Disneyland Express Transportation

[Napoleon Dynamite]

If you used this service and stayed at the DLR, were you dropped off first or last? I'm confused after reading their brochure. Also, approximately how long did it take you to get to the resort during a non rush hour period?

 

[JBF1982]

We used the DL Express and were dropped off at DLH, first, coming from LAX, last September.

 

[BriannaRuth]

Yes, dropped off at the DLR first. How long it takes depends which airport you're flying into. LAX or SNA? I think when we took it from SNA it was around 30 minutes from the time we got on the bus and when we took it from LAX it was a little over an hour.

 

[Cholula]

All the buses go to the DLH first. There the ticket agent comes on and checks everyone's vouchers/takes payment. After that the bus goes to PP & GCH, then will go to any other hotels based on where the rest of the passengers are staying.

Coming from LAX, it tends to take between 45 minutes to an hour.

 

[Napoleon Dynamite]

Great, thanks everyone! I forgot to mention we are flying into LAX!

 

[JBF1982]

Sorry, forgot to mention it took about an hour, in Friday afternoon L.A. traffic, to get to DLH.

 

[Disney Dudette]

We used them a couple weeks ago... We were not happy with our experience. We got on at SNA heading to the DLH and we sat on the bus at the airport allowing more and more people to run to the bus to load on until every single seat was taken. We should have left the airport at 12:30 and we didn't leave until shortly after 1 o'clock. Never experienced this before using the DL express bus. In fact, last year when my mom arrived she got to the bus literally 1 or 2 min after the scheduled departure and they said they would not wait to get her on the bus so she had to wait 1 hr for the next bus. Rules sure must have changed! Now apparently they wait until the bus is full. People came running about 12:35 and begged to get on so they said okay... as they were getting on, here came another large group... And so on and so on. Eventually every seat was taken and they had to say no to the next group. The bus seemed a little run down, too. A few of the tvs would glitch and only worked half the drive, the a.c. clearly wasn't working, and my chair was broken so pretty awkward to sit. We were disappointed because we've always had such positive experiences!

 

[bumbershoot]

They changed ownership in the last 6 months, which would likely account for the differences.

 

[Napoleon Dynamite]

We used them a couple weeks ago... We were not happy with our experience. We got on at SNA heading to the DLH and we sat on the bus at the airport allowing more and more people to run to the bus to load on until every single seat was taken. We should have left the airport at 12:30 and we didn't leave until shortly after 1 o'clock. Never experienced this before using the DL express bus. In fact, last year when my mom arrived she got to the bus literally 1 or 2 min after the scheduled departure and they said they would not wait to get her on the bus so she had to wait 1 hr for the next bus. Rules sure must have changed! Now apparently they wait until the bus is full. People came running about 12:35 and begged to get on so they said okay... as they were getting on, here came another large group... And so on and so on. Eventually every seat was taken and they had to say no to the next group. The bus seemed a little run down, too. A few of the tvs would glitch and only worked half the drive, the a.c. clearly wasn't working, and my chair was broken so pretty awkward to sit. We were disappointed because we've always had such positive experiences!

That stinks! But that is exactly how Disney's Magical Express is in Florida, annoying, I know!

I just bought our tickets. I don't want to rent a car since we are ONLY doing DL, and I feel like the "Disney bus" makes it all part of the experience for this trip for my son...weird I know LOL

 

[Disney Dudette]

I totally get what you mean!! That's why we use the dl express bus, too! I hope your trip goes smooth and is a positive, enjoyable experience! Maybe we just hit a random not-so-good experience!

 

[Napoleon Dynamite]

I totally get what you mean!! That's why we use the dl express bus, too! I hope your trip goes smooth and is a positive, enjoyable experience! Maybe we just hit a random not-so-good experience!

Thanks! I hope so too!

 

[BriannaRuth]

Last time we took them was this past August -- they definitely were not waiting on anyone, even though the bus was only about 1/4 full. I thought this was most likely because waiting would make them late for picking up guests returning to the airport. However, our bus also did not have A/C so it was a miserable trip. I was hoping that was a one time thing ...

