AM EMH and Disney Springs Hotel Transportation

Pinky679

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jul 1, 2019
I am planning my first trip to DW and was looking at staying at a Disney Springs hotel and using their EMH benefit. I saw that their buses start 45min before park opening and that seems (from what I have heard) about when most people suggest you want to be through security already for EMH (to get a decent spot in line). Has anyone used this transportation and can say weather they get you to the park in time to get through security and get a decent spot in line for EMH.
 
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The Disney Springs hotels are discussed on the Orlando Hotels and Attractions board; I’ll move your thread over there. :)
 
Following. We are considering staying at a Disney Springs hotel as well. I already have ASM booked, but for a considerable price decrease I can book a DS hotel. This would be our 1st time staying off property. Any thoughts?
 
There's a "stickied" thread at the top of the Orlando Hotels and Attractions forum with lots of information about the bus service at the Disney Springs Hotels. I encourage you to read the beginning, as it explains everything. Click here:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/disney-springs-hotels-bus-information.3653605/
But, here are some quick answers to your questions.

Bus service begins 1 hour prior, not 45 minutes. There are four buses running at once. The "A" buses serve the east side of Hotel Plaza Blvd and the "B" buses serve the west side. For each side, one bus goes to theme park 1 before continuing to theme park 2. A different bus goes to theme park 3 before continuing to theme park 4.

The combination of theme parks varies. For example, there could be a bus that goes to the Transportation and Ticket Center (monorail/boat to Magic Kingdom) and then Disney's Animal Kindgom. But, it's also possible that on a given day the combination could be Disney's Animal Kingdom and then Epcot.

To continue, I'll quote myself from the linked thread above:

As long as there is not any unusual traffic, if you take the first bus of the day going to a theme park, you will always arrive before the park opens. Although, if you're going to the second park, it will be close. Regardless of which two parks are coupled together, the entire trip (Hotels --> 1st Theme Park --> 2nd Theme Park --> Hotels) takes one hour.

The only exception to that would be if Magic Kingdom was the 2nd theme park on a grouping. While that's possible, I've never heard of that happening. Every combination I've seen always had the Magic Kingdom stop (Transportation and Ticket Center) as the first in the grouping.

So, if you take the first bus going to Magic Kingdom, you'll arrive at the Transportation and Ticket Center between 30 and 35 minutes later. After going through security and taking the monorail or ferry, you should get to the main entrance just prior to the official opening time.

But, if you absolutely need to be there before the rope drops at Magic Kingdom, you will need to arrange for transportation on your own.

Following. We are considering staying at a Disney Springs hotel as well. I already have ASM booked, but for a considerable price decrease I can book a DS hotel. This would be our 1st time staying off property. Any thoughts?

Make sure you're making a proper comparison in terms of hotel quality. With the exception of the Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista and possible the Best Western Lake Buena Vista (which is under construction), the rest of the Disney Springs Hotels are much nicer than the motel-style Disney Value Resorts.

Personally, I use Disney's Moderate Resorts as the comparison to the two Hiltons, B Resort and Spa, Holiday Inn, and DoubleTree Suites in terms of room quality and service levels.
 


Thank you for the information, it is quite helpful but I was specifically looking to hear if the buses not only get you there before opening of AM EMH but early enough that you have a decent spot in the entrance line (so your not using up your EMH waiting to get through security or the entrance. Do you have any insight into that situation? I have heard that for AM EMH the buses will only go to the park with EMH for that first hour, any idea of that is true?
 
Sorry Pinky679, I don't have first hand knowledge of anything in the early morning. I work nights. Even on vacation I tend to not be awake until late morning.

But going strictly off the schedule, that might happen will depend upon the actual hours of the theme parks. For example, let's say the regular opening time is 9am at all the parks. Since the Disney Springs Hotels bus starts one hour prior to opening, the first bus leaves at 8am. If one park has Extra Magic Hours (EMH) starting at 8am, that means the first bus starts at 7am. In that scenario the people going to the EMH park would go there directly.

Where things get weird is when multiple parks have EMH or earlier than normal opening times. For example, Disney's Hollywood Studios will be offering the insane 6am to 9am EMH soon. We don't really know how the Disney Springs Hotels buses will operate in that situation. It's most a wait-and-see scenario at this point.
 
@writerguyfl and @Pinky679, this information is great. We are also eager to know if Disney Springs Resort Area Buses will be working for EMH in October. We are going to MK, AK, and HS and we have access to EEMH (7 am, 7am, 6 am, respectivelly). We want to take advantage of that, specially for Hollywood Studios with Star Wars Edge. Anyone knows if the DS hotels buses will be available at 5 am for HS?

If anyone has an update of buses schedule for EEMH we'll be really thankful.
 



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