A question about transportation

[Kristine316]

I made a thread last week and everyone was sooo helpful I thought I would come back and ask a few more questions


This is our first trip and we are leaving in just three days now!

My first question is about transportation....

We will have a car and I was wondering if getting around by our own car is better and faster or if using Disney transportation is still the better bet? Also.. since we have never been there I don't know how far things are apart... could anyone help me by giving me an idea of how long it takes to park hop between parks. Maybe give me worst case scenario.. like how far the two farthest parks are from each other so, I can sort of have an idea of how much time we will need when we try to make our ADR's.

I know that is a really broad question and has many answers so, I thankyou in advance for your help!!

Just another quick question... can we use table service credits at a QS restaurant if we decide we do not want to take the time for a sit down meal? Our agent told us we could do this but, I have heard from others that you cannot do it.

Thankyou!!

 

[DonaldTDuck]

Animal Kingdom to anywhere is the longest. Epcot and DHS are within walking distance, 15-20 minutes. MK and Epcot are attached by the monorails and takes about 20 minutes. Everything else is buses and takes 30-45 minutes.
You will get every possible opinion on bus v driving. For me, I love to drive to my resort, park and not go back to the car til it was time to go home. I've never had a bad bus experience in 16 trips. I have flown and was perfectly happy without a car. Then again, I never park hop.

 

[racechick8293]

We always drive because we're local. However, I've been hearing complaints about the waits for the buses from those staying on-site. If you have your car and the parking would be free anyway, I would likely drive, especially if I had ADR's to make.

 

[redrosesix]

Animal Kingdom to anywhere is the longest. Epcot and DHS are within walking distance, 15-20 minutes. MK and Epcot are attached by the monorails and takes about 20 minutes. Everything else is buses and takes 30-45 minutes.
You will get every possible opinion on bus v driving. For me, I love to drive to my resort, park and not go back to the car til it was time to go home. I've never had a bad bus experience in 16 trips. I have flown and was perfectly happy without a car. Then again, I never park hop.

Ita - we find the bus transportation the fastest way to get to the parks, especially MK - the bus drops you off at the front gate (rather than you having to take a monorail from the TTC, where you park for MK - if you want to ride a monorail, use it to park hop to Epcot). We always have a car because we need it for other commitments, but it stays in the resort parking lot on most of our disney park days.

However, we always take our car to water parks, mini golf and DTD, even though we don't have to and transportation was ok to those places without a car (but just ok - not great) If you're resort hopping, that is definitely easier by car, especially if you're trying to get to another resort for an ADR.

We always park hop, and we find it easier to do this by bus or other Disney transport - it's also easier if you leave the car at the resort for the whole day rather than trying to get back to the park where you left your car.

As for exchanging dining credits, I've read that they have allowed TS credits to be exchanged for QS credits sometimes during free dining, but still I wouldn't count on that. But in those cases, the switch was made at the front desk of the resort, not at the restaurants.

 

[figment_jii]

I agree that if you're going to use the Disney bus system I would allocate about 45 minutes to get anywhere (assuming no transfers). If you going from resort to park or park to resort, then this is probably a safe estimate (most cases it won't take that long, but better to be early for an ADR than late). For resort to resort then driving is must more efficient. For anything to do with DTD, a car seemed better.

We had a car our last trip and it made some things much easier. My thoughts:
-If you're thinking of visiting different resorts, then driving is the easiest way. I'd allocate about 20 minutes.
-Getting to and from DTD anywhere was much easier with a car. That was probably our longest/worst bus rides in previous trips and this time with the car that was one less issue to worry about.
-Driving to Animal Kingdom also seemed to make more sense. As others have said, Animal Kingdom is the furthest away park from most other places, so this cut down on travel time.
-We used the bus to get to and from the MK because driving would still invovle taking the ferry or monorail to the park.