 

[Karen Parker]

We used them a couple weeks ago... We were not happy with our experience. We got on at SNA heading to the DLH and we sat on the bus at the airport allowing more and more people to run to the bus to load on until every single seat was taken. We should have left the airport at 12:30 and we didn't leave until shortly after 1 o'clock. Never experienced this before using the DL express bus. In fact, last year when my mom arrived she got to the bus literally 1 or 2 min after the scheduled departure and they said they would not wait to get her on the bus so she had to wait 1 hr for the next bus. Rules sure must have changed! Now apparently they wait until the bus is full. People came running about 12:35 and begged to get on so they said okay... as they were getting on, here came another large group... And so on and so on. Eventually every seat was taken and they had to say no to the next group. The bus seemed a little run down, too. A few of the tvs would glitch and only worked half the drive, the a.c. clearly wasn't working, and my chair was broken so pretty awkward to sit. We were disappointed because we've always had such positive experiences!

The Disneyland Resort Express is a scheduled bus service. This means it runs on a set schedule. Our buses are not supposed to wait for more passengers after that 12:30 departure from SNA. Especially since there is another bus that will arrive at 1pm to load and depart at 1: 30pm. Perhaps that was the bus you got on. Please contact our office when you have these issues. Feedback is greatly appreciated and one of the things we use to make improvements. Thanks for posting.

 

[BriannaRuth]

Karen Parker, nice to see someone from DRE posting here. What's the situation with the air conditioning and upkeep of your busses currently? The bus I took last year was definitely the DRE, not the "knock off" and it had no A/C. I've also seen recent reviews on Yelp indicating non-working TVs. Hopefully the situation has been fixed because we've taken the DRE for years before the change from Gray Line and would like to continue in the future, but only if the busses are in good shape.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Interesting; when we've stayed at the GCH, we've always been dropped off first. When being picked up to go back to the airport, we go GCH to DLH though.

 

[Karen Parker]

Karen Parker, nice to see someone from DRE posting here. What's the situation with the air conditioning and upkeep of your busses currently? The bus I took last year was definitely the DRE, not the "knock off" and it had no A/C. I've also seen recent reviews on Yelp indicating non-working TVs. Hopefully the situation has been fixed because we've taken the DRE for years before the change from Gray Line and would like to continue in the future, but only if the busses are in good shape.

To be perfectly honest, we went through some transitioning last year and had to stretch buses between our Sightseeing Tour Service. Since Jan 2017, we no longer do sightseeing tours and are now focusing on the DRE and Charter Coaches. Last year we had to use buses that were also used for tours and that probably showed in some of the quality of those buses. We don't have to do that anymore. In response to the TV's: Disney has not given us the "Rights" to show their movies on our buses. Occasionally a driver will put in a children's movie, but due to the "rights" issue it is discouraged. I am trying to at least get a promotional video from Disney, specifically Walt Disney Travel to play on the buses. I know that doesn't sound entertaining, but they have great promo videos that are fun to watch and give you info for all the fun stuff to see at the parks. Now to address the AC. When the weather gets over 95 degrees, large buses always have a problem sustaining the AC. It has always been a problem in the busing industry. On those days, when the AC is used up and needs a break, we try to switch out those buses. We definitely do not want our guests to have to put up with that and our drivers will certainly bring those buses to our yard (in Anaheim) to switch them out, as they don't like to drive a hot bus. It's not always recommended to respond to a post in this manner, but I personally believe that by being up front and honest, we can get better feedback and make the service great again.

 

[Karen Parker]

Interesting; when we've stayed at the GCH, we've always been dropped off first. When being picked up to go back to the airport, we go GCH to DLH though.

You were probably dropped off at DGCH because there were no passengers to be dropped of at The Disneyland Hotel. The DRE goes from the airports directly to The Disneyland Hotel, then Paradise Pier, then DGCH. But if we have no passengers for DLH or DPP we would drop off at DGC. After that we drop off any passengers left for any of the Good Neighbor Hotels.

 

[greewe]

When I look online, I am only seeing one way reservations from the airport to the hotel. Can I not reserve one way from the hotel to the airport?

 

[Karen Parker]

Absolutely!! Please be patient with us, we are re-vamping the website. But, I love your feedback because I can ask the programmers to change things to make it more user friendly. For now, it doesn't matter which way you choose for round trip as the first leg of your journey. The ticket agents will accept an outbound or an inbound ticket. They are both the same price and we just want to see that both trips are paid for.

 

[greewe]

Absolutely!! Please be patient with us, we are re-vamping the website. But, I love your feedback because I can ask the programmers to change things to make it more user friendly. For now, it doesn't matter which way you choose for round trip as the first leg of your journey. The ticket agents will accept an outbound or an inbound ticket. They are both the same price and we just want to see that both trips are paid for.

Thank you!