What the heck is going on at WDW this week?

[ilovefh]

Last night DH came home and said it was pure chaos at MK. He said there were hundreds of people walking down World Drive from MK to TTC. Security tried to get the people under control but no luck so they brought in the sheriffs. Supposedly a man pushed a sheriff when he ask him to turn around and go back to MK and the sheriff tasered him. He said most of the bus drivers he talked to said they have never seen it like this, hundreds of people walking down the busy road with no sidewalks.

Tonight a man stepped out in front of a bus at POR and was killed. According to the news release the driver was not at fault but does that really matter in the end? How do you go back to work after that? I told him to be SUPER careful tonight!

What is going on this weekend. It seems nuts over there!

 

[lovetoscrap]

Sounds like Christmas crowds. I would guess that all those people were tired of waiting for bus/monorail/boat and decided to walk (can you walk from MK to TTC? )?

 

[GeorgeG]

My guess would be more people than the transportation can handle. It's also very cold, which would make waiting for transportation more frustrating. Last night we left Epcot right after Illuminations and it was just starting to drizzle so that might have played into things.

Yesterday afternoon while at Epcot we heard sirens that seemed to be on the access road behind China and then some more later on while we were having dinner at Rose & Crown. That's something I've never heard before that close to World Showcase.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

It seems like there is some crazy stuff going on over at Disneyland too, according to this thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2619802

 

[ilovefh]

Sounds like Christmas crowds. I would guess that all those people were tired of waiting for bus/monorail/boat and decided to walk (can you walk from MK to TTC? )?

Can you physically walk there or are you supposed to? Yes you can walk down the road that runs in front of the Contemporary and take a right at the lights and you're at TTC but there are no sidewalks and you have to walk under the waterway which is a tight area to begin with. No, you're not supposed to.

What blows my mind is that this is something I've never seen or heard of. According to the bus drivers DH talked to they've never seen anything like it. He said every few minutes there would be a call to security over the radio to get people out of the road and the response was they were trying their best. Ultimately they had to bring in sheriffs and someone got tasered. I just don't see the need for this behavior. You come to Disney at the busiest time of the year and you're going to have longer wait times for things. If you don't know you're not supposed to walk on the road, but turn around once you're corrected fine, but to keep doing it is nuts!

 

[laurie31]

I think this week is the absolute peak crowd week for the whole year. Kids out of school, Christmas decorations up, lots of people find it easy to get off work this week because business is slow (not for retail folks, obviously).

We used to vacation this week, and it's just not worth it anymore. The crowds are unbearable. Not just at Disney, but everywhere.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

Can you physically walk from the MK to TTC. Yes but its not lit, no sidewalks for most of the trip and utterly stupid and dangerous as that part of the road is deadly for even people in cars...

Can you tell I was one of the drivers who got to deal with said people last night as I was going home from work, who had people darting in front of my car with young kids on a darken stretch of road- I pretty much had a meltdown once I got home

I really want to know what went wrong with transportation cause that is an experience I do NOT want to have again...

 

[ilovefh]

Can you physically walk from the MK to TTC. Yes but its not lit, no sidewalks for most of the trip and utterly stupid and dangerous as that part of the road is deadly for even people in cars...

Can you tell I was one of the drivers who got to deal with said people last night as I was going home from work, who had people darting in front of my car with young kids on a darken stretch of road- I pretty much had a meltdown once I got home

I really want to know what went wrong with transportation cause that is an experience I do NOT want to have again...

I didn't see it, and this is just according to DH so who knows, but he said nothing was wrong with transportation. The lines were normal for a super busy day but people were just being impatient. If it was like this on Christmas Day I can't imagine what New Year's Eve will be like!

I'm glad you got home safe.

 

[Planogirl]

On a busy night, we always went into the Emporium to browse until the crowds settled down. It sounds like the crowds were so big that that wouldn't even help...

 

[Gabe1]

We encountered this several years back at Christmas. We came out of MGM after closing, a late night. We were trying to go back to POR. The line extended make to the main exit. After 2 hours of waiting for a bus we took a bus to the Tree House area. We walked to DTD and then bused back to POR all with small children.

It was late, we were tired but after 2 hours we just were beyond annoyed.
We talked to many guests the next morning that either walked back on the roads to POR or it took them 3-3 1/2 hours to get back.

