Car or Disney transportation ??

[Snow2013]

We are driving to Wdw during one of the busiest time, Christmas week. Should we drive our car to all the parks everyday or do buses? We do want to ride the monorail once. But we have dinner plans to Chef Mickey on night while at MK. We can ride monorail from MK to Chef Mickey...right.
Thanks,
1st Timer

 

[hearts8701]

We drive the only park I take disney transportation is magic kingdom mainly because the ticket and transportation where parking is located is too far from the park but if u want to ride the monorail or ferry this would be a good park to drive to or you can take the monorail from. Epcot to magic kingdom also

 

[rebelzrule]

We have been the past 3 years for the week after Thanksgiving, and the busses have been fine. Rarely ever had to wait more than about 30 minutes for a bus. Granted, that is not as crowded of a time as when you will be there.

That being siad, when we go back this year, I'll be renting a car. The main reason is that I have 2 small children. They do very well in the parks, and stay up and happy till park closing, but as soon as they hit the stroller to go back to the bus stop, they are out. That leaves me and my wife each trying to hold a sleeping kid, and fold up and hold a stroller. Then at closing, the busses are packed, so we end up having to stand up while doing all of that.

I am looking forward to strolling the sleeping kids right up to the car, putting them in, and throwing the strollers in the trunk, and heading back to the hotel!

 

[MKFan-PR]

Driving will probably get you to the park faster, except for MK, where you still would have to take one more form or transportation (ferry or monorail). CR (and Chef Mickey's) is just a monorail ride away, or you can use the walkway.

Like the PP said, if you have small children using the car has its advantages, even with the exit traffic at closing.

 

[Snow2013]

We drive the only park I take disney transportation is magic kingdom mainly because the ticket and transportation where parking is located is too far from the park but if u want to ride the monorail or ferry this would be a good park to drive to or you can take the monorail from. Epcot to magic kingdom also

I do remember hearing something about MK being a long walk from parking lot. We're staying at POR and not park hopping.
Have you ever been during peak time? Is driving traffic on disney bad? How much extra time do you need for car?.....I heard you need an hour for buses.

 

[Snow2013]

We have been the past 3 years for the week after Thanksgiving, and the busses have been fine. Rarely ever had to wait more than about 30 minutes for a bus. Granted, that is not as crowded of a time as when you will be there.

That being siad, when we go back this year, I'll be renting a car. The main reason is that I have 2 small children. They do very well in the parks, and stay up and happy till park closing, but as soon as they hit the stroller to go back to the bus stop, they are out. That leaves me and my wife each trying to hold a sleeping kid, and fold up and hold a stroller. Then at closing, the busses are packed, so we end up having to stand up while doing all of that.

I am looking forward to strolling the sleeping kids right up to the car, putting them in, and throwing the strollers in the trunk, and heading back to the hotel!

With this being our 1st trip, I think the car may be best. My smallest children are 7yrs. With long days, & the THOUSANDS of people don't want to scare them. I'm sure mine will be just like your knocked out as soon as we leave.

 

[hearts8701]

I do remember hearing something about MK being a long walk from parking lot. We're staying at POR and not park hopping.
Have you ever been during peak time? Is driving traffic on disney bad? How much extra time do you need for car?.....I heard you need an hour for buses.

Yes I have been going for a few years for Christmas unti New Years you cannot walk from the parking lot at magic kingdom you park take a short ride on a tram to the monorail or ferry boat to get to the park with disney transportation you are dropped close to magic kingdom and have a short walk to the entrance driving for us is fairly easy if you miss your exit the next exit will work just as well to get you to your destination

 

[sam_gordon]

We are driving to Wdw during one of the busiest time, Christmas week. Should we drive our car to all the parks everyday or do buses? We do want to ride the monorail once. But we have dinner plans to Chef Mickey on night while at MK. We can ride monorail from MK to Chef Mickey...right.
Thanks,
1st Timer

I haven't seen anyone address the bolded. You have three choices to get between CR (where Chef Mickey is) and MK... walk (about 10 minutes), monorail (about 5 minutes + wait time) or boat (about 15 minutes + wait time).

 

[Snow2013]

I haven't seen anyone address the bolded. You have three choices to get between CR (where Chef Mickey is) and MK... walk (about 10 minutes), monorail (about 5 minutes + wait time) or boat (about 15 minutes + wait time).

When u say monorail: about 5 minutes + wait time....... Wait time meaning waiting to get on the monorail?

Do u happen to know:
After dinner at Chef Mickey we want to go Ft. Wilderness for Chip & Dale's campfire. Can we drive to this event ?

 

[sam_gordon]

When u say monorail: about 5 minutes + wait time....... Wait time meaning waiting to get on the monorail?

