For anyone curious, it took some perseverance, but I was able to pre-reserve the 8:00am hiker's bus from the Valley to TM. The first person I talked to said to definitely reserve it, as she had seen people be turned away without reservations because it was too full. She gave me the number to obtain reservations. The person that answered said that they didn't take reservations for the hiker's bus, that we should just "show up". I explained that I wasn't talking about the YART bus, I was looking for the 8am hiker's bus to TM. He put me on hold and then transferred me to a woman who told me that she was only dispatch and that I needed to call 209-372-1240, which was the number that had just transferred me over to her
Fortunately, the second time I tried that number I got ahold of woman who knew exactly what I was talking about and was able to make us reservations for next week. She said we just need to be there at the HM Village registration/bus stop before 7:30am the day of (or the day before if we exit Happy Isles early enough in the day) to pick up our physical tickets. Phew!
I was wondering if people are still able to purchase $5 showers in Half Dome Village but I'm afraid if I call, I may not get up to date/solid information. We will show up and hope for the best. Worst case scenario is that we have a long stinky bus ride and drive home.