Boats start about an hour before Early Entry & run until well past Citywalk closing to & from the all of the resorts that offer that mode of transportation (SF, RPR, HRH & PBH.)
They run all day. Very early until very late. But remember they won’t run when there is thunder in the immediate area. Could you have been reading a trip report where someone mentioned “boats started after 4pm”?
It may have been referring to reopen/running after being closed for a passing storm.
Boat waits this week were anything from 1min to 15-20min. Probably 5-10min on average.
As stated above, they run 1hr before early entry to 1hr after City Walk close. We got on a 2:20ish am boat after HHN and they did say it was a 1 way trip at that point, you could not come back to City Walk.
Disney Springs transport to parks starts at 4pm I believe, I think that's where that timing is coming from.
Pre-Covid Universal ran buses between the resorts, after 4p or 5p (not sure which) in order to accommodate guests who wanted to have dinner in a different resort. That might be the after 4p reference.
Pre covid Disney ran bus service from the parks to DS, starting around 4p. Disney didn't offer buses from DS to the parks. OK the bus from DS to the MK drops off at the Contemporary.
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