A Monorail Adventure

[left_arm]

I have a weeks worth of ADRs all planned out, so each park day is fairly well defined. I have Teppan Edo, Biergarten, Le Cellier, and Tutto Italia already planned, and I would hate to switch any of those meals, but Via Napoli is just so darn intriguing.

What's not particularly intriguing is the thought of repeating restaurants in the Magic Kingdom. So, I've been tossing around an idea, cancel lunch plans at Tony's and eat that Italian meal at Via Napoli. This would be done with a monorail ride from the Magic Kingdom and back, but is it nuts?!

Yes, a good amount of "ride time" would be consumed by transportation, but this will be our third day in the Magic Kingdom, and I foresee us already having ridden most rides by that point. We have a little dessert party planned with hundreds of our closest friends, as well as dinner at the Grand Floridian, otherwise, I would consider the hop to Epcot permanent.

Does this sound even minorly reasonable? Should we just stay in the Magic Kingdom? Should we switch an Epcot ADR for Via Napoli?

 

[darthtatty]

I dont think its nuts at all. The monorail ride shouldnt be too bad, theres a monorail that goes direct from MK to Epcot isnt there? That should save you a bit of time- instead of getting the monorail that you have to swap at the TTC.
Although our holiday is a year away weve got similar plans to you-as in most of our ADR's will be at Epcot and we'd like to add via napoli too.

 

[solfan68]

theres a monorail that goes direct from MK to Epcot isnt there? That should save you a bit of time- instead of getting the monorail that you have to swap at the TTC.

Not exactly. You can express from MK to TTC and then on to Epcot. But there's no spur from the Castle to the Golf Ball.

 

[darthtatty]

Not exactly. You can express from MK to TTC and then on to Epcot. But there's no spur from the Castle to the Golf Ball.

Thanks, i knew id taken the Epcot to MK monorail but couldnt remember if they did it from MK.

 

[purple figment]

theres a monorail that goes direct from MK to Epcot isnt there? That should save you a bit of time- instead of getting the monorail that you have to swap at the TTC.

There is no direct monorail. You will have to take one from the MK to the TTC, then change to Epcot monorail. Or you could take the ferry from the MK to the TTC.

It's a long walk from the Epcot monorail station to the back of World Showcase.

Another transportation option is to take the bus from the MK to the Beach and Yacht Club then walk or take the Friendship boat into Epcot via the International Gateway. At least the bus stops at the MK are right outside the entrance and there'll be less walking involved.

 

[left_arm]

Thanks for the assurance of my sanity! How much time should we allow to get from inside the Magic
Kingdom to Italy?

 

[kirby428]

The info from the LaughingPlace transport wizard shows MK to Epcot using monorails as 37min but allow 5-10 wait time per segment becomes more like an hour. Does not include walk time to or from monorail depots. (MK to TTC = 10 min.) Of course, one has no way to know how much this prediction would vary depending on season, hour of day, EMH stuff etc. I can feel your agony regarding the tough restaurant choices around World Showcase. The high cost of park hopping is travel time. If Walt could come back to life, the first thing he would fix would be the WDW transportation problems.

 

[disfan07]

Last time we were there (about 3 years ago) when we hoped from MK to WS for dinner, we took the bus for the Beach Club and walked through the WS entrance to EPCOT.

We did that because we wanted to see the christmas decorations at the beach club so we figured it was a good time to do that.

For that it's really a hit or miss with the bus and i'm not sure if it's faster but it is another option.

I can't really give you a time estimate unfortunately...it was too long ago...lol

 

[Disbug]

Thanks for the assurance of my sanity! How much time should we allow to get from inside the Magic
Kingdom to Italy?

75 minutes should be plenty of time... that way you don't feel rushed. If you are early, you can check in at the podium and do a little shopping in Italy!

 

[USAswimmer626]

I'd actually suggest taking a bus to the Yacht and Beach Club and walking through the International Gateway. Might be faster.

 

[Forever Fairy]

Rather than all that travel, have you thought about eating at one of the other restaurants at either the Poly, WL, or Contemporary?

I agree with USASwimmer626. It would be less transfers and a shorter walking distance to take a bus to the Beach Club, and then walk to the International Gateway entrance (there's almost NEVER a line there).

Then you'll already be at the back of the park and can walk to Italy. I usually stay at the Yacht Club and it will take about 15 - 20 minutes from there to the restaurant, including getting through the back gate.

 

[left_arm]

I'm liking this idea of going to the beach/yacht club. While some the magic kingdom resort restaurants are a backup, I think this via Napoli challenge could be more fun than tap-dancing elephants (that is, if I can get an ADR on Friady)!

 

[sharonabe]

What time is your ADR at GF? You could end up traveling to Italy, eating, getting back on monorail, and going to GF for dinner. Then you still have your dessert party.

Why not start your day at Epcot and get the earliest lunch you can at Via Napoli? That way, your only traveling one way instead of roundtrip. You'll get more park time in and not have to spend your whole day traveling and eating.

 

[B-Ride]

Why not start your day at Epcot and get the earliest lunch you can at Via Napoli? That way, your only traveling one way instead of roundtrip. You'll get more park time in and not have to spend your whole day traveling and eating.

This makes a lot of sense to me. Alternatively I would do lunch at Kona Cafe.

IMHO, leaving MK, taking two monorails and walking all the way over to World Showcase, and then back again is just too much effort for lunch.