PHOTOS - Disney's Contemporary Resort bus stop adds arrival time screens

Jul 20, 2015 in "Disney's Contemporary Resort"

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Bus Wait Time display at Disney's Contemporary Resort

Posted: Monday July 20, 2015 9:00am EDT by WDWMAGIC Staff

The bus stop area at Disney's Contemporary Resort now provides arrival time displays for the Walt Disney World Transportation bus service.

Bus Wait Time display at Disney's Contemporary Resort

The display shows each destination that the bus stop serves, and gives a precise time of when the next bus is expected to arrive. In our observation, it was extremely accurate, with the bus arriving at the specified time.

Bus Wait Time display at Disney's Contemporary Resort

Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Grand Floridian Resorts have been testing the system for the last couple of years, and a full roll-out to all resorts has been expected. It isn't clear yet if the Contemporary Resort arrival time display signals the start of that roll-out, or if it is an extension of the test program.

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wdizneewJul 21, 2015

Not all the CMs have tablets (GF already has the monitor so no need for a tablet). However, all of them are required to write down the bus arrivals and wait times. This is to make sure that the bus intervals are tracked on paper (mostly for the CM's benefit). They only need to write down time of arrival and bus #, and whether the bus goes full. The key is that buses should be arriving every 20 mins or so. If they clock about 22 mins since the last MK bus arrived, the CM should be radioing another CM for more information on the buses. Then there's a whole other level of management that the CMs go through to make sure bus service goes as smooth as it can. Yes, there are flaws with the bus service but improvements have been implemented that have made it run far better than it did 5 years ago (even though some of you may say otherwise). Brazilian tour groups have been inundating the All Stars and POR resorts in recent years! They figure it's a better experience to stay on WDW property AND there's free bus service. No need to charter a bus.

GrumpyFanJul 21, 2015

It's not a bad idea, but, IF they've made FP+ reservations, or dining reservations, the system should be able to determine where they're headed, by using the same technology they have in the BoG restaurant that allows them to determine where you're sitting.

kdouglas97Jul 21, 2015

The next step should be to give guests the ability to select which bus they are going to get on using their magic bands at the bus shelter. This way transportation would know that there are 50 people at the first bus shelter waiting to go to the Magic Kingdom and could dispatch another Magic Kingdom bus to service that resort. There's nothing worse than being the last stop and watching full buses go by.

JahonaJul 21, 2015

Oh yes they stay on property. I was at POR a week ago and had at least 3 different tour groups staying. I think that may factor into my issues with the buses at POR not making it to the South Bus Stop.

GrumpyFanJul 21, 2015

The two CMs at the bus stops (Grand Flo & Poly) that we encountered were only carrying clipboards, and seemed to be recording bus arrival times, and the number of people who got on. They could only tell us how long the last bus to the destination we were headed, had been there. Are you sure about the Brazillian tour groups? Do they typically stay on property?

wdizneewJul 21, 2015

The cast members who work at the various bus stops in the morning carry a tablet with an app showing the expected arrival times for the buses. It wouldn't hurt to ask them when a bus is expected to arrive. The reason the bus system is so inconsistent sometimes is due to unexpected demand. Yes, Disney keeps track of crowds but it still isn't great at tracking where guests want to go each day (not everyone is booking fastpass+ so far in advanced). There's also the huge Brazilian tour groups which can inundate the bus system but Disney has no idea where they want to go until they get to the bus stop. If it's a big group (over 72 of them plus the regular guests waiting for the bus), the cast member must radio the bus ops to send in a standby bus. ECV(s) loading and full buses skipping stops is another issue that can delay bus service.

note2001Jul 21, 2015

I'd like to see these in place at the parks one per resort station, showing the arrival times for multiple buses when there are multiples on the road. This would greatly help those who cannot really stand make the determination whether to get on an already crowded bus and try not to keel over, or wait it out and be one of the first on the next bus to arrive.

CJLove79Jul 21, 2015

Me and my girl are staying at the Contemporary this coming October so this is slammin news. I was wondering how we'd know when the buses are coming. I read that they're this and that amount of minutes going to this park or that park but that means nothing to me & I'm a NY'ker. LOL. At least back at home, we expect and KNOW the buses and trains will be late cause they ALWAYS late. Disney World is a totally different ball game for us cause I've learned very quickly that you MUST have timing on your side or else you won't have a great vacation. Great job Disney putting them bus monitors in, now put the same tech into your App and I'm sure all of us will be in transportation heaven. LOL.

Marlins1Jul 21, 2015

Does Yacht Club have them yet? Will be there in mid-August.

HauntedMansionFLAJul 20, 2015

Great! It's been a couple of years since we were at Kidani. Love that resort.

Next Big ThingJul 20, 2015

Kidani does, not sure about Jambo. And yes, it was almost pinpoint accuracy.

UnpluggedJul 20, 2015

I'm sure any displays at Wilderness lodge will simply show "TBD" for all the times so they're never wrong. We get the wost level of consistency on buses there. (Still love being at WDW, just need to take a deep breath and dash of salt before I go wait for a bus.)

HauntedMansionFLAJul 20, 2015

AKL has it? Awesome? Are they accurate?

Wags14Jul 20, 2015

Oh I very much noticed that. I almost think that was because the Riverside bus did "arrive" at the resort, it just chose to go the other way around the resort to pick-up or drop off guests at the other stops. Which brings up a whole other slew of issues with Riverside busing, which I wont bring up here... yikes... lol. :eek: