Who do I email to complain?

[Magicstar]

Hi,

does anyone has an email adress to complain about the transport system?
It was a disaster and I sure will never stay again at a Disney Resort because of that transportation offer!

 

[simzac]

What exactly went wrong, if I may ask?

 

[I Love Pluto]

OK, vent. What happened?

 

[tjmw2727]

Depends on what type of transportation:
WDW Resort to parks?
DME - Airport transport?
Mears or other transport offsite?
etc

 

[Brian Noble]

I would send a written letter to the following address:

Walt Disney World Guest Relations
P.O. Box 10000
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

Keep your letter short, but specific---mention very early on that you had an issue with Transportation (and include where: between MCO and WDW? Between your resort and the parks?) You want that information right up front, so that the letter can be routed to the right people.

Be factual, rather than emotive---explain what went wrong, not how upset you are. At the very end of the letter, conclude with the observation that the transportation is not an asset, and is not a reason you'd stay with them again.

 

[Magicstar]

Thanks

Its about Transporation between resorts and parks.
It was so ineffective and slow. We often spend more than 1 hour to get from Riverside to the parks.
1,5 hours to get from Downtown to the parks. In my opinion its not worth the more money for such bad organisation

 

[Missytara]

I am curious, what week were you there?

I was at POR the week after Thanksgiving and didn't wait more than 10 - 15 minutes for a bus. Only one night, did I wait about 20 minutes for a bus back from DTD, because I knew I wouldn't make it for the last water taxi.

Sometimes I wonder the perception of time.

I was standing in line for the water taxi mid-afternoon. Two guys came up behind me and stood there for about four minutes (literally) and one guy said, "I told you we should have taken the bus; it would have been a lot faster."

Really..... "I told them if they couldn't wait more than four minutes, then they should be taking taxis for transportation.

Also, you mentioned it took you 1.5 hours to get from DTD to the parks. You realize that you cannot get directly from DTD to the parks - I assume that you were at DTD, took a bus to a resort and then transferred to a park. Then you would expect at least a one-hour trip or slightly more.

 

[bumbershoot]

I sure will never stay again at a Disney Resort because of that transportation offer!

You could do what we are doing; stay on-site and rent a car!

We've done both on this trip. Yesterday morning going to Epcot from Jambo took a crazy-long time, when there were approx 40 people waiting for the bus.

When hubby and aunt waited 40 minutes for an OKW bus (only to be picked up at long last by an SSR bus who dropped them at OKW after finishing with SSR), they were told repeatedly that their new system involved videocameras, and they would dispatch when there was a *crowd*. So the 50 people that just walked up to a stop will get a bus quicker than the 2 people who have been elsewhere for half an hour. OK, that's an explanation for that night.

But it's NOT an explanation for why there were two MK buses in a row, 2 or 3 AK buses and 1 or 2 DHS buses, and those are just the ones I paid attention to, with nary an Epcot bus in sight for 30+ minutes. ALL the parks opened at 9 yesterday (well one might have had EMH, not sure), there was no reason for such a wait. Their new system failed them IMO yesterday as well as the day also mentioned, for no good reason IMO.


The days we've driven, however, I have NO complaints about anything! So glad we got the rental car!

 

[Magicstar]

Also, you mentioned it took you 1.5 hours to get from DTD to the parks. You realize that you cannot get directly from DTD to the parks - I assume that you were at DTD, took a bus to a resort and then transferred to a park. Then you would expect at least a one-hour trip or slightly more.

Right. But to be honest. A distance on Disney Proberty, that would take about 10 minutes by car takes 1,5 hour by bus! Hello?
I mean, a huge area like DTD has no direct connection to the parks... and that is called Disney Transporation System? I can´t unterstand that.
Sure, they save money with that. But for the guests it was really unsatisfied

 

[clanmcculloch]

This is public transportation. Every site I've ever read recommends allowing 1.5 hours to get anywhere using the Disney transportation when you include wait times, load times, pickups at other resorts and traffic. 1 hour to get from a resort to a park is pretty standard. People who will be frustrated by this really should be renting a car and not relying on Disney transportation because it will frustrate you every time.

