best way to get to Hoop-de-Doo?

[sharona]

From Pop? From Epcot? From DHS? We have a 7:15 res. and trying to plan where we should plan on wrapping up our day (and what time) to make the best use of the buses or monorail. This is our "free"/unplanned day so we are trying to stay flexible with what we plan/do before dinner.

TIA

 

[clkelley]

If you are at Pop, then the best thing is to take a bus to the Magic Kingdom, then take the boat over to Fort Wilderness. Then it is a short walk over to Pioneer Hall.

From Epcot, take the bus to Fort Wilderness, but get off at the Wilderness Lodge stop, then take the bus or boat to Fort Wilderness, then it is a short walk over to Pioneer Hall. (If you take the bus all the way to Fort Wilderness, you are dropped off at the other end of the campground and still have to take a bus to Pioneer Hall).

OR take two monorails to the Contemporary or Magic Kingdom, then take a boat to Fort Wilderness, then it is a short walk over to Pioneer Hall.

From the Studios, I would take the bus to the Contemporary, then take the boat to Fort Wilderness, then it is a short walk to Pioneer Hall.

 

[sharona]

Thanks! Sounds like all will take a while. Any idea what time we should plan on starting all this if leaving from Pop? We want to arrive about 15-20 mins before I guess????

 

[nejjie]

3 weeks ago, we took the bus to Animal Kingdom from Pop. IMO, it was a much shorter ride there than to MK. Then we just walked over to the Fort Wilderness Bus and got onto that. Once you get to Fort Wilderness, you will have to get off and jump onto another bus. They had 3 buses there waiting to take people to the HDDR. So we jumped on, it made a few stops along the way and 5 minutes later we were dropped off. We checked in for the HDDR, got our picture taken (which is not included - have to pay out of pocket for) and then we waited til we were told to line up. On the left hand side is where you will line up if you are downstairs and on the right hand side of the stairs you will line up if you are upstairs.

When the HDDR was over, it just seemed like there were so many people. And my dd wanted to see Cindys castle so we waited on the dock for the water taxi. It was freezing that night and it came within 15 minutes but it felt like forever lol. The ride is about 8-10 minutes long and then once you get off, you have to walk to get onto the Pop bus.

 

[goofy4tink]

From POP. take the bus to MK, then boat over to FtW. As mentioned, it is a short walk up the hill to Pioneer Hall from the boat dock, about a 3 min walk.
From Epcot, bus to FtW/WL, get off at WL and take the boat over to FtW.
From DHS, bus to FtW/WL, get off at WL and boat over to FtW.

When you get out of the show/dinner, you may have two options for getting back to POP. If MK is still open, boat over there and take the bus back to POP. If it isn't, there will most likely be buses heading back to all the resorts from Pioneer Hall. CMs will ask which resort you are going to and then direct you to the correct bus. Each bus will make multiple stops at other resorts along the way.

I usually leave an hour for travel time. So, if you have a 7:15 ADR, you will want to be at HDDR by 6:45ish, you need to head out by 5:45ish. But, while some think that's a lot of time to 'waste' I tend to think of it as part of the fun. In fact, I usually head out sooner so I can take my time and not worry about being late.

 

[sharona]

Thanks for the info on timeline. That will help a lot. Last time at WDW we were surprised at the amount of travel time needed to get from A to B and tended to underestimate and end up rushing/worrying about being late.

Anyone have a link to a map that shows the FTW/WL/MK areas? I'm having trouble orienting where we'll be going!

TIA

 

[goofy4tink]

Oh, I'm the last person to give you any advice on the FtW area!!! I have gotten turned around in there more times than I can count. Not sure why. That's why I always take the boat over from MK. Like I said, it drops you just down the path from Pioneer Hall...so much easier than taking a bus to FtW and then having to take another, internal bus, to Pioneer Hall.

 

[sweetdana]

Leave at least 1 hour to get to HDD, or BBQ for that matter.

Best is get to MK (by bus from Pop) and take fairy over.
Taking busses, to FW, you end up with 2-3-4 transfers and a # of stops. Though if you have extra time, it is kinda a nice trip. (During Christmas a bunch of trailers were decorated WAYYYY over board it was fun.)


If you are Epcot it is probably quicker to take monorail over to MK and then fairy over.

 

[goofy4tink]

Leave at least 1 hour to get to HDD, or BBQ for that matter.

Best is get to MK (by bus from Pop) and take fairy over.
Taking busses, to FW, you end up with 2-3-4 transfers and a # of stops. Though if you have extra time, it is kinda a nice trip. (During Christmas a bunch of trailers were decorated WAYYYY over board it was fun.)


If you are Epcot it is probably quicker to take monorail over to MK and then fairy over.

Ferry, ferry...I doubt Tink is going to give anyone a ride anywhere....

 

[hibricc]

Thanks! Sounds like all will take a while. Any idea what time we should plan on starting all this if leaving from Pop? We want to arrive about 15-20 mins before I guess????

We were at Pop last week, and left for the HDDR at 5:45pm. Waited what seemed like forever for a bus to MK (I was nervous about arriving late after the Pop CM made a comment about "giving away your table" if you're late - I can't imagine them doing that since I've already paid for it, but whatever...). At MK, zipped right from the bus over to the launch dock, and took the boat to FtW. After dinner, they did have buses to take everyone back to their hotels, but we stayed on the beach to watch the Electrical Water Pageant go by (now THAT is a 70s relic!), then took the next boat back to MK.

I know others have said that the bus to FtW is easier, but we take the buses everywhere, so the boat to FtW is a nice relaxing change of pace , and it drops you right off at the beach by Pioneer Hall.

Oh, and save a few minutes by picking up your HDDR tix at the Pop Concierge desk a day or two ahead.