Just returned - Disney bus service poor to modiocre at best

[SignguyTom]

Hello,

Just wanted to touch base on our experience with the Disney bus service. We stayed at the Boardwalk, so we took busses everywhere except Epcot and DHS.

One morning we were headed to TL, and in about 10 minutes, we had 11 busses show up. 10 were headed to MK totally empty. The other was going to AK/BB. Our bus took almost 30 min. to arrive almost totally full. Then it had to make 2 more stops. Jam packed to say the least.

Another day, we were headed to the Poly for the luau and waited for the MK bus for almost 40 min. When we FINALLY arrived at MK, it dropped us off at the POP Century stop, the absolute farthest stop from the gate. After allowing 90 min for travel, we were nearly late when it was all said & done.

Another evening, we were headed back from...umm...somewhere... and had to stop to pick up NOBODY at TL. AT 9PM! Duh...!

The rest of the experience was OK. I have used the Disney transportation system several times in the past and never remember it to be that mixed up and lame.

:twocents:

[Lynn J Mc]

Wow - I hate to hear that. Last May we stayed at the Contemporary and they usually had a guy at the bus stop with a 2-way that was helping direct bus traffic. Hopefully they will get it straight before we are there in Sept. I do hate the buses and that is why we usually stay on the monorail. Despite the fact that doesn't help with AK and DS but we spend the least amount of time in those 2 parks.

[EJS-Houston]

So sorry to hear you had such a lousy experience. Staying at All-Star Sports the last two times I've been to WDW I really can't complain about the bus service. The only real frustration was in hitting an occasional snag when we couldn't get a bus direct to Downtown DIsney (I can't remember exactly where we were coming from at the moment, but it wasn't from our hotel...must have been one of the theme parks).

[Tygger7]

We experienced the same thing during our trip in May. The only problems I ever had (before this) with Disney bus service as at POFQ over the 4th of July week in 2001. But, that's the busiest time of the summer, so I expect things to be crazy.

We were staying at WL, and while the morning bus service wasn't too bad, the evening bus service was terrible, especially at Epcot. One night, trying to go from Epcot back to WL, was especially horrible. We got to the WL bus stop about 9:45pm, after Illuminations. All of the deluxe resort bus stops were PACKED, yet the only buses we saw during the half hour we waited were for mods & values. No buses came for the deluxe resorts, and we finally gave up and decided to take the monorail to the TTC, then MK, and then take the boat to WL. We couldn't have cut it any closer....we got the last boat of the night from MK to WL. I have no idea why things seemed so out of whack & disorganized. Disney needs to come up with a better way to react to crowds at the bus stops in general. Why send 4 buses, one immediately after another, to pick up people for DHS when there is NOBODY waiting, yet the stop is full of people trying to get to AK. Doesn't make sense, but I hope they figure something out to make it better. It made for a lot of grumpy people.

[DNS]

We have had bus problems our last few trips. Not only long waits, also bad attitude from a few of the drivers. If I have to rent a car and drive to the parks, I'm going to be temped to stay off property.

[DisneyWhirled]

Hello,

Just wanted to touch base on our experience with the Disney bus service. We stayed at the Boardwalk, so we took busses everywhere except Epcot and DHS.

One morning we were headed to TL, and in about 10 minutes, we had 11 busses show up. 10 were headed to MK totally empty. The other was going to AK/BB. Our bus took almost 30 min. to arrive almost totally full. Then it had to make 2 more stops. Jam packed to say the least.



You must have been there around the same time as us, because, I specifically remember counting several empty MK busses while waiting for our DTD bus around 9am. There was a woman from the resort there, and we asked why we kept getting MK busses, and she said it had been happening a lot.

This was our first stay @ BWV and while I like the location a lot, I wasn't two enchanted with the bussing. Having to stop and Swan and Dolphin was very time consuming. And we won't even talk about how long it took to finally get to DTD.

[Imagineer1981]

I feel like the bus fleet has been reduced, and with the rising cost of gas, expect less bus service and longer waits

[Tinkerfreak]

We had alot of trouble when we stayed at the BC. We also waited a long time for the busses to arrive and when they did they were full because they stoped at Y&B, Swan & Dolphin and Boardwalk before getting to us. The same thing on the way back, we hated having to make all those stops before getting to ours. When we stayed at the Poly in oct./nov. last year we could not believe how long we had to wait for a bus to AK,DS & DTD. We waited almost 40 minutes. I would say we waited at least 30 minutes every time we took a bus from the resort.
We used to think waiting 20 minutes at the AKL was bad but since staying other places we have really come to appreciate not having to stop at other resorts.
I hear people talk about someone being out at the bus stops with radios to make sure there is not a long wait but I have only seen this one time and that was at the GF when the Poly bus stopped there one morning on the way to the park. At the poly we had to share busses with the GF and the CR.

