Here are the thoughts behind my statement of the Spirit of the bus system use by MYW ticket holders, and I am hoping that Tom and Nowellsl can see where I am coming from.
If the reports of DTD parking lots being significantly full well before the shops open are true, then it it reasonable for me to deduce that many to most of those vehicle are from people wanting to avoid the $8 parking fee, regardless of which park they are giong to visit. Also it seems Disney, in making the decision to cut DTD bus service all together for this reason, already did some research and possibly came to the same conclusion. Basically, if it happened before, it is probably happening now. People are creatures of habit.
Although not a majority of the population, many people hear ideas, such as taking advantage of the free parkeing at DTD, and want to try it out. Some are definately cheap enough to do this option, especially if the family is younger (I have friends that would be this cheap
) and can handle the hike. There are also those type people who will cut you off in traffic or use a right hand turn lane to get ahead of a slower moving lane, or even park in a handicaped spot just because they are that self centered. I would guess on any givien day at Disney, there are a hundred or so of the last group, a hundred of the middle, and a hundred of the first group (although maybe more of each). That is 300 or so cheaters riding the buses at the same time (park closing for instance).
I am wondering what the capacity of the DTD hotels are. If they are full during a heavy season, their best option to get to the parks may be to cut through SSR, instead of waiting on the three mini vans the hotel has acting as shuttles. How much of a load would you think that adds to the SSR busses? (I looked it up, all seven hotels have a combined room total of 3,725. We will need to multiply that by 2 if not more for an average guest count when they are full...wow, an additional 7,450 people potentially waiting for our bus?? wow...)
A main reason I said "spirit" of the transportation usage is because Disney has made a concious decision to NOT run busses to DTD, the DTD hotels, nor any other resort outside the WDW area. If they really wanted guests to use their one day MYW ticket for transportation to the theme parks initially, they would have made (and would adopt) more bus options available. Instead, Disney made a specific decision to CUT the transportation option from DTD. I do not believe CMs are giving the information to use SSR busses under sanction from WDW corporate office. I think they just use their common sense when asked a specific question (that SSR is now the closest stop).
Someone mentioned that people may park at DTD with the anticipation of visiting the stores after they leave the park. This is a possibility, but I have concerns on this theory. To begin, some major stores have an entrance on one side of the parking lot and the exit on the other. Some of our groceries have this. I have observed that most people park near the entrance instead of the exit, because they can only see the here and now and not anticipate where they want to be when they come out. My point is, by enlarge, I will speculate most people are short sighted. Given this, I don't think people are far sighted enough to realize that when they leave a theme park, they will want to do their shopping then. A few, maybe. Most, no. As such, I speculate they are there early am for another reason. I think it is more convenient to park at the theme park's lot and then drive to DTD afterwards, then to hassle with the busses just to do more shopping.
Disney would very much like those guests not staying in a WDW resort (or being an AP holder) to pay for their parking, thus the WDW company has made it less accomodating for those staying at DTD hotels or off site to use the transportation system until they pay for parking. That is pure observation, and I would hope you agree based on their cutting service to DTD. Thus, I doubt seriously WDW will once again reinstate the busses to DTD, and if they do, it will be in direct response to similar concerns voiced on this thread.
I hope anyone who disagrees with my points will at least be able to understand my thoughts behind it. It isn't malace nor an emotional thing. I simply am thinking of the potential capacity of the busses vs the potential capacity of people who may want to use them. As many others have stated, there is a possibility of the "Perfect Storm" to seriously hinder those guests who have possibly paid twice (once for the theme park tickets and once for dues) in getting to their hotel rooms after a day at the park or to PS reservations they have made due to those who do not want to pay the theme park lot fees or those who think their DTD Hotel shuttle service is inadequate.
Bottom line for me, it doesn't seem fair and I thought Disney was all about fairness. Not perfect, but fair.
Please excuse any typos in this long post. Thanks for listening to my side, I do appreciate it!
. How safe does that make it?
)
