joelkfla

I haven't heard of any plans to permanently retire any Transport vehicles, but I'm no longer "in the loop", and I suppose anything is possible. Monorails are running; it's just the Epcot line that remains shuttered. In fact, I saw a report that Monorail Red just returned to service following a refurb. There has been speculation on fan sites that the Epcot Monorail is remaining closed to reduce crowding on the other 2 lines that feed it, and buses can handle the current reduced number of riders. The watercraft that haven't returned to service are on the smaller side. My opinion is that their passenger capacity with social distancing would be too low to make it worthwhile.

Yes, Disney Transport was under Disney Parks & Recreation. I think they've shuffled the corporate divisions since then, but it's still Disney, not Mears.

No, all WDW monorails, buses, watercraft, and Skyliners are free to anyone. But you will need to pay for parking at a theme park, unless you park at Disney Springs and take a bus to a resort hotel, or get to the property by some means other than driving. Parking at the hotels is limited to registered guests and those with dining reservations at the resort's restaurants. For a while, after they first restarted park-hopping after it had been shut down during the pandemic, you had to have a valid ticket to board buses traveling between parks, but word is that that restriction has not been enforced lately. The Epcot Monorail and some watercraft have not yet resumed operation.

Couple of quick notes: All Disney Transport buses have WiFi on board now. I don't know whether they've retired any of the Novas, but I saw one in service last week.

The numbers are visible and mentioned in the video. IIRC, the 1st 3 buses pick up where the last order left off, at 5213-5215. The last 3 are in the 5230's. I didn't notice whether the plates were visible, but I've never seen a Disney Transport bus that did not have a FL plate. In the past, newly arrived buses have been kept backstage until registration was complete. These were in a Guest area.

Fan video of all 6 new livery designs parked at the Ticket & Transportation Center near the Magic Kingdom: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, and Goofy. Looks like Disney has eliminated the Year in Service from the bus number on the back of the bus. https://youtu.be/gXdog-OqxPs

Official video of 3 new Gilligs on property with brand new livery, featuring Disney characters. Also different seats, and USB power outlets. No word of wifi, but it's been rumored they're working on it.

My AP is blacked out for June & July, so I haven't been on site since Memorial Day. However, an update on the Skyliner gondola lift: The Hollywood Studios line has been released to whatever dept. will be operating it, as it's being run by WDW cm's (as opposed to construction workers & Imagineers) for the past week. All 3 lines have been running regularly for testing, and all gondolas have had their protective covers removed. A family member of a friend of a cm said it would open in 5 weeks, which would be around the beginning of August. (I know, not very reliable, but take it for what it's worth.) There are lots of Skyliner photos posted by @bioreconstruct on Twitter, and lots of videos by Passport to the Parks on YouTube.

A driver told me an order of 80 new buses is supposed to start arriving in May. He said they would be Gilligs. Sorry, no verification, and no further info. As some of you no doubt know, Doppelmayr has installed an aerial gondola lift, dubbed Disney Skyliner, to carry Guests between several on-site Disney hotels and the Epcot & DHS parks. The system is complete and presently undergoing testing, but construction is ongoing on the station buildings and surrounding areas. Disney had said it would open "by fall", but with the opening of most of the Star Wars Galaxy's Edge expansion at DHS moved up from late fall to late August, most followers are expecting Skyliner to open around the same time. Everyone is expecting unprecedented crowds for SWGE, and the Skyliner will be essential in getting folks to the park. So I was surprised to hear about the alleged new order, and the driver also said Disney is stepping up new driver hires. I guess they're expecting even the addition of Skyliner won't be enough to handle the crowds. BTW, there are still plenty of Novas running around WDW. It doesn't look like they're actively retiring them, beyond natural attrition. Maybe the new order will finally finish them off. ETA: 65-70 new buses starting in May confirmed by a 2nd driver.

The Google Maps imagery is at least 3 years old. Google Earth has newer imagery. I can't determine whether those RTS's are still there in the Google Earth imagery.