[Olivia's Daddy]

On our trip last month, we had 2 nights at Pop Century and the busses were terrible. I think I was sitting for maybe 1 trip. I just chalked it up to fuel prices limiting the fleet. Then we transferred over for 5 nights at AKL, the busses were fantastic. 5 minutes was our longest wait and we had a seat on every trip. That may have been the best the busses have ever been for us.

[Ian]

This is why we always rent a car when we go.

It's funny, because the one and only time we relied on the Disney bus system was way back in like 1998 and it was so bad we vowed we'd never do it again.

But in the 10 years since then I've had occasion to use the bus system here and there a few times and not one single time was my experience such that I second guessed our decision to bring a car with us. It's always been mediocre at best.

Last October, John, Gary, Ed, and I had one of the craziest bus experiences ever where it took us something like 90 minutes to go by bus from Downtown Disney to Saratoga Springs. We had to go by way of like 3 other resorts, Magic Kingdom, and our bus driver never went above like 30 miles an hour. It was absurd.

[GrumpyFan]

I would suggest contacting Disney. It may not help much, but if enough people do it, then it could.

We've never really had any problems with bus service, other than a sleepy driver that scared us all. We reported her, after we got off the bus. Hopefully, they relieved her.

It's been awhile since we've stayed at Boardwalk, but the last time we were there, I remember experiencing similar delays due to the busses running to the other resorts on the Epcot loop.

I'll be there in 3 days at the Dolphin, then Pop Century, and will report back.

[ransam]

we have always stayed at a value resort, and I have always thought the bus service was excellent. As a handicapped person they are always helpful, friendly, and have gone out of their way and changed routes if we got on the wrong bus.

[Fryguy]

Not sure if this has any impact but I remember when we where there in December they where int he process of testing and switching over to a more automated dispatch system.

Perhaps this may have an impact because it cannot react to the changing needs of people.

Just a thought....

[Polynesian Dweller]

It is unfortunate that you had to experience this, but we've had the same experience as Ian. We always rent a car and travel to the parks and DTD that way because the bus service was often a slow and unreliable way to get around. With so many restorts and areas to service it will be difficult for Disney to always give fast service so we don't see ourselves going back to relying on it.

[LisRich]

Yikes! This is all very disturbing to read! We're staying at BWI for the first time this year and although we're doing Epcot and DHS more than the others, we are still planning on visiting AK, MK and DTD. How much time do you think we need to allow for travelling via bus to these places?
And would it be faster to walk through Epcot and take the monorail to MK rather than taking a bus from BWI to MK?

[thejens]

We were just there and stayed at the Poly. We used busses 2 days for AK and 1 day for the Studios. It was mostly fine. We did wait a LONG time one day heading back from Animal Kingdom. If my Mom didn't have a scooter I would definitely have driven, but that wasn't an option for us.

[DisneyWhirled]

Yikes! This is all very disturbing to read! We're staying at BWI for the first time this year and although we're doing Epcot and DHS more than the others, we are still planning on visiting AK, MK and DTD. How much time do you think we need to allow for travelling via bus to these places?
And would it be faster to walk through Epcot and take the monorail to MK rather than taking a bus from BWI to MK?


Don't worry, you will be fine. As many times as we have been to Disney, this is really the 1st time we had any real issues, and even then, they were not that bad.

To get from MK and AK from BW you are probably looking at a 15-20 min bus ride plus the wait time for the bus from the bus stop. For the MK bus, after picking up BW, the bus goes to Swan and Dolphin and then directly on to MK. AK bus usually goes to BB after picking up the hotels listed above. DTD goes to TL after the hotel pick ups.

With regards to your question about getting to MK via Epcot and the monorail, that would be far more time consuming. Unless you are already in Epcot and heading to the MK, I wouldn't advise going all that way.

FYI-it is quicker to walk to DHS and Epcot than taking one of the boats as they make a few stops after picking up BWV.

Hope this helps!!

[Ropachs]

Yikes! We stayed at CBR last time, in 2002, and had pretty good luck...EXCEPT...one late afternoon waiting for a DTD bus. Our wait was 1 hour, 10 minutes. There were so many people waiting we thought we wouldn't even fit on the bus if it ever came. We all made approximately 10 calls using the phone in the bus stop and they kept telling us they would dispatch a bus. Our DS was 3 at the time, NIGHTMARE. We're staying at the Poly this October mainly because of the monorail service!