The times I give are from the front gates of MK, and yes, the wait times mean waiting for the transportation to show up & load.

Do u happen to know:
After dinner at Chef Mickey we want to go Ft. Wilderness for Chip & Dale's campfire. Can we drive to this event ?

IIRC, Ft. Wilderness operatorates sort of like MK... there's a central parking area (except for those with cabins/camp sites), then a bus system to take you to the trading post area (where the campfire & Hoop De Doo is).

I know there's a boat that services WL, MK, and FW, and drops you right at the trading post. I don't remember whether CR is part of that loop.

Personally, I would probably walk from MK to CR, eat at Chef Mickey's, then boat to FW (might require boating back to MK, then changing boats to go to FW, but I'm not positive on that).

 

[tobikaye]

The campfire is actually located in the middle area of FW so even if you take a boat from MK or Contemporary to FW, you might decide you want to take an internal bus.

The link below is a map of FW. The campfire is located at #7, just below loop 1400 and to the right of loop 600. If you decide to take a bus, either from the marina or the parking lot at FW, you should take the orange or yellow routes. The bus driver should be able to direct you.

FW Map


.

 

[briangl]

We have been the past 3 years for the week after Thanksgiving, and the busses have been fine. Rarely ever had to wait more than about 30 minutes for a bus.

Waiting up to 30 minutes? That is a complete waste of time IMHO. I wouldn't wait more than 5 minutes. They should have built the parks so you could walk to all of them from the on-site hotels.

 

[jlay68]

We are in a similar situation for our trip next month. We will be at WDW resort for 5 days and park hopping. We are a family of 4 with 2 toddlers staying at Pop Century. Other than using Disney transportation for MK, it sounds like it may be easier to just drive our rental car to the other parks and Downtown Disney. Will we get charged for parking at each park?

 

[siskaren]

Waiting up to 30 minutes? That is a complete waste of time IMHO. I wouldn't wait more than 5 minutes. They should have built the parks so you could walk to all of them from the on-site hotels.

How in the world could they have built four theme parks, all within walking distance of more than 20 hotels?

We are in a similar situation for our trip next month. We will be at WDW resort for 5 days and park hopping. We are a family of 4 with 2 toddlers staying at Pop Century. Other than using Disney transportation for MK, it sounds like it may be easier to just drive our rental car to the other parks and Downtown Disney. Will we get charged for parking at each park?

Parking is free for guests staying on property.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We've taken 49 trips to WDW since 1977... We've flown, trained and drove... Never in all those trips have we used a car... We've relied on Disney's transportation and believe its top notched... Lets us gawk around, and enjoy the ride and getting dropped off at the front of the parks is how we roll....why waste money on a rental when Disney provides free transportation...

 

[NJRRK]

I haven't seen anyone address the bolded. You have three choices to get between CR (where Chef Mickey is) and MK... walk (about 10 minutes), monorail (about 5 minutes + wait time) or boat (about 15 minutes + wait time).

There is no boat between MK & CR.

 

[NJRRK]

I know there's a boat that services WL, MK, and FW, and drops you right at the trading post. I don't remember whether CR is part of that loop.

Personally, I would probably walk from MK to CR, eat at Chef Mickey's, then boat to FW (might require boating back to MK, then changing boats to go to FW, but I'm not positive on that).

There are two boat "routes" that serve Bay Lake.

The first goes FW - WL - MK.

The second goes between the CR, WL, FW not sure of the order.

 

[rebelzrule]

why waste money on a rental when Disney provides free transportation...

because

I have 2 small children. They do very well in the parks, and stay up and happy till park closing, but as soon as they hit the stroller to go back to the bus stop, they are out. That leaves me and my wife each trying to hold a sleeping kid, and fold up and hold a stroller. Then at closing, the busses are packed, so we end up having to stand up while doing all of that.

During the times that we have been going, it looks like I can park pretty close to the parks (except Magic Kingdom), so why not drive? The cost of a rental car is pretty minor in the grand budget of the trip. Why not add the convenience?

Don't get me wrong, we've used the busses for 3 years, and I have nothing negative to say about them, but again, I am looking very forward to strolling right up to my car at park closing and being back at our resort in bed before I would have even boarded a bus.

 

[Gracie09]

Waiting up to 30 minutes? That is a complete waste of time IMHO. I wouldn't wait more than 5 minutes. They should have built the parks so you could walk to all of them from the on-site hotels.

Have you been to Disney world? It is many times larger than disney land. There is no way they could do what you want and still have four main parks, two water parks, dtd, and wide world of sports.

Op we always use buses and very rarely have a problem.