Thanks for the well wishes. But I haven't heard anything about new monorails since Bob Gurr (I think) mentioned a few months ago that Disney was shopping for a contract. Have you heard something more recent about Bombardier? I'm can't wait for the Skyliner. There's a lot of conflicting info and debate among the usual sources as to whether Disney will build more aerial lifts if the system is well-accepted, or try some other mode.

Yeah, that's the old "bone yard" area which is no longer there. But I can't tell from Google Earth whether those same buses are in the new parking area. I retired 2+ years ago. I think I remember all the RTS's being gone from the maintenance area, but I'm not positive.

The image on Google Maps is very old, but Google Earth's image is dated 1/3/18. On the newer image, maintenance garage #2 has been extended into the former bus parking area, and a new parking area has been paved behind garage #1. Google Earth does not seem to include side views, and I am unable to distinguish RTS buses in a direct overhead view. Just to illustrate the age of Google Earth's satellite images: they show the Orange Garage at Disney Springs in the earliest stages of construction. The garage opened in November, 2014.

No, nothing. I ran into a buddy who still drives, and he said he hasn't heard anything about new orders. Disney is building an aerial gondola lift connecting 3 of the largest hotels with 2 of the 4 parks. Capacity should be at least equal to a full bus every 5 minutes, and it's planned to open sometime next year. IMHO, they may be hoping it will allow them to defer expanding the bus fleet for a while.

My memory was a bit foggy on this, but your response has jogged it a bit. IIRC, a couple of older buses (Novas, I think) were painted white and red as a test. Then DT management announced to drivers the new order of Gilligs, and showed off the silver & red livery, touting it as a cleaner, more modern look. The red was also highly reflective for safety. I think a few older buses may also have repainted in that scheme. Then the repainting scheme went to white and red, and soon new buses started coming in that way. I think the red also changed at some point from a dark carmine red to a brighter shade (or maybe that was just a difference between the refurbs and the new buses.) Some drivers, including myself, though that the silver made the buses harder to see in twilight & foggy conditions; that may have been part of the reason for the switch. It may also be that white overall is cheaper than silver; a lot of Disney decisions come down to cutting costs.

Well, as I said, I retired a year ago, so it's quite possible routes and dispatching have changed quite a bit. At that time, the regular cast shuttles were DT routes. Except for a few overnight shifts which are dedicated to cast shuttles, they come from the same pool of buses and drivers as all the other runs. Yes, most buses are parked at the hubs overnight, so they're ready to go 1st thing in the a.m. MK buses are parked at TTC. Disney Springs buses were parked in a nearby cast parking lot; I don't know where they are now after all the DS road & parking changes. Some buses spend the night behind the Car Care Center where the fueling and light maintenance is done, either because there's no room left at the hub or the refueling crew didn't have enough time & personnel to get them out to the hub. The only buses parked at the heavy maintenance facility are ones waiting for maintenance. All of the CP & Int'l housing is off property. Most of it is northeast, not far from the Vineland Premium Outlets.

That's hard to say. Disney Transport buses do not run on a traditional schedule. They are dispatched ad hoc from the "hubs", which are the 4 theme parks + Disney Springs. Morning routes are different from midday routes. In the a.m., most routes run from a hub to a resort, sometimes pick up at additional resorts, then drop off at a different hub, then pick up at one or more nearby resorts, and finally back to the original hub. In some cases, routes originating from 2 different hubs serve the same resort-to-hub combination. Midday, most routes run from a hub to one or more resorts and then back to the original hub. At night, after fireworks or park closing, buses are just dispatched from the hub to one or more resorts as needed. The number of resorts grouped together on a route can vary during the day, as can the order of pickup. Also, some resorts contain multiple stops, and the grouping and order of those stops can change during the day. In addition, there are various shuttles: to the waterparks, between theme parks, internal resort shuttles, and several backstage cast member shuttles. Drivers have to be familiar with the entire property. Although they usually work out of a specific hub, they never know to which resort they will be dispatched. And sometimes buses and drivers are "floated" to a different hub for a period of time during their shift. I retired a year ago. At that time, they were moving towards more autonomous computer dispatch. Up to that point, a model was prepared, I believe weekly, based on expected resort occupancy and park attendance. That model served as a baseline for dispatchers, sort of a minimum schedule. Dispatchers were responsible for meeting that baseline and adding or modifying runs to meet demand. Transtar is an independent contractor. I think they are associated with the same company that runs Star Taxi & limos in the area. Their buses are 2nd- or 3rd-hand, and usually not in the best condition, from what I've heard. They provide scheduled service between the college & international program housing complexes and WDW sites, only to CP & International cm's. Lots of cm's now use Uber or Lyft at times when they don't want to deal with the Transtar buses.

