Subsonic Radio

It was last week in October/first week in November 1998. The bus was parked a fair distance away in the EPCOT parking area with a number of men sitting on it. My memory is vague now but I would say it was more like the current Gillig style and was of course plain white with no visible markings. Looked like some sort of Demonstrator.
It was definitely low floor though. All UK single deck deliveries since mid 1996 had been low floor so I was keen to see if the Americans had begun to address this issue and was rather surprised to find not until I spotted this.
I have looked through my slides from then and don't have many bus pictures (too expensive & lots more of my girls!).
However I do have one picture of a UK Double Decker being used as backdrop for a stall for 101 Dalmatian merchandise in MGM Studios. It looks like an Midland Red Daimler Fleetline - totally unconnected to the film. Typically American, Any British bus as long as its red!

Hmm wonder if that double decker bus the same one that also has been around EPCOT for the character bus.

As for that white low floor bus, I seriously doubt in 1998 Disney would have had something like that demoing. They really were not interested in new buses for the fleet at that point since they had just acquired 2745-2780 (used buses) to help with the opening of Animal Kingdom. Low Floor buses really didn't start becoming the standard here until a few years after. The RTS was really the bus of choice for most fleets until the late 1990s. I am definitely interested in that mysterious bus, but I fear we will never know much more.

A bit of internet trawling has unearthed a report from the Transportation Research Board which makes interesting reading in its own right. It states that as of December 1997 there were 2,812 low floor buses in use in the USA with 2,657 on order out of a total US fleet of 50,344.
Given that fact I believe that it is highly likely that Disney were investigating the future use of low floor vehicles at the time of my visit and it was a demonstrator that was being trialed that I saw. When discussing this with my wife I was reminded that a few days later we saw it again in use taking people home after "Illuminations"
Somehow we need some local bus fans with good memories to answer this one.

As for the British Double Decker this was an unusual type to be exported and I am searching what UK records I can to try and trace it. All of this type had been withdrawn from use by about 1989 so it could have been in the USA some time.

I've seen that new bus a few times now. It definitely sticks out amongst the rest of the Disney fleet...

Soarin08 wrote:I've seen that new bus a few times now. It definitely sticks out amongst the rest of the Disney fleet...

The new scheme I guess? I know the two or three currently out there will stick out for now, but do they look like they will fit in with Disney World? The old color scheme actually was nice for the roads since the colors were similar to that of the road signs on property.

Len90 wrote:

Soarin08 wrote:I've seen that new bus a few times now. It definitely sticks out amongst the rest of the Disney fleet...

The new scheme I guess? I know the two or three currently out there will stick out for now, but do they look like they will fit in with Disney World? The old color scheme actually was nice for the roads since the colors were similar to that of the road signs on property.

You definitely can't miss them. Especially at night. The colour scheme looks almost reflective. Which might be a good thing.

SUMMER 2013 UPDATE:
Updated the roster with my findings on my trip from 5/10 - 5/18. I was able to find out that the test with the articulated bus was relatively successful and there are 10 articulated buses on order that should join the fleet either later this year or sometime next year for use on the MK to value/moderate resorts routes. The success of the test is another reason why MK is seeing a new bus loop added at this moment. The 2013 buses are also due to start arriving during the summer and no number on how many were ordered. The RTS was still fully prevalent and I didn't see any sitting around idle. Probably some were disposed of already but there still were plenty around and transporting guests. It should be interesting as I do predict all the new buses will be coming in with the new scheme. There still are only one or two in it and they were only used for cast members when I was there.

Not strictly "Disney Buses" but you will see the connection.
I work for a small bus company and last year a local Councillor described our buses operating to and from Chester Station as ugly. Our MD got into a bit of a war of words, so I managed to persuade him to name our buses on this service after the Ugly Sisters. This caused quite a bit of fun in the local papers.
Here are the photos of Anastasia & Drizella
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69727507@N07/8845666899/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69727507@N07/8845699955/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69727507@N07/8845741725/

They run from the Railway Station to the City Centre in Chester the County Town of Cheshire

I am Sulley wrote:Not strictly "Disney Buses" but you will see the connection.
I work for a small bus company and last year a local Councillor described our buses operating to and from Chester Station as ugly. Our MD got into a bit of a war of words, so I managed to persuade him to name our buses on this service after the Ugly Sisters. This caused quite a bit of fun in the local papers.
Here are the photos of Anastasia & Drizella
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69727507@N07/8845666899/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69727507@N07/8845699955/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69727507@N07/8845741725/

They run from the Railway Station to the City Centre in Chester the County Town of Cheshire

+1 to you sir

I am Sulley wrote:Not strictly "Disney Buses" but you will see the connection.
I work for a small bus company and last year a local Councillor described our buses operating to and from Chester Station as ugly. Our MD got into a bit of a war of words, so I managed to persuade him to name our buses on this service after the Ugly Sisters. This caused quite a bit of fun in the local papers.
Here are the photos of Anastasia & Drizella
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69727507@N07/8845666899/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69727507@N07/8845699955/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69727507@N07/8845741725/

They run from the Railway Station to the City Centre in Chester the County Town of Cheshire

That is awesome!! I love the "I'm not as ugly as the other bus" on the back

Nice way to keep track dstrawn! I like the addition of the pictures for the buses too

well, they all cannot know which is what... gotta give em a sight card

dstrawn9889 wrote:well, they all cannot know which is what... gotta give em a sight card

Definitely ~ when I first saw the listing of the different buses I was thinking to myself, which one is which The articulated ones are simple though

dstrawn9889 wrote:well, they all cannot know which is what... gotta give em a sight card

Now that's what I call an "Idiots Guide"