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WDW_Ding · Mar 18, 2018

disneysteve said:
if all onsite guests stopped using their own cars, Disney would need far more buses

Adding busses to offset cars would lead to less wear and tear on the roads, I'm guessing.

disneysteve said:
there would be a lot more Uber and Lyft and taxi traffic

WDW should make improvements to the transportation system that would make the need to Uber/Lyft lessen. On my last trip to WDW, I did take a Lyft from Disney Springs to the MK because the buses were running slow and we didn't want to miss the fireworks.

Side note: I told the driver to take us to the MK and he said he had to take us to the TTC. If I would have told him to take me to the Contemporary, would he have been able to do that? Does the Contemporary ban Lyft drivers?

disneysteve · Mar 18, 2018

WDW_Ding said:
Adding busses to offset cars would lead to less wear and tear on the roads, I'm guessing.

I don't know if that's true or not.

WDW should make improvements to the transportation system that would make the need to Uber/Lyft lessen.

One HUGE gap in Disney's transportation is resort to resort. There is no cheap or easy way to get from one hotel to another. The Minnie Vans have started to address this but the cost is insane, so Uber/Lyft is still the way to go (or your own car).

Side note: I told the driver to take us to the MK and he said he had to take us to the TTC. If I would have told him to take me to the Contemporary, would he have been able to do that? Does the Contemporary ban Lyft drivers?

As far as I know, he could take you to the Contemporary. The only issue there is can you change your destination after you book the ride? Your fare is based on the trip that you enter, isn't it? Or does the driver have the discretion to alter that? I'm not sure how that works.

WDW_Ding · Mar 18, 2018

disneysteve said:
One HUGE gap in Disney's transportation is resort to resort. There is no cheap or easy way to get from one hotel to another. The Minnie Vans have started to address this but the cost is insane, so Uber/Lyft is still the way to go (or your own car).

Agreed.

disneysteve said:
As far as I know, he could take you to the Contemporary. The only issue there is can you change your destination after you book the ride? Your fare is based on the trip that you enter, isn't it? Or does the driver have the discretion to alter that? I'm not sure how that works.

You can just tell them where to take you. I don't think that's an issue. I was just surprised when he said he had to drop us at the TTC because he wasn't allowed to drop us at the MK. Perhaps he was mistaken?

disneyholic family · Mar 18, 2018

and as another poster already noted - the buses no longer go directly to blizzard beach and typhoon lagoon.
You now have to take multiple buses to get there.
Very user unfriendly and a decrease in the quality of resort bus services.

dina444444 · Mar 18, 2018

WDW_Ding said:
Agreed.

You can just tell them where to take you. I don't think that's an issue. I was just surprised when he said he had to drop us at the TTC because he wasn't allowed to drop us at the MK. Perhaps he was mistaken?

Not mistaken. Ride shares for MK drop off at TTC. The only way to get dropped off right at MK is to be in a Disney transportation vehicle.

WDW_Ding · Mar 18, 2018

dina444444 said:
Not mistaken. Ride shares for MK drop off at TTC. The only way to get dropped off right at MK is to be in a Disney transportation vehicle.

Couldn't I be dropped off at the Contemporary and walk over to the MK? That would be faster than going to the TTC and taking the monorail....

dina444444 · Mar 18, 2018

WDW_Ding said:
Couldn't I be dropped off at the Contemporary and walk over to the MK? That would be faster than going to the TTC and taking the monorail....

You could but you would have to request the Contemporary as your drop off point. If you request MK to a Lyft or Uber they will only take you to TTC.

hertamaniac · Mar 18, 2018

We just booked our trip over the next several weeks opting not to be onsite this time. Instead, we chose to stay somewhere we've stayed many times before primarily driven by the economics of the additional $/parking fees as well as the reality/perception of the Disney choke-hold lately.

So, for us, the parks will still be just as crowded.

OKW Lover · Mar 18, 2018

WDW_Ding said:
WDW should make improvements to the transportation system that would make the need to Uber/Lyft lessen.

Disney has no incentive to do this. Improvements to transportation is an expense (or capital) that doesn't bring revenue. Letting Mears/Uber/Lyft fill in the transportation loopholes costs them nothing.

TCups4Me · Mar 18, 2018

Now that Disney has me questioning their motivation for certain things, do you think the security points at the hotels for the monorails were meant to serve the multiple function of a turnstile? If they do go with a transportation pass that you purchase for either length of stay or set # of rides, then this would work well as a point to tap your magic band. I’m guessing a tapstile would be installed on each bus and boat. Would the expense to add those make sense? Probably in the long run, depending on how much they charge.

disneyholic family · Mar 18, 2018

TCups4Me said:
Now that Disney has me questioning their motivation for certain things, do you think the security points at the hotels for the monorails were meant to serve the multiple function of a turnstile? If they do go with a transportation pass that you purchase for either length of stay or set # of rides, then this would work well as a point to tap your magic band. I’m guessing a tapstile would be installed on each bus and boat. Would the expense to add those make sense? Probably in the long run, depending on how much they charge.

the security points were added by their head of security. It was done in an effort to actually improve security (which is a very difficult nut to crack at WDW).

