How much time to get from AK to HS? Drive or bus?

[JTandEmom]

Planning on hitting AK on Monday then hopping to HS for dinner at Minnie's holiday dine and to see the lights. Last time we loved the buses and leaving the car parked the whole week but didn't have hoppers. Is it a case of you can't get from here to there with the buses and we should drive that day? What have your experiences been and how much time would you budget either way? Thanks so much!

 

[Alesia]

There is a direct bus. I would allow an hour.

Driving will take longer. I would allow at least 75 minutes.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

75 minutes? No offense, Alesia but I can get to the Amway Center downtown and back in 75 minutes! Seriously!

You can drive it in 15 minutes. 20 absolute TOPS, and that probably includes turnstyle to turnstyle. We do it ALL the time. Haven't been on a bus at WDW in 10 years. We drive everywhere. We go 3-4 times/year for a week a the time usually. Never over 15-20 minutes to ANYWHERE on property. PERIOD.

AK--> HS? Take a left (You actually go over one entrance when you make this left!). Bear right. Turn right. You're there. 75 minutes is LAUGHABLE. People that don't drive should not give out driving time estimates at Disney. I see it on here all the time. People are GUESSING because they THINK they know from riding the buses but they have never DONE it. More importantly, many times, the buses take TOTALLY different routes than you would if you were driving PLUS you don't have to make 28 stops to let others off!

It all looks huge. It is NOT once you're on the road and on-property in your own vehicle. It's actually all fairly compact, especially if you don't include the outskirts of AKL and AK.

I will defend this. You cannot make it on a bus in less than an hour to save your life. I doubt you can get ANYWHERE on-property point-to-point on the bus system in less than an hour.

 

[Alesia]

75 minutes? No offense, Alesia but I can get to the Amway Center downtown and back in 75 minutes! Seriously!

You can drive it in 15 minutes. 20 absolute TOPS, and that probably includes turnstyle to turnstyle. We do it ALL the time. Haven't been on a bus at WDW in 10 years. We drive everywhere. We go 3-4 times/year for a week a the time usually. Never over 15-20 minutes to ANYWHERE on property. PERIOD.

AK--> HS? Take a left (You actually go over one entrance when you make this left!). Bear right. Turn right. You're there. 75 minutes is LAUGHABLE. People that don't drive should not give out driving time estimates at Disney. I see it on here all the time. People are GUESSING because they THINK they know from riding the buses but they have never DONE it. More importantly, many times, the buses take TOTALLY different routes than you would if you were driving PLUS you don't have to make 28 stops to let others off!

It all looks huge. It is NOT once you're on the road and on-property in your own vehicle. It's actually all fairly compact, especially if you don't include the outskirts of AKL and AK.

I will defend this. You cannot make it on a bus in less than an hour to save your life. I doubt you can get ANYWHERE on-property point-to-point on the bus system in less than an hour.

My estimates are door-to-door with a bit of padding added in. When you drive, you'll have to walk or take the tram to your car, make the 20-minute drive, and then walk or take the tram to the gate. If you take the bus, you walk to the bus stop, wait 0 to 20 minutes, ride the bus for 20 minutes, and you are dropped off right at the gate.

Where do you get the idea that there are "28 stops to let others off?" There is a direct bus - no stops. We often hop park-to-park and it almost never takes more than 40 minutes by bus, including wait time - we've actually done it in less than 30 minutes quite a few times. We have used the bus and have driven multiple times. The bus is always faster for us.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I drove to AK in the morning and had an up close parking spot - I was able to walk to my vehicle easily and then drove over to DHS - at that time there was close parking available so I found a close spot and was able to walk to DHS so no waiting for trams - I think it was 35 minutes maybe 40 tops.

I've always had bad bus mojo so when I'm switching parks I usually prefer to drive if I have a vehicle handy.

 

[lorenae]

I drove to AK in the morning and had an up close parking spot - I was able to walk to my vehicle easily and then drove over to DHS - at that time there was close parking available so I found a close spot and was able to walk to DHS so no waiting for trams - I think it was 35 minutes maybe 40 tops.

I've always had bad bus mojo so when I'm switching parks I usually prefer to drive if I have a vehicle handy.

Me too. We'll bus (probably!) to MK but the rest of the time, especially at RD or earlier, we'll drive. It's great- we keep extra clothes/jackets in the car, and when we got to AK before RD we were very near the front. It was a very quick drive to other parks, as well as back to our room. I think 10 minutes(?) to DHS.

 

[MHSweb79]

We don't usually rent a car, so I like to keep track of whether it's worth it. Last time, I timed the drive from Caribbean Resort to AK at 6 minutes -- and we passed the Studios entrance on the way. With the exception of MK we have found driving to always be much, much quicker than the bus no matter where we were going. Downtown Disney may be another exception with all the construction going on right now.

I really can't imagine a scenario where the drive from AK to HS would take over an hour.

 

[siskaren]

I really can't imagine a scenario where the drive from AK to HS would take over an hour.

No one's saying the drive is 60 minutes - that's total time including getting from the gate to the car at AK, then getting from the car to the gate at HS.

 

[jessicadisneygirl]

I have a personal preference to drive, because I like the comfort of my own car at the end of the night and we travel with a stroller and diaper bag and I hate hauling that on the bus. We just did a trip where it got unexpectedly hot early in the day and we just couldn't tolerate any more of the crowded AK walkways so we left the park, walked to our car instead of using the parking tram, drove to HS and walked in from the lot instead of using the tram. Yes it is more walking than the bus but that works for us with not having to fold/unfold the stroller multiple times. Gate to gate was under 30 minutes.

 

[CAS239]

We drive and avoid the buses. AK to HS drive time takes about 10-15 min. Throw in about 5 min per park from car to gate. So round trip park to park exit to entrance, I'd give about 30 min

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Transportation around WDW is always a little uncertain, but I generally agree driving your own car is much faster. I mostly agree with Wilsonflyer though- generally you should be able to drive from AK to HS in less than 25minutes. Fifteen is maybe a bit optimistic if we are talking inside the gate to inside the gate. Own car beats buses- hands down.

For one thing, buses from the resorts to AK usually make a stop at (one of) the water parks. So a bus from your resort to AK - even if the timing was perfect- would take longer. In the winter months, one of the water parks is closed. I don't recall which one it is- so for a short period of the year- the buses don't need to stop there. [The other water park combo bus route is busses to DTD.]

[AK, HS and Epcot are all pretty close together. MK is all off by itself. I have timed the drive from the Contemporary to DTD. Because of the numerous traffic lights, the drive time alone was over 20 minutes each way! ]

However.....(and there's always a few howevers) As others have said, your experience will depend on several other factors. If you arrive at AK early, and are reasonably brisk walkers, then you will get a spot close to the gate. You can WALK to/from your car to the gate in about 5 - 7 minutes.

If you arrive at AK later in the day, you might have to park further back in the parking lot. Add other variables: like Christmas week, leaving AK right after the parade, waiting in a long line to use the parking lot tram, having multiple strollers/gear to juggle, etc...then getting from the park to your car COULD potentially take quite a bit longer.

Entering a park is also a bit faster if you don't have any bags. Again, if you happen to arrive at HS at a bad time, the bag check could add to your wait.

With the recent Paris attacks, I think WDW bag check screenings are going to take a bit longer for the time being.