Why are Disney Transport buses so bad?

[monorailsilver]

We were there 8/1-8/11 and while we only took the bus 6 times-RT AK and twice to DS, I thought the bus came per the app time.

But the boat to DHS was not running at 6am, made for a long, hot walk! Thank goodness the sun was not fully up when we started the walk.

But the resort monorail. We moved to the Poly later that trip and when we left MK at closing, OMg, torture! The express came 3 times before we saw a resort one. And when we did, people on the side pushed their way in when we were waiting longer (yes I know it happens). So myself and my youngest got out since my dh and other 2 kids couldn’t fit and we had to wait again. I really wish on park closing that loop would not stop at the TTC and/or they scan bands to see if you are staying at one of those high priced resorts or that you have an ADR. We finally got on but baracaded our bodies to the gas so no one could cut! And guess what, we got to the th TTC and it emptied out. I know stop complaining....

 

[Jestocost]

The problem with many on the DIS is they will never admit Disney's failures. The last 2 years we went to Universal over WDW and when we came back this year, we noticed how things have changed in 3 years. We still love WDW, but things have definitely changed.

Actually, the problem in this case would be if I made up a bunch of stuff that never happened to agree with the OP. Not discounting their experience or anyone else's, I've just never had more than a handful of bad experiences with the bus transportation in 30+ visits.

 

[MicroBeta]

Thanks for your insight. The buses are worse than I ever remember. The day we picked up at the Contemporary to go to DHS was horrific. I said to my wife if the bus ever had to slam on it's brakes their would have been major injuries, that's how jam packed it was. People were really pissed.

We were at WDW in 2002 their transportation was absolutely horrible. We spent so much time waiting for buses that last year when we read the problem hasn’t gotten any better we got a rental for our trip in November. Listening to complaints we overheard on our vacation only confirmed what we’ve read on this and so many other boards.

We’re staying at WDW again this December and we’re going to rent a car again. Traveling was so much easier. It also was less stressful and that's how vacations should be.

The problem with many on the DIS is they will never admit Disney's failures. The last 2 years we went to Universal over WDW and when we came back this year, we noticed how things have changed in 3 years. We still love WDW, but things have definitely changed.

All forums have them. The apologists who defend at all costs...even to the point implying others might be lying. We just have to ignore them and keep on discussing.

Mike

 

[kaytieeldr]

All forums have them. The apologists who defend at all costs...even to the point implying others might be lying. We just have to ignore them and keep on discussing.

Mike

Do you mean the posters who've actually had primarily positive experiences? Nobody is implying anything, but what readers infer is, well, their own interpretation.

 

[Disney Ron]

Actually, the problem in this case would be if I made up a bunch of stuff that never happened to agree with the OP. Not discounting their experience or anyone else's, I've just never had more than a handful of bad experiences with the bus transportation in 30+ visits.

I wasn't talking about you or anyone else in this thread, so I don't know why you're being so defensive? I'm talking about the people who attack others who would dare to post anything negative about Disney World. Just because my family saw some negative trends in our visit over the last 2 weeks, we still had an overall great time and will be back again next summer.

 

[Disney Ron]

Do you mean the posters who've actually had primarily positive experiences? Nobody is implying anything, but what readers infer is, well, their own interpretation.

kaytie, it's one thing to post positive experiences especially in a mostly negative thread and it's another to attack those who have something negative to say about Disney. Luckily in this thread there seems to be no attacks, but just people relating their experiences with Disney buses both good and bad. I have seen in threads over the years posters who say something negative get slammed by others for daring to give their negative opinions. There just seems to be many believe Disney does no wrong and are offended if another states they do.

 

[Disney Ron]

We’re staying at WDW again this December and we’re going to rent a car again. Traveling was so much easier. It also was less stressful and that's how vacations should be.

Mike

Mike we always rented because of the ease of transport, but because Disney now charges for parking our 10 day trips with rental and parking fees will add an extra 5-6 hundred dollars to our trip. This is why this trip we tried the WDW transportation instead and had horrible experiences which were echoed by others we talked to on our stay. So since EPCOT and DHS are our 2 favorite parks, we did a FD BB at BWI next summer so we get to avoid the buses for these 2 parks, then we only go 1 day on each trip to DAK and 2-3 days to MK so we will just do Uber/Lyft for those park days.

 

[MicroBeta]

Do you mean the posters who've actually had primarily positive experiences? Nobody is implying anything, but what readers infer is, well, their own interpretation.

When someone waits 40 minutes for a bus isn’t interpretation. It’s, well, fact.

There’s little open to interpretation. Actually, if we look at this objectively, if the buses are running on a 20-minute schedule and it takes ≈20 minutes to get to a destination (other pickups, drop-offs, etc.) then it wouldn’t take much to push the total time over an hour. Which is probably why all my ADR confirmation emails recommend allowing up to and hour and a half.

Some people aren’t really bothered by the long wait time. Others are. Especially considering how much they’re paying. IMHO, most people would prefer to not spend a couple of hours a day traveling or waiting...and, it appears it happens more often than not.

Mike

 

[MicroBeta]

Mike we always rented because of the ease of transport, but because Disney now charges for parking our 10 day trips with rental and parking fees will add an extra 5-6 hundred dollars to our trip. This is why this trip we tried the WDW transportation instead and had horrible experiences which were echoed by others we talked to on our stay. So since EPCOT and DHS are our 2 favorite parks, we did a FD BB at BWI next summer so we get to avoid the buses for these 2 parks, then we only go 1 day on each trip to DAK and 2-3 days to MK so we will just do Uber/Lyft for those park days.

We got lucky. We booked our trip for December before the parking fee went into effect. Otherwise, we'd be using Uber/Lyft too.