I don't know whether there are plans to retire some of the older Novas. A number of additional buses went into service last week. They are the standard low-floor Gilligs. The only obvious differences from previous models are the longer side mirrors, rear marquee (destination sign), white led marquees instead of yellow, driver's 3-point safety belts, and shiny aluminum wheels in place of the white-coated steel ones. The interiors are identical, with full-length longitudinal seating, center door flip-out wheelchair ramp, and 2 Q'PODs. The highest number I've seen on the road is 5168, so if they are being deployed in numerical order, at least 10 were added.

I've heard numbers ranging from 35 to 50 for the current order, still hopefully by the end of this year. But I've also heard that management would like to increase the fleet size by around 170 (including this order) within the next 5 years.

Turns out just 1 has arrived so far; I guess they wanted to try out the changes before the full order arrived. It's regular diesel, and the number is 5158, next in line after the artics, and it is in regular service for all hubs. Caribbean Beach is one of the resorts served by the artics. But they recently added the All-Star Resorts to the lists, so the artics are spread more thinly. I think they are still running to CBR, but I don't know how frequently. The artics are often taken out of service mid-day, from around 11am until 3 or 4pm. They sometimes run all day on busier days. You may also see them being used for driver training in the early afternoon. When they're out of service during the day, they're parked either in the MK bus loop furthest from the park, or at the Transportation & Ticket Center next to the monorail station. Also folks, the bus arrival time boards are being rolled out to more resorts, A number of resorts now have frames installed with a "Watch for future enhancement" sign over the screen opening.

The first delivery of the new order of Gilligs has arrived on Disney property. They're in the shop being outfitted. I haven't seen them, but I have seen a photo (rather dark.) They appear to be the standard Gillig low-floor model, without any BRT styling or fairings, except for the BRT-style side mirrors. They do appear to have rear route signs -- a first for Disney. It will probably be at least a month for licensing, outfitting, and customization before they go into service.

I'm not driving them any more, as I'm at a different hub, but I haven't heard about any major issues. Seems like about 10 out of 12 are usually available, which seems about right.

I didn't quote a number, because I hadn't heard it from a reliable source, but 50 is one of the numbers I've heard. Some have speculated this is at least partly to deal with the nighttime opening of Animal Kingdom theme park starting next year. I heard no artics -- but then, I'd also heard no new buses at all earlier this year, so who knows? The existing artics have been out training every afternoon, as all drivers across the property are now being trained on them -- even tho MK is the only hub really set up to use them. I was told it was a request by the union to train every driver -- including those who want nothing to do with them. An unrelated item: The bus ETA boards have popped up at 5 more resorts: Contemporary, Fort Wilderness, and the 3 All Stars (the ones at All-Star Sports don't appear to be working yet.) This is the first new implementation in about a year.

The only thing new is a few older Gilligs running around with a "Marvel Avengers" wrap. The movie's been out for a while, so I would expect the wraps to be coming off any time now. If you're at MK in the early to mid afternoon, you may see several of the artics parked nose-to-tail in the 3rd bus loop. Contrary to my prior post, I'm now told that some new Gillig 40' units will be coming in towards the end of this year. They may have the larger BRT style rear mirrors, and the bright white destination signs (up to now all of our buses have the yellowish signs.)

I've been told not by someone I would consider reliable.