Of course I knew about the extra hours via the DIS boards!
But I was at Movies at the same time as Josh (sorry we didn't meet--you and your wife seem so nice from what I've read on the boards).
The extra hours were communicated to us
Post card before our trip, sent to our home.
Information at checkin with specific info about the hours at Epcot that night.
A sheet left on the bed by mousekeeping.
Phone call voice messages to our line the day prior to the evening events.
Did not ride the buses so can't say anything about that.
I felt that the resort had excellent communication on this. We did the two nights at MK and one night at Epcot. Had a blast!!!! We aren't morning people so never do the early entry, so this was wonderful for us. Didn't get to do AK due to a PS for supper, but this was really the only thing we could not adjust around the hours.
BTW, when I saw people lined up getting wristbands, if I had not known what it was about, I would definately asked "what's that for?" But that is my personality.