Driving at Disney World

[Cranbiz]

I've got a Volvo V70 T5 wagon. This bad boy is a Q-ship that's designed for Autobaun cruzin'. One day some punk in a rice rocket wanted to race. I toasted him but forgot the dog was in the back seat.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2111/180 ... 177b_o.jpg

Note to PETA: no animals were harmed in this ride, the dog always sits like this.

[Princess Susi]

Why in God's name do you need such a truck down here?

(EDITED FOR SPACE)
Because they (some of them) have small weenie syndrome in a terrain where they are NOT needed. You see it with these big ole monster trucks too with the giant tires! Moroons!

[ziplu]

Having returned from WDW just a few days ago, I feel your pain. We used the busses at all times except when we went to DTD. I must say that the bus drivers we had were incredibly patient with the traffic around them and drove very safely and courteously. I commented several times that the drivers always seemed to have the safety of their passengers in mind and I was very impressed with that. So kudos to you and all the other drivers!

[Princess Susi]

That pooch looks surprised and uncomfortable all at once! Cute doggie tho...

[Shorty82]

I was working with Wallaby at PI Sunday night and can attest to what he saw. It was one of the worst nights ever! Let's add to that the moron who crossed three lanes of heavy traffic at the last moment to make the turn onto Bonnet Creek to go to Port Orleans. How do I know he went to PO, I was going to the FW Outpost and he cut me off twice! Once at BVD and Bonnet Creek and once at FQ.

There's a genius, cutting off a vehicle that weighs in probably 2 or more tons more than he does and so big it could squash a small car and barely feel the bump.

Then I had the driver who was driving the wrong way at PI. The buses enter the loadzone area at PI and then swing around to exit at the light by the Hess station, the exit is a one way road that parallels the loadzones and is divided off from the H lot. In comes this jeep at approx 30mph and out comes my bus at approx 10mph. What does Cranbiz do? I keep going, making the jeep back up all the way (probably in fear of his life because I was not stopping).

Another genius. It isn't hard to tell the parking lot entrances from the bus loadzone entrances. Like your reaction but how much you want to bet he goes onto board X, a similar forum, or at least talks to his friends about the idiot bus driver at DTD?

Another notable was the CM who was going 60 thru the Cast Lot at PI, then thru the bus parking area (as we are bringing buses in for the night), out to Team Disney and almost hits the bus coordinator there, turns on 2 wheels out Team Disney onto BVD, blows the redlight and boogies down BVD. Unfortunately for him, there was an OC sheriff there (who saw eveything) and he was busted big time!

Nice! Glad the idiot was busted. It is never a good idea to go anywhere near that fast through a parking lot and what was he doing cutting through the bus lot? The fines from all the charges are probably going to cost the guy his entire paycheck for months (so I hope at least). Speeding through a parking lot, cutting across another lot, nearly hitting somebody, reckless driving, running a red, speeding, the list goes on. As a CM on property when he did these things won't his manager find out and can't he lose his job over it? I hope so, maybe the word will get around and CMs will start to learn how to drive.

[Rob562]

I have seen sooo many idiot drivers on property, it actually makes me homesick for Boston!

I thought that us Boston drivers were bad, not so.

I've grown up in Central Massachusetts and I can safely say that Massachusetts doesn't hold a candle to other areas when it comes to bad/agressive drivers. I was in awe of the drivers out in LA, and I've seen WAY too many close-calls in the WDW area.
When I was down there in June, I was trying to leave property via Sherbeth Road, and had to turna round and go back to World Drive because a head-on collision on Sherberth had the road closed down.

And I recall one of my first trips in the late 90's, we were using a towncar service to get to our hotel, and the driver had used the airport's north exit. We got stuck in a huge traffic jam at the I-4 interchange with the traffic barely crawling. On I-4, we were creeping past a pull-off parking/rest area when some guy decides he'd be a genius and get past all the stopped traffic by going through the parking area. Well, he did that going at about 50MPH. What he didn't realize was that to get to the on-ramp back onto I-4, you can to curve around to the right and go to the back of the lot. Well, he's zooming across the parking lot (that had cars in it and people out eating a picnic lunch waiting for the traffic to die down), gets to the end of the pavement and zooms off into the grass. Unfazed, he continues on across the grass and brush at full speed, up onto the on-ramp and continues on. I lost sight of him after that, and wouldn't be surprised if he continued driving down the breakdown lane.

Though Mass does still have its own bad drivers. In a nice instance of justice, I was cut off twice by a woman in an older sedan trying to get onto the Turnpike (Mass Pike) driving to work the other day. I then saw her zooming on ahead, weaving through traffic. When I eventually got to my exit, I was very happy to see her pulled over by a state trooper. :)

-Rob

[Big Wallaby]

Another driver told me about what he saw the other day... I didn't see it happen, but tend to believe the person who told me. Over on Vacation Club Way and BVD, the buses receive their dispatches and this can create a bit of a backup. The driver who told me of the incident was at the stop line, accelerating into the turn when a taxi came around him (Vacation Club Way is a two-lane, two-way street) and turned around him. Orange County Sheriff was sitting there and watched the whole thing happen. Bus driver tells me he popped a U-turn, pulled over the cabbie and handcuffed him right then and there. Talking with the sheriff later, he chose to do that because the cabbie had done that to a bus, thus playing with the lives of an unknown number of people, officially up to 80 lives, making it a felony.

I'd love to be there when that guy has to explain it to the dispatcher at Mears or whatever company he rents his cab from...

Oh, and the average empty weight on these buses, sans fuel and other fluids, is about 34,000 lbs, or 17 tons. Fully loaded with guests, our buses can be heavy enough that were they semi trucks they would have to have special permits.

[Big Wallaby]

I've got a Volvo V70 T5 wagon. This bad boy is a Q-ship that's designed for Autobaun cruzin'. One day some punk in a rice rocket wanted to race. I toasted him but forgot the dog was in the back seat.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2111/180 ... 177b_o.jpg

Sad part is, the claw marks on the leather really bug me.

[hobie16]

Sad part is, the claw marks on the leather really bug me.

Spoken like a true car guy!

[Big Wallaby]

Actually, not much a car guy... don't get me wrong, I like cars and especially fast cars, but I have too many other interests. My wife is more of a car person than me. But claw marks just don't belong. If you're going to drive like that with your dog in the back seat, make sure he knows to lift the claws.