Why I miss Disney's Express Transportation

[Junebugwv]

Loved the Express transportation! We used it multiple times on two trips and really enjoyed the convenience. We missed it the next few times we went and would look at the former entrances and say, "Wasn't that nice to walk in at Rockin' Roller Coaster?" "Wouldn't it be nice to stroll in near Safari again?"

 

[Paul Rodgers]

I cannot speak for everyone, but more myself, in which I'm fine with spending considerably more money at Disney than I would at other vacations, I would not pay the Minnie Van $20/ride fee for every time I wanted to park hop, even if it eliminated security and brought me ANYWHERE I wanted in the park. If you think about the cost of one week worth of express transportation for one person was $29. Let's multiply that by the four people in our group, making the week total of $116. That is less than six rides on the Minnie Vans. I'd use the Express 2-3 times a day. But the money spent on Minnie Vans for this purpose just doesn't seem feasible to me. (Hence why we Uber a lot if we're park hopping quickly to catch fastpasses).

 

[Paul Rodgers]

I cannot speak for everyone, but more myself, in which I'm fine with spending considerably more money at Disney than I would at other vacations, I would not pay the Minnie Van $20/ride fee for every time I wanted to park hop, even if it eliminated security and brought me ANYWHERE I wanted in the park. If you think about the cost of one week worth of express transportation for one person was $29. Let's multiply that by the four people in our group, making the week total of $116. That is less than six rides on the Minnie Vans. I'd use the Express 2-3 times a day. But the money spent on Minnie Vans for this purpose just doesn't seem feasible to me. (Hence why we Uber a lot if we're park hopping quickly to catch fastpasses).

So I wrote a letter to Mr. Kalogridis, the VP of WDW, and the VP of Transportation Operations (all the same letter) and heard back from Mr. Kalogridis office yesterday. A Guest services woman and I had a nice lengthy conversation on the costs of this service vs Uber vs Minnie Vans, and she said this going to forward notes to the Transportation team from our conversation. Great conversation! I wasn't complaining or demaing the option back, I just wanted them to know that I'd much prefer to spend the money on a friendly Disney Service rather than a random Uber Driver, and $25/trip in a Minnie Van is very costly and adds up quickly.

 

[cmarsh31]

We LOVED the Express bus last February. Total game-changer. We did so much more and loved hopping back to MK for a few more rides before walking back to CR. It made the value of CR even higher!

 

[jo-jo]

We used it for two trips.

The only issue we had was DH used a disney wheel chair and when we got off we had to get a new one ourselves at MK and Epcot. We never hopped into AK or DHS, so I don't know what would have happened there. At Epcot the walk was so long and we were so slow, for maybe 30 seconds we were all by ourselves. We left the bus as a group, but they got further and further ahead of us, until we were alllllllll alone.


We love skipping security with every hop, and we love love love the mile you save by not having to leave the park, walk to bus, walk back to park.


We never experience it during rain. But I would be annoyed if I crossed a park only to find it down. I remember people saying I paid for 5 days, but only got to use it three times because of rainy week.


Sometime ago I wrote to disney about the express bus and they wrote back about minnie vans. For our trip in May, a minnie van wouldn't work. We'd have 6 people with a sit and stand stroller and a wheelchair. I was told that all won't fit.

 

[KristinU]

We used it on two trips and loved it. We really thought it was the slickest thing ever. I really feel like they didn't advertise it enough and it really never got a shot at being successful/profitable for them. While I agree that we shouldn't discuss price hikes since the Mouse is always listening...I will say that *ahem* I'd be willing to pay a tad more for it if it was brought back. As mentioned, the price for park hopping using Minnie Vans is just too much and I wouldn't use it at $25 a pop.

 

[Dbktmc]

I never had the chance to use it but I know it would have been amazing for our family. I don't mind paying for the convenience and time savings of this service. However, it seems that hardly anyone even knew about it. I had numerous friends go to Disney while it was running and none of them even knew about the service unless I told them. Disney would really have to find a way to let the general public know that it exists. Heck, I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't read about it on these boards. If they do bring it back they will need to find a way to keep it running during rain storms. That seemed to be the ONLY complaint that really stood out to me. Please, Disney, bring back ET!!

