Bus or Car at the World?

[bstarprincess37]

My DH and I are heading to the World this weekend. We are going to attempt to visit three parks during our stay there. Any advice on getting between the parks? We are planning to hit HS then AK, and end the day at MK with extra magic hours.

I know it will be pretty challenging especially for my DH's first visit but we are very limited on time and a bit on budget. I know most would say just pick one park but we have already made a very careful plan so just looking for help deciding on how to get around.

Would you drive or ride the bus? I know the parks will be packed because of the holiday and Star Wars Weekends. What would you do?

 

[Hootch]

we take the bus only for MK and drive everywhere else. Driving to the MK requires you to take a tram to the T&TC to catch a ferry or monorail. The added waits and transportation take more time than the buses in most cases.

If you are staying at a Disney resort, I would drive to DHS and DAK and then drive back to your resort to catch a bus to the MK.

 

[Gitts2008]

We prefer to drive to the parks. But, i do agree using the bus to get to MK.

I am putting it out there and I may be wrong. Depending on your plans, you could drive to TTC and use the monorail to get to EP and MR. If you have ADR's at the monorail resorts. Use the buses from the ADR resort to get to DHS and AK. If I am mistaken. please correct me..

 

[OKW Lover]

Add us to the drive everywhere but the MK crowd.

 

[ZoZo]

I guess I'm the opposite of the other posters - I never rent a car at WDW. But I do go during a slower time of year (October) so I don't need to worry about overcrowded buses. Plus, I usually go for at least a week, so I can go at a slower pace and don't need to rush from place to place.

It seems like a rental car would give you more flexibility, and save you some time, if you can swing the price, especially since you're going during SWW and it's likely to be very crowded.

 

[OKW Lover]

The PP mentioned about the slower time of year and I thought it might be an important point as well. We also go at the slower times of year and for us its still better to drive (except to the MK) than wait for the bus. I think the bus service is spaced further apart during the slower times because the ridership is lower.

 

[Fastcars]

since you have already have a plan of which parks you want to visit and in what order you are going a car would be the only way to go fast. This is just my opinion but I would visit AK then HS and wind up at MK. Your oder of visit might be made to take in some attraction at a specific time.

We have visited all 4 parks in one day and used Disney transportation for all the moves. Since we stayed on site and from your plans you are driving in for the day the car makes the most since. You could spend up to hour making the move using the bus or monorail from park to park.

 

[aVASTGrl]

I always stay onsite and have to fly to Orlando, so we have always used Disney transport exclusively. I'd rather save the rental car $$$ to spend at the Parks! I guess driving to each of the Parks might save some time, but for me it just seems like a waste of money

 

[tzolkin]

since you have already have a plan of which parks you want to visit and in what order you are going a car would be the only way to go fast. This is just my opinion but I would visit AK then HS and wind up at MK. Your oder of visit might be made to take in some attraction at a specific time.

We have visited all 4 parks in one day and used Disney transportation for all the moves. Since we stayed on site and from your plans you are driving in for the day the car makes the most since. You could spend up to hour making the move using the bus or monorail from park to park.

Since the OP mentions EMH at MK, I assume they are staying onsite. But I'm also assuming they will have their own car, so the rental price others have mentioned wouldn't be a factor.

It really just depends on you. We always drive to FL and stay for 10-12 nights and we never once use our vehicle to get around "the world" even though we have one available. We find it fun use the Disney transportation to get around. We have also gone to three parks in one day (including a break at the resort) several times (with three small children) and have never had any issues. Of course we're also never worried about getting a lot done in a set amount of time.

 

[Qltrgrl2]

I think driving will be your best bet. Good luck hitting all those parks in one day...it will surely be a marathon visit.

 

[VAN]

Normally I would recommend a car; HOWEVER, you said you are a bit budget challenged.

If you don't have your own car, then I would recommend taking the bus. AND I would recommend planning to stick to one park for the full day due to it being your DH's first visit. My recommendation is MK and Epcot for the two parks.

Forget about the Studio and AK until you can come back for a more leisurely (i.e. longer) visit.

 

[AshleeH]

We drive everywhere - Disney couldn't pay me to rely on their transportation (bad experiences). Especially if there is a time crunch, it's better to have your own car and arrive and leave at your own schedule.

 

[CarolynFH]

We also use Disney transportation most of the time. However, we've also done three parks in one day, and I agree that you'd probably lose too much time traveling between parks that way. Even though getting from the TTC to MK is a pain, driving your own car between those three parks will be quicker.

Have fun - I can't wait for our trip in October!

 

[andysomma1]

I am an annual pass holder living in Miami and always drive to the world. I always stay on site and I always use the Disney buses. After I park my car at my resort I don't even think about it again until the awful soul sucking, heart breaking time comes for me to leave. The buses may be crowded and you may have to wait at a stop for a few minutes, but they are so convenient. I could not imagine spending a full day enjoying Disney magic and then having to get behind a wheel of a car and drive home. I don't have kids of my own so part of the magic is to see the look on little kids faces as we enter the park and listen to them describe all the fun they had that day as we are going home. Quit worrying so much about time "wasted" at Disney. You waste time on the turnpike getting to work in the morning or sitting through an hour long meeting that could have been wrapped up in ten minutes at work. Sitting on a bus and enjoying your family or talking with strangers from places you may never get to visit should not be looked at as time wasted but time well spent. When your children get older and decide it's not cool to talk to mom and dad about whats going on in their lives you will wish you had spent the extra 10 minutes on a bus at Disney World.

 

[blessedby3]

We also drive to the parks (we drive down from VA and have our own vehicle) except for MK. For us it is the stroller issue more than anything else. It is a pain to fight the busses with a stroller so we just drive to the parks. When we head to the MK we use the bus as it is more of a pain to have to transfer on the tram at the TTC and then take the monorail or boat (with the stroller). Those trams and strollers dont go together
Looks like that wont be the case for you, OP, as you said just you and DH. If we didnt have the stroller issue, we would use the busses more.

 

[bj21]

Thank you for this thread! I was wondering this myself. We will be driving to The World so rental $ isn't an issue, but tired kids and a stroller are. I think we will be driving except to MK. Thanks for the tips!

 

[wfjny]

When we are on-site, we tend to take Disney transportation everywhere except AK. But we stay at BLT, so we often walk to MK & monorail to EPCOT. For HS, sometimes we drive, but often we bus there in the AM, then take the boat to EPCOT for the evening, and return on the monorail.