth driving and he dropped everyone at the arrival level in order to avoid a very long line of vehicles for departures.

 

[B3rlingirl]

I just did a round Trip from LAX and really loved it!
Traffic was terrible on the way to Anaheim...(even at the airport is was pretty slow) so it took us almost 2h in tots from pick up to the hotel ( BW Anaheim in) but it wouldn’t have been much faster with another shuttle as we pretty much „parked“ or way to Anaheim...( we were so glad we didn’t have to drive a rental) they also played cartoons for the kids so that was nice....
Drop offs at the Disney hotels were pretty fast... and there was just one more offside hotel stop besides ours slagging another shuttle service wouldn’t been much faster...

For the way back we phoned the office to let them know we wanted a pickup at 9:40 from the bus stop and the driver was right on time...(at pickup and drop of at lax even though we were last with United) on the way back there were no kids and everyone was sleeping anyways so he didn’t play any cartoons...

The driver was nice both times and also handled the traffic well... (it didn’t felt unsafe or anything...)

It was a great experience! No complains at all! We definitely do it again...

 

[CO2CA]

We've never done it because we've always found cheaper options but also because last time we looked into it (so quite a few years ago) they drop off at the bus station closest to your hotel and you have to walk, at least for the hotels on Harbor (Desert Inn, Camelot, Tropicana, Best Westerns, etc). We've seen people walking with their luggage and that doesn't look too fun.

 

[greewe]

I’m glad to hear a positive review since we are using the Disneyland Express in November. Does anyone know how to make reservations if you are staying at 2 different Disney hotels?