Busses...always this bad now?

we were just there last Jan and it was the worst bus service we ever had!!!

we bought into the DVC and were there at the CR for a breakfast from there we were heading to the studios--I counted 5 buses to AK none for studios plus other buses mixed in--finally one pulls in frollowed by another bus (cant remember where that one was going to) and then another studio while everyone is rushing for the first studio we just walked to the other and the bus was only half full
another time were waiting at the CBR while bus after bus is pulling in expect for ours finally a bus pulls in with both the front and side signs saying Carribbean beach

so I asked the driver where she was going she gives me an attitude and says what does my sign say--I reply in the same tone she used on me
CBR she never said another word and just changed her sign!!!!

yet another time we were leaving MK at closing the line for the CBR used 2 areas a bus for POP then about 10 minutes later another one for POP and we had alot more people thenn another one--finally I got mad and asked one a CM I was very impressed he actually went to find out when the next bus was due and found me in line to tell me turns out the 2nd bus for pop should have been ours

all these were on the same trip Jan 2016 I sent a comment about the buses that trip--someone from transport actually called and talked to my DH for quite awhile

hope next trip will be better!! still now were staying at BLT first time as members it will be nice walking to MK monorail to EPCOT and only taking busses to AK and HS and having to stop at 7 stops like at CBR
 
I was there from Nov 23-28 and didn't have an issue. I actually didn't wait more than 10 mins for a bus. I've actually never had a serious issue with the bus to the point that it sticks in my brain after the trip
 
I've had one catastrophic Disney transportation failure on all of the my recent trips.

Two years ago, we were staying off-site and there was an issue at the end of the night with the tram to the parking lot (i.e. no trams moved in over a half an hour).

So last November, during our MK-centric trip, we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge. But the day that we went to Typhoon Lagoon, our trip there took almost an hour (WL to Contemporary to Disney Springs to TL) and our trip back was worse (TL to Epcot plus 40 min wait at Epcot for bus to WL). I didn't realize that there was no direct bus from TL to WL in the afternoon and we only had our MagicBands (i.e. no cash) or I would have taken a taxi.

This September we stayed ONE night at the Grand Floridian. We were only going to the MK for the Halloween party and the curse struck again. At the end of the night, my traveling companion want to take the monorail rather than the GF boat. Partway to the Contemporary, one young girl who was more interested in her phone than holding on fell into one of the doors in our car and knocked it out of alignment. They made everyone get off at the Contemporary where we were finally jammed on to the three monorails later. This problem wasn't Disney's fault, but the CMs at the Contemporary station did NOTHING to help us.

We tried Uber for the first time during our stay at the GF (going to Disney Springs) and will ALWAYS have it in my Disney back pocket from now on. I don't doubt that if Disney truly wanted its transportation system to run smoothly, it could do it. But IMHO it doesn't.
 
We just consider it luck if the bus we want arrives straight away, and assume we must have just missed one if we have a longer wait. When staying at OKW we haven't had any major problems and thankfully we don't share a bus with anyone else, and have the boat option for DS.
 


This September we stayed ONE night at the Grand Floridian. We were only going to the MK for the Halloween party and the curse struck again. At the end of the night, my traveling companion want to take the monorail rather than the GF boat. Partway to the Contemporary, one young girl who was more interested in her phone than holding on fell into one of the doors in our car and knocked it out of alignment. They made everyone get off at the Contemporary where we were finally jammed on to the three monorails later. This problem wasn't Disney's fault, but the CMs at the Contemporary station did NOTHING to help us.

We tried Uber for the first time during our stay at the GF (going to Disney Springs) and will ALWAYS have it in my Disney back pocket from now on. I don't doubt that if Disney truly wanted its transportation system to run smoothly, it could do it. But IMHO it doesn't.

What did you expect them to do to help you???

I totally disagree. They want transportation to run smoothly because people standing at a bus stop or waiting at the platform for the monorail are not spending money.
 
At Disney now and the transportation has been horrible. Stayed at BCV first 3 nights never waited less than 30 mins for a bus or boat. Every bus we had to stand armpit to armpit. Not easy for a 6 yo to stand up riding a bus. Now at Poly and it has been just as bad. Waited over an hour to leave MK 20 mins before Wishes started. Watched the show from the boat line. Could see monorail line and it looked like it was having issues as well.
 


We never take the busses because it always takes so long and they're often too crowded. They really take away from the magic.

Instead, we take cabs between the parks and resorts. It's a lot easier and faster than renting a car, too. You don't have to park and wait for a tram - you just get dropped off right where you're going. It's great!

There are always cabs waiting outside of the resorts and parks.
 
We never take the busses because it always takes so long and they're often too crowded. They really take away from the magic.