 

[goofy4tink]

For me, the best thing about ET was not having to go through bag check again!!! There's no way I'm paying for a MinnieVan at $20 a pop....and still have to go through security twice. That's crazy. I'm also not paying $20 a pop to go from point A to point B within WDW when I can do it for half the price using Uber/Lyft.
I would happily pay a higher rate for ET. I think it was $25-27ish for a week? I would pay an addtl $50 to use that again for a week. Perhaps if Disney had made it widely known, more would have used it. I think a lot of people just didn't know about it. I saw guests asking where we were going when walking to the CM with the scanner for the bus. When we told them, they went to the CM and asked if they could pay for it then and use it. They were told that they had to go to a different area to get it. And those guests shrugged their shoulders and walked away.

 

[jo-jo]

While using the Minnie van to get to water park, I mentioned to cm, I really miss the express bus. He said it wasn't making any money since it was a full size bus with 6 people on it. I told him I didn't think disney advertised enough. Even when I knew I wanted to use it, I had a hard time finding it. Sounds like disney doesn't spend money on signage unless it's no longer a pilot program.

 

[vinotinto]

We didn't get to use it because it went away before we had a chance. We had hoppers last year and used them only once because of the time involved walking to the front of the park, getting to the other park, going through security and the entrance again, etc. It takes so long and so much energy to hop. I would have used this service.

Reading reports here, the biggest issue they encountered was that they could not run it in the rain or if there were thunderstorms in the area, for the safety of the CMs. So, they needed to develop this idea further so it could run as scheduled, but safely. Seems like they needed to set up some type of covered waiting area for the CMs. People who paid for a full week and only got to use it once or twice were not happy.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

I found out about it while we were there, but we didn't have Park Hoppers so we didn't realize how valuable the service could be.

Upon leaving, I wrote it down in our notes to ensure we took advantage of it NEXT time. Then they cancelled it... I hope they can find a way to make it work again ; I understand there was a safety issue with lightning and the loading areas, but surely there is a way to mitigate that?

 

[goofy4tink]

We didn't get to use it because it went away before we had a chance. We had hoppers last year and used them only once because of the time involved walking to the front of the park, getting to the other park, going through security and the entrance again, etc. It takes so long and so much energy to hop. I would have used this service.

Reading reports here, the biggest issue they encountered was that they could not run it in the rain or if there were thunderstorms in the area, for the safety of the CMs. So, they needed to develop this idea further so it could run as scheduled, but safely. Seems like they needed to set up some type of covered waiting area for the CMs. People who paid for a full week and only got to use it once or twice were not happy.

We never had an issue with rain, just lightning! And that was also for the safety of the guests. It's not so much a lack of covered waiting area, but more an issue of guests, as well as CMs, having to walk backstage in the open. It would be pricey to start making covered walkways from inside the park, to the outside, backstage areas.
I think the issue was more one of lack of use. I don't think we were ever on a bus with more than 8 people. If they started using vans, then perhaps it would have been more profitable. The other issue was that some people thought they could just walk up, and be put onto a bus. But, the buses ran on a schedule. And each park had a different time frame. So, if you got to the loading area just after the MK bus left, you had to stand and wait for half an hour! And those buses didn't sit and wait for stragglers. If the bus schedule had the bus leaving at 2:10, that's when the bus left. If you arrived at the check-in CM at 2:05, you didn't get on the bus. You had to be checked in, and then led backstage by another CM. Once that CM left with a group, that was it!!