Mike

 

[snappy]

Thanks for your insight. The buses are worse than I ever remember. The day we picked up at the Contemporary to go to DHS was horrific. I said to my wife if the bus ever had to slam on it's brakes their would have been major injuries, that's how jam packed it was. People were really pissed.

The problem with many on the DIS is they will never admit Disney's failures. The last 2 years we went to Universal over WDW and when we came back this year, we noticed how things have changed in 3 years. We still love WDW, but things have definitely changed.

Truer words have never been said.

 

[snappy]

We were at WDW in 2002 their transportation was absolutely horrible. We spent so much time waiting for buses that last year when we read the problem hasn’t gotten any better we got a rental for our trip in November. Listening to complaints we overheard on our vacation only confirmed what we’ve read on this and so many other boards.

We’re staying at WDW again this December and we’re going to rent a car again. Traveling was so much easier. It also was less stressful and that's how vacations should be.


All forums have them. The apologists who defend at all costs...even to the point implying others might be lying. We just have to ignore them and keep on discussing.

Mike

Definitely. That ignore button is a lifesaver.

 

[snappy]

Delete

 

[cwis]

Remember that there are Disney Transportation cast members available at each theme parks bus stops, and in the resorts in the morning. If you feel you've been waiting for your bus longer than you should have, feel free to reach out to them and kindly ask if they know when the next bus will be available. While they aren't directly responsible for the schedules, they can certainly pass the information along than some resort is missing a specific bus for too long.

Also, another point that is often overlooked: bus do NOT “belong” to resorts, they belong to their destinations. All the bus to Disney's Hollywood Studios are based at DHS: they can go anywhere, but must return back. It absolutely does NOT matter which resort you are going to, as the resorts do not “own” the buses. This is the reason why, when you are at your resort, you might see multiple bus going to the same destination: it might have dispatched too many buses to your resort (or, guests with special needs have slowed down the first bus, and the others buses have catched it).

 

[joelkfla]

Also, another point that is often overlooked: bus do NOT “belong” to resorts, they belong to their destinations. All the bus to Disney's Hollywood Studios are based at DHS: they can go anywhere, but must return back. It absolutely does NOT matter which resort you are going to, as the resorts do not “own” the buses. This is the reason why, when you are at your resort, you might see multiple bus going to the same destination: it might have dispatched too many buses to your resort (or, guests with special needs have slowed down the first bus, and the others buses have catched it).

Basically true, but not entirely.

Especially in the morning, most trips run Hub1 - ResortA - Hub2 - ResortB - Hub1. For example, a Studios bus might depart DHS to pick up at YC & BC for AK, then pickup at AKL for DHS. Also, again mostly in the morning, some buses are assigned to larger resorts or groups of resorts where they wait until needed to fill in gaps, and return to the resort after dropping off at a park.

 

[cwis]

@joelkfla you are correct, I was saying this because some guests assumed that some resorts had “better” bus service than others, which is not how things operate.

You are right than buses in the morning operate a lot differently than later on the day. Bus might be shared for some resorts, re-routed to intermediary hubs, and Disney Transportation operates “on demand” mini-vans for some routes (such as when you're leaving MK too early in the morning). However, in the end, each bus still has a “home hub” and not a “home resort”. While this is inevitable that, every day, some resorts will have better service than others, all might change on the following day.

 

[seashoreCM]

"most trips run Hub1 - ResortA - Hub2 - ResortB - Hub1"

Greater efficiency is had running "rectangle routes" for longer trips. For example, in the morning, a bus loads up at a resort, goes a long distance to a park, drops off, then goes to a nearby resort to load up rather than return empty to the resort it first came from to repeat a back and forth route.

One consequence is that there are few or no buses scheduled for some park back to resort combinations in the morning. Buses would need to be run ad hoc to serve the small number of guests going back to the resorts in the morning.

 

[snappy]

[

"most trips run Hub1 - ResortA - Hub2 - ResortB - Hub1"

Greater efficiency is had running "rectangle routes" for longer trips. For example, in the morning, a bus loads up at a resort, goes a long distance to a park, drops off, then goes to a nearby resort to load up rather than return empty to the resort it first came from to repeat a back and forth route.

One consequence is that there are few or no buses scheduled for some park back to resort combinations in the morning. Buses would need to be "run as directed" to serve the small number of guests going back to the resorts in the morning.

I have had to wait quite a while trying to go back to resort from MK in the am more than once. I figured they were all out going resort to park direction. Thanks for posting the strategy.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Greater efficiency is had running "rectangle routes" for longer trips. For example, in the morning, a bus loads up at a resort, goes a long distance to a park, drops off, then goes to a nearby resort to load up

Which is EXACTLY what @joelkfla stated in his example: DHS to (nearby) YC/BC, to AK, to (,again, nearby) AKL.

 

[cwis]

[



I have had to wait quite a while trying to go back to resort from MK in the am more than once. I figured they were all out going resort to park direction. Thanks for posting the strategy.

When this happen, do not hesitate to talk to a Disney Transportation CM. The other day we were moving from the CR to the YC and decided to board the bus at MK. Turned out they were not running MK->YC, for the reasons mentionned by @seashoreCM. They've dispatched a van for us.

 

[joelkfla]

When this happen, do not hesitate to talk to a Disney Transportation CM. The other day we were moving from the CR to the YC and decided to board the bus at MK. Turned out they were not running MK->YC, for the reasons mentionned by @seashoreCM. They've dispatched a van for us.

Absolutely. There's supposed to be one or more cm's in the MK load zones in the morning, watching for Guests in the queue and relaying that info to the dispatcher, but it doesn't hurt to make sure they know you're there. Also, make sure at least part of your group is standing in the queue, not all sitting on a nearby planter.