 

[JLR]

If you get the Unofficial Guide (buy it, borrow it from a friend or the library, etc) there is a great chart that gives you estimates for driving and bus transportation: actually they give you the average and the longest it took. It is almost always faster to take Disney transportation to MK. Other than that you'd want to look it up. I love not driving on vacation.

The big benefit to driving is when you need to go from resort to resort.

 

[goofyernmost]

I made a thread last week and everyone was sooo helpful I thought I would come back and ask a few more questions


This is our first trip and we are leaving in just three days now!

My first question is about transportation....

We will have a car and I was wondering if getting around by our own car is better and faster or if using Disney transportation is still the better bet? Also.. since we have never been there I don't know how far things are apart... could anyone help me by giving me an idea of how long it takes to park hop between parks. Maybe give me worst case scenario.. like how far the two farthest parks are from each other so, I can sort of have an idea of how much time we will need when we try to make our ADR's.

It really depends on your mood and the crowds. I always have a car whether it be a rental or have driven my own. Most of the time I use my vehicle to go wherever I want within or off site. I find that the time spent getting to my car in the parking lot is more than made up for by the usual wait for the bus. Besides that after a long hot day at one of the parks, the last thing that I find magical is being forced to have my nose within lethal distance of someones armpits. Just from my casual observation I would say that I beat the bus back to the hotel almost every time. Of course, the choice is yours.

I always recommend this to friends. I know that there is a certain amount of excitement and confusion involved with a place like WDW. This is especially true if this is a first trip, but, if instead of burning up a day to head over to a park on the first day of arrival and you have a car. Spend some quality time just wandering around. You will be amazed at just how easy it is to get around and how much faster it is then if you take a bus. Once you feel comfortable and have gotten your bearings then you will be comfortable with getting yourself around.

Ita - we find the bus transportation the fastest way to get to the parks, especially MK - the bus drops you off at the front gate (rather than you having to take a monorail from the TTC, where you park for MK - if you want to ride a monorail, use it to park hop to Epcot). We always have a car because we need it for other commitments, but it stays in the resort parking lot on most of our disney park days.

I will agree that the bus is the fastest way to the entrance of MK, but I might be inclined to argue concerning the rest of the parks. It would be pretty much a draw in my book. When you think about it the getting there is not really a frustrating experience...it's the return trip when you're hot, tired and your feet feel like there are large tacks sticking in them that brings the transportation thing into focus. At that point, standing in a large crowd of equally grumpy people would not be a wonderful thing to me.

The thing that I would miss the most using bus transportation to MK is that, in my mind, the tram/ferry/monorail connection to the Magic Kingdom is just as much an essential part of the experience as is Main Street USA. When I don't do that connection I always feel like something important has been missed. Just me, I suppose, but there it is.

 

[21hearts]

We drive because we live 2 hours away from Orlando. We tried to do the bus once on our last trip and will never do it again. It was hard with two sleeping kids, a huge stroller, diaper bag and whatever we bought. We took our own car for the rest of the trip. Instead of trying to juggle everything on the bus we went to our van, put things away and went to the hotel. Once there we just took the sleeping kids and diaper bag out. Plus the bus ride from Magic Kingdom to All Star Resorts took 30 minutes vs the 10 minute it took us to drive there the next day.

I should also add that we have a huge double jogging stroller and at the time a 2 year old that walked & a 19/20 month old that did not walk.

 

[SarahJN]

We drove to FL from MA so we had our van with us. We also have 3 year old triplets and the thought of loading and unloading them along with 2 strollers and our gear for the parks seemed like torture so we drove to the parks. We were staying at POR Riverside and the drive times really were not that long at all.

If you get the Unofficial Guide to Disney (I think that's what it is called), they have a chart showing how long it will take to drive between parks and resorts.

I should add that we booked thru AAA, so we had AAA preferred parking - this allowed us to park close to the park entrances and avoid having to use the trams. At MK, we were able to walk to the ferry from our parking lot.

