You can take the Swalphin bus to MK and then hop on the monorail or boat over to GF. Walking from MK to GF is not an option unless you want to swim across a canal Otherwise, walking to DHS and grabbing a GF bus is probably your other best bet. I wouldnt take the boat to DHS, because walking is almost always guaranteed to be faster. I always walk it, and it is rare that a boat actually passes me in the canal...
Having just had our wedding at Disney last week, I agree with your thoughts there, because the less walking is definitely the better!
I would budget an hour to be safe. Worst case is you get there early and check out the resort's christmas decorations and gingerbread house. It will probably be more like 45 mins, but better to be early than late. Depends on how long you end up having to wait for the bus at S/D, then you have about a 5 minute walk to the monorail station, then GF is last stop on the monorail from MK. You could also take the boat, but by the time you walk from the dock to the main building at GF, the time difference is likely about the same...
Don't know if it makes more sense to:
1) walk to DHS & grab a bus
2) walk to Epcot & grab a bus
3) grab an MK bus from the S/D (or another BW resort) and walk
4) a different option
Yup! We'll have about 15 guests all trying to get to the GF from the S/D. Some will be transporting young children as well-I'm trying to make it easy for them so I don't lose my guests in the transition!
About how long do you think that bus->MK->monorail process will take? It will be during a low crowd season (early December)
Congratulations!!! I've been following Meg's TR
I agree that the bus to MK, then monorail to GF is probably the best bet. However, I would budget at least 1.5 hours for the trip. According to the UG, the trip from the Swan to MK averages 38 minutes, with a worst case of 50 minutes. The trip on the monorail should take about 18-23 minutes with a 10 minute walk to the monorail station. So best case is about 66 minutes and worst case is about 83 minutes!
Just a note, the UG does not show times for MK to GF, so I used the estimates of Cont to MK instead.
My limited expereince with the boat from MK to GF is that it was slower; usually because the wait for the boat was much longer than the wait for the monorail.
Best of luck -- Suzanne