.

TheMaxRebo · Mar 18, 2018

OKW Lover said:
Disney has no incentive to do this. Improvements to transportation is an expense (or capital) that doesn't bring revenue. Letting Mears/Uber/Lyft fill in the transportation loopholes costs them nothing.

Unless it lets them jack up room rates like the opening of the gondolas will do at Pop, AoA, CBR, etc

KingLlama · Mar 19, 2018

That sad Sarah Maclachlan song from the animal commercials should play whenever someone opens this thread.

WDW_Ding · Mar 19, 2018

OKW Lover said:
Disney has no incentive to do this. Improvements to transportation is an expense (or capital) that doesn't bring revenue. Letting Mears/Uber/Lyft fill in the transportation loopholes costs them nothing.

Their incentive would be that lessening the use of cars by guests (by getting all guests to WDW transport) would lessen the money they have to spend on road upkeep, building new parking lots and garages, and all the other costs associated with these things (trams, etc.).

disneysteve · Mar 19, 2018

WDW_Ding said:
Their incentive would be that lessening the use of cars by guests (by getting all guests to WDW transport) would lessen the money they have to spend on road upkeep, building new parking lots and garages, and all the other costs associated with these things (trams, etc.).

I don't think the impact would be that significant.

Most guests don't stay on site.
A lot of on site guests arrive with their own car.
Decreased on site guest car usage would be offset by increased Disney bus and van volume.
They would still need all of the parking and road maintenance.

There is nothing Disney could do to make people use their cars less. There just isn't. Personally, we would never go to Disney without our own car. We've done it and swore never again. We hated feeling trapped and at the mercy of Disney transportation. We want to come and go as we please, when and where we want, without waiting 15 or 20 minutes each time we want to change locations. I don't care if they added 5 times as many buses, we still wouldn't use them.

WDW_Ding · Mar 19, 2018

disneysteve said:
Most guests don't stay on site.

Well, Disney does not publish this data, so no one can be sure. Most educated guesses put the number of WDW visitors staying onsite between 35-60%. The data just isn't available to say one way or the other.

disneysteve said:
A lot of on site guests arrive with their own car.

That's fine. Just park it at the resort and use the WDW transportation.

disneysteve said:
Decreased on site guest car usage would be offset by increased Disney bus and van volume.

One WDW bus has around 60 seats. It can also hold (I'm guessing) 30 standing passengers. 90 people on one bus is the rough equivalent of taking 30 cars off the road. I'm not an engineer, but I think this would save WDW money on wear and tear, saying nothing about drastically reducing the traffic in general.

disneysteve said:
They would still need all of the parking and road maintenance.

Of course, just less.

disneysteve said:
There is nothing Disney could do to make people use their cars less. There just isn't. Personally, we would never go to Disney without our own car. We've done it and swore never again. We hated feeling trapped and at the mercy of Disney transportation. We want to come and go as we please, when and where we want, without waiting 15 or 20 minutes each time we want to change locations. I don't care if they added 5 times as many buses, we still wouldn't use them.

There you have it. I don't want this to come across "judge-y", but you are biased against buses. I won't try to change your mind, or try to ague with you on a personal level, but just be aware that your personal feelings are coloring your opinion on whether or not WDW should invest more in the transportation.

And there are LOTS of things WDW can do to make people use cars less. For example, they could charge them to park at the resorts.

disneyholic family · Mar 19, 2018

WDW_Ding said:
And there are LOTS of things WDW can do to make people use cars less. For example, they could charge them to park at the resorts.

for example, make the system a lot less user friendly, like no longer having buses from the resorts to blizzard beach and typhoon lagoon so that now you have to first go to animal kingdom and then get a bus from there.

what disney is actually trying to do - drive people to spend $50 using their minnie vans....

.

WDW_Ding · Mar 19, 2018

disneyholic family said:
for example, make the system a lot less user friendly, like no longer having buses from the resorts to blizzard beach and typhoon lagoon so that now you have to first go to animal kingdom lodge and then get a bus from there.

what disney is actually trying to do - drive people to spend $50 using their minnie vans....

.

There are no busses from Animal Kingdom Lodge to Blizzard Beach.

I'm not going to do the work for you, but many of the resorts now require you to take a bus to Animal Kingdom and then transfer to the Blizzard Beach bus.

Jeff Laughlin · Mar 19, 2018

I can't believe I actually thought 5 or more years ago that Universal upping its game was going to force Disney to be more reasonable with its prices to compete. Boy was I wrong!

DVC_Dad_Canada · Mar 19, 2018

Most people that complain about Disney transportation don't take public transportation at home. We don't own a car, and take public transportation everywhere. The Disney system is fine. Sure there may be hiccups along the way, but if you're in a rush during your vacation, that's on you, not Disney. Plan ahead and you'll be fine.

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