What are the Current bus scooter loading ‘rules’?

[maxiesmom]

Couldn’t all this be solved by more frequent busses and development of more scooter and stroller friendly alternatives - like the skyliner and monorail. But then that would mean that we get mad at Disney and not other people who are posting. Or maybe the people so intolerant of others should just drive a car to their destination.

A lot of this hoopla over ECVS is why most of my trips are at a boardwalk area resort, or at a skyliner resort. I'm breaking that tradition and staying at CSR next May. I really hope I don't regret it, but the bounceback price was too good to pass up.

Not meaning anything negative to you at all Mirabell Rose. Just to clairify.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Couldn’t all this be solved by more frequent busses and development of more scooter and stroller friendly alternatives - like the skyliner and monorail. But then that would mean that we get mad at Disney and not other people who are posting. Or maybe the people so intolerant of others should just drive a car to their destination.

They present their own issues such as cost and guest experience. The monorail is an aging system that Disney is unlikely to put as much effort into for the future. They didn't purchase new trains when they had the opportunity and the literal structural beams have shown wear and tear over the years with lack of feasibility in overhauling that. When the Skyliner was announced and as it opened there was a main thread for it and the amount of people reaming it for multiple reasons was extremely high. For one it can present issues for those with heights, for two it can abruptly (though I don't think is too common) shut down mid-ride and three it isn't good in inclement weather which pushes buses out to be used for that

Which mostly leaves more buses comment to which I agree with but I also know it's been hard to get bus drivers and costs. Disney chose not to have parking lot trams for way too long like stupidly long and also went back on their own public announcement of when those trams would be at each of the parks. It was largely understood to be a budgetary decision. I don't have much faith they would add more buses even if they could but I do agree that's a pretty simple solution.

As far as the driving comment while I understand the necessary snark with WDW they really haven't made it possible to do that for many of the resorts, the parks yes you can easily drive but the resorts especially the Deluxe ones parking there if you're not a hotel guest of that particular resort is very much an issue, Disney essentially forces you to take their own transportation these days to which may be a bus for the resorts not connected by Skyliner or by monorail and sometimes a bus is necessary if there is no Skyliner running or an issue with the monorails.

 

[Mirabell Rose]

They present their own issues such as cost and guest experience. The monorail is an aging system that Disney is unlikely to put as much effort into for the future. They didn't purchase new trains when they had the opportunity and the literal structural beams have shown wear and tear over the years with lack of feasibility in overhauling that. When the Skyliner was announced and as it opened there was a main thread for it and the amount of people reaming it for multiple reasons was extremely high. For one it can present issues for those with heights, for two it can abruptly (though I don't think is too common) shut down mid-ride and three it isn't good in inclement weather which pushes buses out to be used for that

Which mostly leaves more buses comment to which I agree with but I also know it's been hard to get bus drivers and costs. Disney chose not to have parking lot trams for way too long like stupidly long and also went back on their own public announcement of when those trams would be at each of the parks. It was largely understood to be a budgetary decision. I don't have much faith they would add more buses even if they could but I do agree that's a pretty simple solution.

As far as the driving comment while I understand the necessary snark with WDW they really haven't made it possible to do that for many of the resorts, the parks yes you can easily drive but the resorts especially the Deluxe ones parking there if you're not a hotel guest of that particular resort is very much an issue, Disney essentially forces you to take their own transportation these days to which may be a bus for the resorts not connected by Skyliner or by monorail and sometimes a bus is necessary if there is no Skyliner running or an issue with the monorails.

Infrastructure always requires ongoing investment. What percent of the ticket price or resort rate is going to transportation? Again, Disney can improve the system.

The skyliner is here. It’s open the vast majority of the time. A backup is always needed for the different transportation methods. If they would simply use it to connect the front and back of Epcot, the guests by Epcot and on the monorail could use the skyliner monorail combo for 3 of the 4 parks. Connect AK park and you would have 4. That means the vast majority of the time those who need wheelchairs and strollers could use those methods. Resorts not on the monorail or skyliner could bus to the closest park and then have access to all 4.

Resort parking is not difficult. Anyone staying at or with a restaurant reservation at a resort can park there.

Drive your car if you can’t tolerate waiting for others unless it meets your definition of ‘fair’ is not snarky. It’s the truth. Disney is transportation for all and it will have its challenges and it requires tolerance and patience. If this isn’t possible for you, seek an alternative.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Infrastructure always requires ongoing investment. What percent of the ticket price or resort rate is going to transportation? Again, Disney can improve the system.

The skyliner is here. It’s open the vast majority of the time. A backup is always needed for the different transportation methods. If they would simply use it to connect the front and back of Epcot, the guests by Epcot and on the monorail could use the skyliner monorail combo for 3 of the 4 parks. Connect AK park and you would have 4. That means the vast majority of the time those who need wheelchairs and strollers could use those methods. Resorts not on the monorail or skyliner could bus to the closest park and then have access to all 4.

Resort parking is not difficult. Anyone staying at or with a restaurant reservation at a resort can park there.