 

[shoreward]

We never had an issue with rain, just lightning! And that was also for the safety of the guests. It's not so much a lack of covered waiting area, but more an issue of guests, as well as CMs, having to walk backstage in the open. It would be pricey to start making covered walkways from inside the park, to the outside, backstage areas.
I think the issue was more one of lack of use. I don't think we were ever on a bus with more than 8 people. If they started using vans, then perhaps it would have been more profitable. The other issue was that some people thought they could just walk up, and be put onto a bus. But, the buses ran on a schedule. And each park had a different time frame. So, if you got to the loading area just after the MK bus left, you had to stand and wait for half an hour! And those buses didn't sit and wait for stragglers. If the bus schedule had the bus leaving at 2:10, that's when the bus left. If you arrived at the check-in CM at 2:05, you didn't get on the bus. You had to be checked in, and then led backstage by another CM. Once that CM left with a group, that was it!!

The vans used for off-hour transportation from parks to resorts would have been more size-appropriate, based on the typical loads.

There were many requests for the departure times to be publcly posted, either in the parks or online, but that never happened. A poster on the DIS designed and posted a very convenient pocket schedule, though, that was very handy and reliable. With that schedule, it was easy to set up your FPs, ADRs, and other plans easily, keeping the ET's very reliable departure & arrival times in mind.

As far as the weather issue, I believe it was almost the same policy as pools closing, after lightening's detected within a certain number of miles from the pools. I used the ET on many trips, starting within a few days of its inception, into spring and summer. Maybe it was just luck, but I never experienced any cancellations during any of those trips.

 

[Paul Rodgers]

The vans used for off-hour transportation from parks to resorts would have been more size-appropriate, based on the typical loads.

There were many requests for the departure times to be publcly posted, either in the parks or online, but that never happened. A poster on the DIS designed and posted a very convenient pocket schedule, though, that was very handy and reliable. With that schedule, it was easy to set up your FPs, ADRs, and other plans easily, keeping the ET's very reliable departure & arrival times in mind.

As far as the weather issue, I believe it was almost the same policy as pools closing, after lightening's detected within a certain number of miles from the pools. I used the ET on many trips, starting within a few days of its inception, into spring and summer. Maybe it was just luck, but I never experienced any cancellations during any of those trips.

Out of curiosity, do you know the link for that pocket poster?

 

[jo-jo]

While using a minnie van this past week, I mentioned how much we missed the Express Bus. The CM said it was stopped because it wasn't making money. Full size buses were running with 4 people on it. I said I didn't think Disney advertised it enough. I never heard anything from disney, but from other people who had used it. Even when we had decided we wanted to use it, it took 10 mins to find where to sign up. I knew it was somewhere around Buzz, but where? Very little signage. CM said that's because it was only a pilot program. I guess disney only spends for signage after it's a "real" program. Not once did he mention issues with rain and safety.

I still don't understand the rain issue anyway. The other buses runs. I'm assuming the boats stop. What about the gondolas? Will they stop? If it's a matter of shelter, how much shelter is needed? I have not taken inventory, but does every CM disappear during a storm. I thinking of the ones that stand outside a building like Nemo or figment, are they gone during a storm? What about the stroller movers?

 

[shoreward]

Out of curiosity, do you know the link for that pocket poster?

Here is the location of the original 149 page thread for ET. The pocket schedule is located on one of those pages. Otherwise, the 1st post provides the complete schedule.

 

[FinnsMom7]

I feel like with TSL now open this service would be even better for me than I hoped to have tried it last year - just to be able to get into DHS quick and leave to another park would be AWESOME. especially for visits where I am only using a FP for RnRc and ToT - ohhh well

 

[shoreward]

I feel like with TSL now open this service would be even better for me than I hoped to have tried it last year - just to be able to get into DHS quick and leave to another park would be AWESOME. especially for visits where I am only using a FP for RnRc and ToT - ohhh well

To make you feel even worse, the boarding area was right next to RnRc It was so easy and a real time saver for hopping.

 

[Dbktmc]

I wish that we could get a Minnie Van right there. It would make Minnie Van even more valuable to our family.

 

[SgtTibbs]

A direct park-to-park transportation option is sourly missed.


Yes, meant to type "sorely" but "sourly" works just as well.