 

[JimmyV]

As others have said, there are many variables. Here are a few considerations:

If you plan on going to the parks early, at every park except the MK, you will be able to park fairly close to the main entrance, so the bus drop-off depot will not get you a whole lot closer than you can get with your own car. In the early morning, I find driving to be faster to such parks. In the 5-10 minutes that you spend waiting for a bus (and others here will tell you that the waits are worse than that, especially if the bus has to load an ECV), you can be very close to your arrival at the park. Look at it this way. If the time it takes you to walk to your car and get it moving is the same as the time it takes you to walk to the bus waiting area, board the bus and get the bus moving, than the two arrival times will be negligibly different, but the bus will get you closer to the entrance. Bus wins. In practice, you almost always have to wait for a bus to arrive, and it will always take 20 people longer to board the bus and get it moving than it will take you to load your family into a car and get it moving. If the bus has to load an ECV, it isn't even close. And if the bus has any more resort stops after yours, again, the car will beat the pants off the bus.

We also like using the car as a free locker for a change of clothes and other necessities. Helps to lighten the backpack.

And where the car is really a winner is at the end of the day when the kids are tired and maybe even asleep. Waiting for buses at the end of the day can be brutal especially if you leave Epcot right after Illuminations. You might have to wait for two or three buses to fill up before you get on yours. And if you aren't an early boarder, you won't get a seat. I love the feeling of knowing that 5 minutes after I leave the park, I am going to be in my car and headed home.

None of the above applies to the MK. There, the parking lot is not "right outside" the park. Instead, it is across a big lake. Once you park, you have to take either a ferry boat or monorail to the MK, whereas the bus takes you right to the park entrance. Your car won't be close enough to use as a locker for storage, and when the day is over, you still have to wait for monorails or boats to get you to the main transportation center (known as the TTC), and wait again to board a tram. Hands down, the bus wins when going to and from the MK. And since the MK and Epcot are conntected by monorail, hopping between those parks could not be easier.

All that said, if you are not an ealry riser and you are going to drive to the parks later in the day, you will not be able to park close to the entrances and will have to wait for and take trams from the parking lots to the main gates. And you lose the benefit of having your car close by to use as a storage locker. And you have to wait for a tram at the end of the night to get back to your car. So if you are thinking about driving to a park in the middle of day, you should reconsider and take a bus. Once the mad rush at 7:30-9:30 dies down, the wait for buses at the resorts is never that bad. The buses run less often, but they board quickly and get underway with little hassle.

As others have posted, going from resort to resort and resort to DTD is ALWAYS best done by car.

 

[Luvamouse]

We drive from RI, so we have our truck there. We stay at the Poly, so we take the monorail to MK and Epcot. Other than that we've never taken the bus. It is so easy to drive and it gives us a bit more flexibility.

 

[kaligal]

You REALLY need an Unofficial Guide.

Driving is faster except for driving to the Magic Kingdom. However, the nightmare of waiting at the MK for a bus or boat at closing will have you wishing you'd driven.

I'd allow about an hour to park hop, but I've done it in less. It also depends on what you're talking about...do you mean from exit to entrance or from the far end of one park to the parking spot in the next?

I would NEVER, EVER hop just to eat. Sounds fun at home but turns into a major pain when there. You didn't say you were planning that, but loads of newbies do...and it's just a bad idea.

 

[kymom99]

Not sure if this was mentioned before in your other thread, but there is no bus transportation between parks. CMs are very helpful if you want to know the best way to go between parks. Don't make the mistake we made on our last trip. We took a bus from our resort to Epcot in an effort to get to the Boardwalk. We were planning to transfer to a Boardwalk bus from Epcot, because the Epcot bus got there first (we were going to take Epcot or HS). We had parkhoppers, but our traveling companions did not and we had already been to a different park that day so they could not cut thru the park to the International Gateway. There was no bus to the Boardwalk from Epcot. It was very frustrating. I think we ended up taking the boat to HS and on to the Boardwalk from there. We wasted a lot of time on that little outing.