Sorry, by now Disney transportation needs to have a plan for high capacity crowds. The transportation department needs a better plan.

 

[Planogirl]

We encountered this several years back at Christmas. We came out of MGM after closing, a late night. We were trying to go back to POR. The line extended make to the main exit. After 2 hours of waiting for a bus we took a bus to the Tree House area. We walked to DTD and then bused back to POR all with small children.

It was late, we were tired but after 2 hours we just were beyond annoyed.
We talked to many guests the next morning that either walked back on the roads to POR or it took them 3-3 1/2 hours to get back.

Sorry, by now Disney transportation needs to have a plan for high capacity crowds. The transportation department needs a better plan.

This happened to us during a bad rainstorm. We ended up sharing a taxi with a couple and I was never so grateful to pay for it all myself! We were at the Allstars and bus line seemed endless.

 

[Agri]

We encountered this several years back at Christmas. We came out of MGM after closing, a late night. We were trying to go back to POR. The line extended make to the main exit. After 2 hours of waiting for a bus we took a bus to the Tree House area. We walked to DTD and then bused back to POR all with small children.

It was late, we were tired but after 2 hours we just were beyond annoyed.
We talked to many guests the next morning that either walked back on the roads to POR or it took them 3-3 1/2 hours to get back.

Sorry, by now Disney transportation needs to have a plan for high capacity crowds. The transportation department needs a better plan.

The bus was like this during the first week of the Food and Wine festival - which is why we refuse to stay at Riverside ever again. They funnel too many people into that resort without the extra buses to back it up. We left before closing and it took us about two hours to get back to the resort. Then, of course, you have to take a long trek to your room. One night at the MK, I dealt with the same thing so I went to the Contemporary for a late meal (have I mentioned those cupcakes?!) and went around to the resorts for a bit before heading back to the MK and to a much shorter wait in line, comparatively. (Only had to wait for two buses before I got on!)

 

[wdwmom0f3]

My heart goes out to the family of the man who was killed at POR, and to the bus driver. That is just horrible.

 

[Avalon_toon]

The bus was like this during the first week of the Food and Wine festival - which is why we refuse to stay at Riverside ever again. They funnel too many people into that resort without the extra buses to back it up. We left before closing and it took us about two hours to get back to the resort. Then, of course, you have to take a long trek to your room. One night at the MK, I dealt with the same thing so I went to the Contemporary for a late meal (have I mentioned those cupcakes?!) and went around to the resorts for a bit before heading back to the MK and to a much shorter wait in line, comparatively. (Only had to wait for two buses before I got on!)

We stayed at POR last week, and agree completely. This was our first stay at a moderate, and I wish we had stuck with POP Century - the bus service to Riverside was the worst I've ever experienced. We won't ever stay there again. I can see how the cold, rain, and long wait times would drive some people to try walking, although I'm shocked and saddened that someone was killed. Perhaps Disney should consider adding a walkway for people who don't want to wait for the monorail/boat?

 

[NC State]

We were there the week of the 11th and it was crowded then too. Christmas at WDW is pretty but we will never go back during that time. I'll stick to my after Labor Day time and love the 95 degree weather next year.

 

[Sorsha]

I really want to know what went wrong with transportation cause that is an experience I do NOT want to have again...

Sorry, by now Disney transportation needs to have a plan for high capacity crowds. The transportation department needs a better plan.

The bus was like this during the first week of the Food and Wine festival - which is why we refuse to stay at Riverside ever again. They funnel too many people into that resort without the extra buses to back it up. We left before closing and it took us about two hours to get back to the resort. Then, of course, you have to take a long trek to your room.

I completely and totally agree with this. I was at WDW, staying at POR the first week of Food and Wine, and IMHO transportation was insane. Long waits for buses, way too many people squashed into the buses when they get there, and monorails constantly and mysteriously being "offline", especially at peak times.

Transportation could so easily make this run easier and smoother, but I think it comes down to the allmighty dollar. They would need to hire more drivers and run more buses, pay more in fuel costs and drivers' wages. Would cut into the tidy profit margin.

 

[Geoff_M]

Around Dec 15th a co-worker of my stopped in and said "Someone said that you know a lot about Disney World. I'm going to take my daughter to Disney and would like to know some advice." He said he'd never been to Disney before. I said I'd love to help, and asked when he was thinking about going. I assumed he was talking about Spring Break or next summer, but he replied "We're leaving Monday and will be coming back a couple of days after Christmas."

