Transportation arrival times in My Disney Experience App

I’m wondering if anyone can give some insight on how accurate the bus arrival times are in the app, also does that part of the app activate when you get there, because I don’t see it on the app now?

We’re staying at AoA and I’ve heard good and bad things about the wait for the bus.

Thanks!

I haven’t played with the app, but our last stay they had screens with waits up at the GF bus stops and they were fairly accurate. Within a few minutes on all I remember watching and I think if it erred it was the bus arriving early and not late. I’d presume it’s the same system and the app would have pretty good data.

Out of curiosity, I played with the App and couldn’t find a bus schedule either. The transportation option showing you bus routes is kind of nice though, but that was all I found…

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Not sure about the accuracy of the app, but I can tell you that I had to update the MDE app and then I could see the transportation stuff. I can also tell you that in general, I have been able to ride Disney buses with very few problems. They work like buses tend to work… you walk to the nearest stop (at AoA that is at the front outside the main building), wait for the bus (usually no more than 20), and then get off at the end. Less than once per trip have i experienced having to wait for more than 30 minutes at my resort (either because no bus came or the one the came was full - which can happen when resorts have more than one stop or share buses). The exception to this is trying to leave a crowded at park closing or leave right after a big show (like MK fireworks). Then chances are good there will be a lot of people all trying to get on Disney buses all at once, and you must sometimes wait through one or two buses (I’ve waited up to an hour before).

I think we hear about a lot of bad things because the one time there’s a problem gets more attention than the 9 times everything goes smoothly. I also think a lot of people at Disney don’t have experience taking mass transit in general. They expect it to replace their personal vehicle. But taking buses (or whatever) anywhere in the world means waiting a little, riding with lots of other people, dealing with delays and added human error (because you are dealing with dozens of people, not just your family). I think the Disney buses are really pretty functional. So, just be realistic about transportation times and have fun! I love the buses. I can talk to my kids and look out the window and not get stressed about traffic.

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Where in the app did you find the bus wait times? I attempted to look for it because I was presuming the same about an App update, but I should no update pending and I couldn’t find it. Hoping it’s just well hidden, or I’m a poor searcher today…

I had to search in the app for “transportation” which gave me resort transportation, water transportation and bus service. It will let you select from and to and then gives the estimated times, I’m presuming that it will also have the bus times once I actually get there on Monday.

I don’t think it will give you bus times, even when on property. I think it is designed to give you estimates of time in transit between places, not unlike the one at ourlaughingplace.com

Yes, sorry for any confusion. I don’t know of any place on the app to see actual bus times. The transportation info in the app gives you info about how to get to your destination and estimated time. Some bus stops at the resorts have screens with ETAs for the buses but I don’t know of any place you can find that info in the app.

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Still good data - I was originally thinking the bus ETA was now available via an App which would be a really nice feature. Save a walk down to the bus stop to check…

I received an email from Disney about our upcoming trip (Monday) and one of the the things it said that the App does is:

Find your way around Walt Disney World Resort with turn-by-turn walking directions, bus routes and transportation arrival times

I’m thinking that the bus arrival times is activated once you’re on property because I can’t see that part of it. I’ll post here after Monday when I find out. I presume it uses GPS.

I determined from Google Play that the updated app isn’t compatible with the phone so I can’t get the updates. Perhaps that is why other people aren’t seeing an update available.

This would refer to the amount of time it will take you to arrive at point B when traveling from point A using a particular transportation mode.

You are giving MDE entirely too much credit to be able to operate at a high level of sophistication. The damned thing goes all wonky all the time with basic operations!

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So yes, I was giving Disney too much credit. The app doesn’t tell you when a bus is on it’s way. I’m used to New York’s MTA system which does. It seems wildly off though. For example, it says that Disney’s bus will take 43 minutes from AoA to MK! It took no more than 15 minutes so I’m not sure why it says so long.

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