Disney Transport Bus Drivers

Just wondering if anyone has had a really entertaining bus driver recently at WDW. I remember years ago the driver's being comedic and very social, really adding to the whole experience. My last 2 trips there I was unimpressed with the drivers and their lack of enthusiasm.

Has anyone had a really great experience recently? ; ???

 

years ago we were used to very social, even singing disney songs and leading the bus on a sing along. but that's a little hard to do these days between the english as a second language program, and i'm sure they have corporate spies on the bus to prevent driver distractions, what with the rate of crashes the last 2 years

 

We had one a few years ago who quizzed us on Disney trivia - rate of stock, Goofy is a wolf not a dog etc. It was a lot of fun. We'll be there the next few days, I'll let ya know what we get this time.

 

A couple of Christmas's ago we were going from the studios to POR and our driver had the whole coach singing carols all the way there

 

While I haven't used the buses much, I have had some very friendly and enthusiastic bus drivers, but I don't remember any of them offering up any trivia, etc. while they were driving. ;

 

None of the ones last week raelly said much - there was Disney music playing on the speakers and they only announced stops. I wonder if many of them have cut back on visiting while driving due to accidents?

 

If you miss the interaction on the busses, hop onto a boat. ; The Captains are usually very talkative and interactive. ; Had one on the most recent trip that the smoking deck at the front of the boat and then two steps to the left (ie... out the door and in the lake). ; And I too like taking the long way to Epcot. ; Hopping a bus to DHS, then taking the boat from there to the International Gateway. ; It us usually a very peaceful ride.

 

I've noticed that it's a lot more hit or miss recently. In the past it was a lot more common to have a very friendly and social bus driver. My younger brother is in a wheelchair when at the parks so we always get to talk to bus drivers. Within the first 30 seconds or so of interaction we can tell if the particular bus driver likes his/her job, or if it is just that, a job. Usually, my younger brother gets very well taken care of by the transportation cast members. The one thing that always upsets me about the buses is when guests moan and groan when they have to move so that my brothers wheelchair can be secured in the bus. It's incredibly rude and I can tell it makes my brother feel quite bad. I mean really, we are WDW, how are you going to be mad? ; Woh! Almost fell off my soap box. LoL. But overall, nothing but good cast members with transportation.

 

I don't mind giving up my seat for anyone as long as they are nice/appreciative about it. ; The only time I got upset over a wheelchair/scooter was one time that an elderly couple took both scooter spots. ; Then, even though the line was 30 people long, they had their family of 15 board in front of everyone that had been waiting 20 minutes. ; They took the entire back half of the bus and were very arrogant about being able to cut lines. ; Okay, enough ranting. ; Later that day I had a very informative driver (as I was the only one on the bus) and we chatted the entire way back to the resort.

 

I do agree that people do take advantage of family members who are disabled and that's definitely not right. The only attractions that we usually go through the lines on are obviously any attractions with steps or moving walkways, you know, the common sense stuff. I think there just needs to be more respect between everyone at the parks and we wouldn't have any problems. ;

 

Last year when we were waiting to board the bus at CS, a man man fell over in his ; Jazzy. I was amazed at how most people there walked away or pretended not to notice; I went over and helped the guy get back into his chair and made sure he was ok. A passing bus saw and the driver stopped to help- he could have kept driving (easily saying he "didn't notice" if questioned later).

 

my parents went with me spring of last year and told me that while they were getting ready to board a single mother tried to board with an infant and all the bus driver kept saying was that the stroller had to be folded up before getting on the bus. ; Now, I do not have any children, but have yet to see a stroller that folds up only using one hand (the infant was in the other). ; The driver nor anyone close to her in line offered to help (it was one of those park closing lines). ; She finally got everything on while crying, the bus driver finally called his supervisor. ; After sitting/standing on a crowded bus for another 10 minutes the supervisor showed up, helped off the bus and into a limo.

 

We had a similar situation in January. ; A foreign couple brought their 3 or 4 year old child onto the bus in a stroller. ; After the driver asked them to take the child out of the stroller and fold it up several times while they pretended not to understand what he was saying, the driver walked off the bus and called his supervisor. ; 15 minutes later the supervisor showed up and explained to them that they had to fold it up or the bus couldn't drive anywhere, so they finally folded it up. ; None of that bothered me until the supervisor showed up and we found out that they spoke perfect english. ; It really ticked me off that the wasted 30 minutes of my time because they tried to play their "no habla" game with the driver.