Basically, he'd done about zero research. He said that he was staying off-site, but had the hotel information at home and couldn't recall the exact name of the hotel.

I preceded to give him a 30-minute WDW crash course about ticket plans, fastpass, rope drop, told him about using WDW-DINE, and everything I could think of about surviving Disney at Christmas time.

The co-worker is from India, and was very surprised that Christmas time would be very crowded at Disney World. I stressed the importance of getting to the parks as early as possible, especially on Christmas Day due to the likely closures. He said "But Christmas is a religious holiday... I thought Christians would stay away on that day due to the religious observances?" I filled him in on the notion that it didn't quite work that way and that Christmas Day celebration was more of a family-time celebration then a time to head off to church.

I think I prepped him about as good as I could, and gave him my latest copy of the Unofficial Guide for some fast reading.

 

[Dax]

Combination of Christams crowds, people coming in for the bowl game in Orlando/Tampa, and there is a basketball shootout also this weekend..

The Perfect Storm so to speak...I will wait till next week to go back...when everyone is home

 

[focusondisney]

We encountered this several years back at Christmas. We came out of MGM after closing, a late night. We were trying to go back to POR. The line extended make to the main exit. After 2 hours of waiting for a bus we took a bus to the Tree House area. We walked to DTD and then bused back to POR all with small children.

It was late, we were tired but after 2 hours we just were beyond annoyed.
We talked to many guests the next morning that either walked back on the roads to POR or it took them 3-3 1/2 hours to get back.

Sorry, by now Disney transportation needs to have a plan for high capacity crowds. The transportation department needs a better plan.

Great point!!! This is Disney. This is transporting their own guests around their own resort. One of their major selling points: "complementary transportation". Christmas, Easter & July 4th crowds happen every year. Customers, "guests" should expect reasonable transportation waits. Waiting for hours to return to your resort is definately not reasonable.

We all have heard about increasingly rude guests. People are not as patient as they used to be. They are more likely to take matters into their own hands than they were years ago. So if the bus wait is too long, they decide to walk. The first party walks, someone sees them, they walk too & next thing you know, there is a whole crowd on the street. Plus, people get really aggitated if they feel like they are being held "hostage". I know that is a strong word. But think about it. You are ready to leave & you are stuck there for hours?!! Hostage to Disney transportation. I bet most average vacationers wouldn't even think about a taxi as an option. Wouldn't know how to get a taxi at the Magic Kingdom. Or maybe just can't afford it.

Now add to all this the increasing number of wheelchair accessable buses. I think these buses take fewer passengers. And take longer to load. At least that's how it seems to me after riding Disney buses for the last 13 years. So if you can get fewer bodies per bus but you still have to transport the same number of guests, you need more buses. So if you previously ran 3 buses per hour, now you need 4 or 5. I don't see that Disney did this.

Also glad we don't vacation at busy times. If I had to deal with waiting for hours to get back to my resort, I would never go back.

Hopefully Disney will start to address some of these problems. But I bet not.

 

[mhsjax]

We were there the week of the 11th and it was crowded then too. Christmas at WDW is pretty but we will never go back during that time. I'll stick to my after Labor Day time and love the 95 degree weather next year.

Hate to tell you but Sept isn't as good as it was. We decided to go in Oct and it was very crowded and it wasn't supposed to be. At MK, we left after the main closing but before extra magic hours closing. They didn't have enough busses or monorails running, we waited forever. One little baby was tipped out of his stroller by someone pushing behind the parent. Yes the child should have been strapped in, but who would think that some "person" would actually push a stroller hard enough to tip it over. People were not happy. WDW is really screwing up, they aren't providing enough busses, monorails for people to use and you end up waiting forever.

I have been going to WDW ever since it opened and for the last 8 years, going at least 4-5 times a year. The serivce is going down hill ever time I go, they are just getting greedy and really don't care about service anymore. We loved WDW, people would tease us about it, it is the only place we ever went. At this pont, WDW will not get another dimes from me. They are pushing everything to the limit. Also everytime we go, multiple things break. They need to get their stuff together. I can expect to see more and more of this type of thing happening, with the money you spend at WDW, you should expect more.

Sorry about the rant, it is a sad day as we have given up the mouse, he just is too greedy and the service and value not worth it.