New Express Transportation: $19/day or $29/week-SERVICE ENDING AUGUST 23RD 2017

[shoreward]

Hey now, no need to go bringing logic into this to spoil my fun!

Nah, I get that. Although I've never gotten "I really enjoyed reading this it was really well written" before. I've gotten "thanks for the email we'll pass it along."

I did not mean to "spoil your fun." You probably did have very worthwhile points in your message. However, just to let you know, I was told that my email was "excellent," and would be passed on to leadership. Yours must have been better than mine, though. I didn't get any extra FPs!

 

[jo-jo]

Add me to the list of those sending emails.

I had pointed out only hearing about it from a non-disney website and even though I knew the entrance was somewhere around Buzz, I still had to hunt for it. I gave the suggestion that it should be mentioned on the magical express buses on the way to the resorts.

And I got the email thanking me and saying they now have the minnie vans, etc.

 

[EdmondD]

I plan to be on the LAST express transportation bus on Wed the 23rd, late in the evening, from MK to HS. I will take pictures and post them here.

I'm going to take lots of video also and I know some CMs who worked the service are planning a big get-together, so I'm sure that combined we'll have a huge social media presence. LET'S GET THIS TRENDING. It's momentous - I mean, think about the hundreds of people who for literally dozens of weeks enjoyed this as part of our Disney lives.

There will no doubt be some tears shed! Express bus has been a backdrop of the WDW experience as much as the TTC. I remember watching my son go from 6 to 6 1/2 over the weeks we rode this equivalent of E-ticket transportation. I have framed on my office wall a Memory Maker picture of us boarding it once. We were one of the few lucky ones who got to take part in the Express Bus Service Dessert Party that one Saturday it was offered...a ride not to be forgotten! And let's not forget all the darling young (and old) couples who got engaged kneeling right in front of these busses! HERE COME THE WATERWORKS.

Farewell express bus service. I look forward to the commemorative pin set.

 

[Disney & ME]

Sounds like we're in the same boat - I totally feel your anxiety! My sister and I are going together for food & wine (in our 30s and 40s). She's only been to WDW once before, 8 years ago, and never to Food & Wine. I go more often, so I've tasked myself with planning a great trip for us. We want to enjoy as much food & wine fest as possible, but still want to do things at all the parks, so my schedule is pretty heavy on hopping around...I was counting on Express to make that much easier.

Now I'm revisiting our itinerary to see if I can cut down on hopping, but we have to choose our fastpasses very soon, so I'm feeling the pressure.

I hope you have a great trip!

I too can relate. Going to F&W with my sister and BFF. The last time we did F&W my sister rebelled about all the hopping by the second day! This year I was hoping to use the ET to avoid the security and get inside the park to limit some walking. I guess we will be driving to several parks now (when we don't have F&W events) but will still have to deal with security unfortunately.

 

[SaraVee]

I too can relate. Going to F&W with my sister and BFF. The last time we did F&W my sister rebelled about all the hopping by the second day! This year I was hoping to use the ET to avoid the security and get inside the park to limit some walking. I guess we will be driving to several parks now (when we don't have F&W events) but will still have to deal with security unfortunately.

I so wish they would have at least kept it running at least until food & wine is over. I'm sure there are many of us who plan a special trip just for F&W, and I bet we do more hopping than the average guest at other times of year. Epcot is my favorite park, but I don't want to spend all day there everyday just because of F&W. I want to pop in around mealtimes and then go elsewhere. While I adjusted my itinerary slightly, I still plan on hopping...it's just going to be more time-consuming than I'd hoped.

 

[pammydw]

So, I sent an email, and I got a response. Can't tell if it's a "canned" response, but... here's what they said. My email is under theirs. Sounds like the Minnie Van service is what is gold now.


Dear Pam,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts regarding the recently announced changes to our transportation offerings.

We continually evaluate and adjust our offerings based on a variety of factors, including feedback from our Guests. We have found that while Guests who used Express Transportation enjoyed the convenience, more Guests preferred other forms of transportation.

We have recently started offering Minnie Van service through a collaboration with rideshare service, Lyft. With Minnie Van service, Disney Cast Members will whisk you away to wherever you want to be at the Walt Disney World Resort . This service accommodates up to six guests and provides two versatile car seats so even the tiniest of passengers can travel in style! Additionally, we are eagerly preparing for the Disney Skyliner, which will give Guests a bird's-eye view of the Walt Disney World Resort as they travel between Disney's Art of Animation Resort, Disney's Pop Century Resort, Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and the International Gateway at Epcot in gondolas featuring favorite Disney Characters. These new services, in conjunction with our existing transportation offerings, will continue to provide our Guests with a variety of ways to travel between our Theme Parks and Resorts.

Our Guests’ feedback is important to us, and you may be assured your comments have been thoroughly reviewed.