[biggun35]

We were at POFQ last week and had a few bus issues in the morning but everything was fine in the afternoon and night. One example; on our last day I wanted to get to Hollywood Studios at opening for FP to Toy Story and waited for 30 minutes and saw 3 buses to MK, 2 for AK, and 1 for Epcot but none for Hollywood. There was a lady with a clipboard and phone that was keeping track of the buses and said that more people go to MK in the morning than the other parks, that is why there were more buses for MK. She could not tell me why there were no buses for Hollywood and since I was the only one waiting she couldn't call it in to dispatch. I gave up when 9AM rolled around and went back to the room.

[Ian]

And would it be faster to walk through Epcot and take the monorail to MK rather than taking a bus from BWI to MK?Unless you hit some of the worst bus service in history, taking the monorail would be much slower.

You figure first you have to walk through International Gateway, go through bag check and the turnstiles, then walk through the UK and Canada just to get to the top of Future World. Then all the way down through Future World, out the turnstiles there, and up to wait for the monorail. Even if you get lucky and it's waiting for you when you get there you have to figure that's at least 30 minutes.

Then it's a 10 minute ride to the TTC, where you have to get off that monorail, walk down, back up the other side, and wait for the MK monorail. I can't possibly see how it would take you less than an hour to do all that and I'd think odds are good you'd beat that taking even a very slow bus.

[tinkerbell04]

Unless you hit some of the worst bus service in history, taking the monorail would be much slower.

You figure first you have to walk through International Gateway, go through bag check and the turnstiles, then walk through the UK and Canada just to get to the top of Future World. Then all the way down through Future World, out the turnstiles there, and up to wait for the monorail. Even if you get lucky and it's waiting for you when you get there you have to figure that's at least 30 minutes.

Then it's a 10 minute ride to the TTC, where you have to get off that monorail, walk down, back up the other side, and wait for the MK monorail. I can't possibly see how it would take you less than an hour to do all that and I'd think odds are good you'd beat that taking even a very slow bus.

Those were my thoughts exactly.

[Ian]

Of course, there are some intangibles that I didn't mention in my original post ...

For example, monorail = awesome Disney experience. :D

Bus = going to work-like experience. :ack:

So you have to factor in whether or not a 60 minute trip consisting of a scenic walk through Epcot, followed by a magical monorail ride is better than being crammed on a stinky bus like cattle for 40 minutes.

[faline]

Sorry you ran into issues with the busses. While we've occasionally had problems, for the most part, it has been fine. I hope I can say the same after our next trip!

[pdrlkr]

We have always used the bus system and have had very little problems. We just got back from ASM last night and didn't have any issues with it. This is a very controversial subject on INTERCOT. Some people will never be satisfied with the bus system no matter how little the wait may be. On the other hand some people will never be dissatisfied no matter how long the wait. You have to make up your own mind on the subject. I personally can't justify the extra expense of renting a car when the bus is free. I can spend that money in the parks instead.

[meldan98]

When we went in 2000 during Xmas/NYE week, we never waited more that 10-15 minutes for a bus when we stayed at the Beach Club. We were told that the buses ran every 15-20 minutes.

We went again in Dec 2007, this time it was the first week in December. We were again told 15-20 minutes for a bus, however our shortest wait for any bus was 30 to 40 minutes with the longest wait of over an hour.

I guess my issue with the whole bus situation is setting the expectation. In 2000, we were impressed because they exceed the expectation. In 2007 we were frustrated because of the failure to meet expectations.

In the customer service world you should exceed a customers expectation and not under-deliver. If they know that it will 30-45 minutes for a bus, then they should be setting those expectations appropriately.

[SignguyTom]

It is interesting the gamut of experiences with the bus system.

We did talk to a cast member at the stop and she said that Disney had recently implemented a new GPS system in all of the busses and the drivers had to go where the GPS told them to go. So it would seem that the problems may be because the GPS system has not been properly set.

I would think, however, that the system could have been programmed better before they set it loose on the paying guests.

[Polynesian Dweller]

It is interesting the gamut of experiences with the bus system.

We did talk to a cast member at the stop and she said that Disney had recently implemented a new GPS system in all of the busses and the drivers had to go where the GPS told them to go. So it would seem that the problems may be because the GPS system has not been properly set.

I would think, however, that the system could have been programmed better before they set it loose on the paying guests.

I'd be interested in hearing some specifics if anyone knows them. This sounds like a fleet management system that reports each bus's position based on GPS coords to a central operation centre. That way you know where all of your fleet is and can re-route them quickly to deal with load. The system sends back to the bus where its next stop should be based on factors programmed in. So it would not really be GPS tracking that's a problem but the central routing software.

So, yes, it could be that the decision software that assigns the routing is not yet making the best decisions and may need tweaking. It usually takes a lot of time to get that programming right and may cause slowness and the odd multiple buses the OP talks about while the system is being debugged.

Since I have looked into this for a fleet if vehicles I would be interested if this is the type of system at Disney.