From DTD, you're lucky you got to a park in 1.5 hours. Disney WANTS that particular transportation to be slow so people won't park at DTD for free and then hop a bus to a park.

Again, this is public transportation. It's called Disney Transportation because they transport you from place to place. At no time do they ever suggest that they're the most efficient way; just that they're available and free.

 

[goofy4tink]

Right. But to be honest. A distance on Disney Proberty, that would take about 10 minutes by car takes 1,5 hour by bus! Hello?
I mean, a huge area like DTD has no direct connection to the parks... and that is called Disney Transporation System? I can´t unterstand that.
Sure, they save money with that. But for the guests it was really unsatisfied

There are varied reasons that Disney stopped running buses between DTD and the parks.
When considering the time spent on a bus, heading to a park, you need to remember that the vast majority of buses do not go directly to the park. they must make other stops. If buses were to run often enough to get you to the park in the same amount of time it takes to drive, you would see resort rates skyrocket. The resorts pay for the buses. It comes out of their budgets..to the best of my knowledge.
Disney transportation is not the quickest way from point A to point B..but it is effective. It is basically public transit.
It has never, ever taken me more than 40 mins to get from any park to any resort. The longest ride I had was last year...leaving Epcot, returning to OKW. Man..that ride was something else. But, OKW is very spread out, with mulitple stops and we were the last stop.
Yes, 'stuff' happens..even when using Disney transportation. That's life, nothing is perfect. But, write to Disney and let them know of your dissatisfaction. That's only fair.

 

[maxiesmom]

Right. But to be honest. A distance on Disney Proberty, that would take about 10 minutes by car takes 1,5 hour by bus! Hello?
I mean, a huge area like DTD has no direct connection to the parks... and that is called Disney Transporation System? I can´t unterstand that.
Sure, they save money with that. But for the guests it was really unsatisfied

The used to have busses from DTD to the parks. But then too many cheapskates would park at DTD to avoid the cost of parking at the theme parks, and the people who wanted to shop at DTD couldn't find parking spots. Talk about unsatisfied guests! It was a mess! The only solution Disney could come up with was to stop DTD to park bussing.

I'm not sure what happend if it took you an hour to get from POR to the parks. I have stayed at POR many times, and never had that problem. Wierd.

 

[Magicstar]

The used to have busses from DTD to the parks. But then too many cheapskates would park at DTD to avoid the cost of parking at the theme parks, and the people who wanted to shop at DTD couldn't find parking spots. Talk about unsatisfied guests! It was a mess! The only solution Disney could come up with was to stop DTD to park bussing.

I'm not sure what happend if it took you an hour to get from POR to the parks. I have stayed at POR many times, and never had that problem. Wierd.

We stayed there last week. And to be honest... the shortest time in this week for us to one of the parks was 45 Min. As I said... no good experiences at all.
Disney uses high rates for their resort hotels. So for me, I would expect a bit more service for that

 

[Brian Noble]

I've had a couple >1hr resort-to-park transfers myself. (As it happens, both from OKW, both to MK, and both in the same week.) The big variable is when the bus arrives. It's *usually* fine, but it *sometimes* isn't. I expect that such long (IMO too long) trips could happen at any resort, and it is worth letting Disney know when they do happen.

 

[Polydweller]

Its not really public transport. With real public transport you pay every time you get on the bus. This transport you get simply by going to Disney. And it can't be said its paid for by staying at a resort. Why, because you can use it just by going to a Disney park and hopping from one park to another and you can go to DTD and hop a bus there and move around. It just isn't solely part of your resort room fee.

In the 1970's and into the 1980's they used to charge separetly. To get on the monorail or a bus you had to buy a Wlat Disney Transport company ticket in addition to your admission ticket. And into the 1990's you had to show your resort room key to get on the boat launches to and from MK and it had to be a pass from on the hotels on the launch loop.

I guess they could go back to that and then provide more buses etc. but who'd really want to pay for that. So, it is a free service and it is not like regularly scheduled city bus services. And at very busy times of the year, like Thanksgiving to New Year, the waits for buses do tend to be longer.

All of this is why we rent a car and don't rely on Disney transit. We'll always get where we want when we want.