Best Regards,



Lindsay Hawkins

Guest Experience Services

Walt Disney World Resort


Original Message Follows:

------------------------
To whom it may concern,

I was displeased to read today that Disney was putting an end to the Express Transportation Service. We are visiting WDW this coming November 29- December 3, and are staying at the Contemporary. We had every intention on purchasing the multi-day express transportation ticket for this trip. We are Park hoppers, and were looking forward to this awesome service. Plus, my daughter was looking forward to seeing some "behind the scenes" type atmosphere. We are really disappointed that Disney plans to discontinue this service to its guests.

I have another trip planned for March 5-9, for the flower and garden show. For this trip, my mom and I are traveling down and we are staying at the Beach Club Resort. We haven't been to WDW together since 1983. My mom is an avid gardener, and we are really looking forward to making this trip together. Again, I was very disappointed that I will not be able to add this service to our trip. My mom had arthritis in her ribs, and has a bad knee, so anything I could do to make this trip a little more bearable, I planned to do (I have already rented her a scooter), but just the convenience of this service would have been lovely to have.

I hope that you, the folks at Disney, do one of two things; 1) bring this express Transportation back, or 2) expand on what was already a great service and make it even better.

Please feel free to forward this concerned patron email to whomever it will do any good to read.

Thank you for your time,

Regards,


Pam Whetzel

Lifetime Disney Supporter

 

[jo-jo]

So, I sent an email, and I got a response. Can't tell if it's a "canned" response, but... here's what they said. My email is under theirs. Sounds like the Minnie Van service is what is gold now.


Dear Pam,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts regarding the recently announced changes to our transportation offerings.

We continually evaluate and adjust our offerings based on a variety of factors, including feedback from our Guests. We have found that while Guests who used Express Transportation enjoyed the convenience, more Guests preferred other forms of transportation.

We have recently started offering Minnie Van service through a collaboration with rideshare service, Lyft. With Minnie Van service, Disney Cast Members will whisk you away to wherever you want to be at the Walt Disney World Resort . This service accommodates up to six guests and provides two versatile car seats so even the tiniest of passengers can travel in style! Additionally, we are eagerly preparing for the Disney Skyliner, which will give Guests a bird's-eye view of the Walt Disney World Resort as they travel between Disney's Art of Animation Resort, Disney's Pop Century Resort, Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and the International Gateway at Epcot in gondolas featuring favorite Disney Characters. These new services, in conjunction with our existing transportation offerings, will continue to provide our Guests with a variety of ways to travel between our Theme Parks and Resorts.

Our Guests’ feedback is important to us, and you may be assured your comments have been thoroughly reviewed.


Best Regards,



Lindsay Hawkins

Guest Experience Services

Walt Disney World Resort


Original Message Follows:

------------------------
To whom it may concern,

I was displeased to read today that Disney was putting an end to the Express Transportation Service. We are visiting WDW this coming November 29- December 3, and are staying at the Contemporary. We had every intention on purchasing the multi-day express transportation ticket for this trip. We are Park hoppers, and were looking forward to this awesome service. Plus, my daughter was looking forward to seeing some "behind the scenes" type atmosphere. We are really disappointed that Disney plans to discontinue this service to its guests.

I have another trip planned for March 5-9, for the flower and garden show. For this trip, my mom and I are traveling down and we are staying at the Beach Club Resort. We haven't been to WDW together since 1983. My mom is an avid gardener, and we are really looking forward to making this trip together. Again, I was very disappointed that I will not be able to add this service to our trip. My mom had arthritis in her ribs, and has a bad knee, so anything I could do to make this trip a little more bearable, I planned to do (I have already rented her a scooter), but just the convenience of this service would have been lovely to have.

I hope that you, the folks at Disney, do one of two things; 1) bring this express Transportation back, or 2) expand on what was already a great service and make it even better.

Please feel free to forward this concerned patron email to whomever it will do any good to read.

Thank you for your time,

Regards,


Pam Whetzel

Lifetime Disney Supporter

I got the same response with a different name, David was my disney person.

 

[DisneyKoolaid]

Hopefully someone already commented this but today (the 22nd) is actually the last day, not the 23rd (as it says in the title)

Not that it probably matters, because no one would be able to use it on the 23rd since the last day to buy a 7 day pass was in the 16th -_-

On a bus from MK to DAK and this is the most packed it's been for me these past 2 weeks (4 people total including myself)

 

[shoreward]

Farewell, Express Transportation. It was great, while it lasted.

Thanks for having us along for the ride.

 

[shoreward]

Guest Services indicated that they received many messages regarding the discontinuation of service. There were comments regarding lack of promotion and suggestions for improvement. This information was sent on to leadership for review and consideration. The CM did not know if service was considered "suspended" or eliminated.