Drive your car if you can’t tolerate waiting for others unless it meets your definition of ‘fair’ is not snarky. It’s the truth. Disney is transportation for all and it will have its challenges and it requires tolerance and patience. If this isn’t possible for you, seek an alternative.

I'm not disagreeing with your point, in fact I was agreeing with your comment about people blaming Disney. I was just commenting directly to that actually. That Disney themselves are unlikely to present alternatives that ease things even when it's things within their control.

I agree the Skyliner is there, I was talking about how the people themselves, including those who use assistive devices have problems with that mode of transportation because of what it is. It isn't that Disney can't invest more in that (although I think many would love to have more resort interconnected), it's that the public themselves have issues with it and in terms of weather it is a limited mode of transportation in which Disney's solution is buses.

As far as resort parking that isn't the case especially with quick service. An ADR does not guarantee you the ability to park at the resorts either and there's far too many posts to that point. It is mostly concentrated at the MK resorts though but I've seen reports with respects to Boardwalk area. That is on Disney. It didn't used to be that way, they were more lenient and in fact promoted people going to their resorts but over time really tightened on people's ability to park at their resorts when they are not guests there.

Seems a bit like you've opted to read something in my comments that weren't there. I actually agreed with your point but you appear to have been in a bit of a hurry in your tolerance point to see that.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

I’d love to see more walking paths as well. Connect Riviera (and by extension CB and the other nearby hotels) to world showcase and Hollywood Studios. They aren’t for everyone but every person who opts to walk takes one person off other transit methods.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I’d love to see more walking paths as well. Connect Riviera (and by extension CB and the other nearby hotels) to world showcase and Hollywood Studios. They aren’t for everyone but every person who opts to walk takes one person off other transit methods.

That's true although the scale of WDW is very large so you'd want to keep that part in mind. People walk tens of thousands of steps/10-15 miles per day and so a 30+min walk while making it an option is en masse unlikely to be often enough even if it is an option. They have the walking path around Poly to MK but I think you'd find more people use the monorail instead. Personally when we were at Universal we used the walking path to get from Royal Pacific to Islands of Adventure rather than use the boat but that was only about a 10-15min walk.

But unless the topography or logical pathway would present an issue (like safety or cross paths with areas they don't want guests to see) it's a pretty easy thing to do.

 

[lowlight]

Drive your car if you can’t tolerate waiting for others unless it meets your definition of ‘fair’ is not snarky. It’s the truth. Disney is transportation for all and it will have its challenges and it requires tolerance and patience. If this isn’t possible for you, seek an alternative.

I think most people in this thread are being level headed and quite moderate in their opinions. "Fair" is not a subjective matter here, queue's have existed for a very, very long time and are quite black and white. Everyone waits in line, regardless of whether their transport is bipedal or 4 wheeled, and then ECV's load first when they get to the front of the line because that is the most logical loading sequence. Had that been the way things happened with the OP, this thread wouldn't exist- even if the person on the ECV had 15 people in their party, they would have all had to wait the full time in the line and there would be no sour grapes. Sometimes fair is a hard concept to define, but in this instance it's pretty simple.

 

[maxiesmom]

I think most people in this thread are being level headed and quite moderate in their opinions. "Fair" is not a subjective matter here, queue's have existed for a very, very long time and are quite black and white. Everyone waits in line, regardless of whether their transport is bipedal or 4 wheeled, and then ECV's load first when they get to the front of the line because that is the most logical loading sequence. Had that been the way things happened with the OP, this thread wouldn't exist- even if the person on the ECV had 15 people in their party, they would have all had to wait the full time in the line and there would be no sour grapes. Sometimes fair is a hard concept to define, but in this instance it's pretty simple.

I think what you are missing in the everyone wait their turn in line is how limited the space is for an ecv user on a bus. Only 3 spots max. The only way to be totally fair would be if a bus pulls up, the ecv user is next in line, and they can either board or the bus goes without picking up anyone. With maybe empty space.

But then the other problem is the bus pulls up, ambulatory people load, and the ecv either boards when it is their turn (which is much harder with a bus loaded with guests) or again the bus pulls away taking on anyone. With maybe empty space. I can imagine how thrilled the people in line behind the ecv would be seeing a bus with space pull away.

Disney is trying to fill the buses as full as possible without people possibly being run into or having their feet run over. And without leaving empty space that could have been filled. They can be"fair", or they could waste a lot of money running not full buses (costing them more in gas and driver pay). And having guests, all guests, wait longer in lines to board buses.

 

[LoveToDisney]

I was directed by a bus driver once to load after a lot of people had already loaded. It was awful. Those already on the bus would not temporarily get up from their seated location to allow movement of the ECV to quickly park. They wouldn’t even attempt to move their feet/legs. I stopped and asked for help from the bus driver to park me and said I didn’t want to run over toes. When he proceeded to help, he also had trouble with people not moving. It’s soooo much harder once there are a lot of people seated on the lower level to add an ECV.