Non Drivers

[lenny l]

Hi everyone!
I'm new to all this so sorry if I don't quite know what I'm doing, just making it up as I go along! The site is great, learnt loads already!
Anyway, get to the point. My wife & I are going to Orlando next May. Neither of us will be driving & wondered if anyone had any tips on how we could make the most of our hols! We are thinking of staying at the Coutyard by Marriot in the Disney Plaza for one week & the Wyndham on International Drive for another. Both have free shuttles to the different parks. Has anyone stayed at them & used them? Are they any good? Does anyone have any other hotel recommendations that have good shuttle services? Any help would be much appreciated!
:earseek:

[SimonV]

You're pretty much well set at those two properties, Lenny. Short of staying at a Disney resort, both hotels are ideally equipped to get the off-site non-driver around. The Mariott also gives you the option of walking to Downtown Disney or the Crossroads plaza, while the Wyndham is ideally siutated on I-Drive and is a very nice hotel (extensively refurbished last year).

Also, if you're going with Virgin, they have a new excursion available to the Kennedy Space Center, which I strongly recommend visiting if you can.

[Pixie Power!]

I havent stayed at either of those hotels but on all my WDW trip we have never driven. The hotel shuttle services are very good and also mears do shuttle services to places like UVS or IOA and also the shopping malls.

Emma

[Goofyish]

We did a 50/50 split on-site/off-site last October without a car and we had no problems at all getting to the places we wanted to visit.

First week, on-site we used WDW transport and then transfered to IDrive via taxi. Second week on IDrive we used the IRide trolley to get to SeaWorld and Belz, and taxis to get us to US, IOA & Florida Mall.

Even with the taxi journeys the cost was nowhere near a much as car hire insurance.

[Hilary]

Hi :wave: and welcome to the DIS boards!

We stayed at the Courtyard a few years ago and found the shuttle bus very good.

We hardly ever drive in WDW, relying on bus transport for WDW parks and the occasional taxi to visit other attractions. On our most recent trips to Florida we've had a car because we've spent one week on the coast, but during the Orlando week the car just sits at the resort!

I agree with Goofyish that the taxi journeys are still a lot cheaper than the travel company's car insurance would have been.

[lenny l]

WOW! Thanks everyone! I can't believe I only posted this yesterday & I got replies already! Many thanks for your advice, appreciate it. We've never stayed onsite, simply for monetary reasons, so hopefully the Courtyard will give us a good "best of both worlds" kinda thing. Last time we stayed on Int Drive the whole time & had a nightmare with the shuttles to Disney from the hotel, so thats why we decided to split it this time.
Simon, thanks. We will be going with Virgin, have heard nothing but good about them & they are flexible over days/length of stay, and I will DEFINITELY do their trip to Kennedy! I was hoping they would do one. Do you know if they do one to Busch as well?

[lenny l]

Sorry, Simon V! Forgot to mention earlier! You won't remember but I asked you for some help last year as we were going to Universal Studios Port Aventura this year. Anyway, you found a great site for us & it helped enormously! Many thanks. As for our holiday, the park was great, shame about Universals new hotel!
:mad:

[Mazzy]

Hi Lenny

We are staying at the Courtyard in January as part of our trip (the rest of the trip on-site). We picked the Courtyard as it is as close to on-site as you can get and the prices are lower for the size of room and facilities compared to Disney hotels.

I'm hoping that the transport will be OK, I have heard that you can also walk to Downtown Disney (10 mins) and pick up a bus there so that's another option. If you haven't seen the website for the DDT hotels you can find more info on transportation etc on www.downtowndisneyhotels.com

HTH :D

[lenny l]

Thanks Mazzy!
Excellent link to the hotels. As for the walking bit, thats one of the main reasons we chose it, so hopefully it's true. I have read on some other sites that you can't walk it, but they were American sites, & you know what they think of walking anywhere! When we stayed on I-Drive, we were right near Universal, but when we asked how to walk there the staff looked at us like we were mad! We did walk it. It took less than 15 mins! Hopefully, it should be easier to get to DTD.

[TracyK]

Lenny - I've been four times without a car. I did experience some minor problems with hotel shuttles but we have only used them at very busy times. These services will probably be better in January.
We stayed at the Courtyard last year. We used their shuttles some of the time and other times we walked into DD (10 mins) and got the Disney transportation from there. I actually preferred doing this even though the hotel shuttles run every half hour I didn't much like doing the rounds of the other hotels on the way. Having said that it is certainly an excellent shuttle service. We have booked to stay at the Courtyard again this summer aswell as the Wyndham, ASMo and HRH.
The Wyndham is right next to an I-Ride trolley stop which will take you to Sea World and Belz. I know that the Wyndham does offer a shuttle service but I don't believe it is very extensive. When I stayed at the Amerisuites at Easter we shared the service with the Wyndham and about 4 other hotels. I wasn't very impressed with it. It was very slow and we had to stand (we were the last pick-up) although this probably wouldn't be the same for you in January. I usually tend to make good use of the local transport.
Here are some links for you
www.golynx.com
www.iridetrolley.com
You mentioned Busch Gardens. If you have a Flexi Pass you can get free transportation to Busch gardens. This picks-up from outside Sea World and several other places.
Tracy

[lenny l]

TracyK,
Thanks for that. I've only been to Orlando once & need all the help I can get! I noticed you say you're doing 4 different hotels this time. I was thinking of doing this originally, but thought it might be a real pain to keep swapping. Are you doing it without driving? Do you lose too much of your holiday each time you swap hotels? & do you have any problems as you have to check out at 11 & can't check in till about 4pm?

[Mazzy]

Hi Lenny

We are doing three hotels this trip so it will be interesting to see whether it adds to the enjoyment or is a total pain! ;)

We are at the Dolphin for 6 nights, then CBM for 5 (to keep costs down) and then finishing off the trip with a 4 night stay at the Polynesian. We were originally going back to the Dolphin but as I saved so much on my 10 Day tickets with the extra dosh we decided to go for it and live it up for the last few nights - can't wait!

We won't have a car and are planning on using taxis to get from one hotel from another, I'm sure if the room isn't ready we can just head off to the park and check in later, leaving our bags in left luggage.

HTH :D

[SimonV]

Lenny, for Busch Gardens you can take advantage of the daily Busch Express bus from SeaWorld, which costs just $5 (or is free if you have a 5-park Orlando FlexTicket or SW/BG Adventure Passport). Details available from SW's Guest relations office or on the BG website www.buschgardens.com