Instead, we take cabs between the parks and resorts. It's a lot easier and faster than renting a car, too. You don't have to park and wait for a tram - you just get dropped off right where you're going. It's great!

There are always cabs waiting outside of the resorts and parks.

Just to clarify: You can't get dropped off right at the Magic Kingdom. You either need to go to the Contemporary and walk over, or get dropped at the TTC and monorail or boat over.
 
At Disney now and the transportation has been horrible. Stayed at BCV first 3 nights never waited less than 30 mins for a bus or boat. Every bus we had to stand armpit to armpit. Not easy for a 6 yo to stand up riding a bus. Now at Poly and it has been just as bad. Waited over an hour to leave MK 20 mins before Wishes started. Watched the show from the boat line. Could see monorail line and it looked like it was having issues as well.

20 minutes is their goal between buses or boats, so it sounds like in some cases they are off a bit. And standing on buses is the norm, there is more room for people to stand then there are seats. Maybe you would be happier renting a car or using taxis to get around. Nothing wrong with doing either.
 
Just to clarify: You can't get dropped off right at the Magic Kingdom. You either need to go to the Contemporary and walk over, or get dropped at the TTC and monorail or boat over.

For MK, we get dropped off at the light between the bus depot and the contemporary. When you get to the contemporary, make a uturn after passing the guard house and get dropped off along the side walk by the light. You will need to walk to the contemporary to get a cab from MK but it's only a 5 min walk past the bus depot and cabs are always there waiting.

We actually started staying at the contemporary to make going to the MK even easier and quicker.
 
Just got here today, and let's just say this is by far the worst I've ever seen the busses. We always come this same week, and have never had any major complaints before. As I type this, though, we are currently an hour late for our reservation at Sanaa and still trying to get there from Disney Springs. Service at Old Key West has been an absolute joke too. I'm wondering - are others having similar experiences, or is my experience today just an anomaly?

Bus service was fine on our trip in mid-July (a low crowd week), which included different resorts, the main parks, Disney Springs, and the water parks, and we really appreciated the new schedule screens. Sorry you've had a bad time with buses with the fall crowds.

The biggest bus complaint I have, which is unrelated to scheduling, is how long it takes for scooters to be loaded on the buses- that easily added another 5 minutes to each pick-up. I prefer the monorail and boats for that reason. Plus, I don't particularly enjoy riding buses at all, but when at Disney...

It's still very worth it to us to use primarily Disney transportation- so little worrying, no need to drive. I've had major commutes for work for years, and like someone else to drive us on vacation. When we want to go resort-to-resort across the WDW complex, though, we hail a cab.
 
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Just got here today, and let's just say this is by far the worst I've ever seen the busses. We always come this same week, and have never had any major complaints before. As I type this, though, we are currently an hour late for our reservation at Sanaa and still trying to get there from Disney Springs. Service at Old Key West has been an absolute joke too. I'm wondering - are others having similar experiences, or is my experience today just an anomaly?

If this keeps up the rest of the week, we will for sure go back to renting a car - something we haven't felt the need to do in 10 years of staying on property. For me it's not a cost factor either - I have more Hertz points than I know what to do with. I have just always been very happy with WDW transportation.

Maybe I'm just overly-suspicious, but I can't help but wonder if this is in part to encourage people to pay extra for Disney's new "express" service.
 
We were there last week and had great bus service all week except our 2nd day. Monday Nov 28th. We were at BLT wanting to go to AK for emh at 8am. At bus stop at 7am. NO BUS!! Meanwhile 4 HS busses came through and left empty - nobody going to HS that early. Finally a bus arrived around 7:52ish. Super annoying to get 9 yo out of bed & ready by 7am only to sit & wait. No excuse for no bus to the early emh park!!
 
We were there last week too and had great bus service. The only time things went pear-shaped was when we were going from CBR to Ohana, and it wasn't really Disney's fault. We left the room 90 minutes early for our 7:30pm reservation. We were on a bus by 6:20 but since it came from MK it had people from every CBR village - had to stop at all the stops before heading out to MK. Usually we're getting on first thing in the morning when there's nobody getting off so we leave the resort for MK after only 1-2 more stops, this was unexpected to me but I really should have known and taken it into account. Then we got to MK at around 7 just in time for everyone who wasn't going to MVMCP to exit, and of course some party goers arriving. The monorail was swamped. By the time we got to Ohana it was around 8, 30 minutes late. They sat us but not until 9. In hindsight we should have just Ubered. Heading back from the Poly we decided to take the bus and transfer at DS, I was going to go shopping and DH was going to take the kids back to the room. Well he ended up waiting so long that his bus didn't leave until I was heading back to the DS stop. It took forever! Now I know - never transfer at DS, lol.
 

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