4 day visit to ALL parks w/no car. Good or Bad Idea?

[MrCurmudgeon]

First time to WDW for 4 full days of ultimate park hopper passes.

Reading through the forums trying to figure out if it's a mistake to not rent a car.

Is it a mistake to think using shuttles, monorail, and/or boat rides are enough to hop around from park to park during 4 full days?

Is it better to stick to a park per day or anything like that?

Any help is greatly apprecited! It's so great to find these forums.

- Cheers,
Brian

(newly addicted DIS fan)

 

[Happy2BGrumpy]

I assume you're staying onsite. We've been down 25 - 30 times and have never rented a car!! One less hassle. You'll get varying opinions on car v. Disney transportation, but quite frankly we find it more relaxing to use their transportation system. All four parks in 4 days
is possible. You can stay all day, but you may want to do half days,
meaning AM /PM between two parks......AK in the AM, afternoon break
and one of the other parks at night or late afternoon. MK in the AM and Epcot/MGM at night. BB or TL as well, then Epcot in the PM. Don't feel like you have to stay at the parks open - close. Just some examples. The breaks are well worth it and make the second half of the day more enjoyable.

 

[cruise-o-matic]

Busses are great transportation b/n resorts and parks, but not park to park or resort to resort. The busses take you right to the front gate.

FWIW, we are going to rent a compact for 4 days. There's just me and DW, so it will costs us $20 or so more than using Mears, but less than a limo. We'll basically just use it to go to WDW and back to MCO, but it's a nice option to have. Plus, on your last day, you can stay at the park or DTD until the last minute and drive yourself to the airport. If you do a shuttle, you'll have to leave the parks early and head back to your resort and wait.

So if you have 3 or 4, a intermediate rental might be the way to go. It will be about the same as a limo or shuttle. Just join the the rental car companies "express services" and you can pretty much bypass the lines coming and going. Check out the rental car page at Mousesavers.com on how to do this and for coupon codes for the lowest rates.

 

[Dopey Sharon]

We have never rented a car, either, and make out just fine using Disney transportation. We also park hop without any problems. We love hopping on the bus or boat and being chauffeured around all week!

 

[Kimberle]

If you're staying on-site, no problem. We never rent a car. I would not stay off-site w/out a car thought. The hotel shuttles are never very good.

 

[KarlaG4Kids]

We prefer to use the transportation provided. The only time we use a car is if we are going off-site. Of course it does limit you to more expensive meals. Also, it make take a bit more time to get to your hotel at the end of the night if you wait till closing. We still find the Disney transportation to be much more convenient than driving and parking!

 

[drp4video]

I always stay on site, but I always rent a car. I just like the convenience of not having to wait in the tram line when the parks let out for the night. We go to downtown disney a lot too, and to Universal at least twice, sometimes three time. Occassionally we go to the FLorida Mall.

I figured to pay for a shuttle to and from the airport, then to Universal several time, for the price, I could rent a car. I always go to Mousesavers.com for codes. I go with the cheapest car. I prefer on site at the airport, but this Christmas all those rentals were about $500 for 10 days, until I came across Thrifty. While it is off site so I have to take a shuttle, with the code I got, it is only $185 for ten days!

 

[tjmw2727]

Originally posted by cruise-o-matic
Busses are great transportation b/n resorts and parks, but not park to park or resort to resort. The busses take you right to the front gate.. snip .

Actually the WDW transportation is great from resort to park as well as from park to park. There is direct service from park to park via bus, monorail or boat depending no the park. If you are staying on-site IMHO there is no reason to rent a car. The only snag is going from resort to resort you need to go via a park and that can take some time. Unless your on the monorial going to another monorial resort or on the Boardwalk. FWIW a taxi ride from one resort to another has never cost us more than $12.00.

HTH
TJ

 

[MrCurmudgeon]

Wow, this is great information. Yes, I am staying onsite at the Wilderness Lodge and I think I'll give it a go without a rental car. I'm looking for less hassle, more relaxation and don't minde waiting a bit for transportation.

I did, however, see that FL Tours was highly recommended for private cars to and from the airport (not too much more than Mears shuttle and they do a 'grocery' stop for you).

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Can't wait for Oct. 19 to come!

- Cheers

 

[henstajay]

We use Disney's provided trasportation! It's great, FREE and reliable! In almost every case your bus stop wait should never be over 15-20 minutes. At the longest. There have been a few bad times we have experienced waiting but I would still recommend it FOR SURE!

In our opinion, going for 4 days will be FUN, but tough to fit it all in. So if you can do as much of one park in one day that would be great! In most cases you can plan multiple parks in the days when you visit ie: Animal Kindom... they close earlier, so you can then go finish the night at Epcot, or MGM. Just make sure you plan it well and read all of the park hours and event times etc. You can log on to the official disney world site and look up times etc.

If you can afford it and want to make the time for it, I highly recommend having one of your mornings start with a character breakfast. A really reasonable one with EXCELLENT all you can eat food is at the Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom. You could plan that on an early entry day into the park and get a great long day at the bbusiest park and start your morning off with a DELICIOUS breakfast. If you do, you will need to make reservations. We did it on our last trip and will do it everytime from now on.

If you can, use the monorail systems the most, they are the fastest and the most fun. But when you can't the buses are great too. One last TIP. Don't leave DW without visiting Downtown Disney!!!!! They are open late, so you can go there after the parks close, and they have the BEST stores, let alone it is just such a neat place to visit. Check with your resort to see if you quilify for a discount for the main Disney store, a lot of times you can get 10% off at the World of Disney and then I recommend saving your souvineer shopping for the end!

Have so much fun! It will be great! It will keep you wanting more and more for years to come! I'm jealous!!!!

Stacy, Jason and Caleb (and soon to be baby Cole)

 

[Harambe]

We normally stay for a week or 8 days. Our last trip was a quick four-day stop. We noticed that our usual plan of doing one park in the morning and "hopping" to another park didn't work out as well.

I would stay in one park for most of the day if I had to do it again. Travel time to another park did eat into our touring time. Have a sit down lunch to rest your feet, then tour some more!

 

[ladydancer]

We are also staying 4 days. We will be going to all 4 parks and BB and DQ. I'll probably be dead by Sat. Anyway, we are using Disney transportation. I rented a car on our first time staying on property but never used it. I just find it more relaxing not having to drive.

Here is our list:

Wed. Arrive @ "MGM" around 1:00. Stay till close @ 8:00 then go to our hotel pool.

Thurs. "BB" @ 10:00am....Then go to "Epcot" around 4:00.

Fri. "MK"@ 9:00...going to MK on this day because the halloween party is tonight and hoping won't be crowded during the day. Going to "DQ" @ 6:00 while everyone else is at the MK for the party.

Sat. "AK"@ 9:00...Hoping to ride a couple of the popular rides before breakfast. Ps @ Restaurantosaurus @ 10:30. Leaving park @ 4:00 to go to our hotel and take towncar back to airport.