Also, my DH would not let me drive to DTD because he swore parking would be bad, but it wasn't. We took the bus there and coming back we took the boat to POFQ then caught a bus to the park we wanted to visit. We had stayed at FQ on our last trip and I wanted to visit again anyway, so it worked out. If we drove, I probably wouldn't have gotten to go there, so it's all good.

Also, if you have a GPS, it takes a lot of the guesswork out of it.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

We have been many times and started out using the busses. We now only use the busses if going to MK for the rest of the day. We do a lot of park hopping, and it is a breeze if you drive. But, the biggest key - you always have a seat when you drive.

 

[brerrabbit]

When did they stop bus transportation between parks? We were there last July and took the bus from Ak to Epcot. We have also taken the bus from TTC to HS. Did you mean to say there are no buses from DTD to the parks? That is true because they don't want you to park at DTD for free and take a bus to the parks.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

The roadways on property are pretty easy to navigate IMO. Things are very clearly marked.

After always driving at Disney (12+ trips) we did the busses in September. I will never use the busses again. We hurried up and waited. Hurried and waited. I like the freedom of coming and going as we pleased (and it was SUPER convenient with our small kids). Parking will be free for resort guests. The longest commute in when you drive in MK. You park in a remote lot, then shuttle into the TTC.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Not sure if this was mentioned before in your other thread, but there is no bus transportation between parks. CMs are very helpful if you want to know the best way to go between parks. Don't make the mistake we made on our last trip. We took a bus from our resort to Epcot in an effort to get to the Boardwalk. We were planning to transfer to a Boardwalk bus from Epcot, because the Epcot bus got there first (we were going to take Epcot or HS). We had parkhoppers, but our traveling companions did not and we had already been to a different park that day so they could not cut thru the park to the International Gateway. There was no bus to the Boardwalk from Epcot. It was very frustrating. I think we ended up taking the boat to HS and on to the Boardwalk from there. We wasted a lot of time on that little outing.

There should have been since Boardwalk Inn is a resort. You just have to get off at the resort and walk to the Boardwalk area.

And there is park to park busses. There is no resort to resort OR DTD to parks transportation.

 

[LilGMom]

I think when deciding to depend on WDW transportation can vary greatly depending on where you are starting/going, what time of year and how anxious you are to get there.

We drive so we have our car and drive to all of the parks. The only times we haven't is when we have stayed at WL and then we take the boat to MK, CR/BLT we will walk to MK, AKV/AKL we took the bus to DAK, and at the Swan we walked to EPCOT. MK, imho, is the worst park to get to so I'd be inclined to take the bus to that one. The rest of the parks are easy to find and when we traveled with others that used the buses we always arrived at the park before they did.

To maximize your time in the parks and minimize it getting places, try planning your meals based on where you want to be, or vice versa.

 

[Jestocost]

Not sure if this was mentioned before in your other thread, but there is no bus transportation between parks.

This is incorrect. There is some form of transportation that will allow you to get from park to park without transferring (except for travel to/from the MK, which requires a transfer at the TTC).

DHS <--> Epcot (Main Entrance): Bus
DHS <--> Epcot (International Gateway: Boat or walk
DHS <--> AK: Bus
Epcot <--> AK: Bus
Epcot <--> MK: Monorail w/ change at the TTC
DHS <--> MK (TTC): Bus
AK <--> MK (TTC): Bus

There is no direct resort-to-resort transportation (with the exception of among the monorail resorts, CR-WL/FW via boat, and among the Epcot resorts) and no park-to-DTD transportation.

 

[Bullseye]

Drive everywhere including the Magic Kingdom. Faster, more convenient, and no one dictates your schedule.

AK to DD is about the farthest 2 points from each other and thats only about 20-25 minutes unless theres a lot of traffic.

WDW is very easy to negotiate, there are signs everywhere, and even if you make a wrong turn all roads lead back to Disney.