 

[tjmw2727]

Yes, the bus system isn't perfect but it isn't an onsite perk and if you do stay offsite next time be prepared to rent a car because most of their services are much worse. One or two buses to the TTC in the AM and a few in the PM is the norm.

For me one of the best parts of vacation is not having to drive so I don't mind a little extra time for WDW transportation. We do however put aside some $ for cabs when traveling to DTD or resort to resort. It's still cheaper than renting a car IMHO and I still don't have to drive

 

[bear_mom]

We stayed there last week. And to be honest... the shortest time in this week for us to one of the parks was 45 Min. As I said... no good experiences at all.
Disney uses high rates for their resort hotels. So for me, I would expect a bit more service for that

We were there last week and with the exception of two instances, we never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus/boat/monorail. We commented several times that our good luck would turn on us and we would end up with some horrible wait times, but it never happened.

One of our long waits was trying to get to the GF to MK and I later found out that there was a medical emergency at the Cont that kept the monorail from moving. Our other long wait was going from MK back to Pop at closing, we waited for 30 minutes for a bus (I had just happened to look at my watch when we got in line).

We did a lot of park to park transportation and did some resort hopping which required taking a bus to a park and then to another resort, so it wasn't limited to one resort.

Overall, I was very happy with transportation onour last trip.

Emily

 

[goofy4tink]

Its not really public transport. With real public transport you pay every time you get on the bus. This transport you get simply by going to Disney. And it can't be said its paid for by staying at a resort. Why, because you can use it just by going to a Disney park and hopping from one park to another and you can go to DTD and hop a bus there and move around. It just isn't solely part of your resort room fee.

In the 1970's and into the 1980's they used to charge separetly. To get on the monorail or a bus you had to buy a Wlat Disney Transport company ticket in addition to your admission ticket. And into the 1990's you had to show your resort room key to get on the boat launches to and from MK and it had to be a pass from on the hotels on the launch loop.

I guess they could go back to that and then provide more buses etc. but who'd really want to pay for that. So, it is a free service and it is not like regularly scheduled city bus services. And at very busy times of the year, like Thanksgiving to New Year, the waits for buses do tend to be longer.

All of this is why we rent a car and don't rely on Disney transit. We'll always get where we want when we want.

Not getting into a big debate here...but it is public transit. The buses are moving the public (albiet resort guests and park guests) around the area. Just because you don't pay each time you board a bus means basically nothing.

The cost of running the buses does come out of resort budgets. I can go to my DVC budget explanation and give you the exact amount that BWV pays each year for transportation to the parks. All resorts have this in their operating budgets.

I was there last week as well. I have never seen (outside of Thanksgiving weekend and the start of summer free dining) more people at WDW. It was just plain crazy. This was my 7th year going at this exact same time of year. BUT...I will say that I actually had better than usual bus service this time around. I didn't end up waiting for buses to come all that long. And believe me, when you stay at BW, you can face some long waits. But that wasn't the case.

On the other hand, I did get on one bus that had the bus driver chuckling. He told us that the couple he had just let out, at BW, had had a nice scenic tour. The driver forgot which route he was on and took them to FtW...not BW. The couple wasn't put out at all and just laughed it off. But I did hear of other similar stories..of drivers getting confused as to where they were going. I have to wonder if that had any bearing on wait-times throughout the area.

If you just miss a bus, you may face a wait of 20-25 mins before the next one comes..that's common knowledge. And I have to say that when you're standing there, waiting to get to a park, or back to your resort, that 20 mins can seem like an eternity. Then you add the actual time on the bus, making a few stops along the way, and you have what seems to be an extraordinarily long ride on the bus.

 

[Danibelle]

Right. But to be honest. A distance on Disney Proberty, that would take about 10 minutes by car takes 1,5 hour by bus! Hello?
I mean, a huge area like DTD has no direct connection to the parks... and that is called Disney Transporation System? I can´t unterstand that.
Sure, they save money with that. But for the guests it was really unsatisfied

The reason DTD does not go straight to the parks is because people would park there all day for free instead of paying the parking fee.

 

[Magicbus]

The reason DTD does not go straight to the parks is because people would park there all day for free instead of paying the parking fee.

No!!!