Here's hoping it returns as version 2.0!

 

[jo-jo]

Guest Services indicated that they received many messages regarding the discontinuation of service. There were comments regarding lack of promotion and suggestions for improvement. This information was sent on to leadership for review and consideration. The CM did not know if service was considered "suspended" or eliminated.

Here's hoping it returns as version 2.0!

Here's hoping for a new version. We only used it for a few times, but just for the steps saved from going back and forth, I'll miss it. Glad I reserved a wheelchair from offsite for DH. He'll need it for waiting for the buses lines.

 

[FastPasser.]

The CM did not know if service was considered "suspended" or eliminated.

That GR CM should read the internal CM website or "Orlando Theme Park News". The Advisory, which OTPN re-posted almost word for word, shows that the words suspended or suspend were used in the original announcement.

 

[ReginaRJ]

I hope so! I also send an email with my complains! Let's keep this !!!

 

[ShannyDoesDisney]

I wrote them an email with my complaints when I first saw they were cancelling and had my sister do the same. We are headed to WDW in Jan 18 for the first time and I was so excited to use this service. Skipping the security wait or taking it from HS/AK to MK/Epcot to take the monorail back to the Poly sounded amazing. I hope that by the time we go at least the Minnie Vans will be at more resorts. =)

 

[jo-jo]

I wrote them an email with my complaints when I first saw they were cancelling and had my sister do the same. We are headed to WDW in Jan 18 for the first time and I was so excited to use this service. Skipping the security wait or taking it from HS/AK to MK/Epcot to take the monorail back to the Poly sounded amazing. I hope that by the time we go at least the Minnie Vans will be at more resorts. =)

But the minnie vans aren't the same. Better than just the regular buses, but a far cry from the express bus.

I'm hoping since they tried it for several months and have the basics down, with all the comments coming in they could start it up again pretty quickly. Just get the word out more and I'm sure it would pick up. I know others have said seeing a flyer somewhere, but this is the only place I heard about it. We had stayed at two DVCs in May and didn't see anything in the rooms. I mentioned in my email having it mentioned on the magical express bus would be a great place to share it.

 

[Spacecow]

Guest Services indicated that they received many messages regarding the discontinuation of service. There were comments regarding lack of promotion and suggestions for improvement. This information was sent on to leadership for review and consideration. The CM did not know if service was considered "suspended" or eliminated.

Here's hoping it returns as version 2.0!

Crossing my fingers for this! I hope it comes back, it was such a lifesaver. And if they take the time to listen to feedback it could be even better. Wishful thinking maybe, but I'm hopeful. Or maybe I'm just still in denial about having to deal with regular buses for parkhopping on future trips.

 

[monique5]

Crossing my fingers for this! I hope it comes back, it was such a lifesaver. And if they take the time to listen to feedback it could be even better. Wishful thinking maybe, but I'm hopeful. Or maybe I'm just still in denial about having to deal with regular buses for parkhopping on future trips.

I was looking forward to this for our December trip. Made several plans, ADRs, entertainment based on utilizing this service.

EDIT: Just sent email expressing disappointment.

 

[ktkerber]

I also just sent an email. We had planned to use this on two upcoming trips. I'm so disappointed that they discontinued this service. I really feel the same as many of you that this was not well advertised or marketed. I know several frequent Disney visitors and I was the only one who knew anything about the Express Transportation.
Hoping they change their mind...maybe they will utilize all of the comments and bring it back. Minnie vans, Skyliner and regular buses do not provide a comparable service.

 

[jo-jo]

I also just sent an email. We had planned to use this on two upcoming trips. I'm so disappointed that they discontinued this service. I really feel the same as many of you that this was not well advertised or marketed. I know several frequent Disney visitors and I was the only one who knew anything about the Express Transportation.
Hoping they change their mind...maybe they will utilize all of the comments and bring it back. Minnie vans, Skyliner and regular buses do not provide a comparable service.

And disney mentioning Skyliner as a mode of transportation is ridiculous. It's like me saying don't snack on junk food, dinner will ready in two or three years.

 

[jo-jo]

I just wrote another email to disney. I shared how the past two trips we rented a wheelchair from disney. But now with the stoppage of the express bus, we needed to rent one from an offsite location. The added walking/standing from gate to transportation to gate would have been too much for my husband, which would have resulted in more time in the room.


Two trips ago, this is exactly what happened. More time icing his knees in the room. Last trip with the express bus, it wasn't as bad. I realize the lost of one wheelchair rental isn't going to ruin disney, but perhaps it adds to the thinking of reinstating it.

I'm sure they will write back and mention the minnie vans, but for two people , no way would we pay $20 multiple times. Perhaps if DH was feeling bad, we'd use it once to get back to resort, but not just for general travel.