Car vs Buses ...

[sjlogghe]

Thanks everyone!! My sister won out ... I am still a bit scared to not be in control of our comings and goings. But , I made a car reservation for a couple days after we get there from a Disney property pick up site just in case the buses get to be too much for me!!

 

[_19disnA]

Good discussion. We are planning a disney vacation for next year and I joined this forum to gain some insight into these types of things. We haven't been to disney in many years and I imagine a lot has changed. In past, we always rented a car. This time, some in our group think a car is unnecessary. I do like the idea of the direct transport by bus from the airport which eliminates hassles with luggage/check-in, etc. Is there a route map online somewhere for the onsite bus transportation? We will be staying at the Contemporary and even though some of our friends think they don't need a car, they are the type of people who expect buses will be instantly available with no waiting and will take them directly to where they want to go, which I assume is probably not the case. I would imagine the buses make multiple stops along their routes. Perhaps renting a car from a disney property for a portion of our visit makes the most sense.

 

[loves to dive]

We drive down so always have a car and never use it after we get there. We rely totally on Disney transportation. We like not having to deal with traffic and if we want to drink a few refreshing adult beverages we can and not worry about it. We get lost in our own driveway so there is that as well. It's just easier for us not to worry about parking, walking or riding a tram, dealing with traffic and stressing over it. We are never really in that huge of a hurry and don't feel like it's time wasted and just sitting and letting someone else do the driving works for us.

 

[joelkfla]

Good discussion. We are planning a disney vacation for next year and I joined this forum to gain some insight into these types of things. We haven't been to disney in many years and I imagine a lot has changed. In past, we always rented a car. This time, some in our group think a car is unnecessary. I do like the idea of the direct transport by bus from the airport which eliminates hassles with luggage/check-in, etc. Is there a route map online somewhere for the onsite bus transportation? We will be staying at the Contemporary and even though some of our friends think they don't need a car, they are the type of people who expect buses will be instantly available with no waiting and will take them directly to where they want to go, which I assume is probably not the case. I would imagine the buses make multiple stops along their routes. Perhaps renting a car from a disney property for a portion of our visit makes the most sense.

The Contemporary is arguably the most convenient location for not having a car.

• To MK, you can walk or take the monorail. The walk is about 10 minutes, the monorail ride is about 20 (it goes the long way around.)
• To Epcot, you'll take the monorail 1 stop to the TTC, and transfer to the Epcot monorail. It's only a few minutes from CR to TTC on the monorail, but returning it's 15-20 minutes.
• To AK, DHS, & DS you'll take the bus. Buses serving the CR usually stop at Wilderness Lodge either coming or going, depending on the time of day. If you're travelling to the park in the a.m. and back at night, you may stop both ways.
• There are boats from CR to WL & Fort Wilderness (Trails' End & HDDR.)
• The monorail goes to Poly & GF.
• For other resorts, you need to go to a park first and transfer to a bus to that resort. The advantage of the CR is that you can just walk to MK when it's open and get a bus to any resort not on the monorail or boat route from there.

The walkway to MK is paved, lighted, and well-marked, but not covered. You will need to go thru MK security check to get to the bus area, but there is one just for Guests walking from CR.

The boats serving CR are open-sided with a canopy. They need a step down to enter, so they cannot take ECV's, or unfolded wheelchairs or strollers.

Buses & boats usually run every 20 minutes or less, but an occasional longer wait is not uncommon. Travel time to the furthest destinations, AK & DS, should be around 20-25 minutes by bus. When traveling to a resort without direct transportation, add in the time to get to the MK.

ETA: There's no direct transportation from the resorts to the water parks. If you're planning to go to BB or TL, you'll need to go to AK or DS and transfer to a shuttle bus.

ETAA: There is one problem with transportation at CR: getting to Epcot for a pre-opening ADR is tricky. The Epcot monorail probably won't be running early enough, and I don't think there's a breakfast bus. You'd probably want to use Minnie Van, Lyft, Uber, or taxi in that case. You might be able to walk to MK and get a bus to BC, wherefrom you can easily walk to Epcot via the back gate, but I would verify that with MK bus cast ahead of time.

 

[_19disnA]

Yes, that makes sense. In the past with the passes we had, we could park at the Contemporary or Polynesian, have breakfast and then take the monorail to either Epcot or Magic Kingdom. I do recall changing monorails at that Transportation Center, but it was not a problem. Don't know what ADR is. However, I was reading the onsite parking rules are now different, but since we will be staying at the Contemporary and won't be arriving by car, shouldn't be an issue. We won't be doing any water parks (children too young), so that isn't an issue.

I don't mind riding the bus or waiting, but a few in our party will be concerned about the wait times. I do recall from a prior visit that signage when driving on the property can be confusing if you aren't a regular. There wasn't a specific sign for the "Contemporary", but you had to know it was considered part of the Magic Kingdom resort complex (or some similar wording). We found that very confusing on our first visit and obviously chose the wrong ramp. Maybe over the years, they have improved the signage !!!

There is always that trade-off between having your own car instantly available (with the associated costs) vs. the convenience of someone else doing the driving, but having to adapt to their schedule.

 

[joelkfla]

Yes, that makes sense. In the past with the passes we had, we could park at the Contemporary or Polynesian, have breakfast and then take the monorail to either Epcot or Magic Kingdom. I do recall changing monorails at that Transportation Center, but it was not a problem. Don't know what ADR is. However, I was reading the onsite parking rules are now different, but since we will be staying at the Contemporary and won't be arriving by car, shouldn't be an issue. We won't be doing any water parks (children too young), so that isn't an issue.

I don't mind riding the bus or waiting, but a few in our party will be concerned about the wait times. I do recall from a prior visit that signage when driving on the property can be confusing if you aren't a regular. There wasn't a specific sign for the "Contemporary", but you had to know it was considered part of the Magic Kingdom resort complex (or some similar wording). We found that very confusing on our first visit and obviously chose the wrong ramp. Maybe over the years, they have improved the signage !!!

There is always that trade-off between having your own car instantly available (with the associated costs) vs. the convenience of someone else doing the driving, but having to adapt to their schedule.

ADR = Advanced Dining Reservation. I think Disney has actually stopped using that term, but lots of people still use the acronym on the board.

The road signs are still mostly by "resort area." If anything, it's more confusing than it used to be, as there are more resorts and some of them are not really very close to the hub whose area they're in.

 

[Gentry2004]

We always rent a car, use google maps on our phone for navigation (although we pretty much just know now) and have not had any issues with traffic, even traveling near Christmas and Easter. I really just think it’s personal preference. I didn’t enjoy the busses at all the last time we rode them - well, the busses were fine, it was waiting for them I hated.

 

[monorailsilver]

We just came back early, way too early Sunday am (flight left at 11:55pm, not by choice).

We had a variety of rides during our 11 days. Personally I hate having a car as does my dh. I mean he loves to drive everywhere and be in control but he is good just sitting back and enjoying the moment.

We took DME to the BC. Our plan was to rent a car for 24 hours from the Dolphin to get water and breakfast food plus some snacks and toiletries. We had an early morning flight so we had plenty of time to get the car at around 2-3 in the afternoon. He walked over, got it and was back with in 30 min to an hour (I lost track of time but he was gone not long). We went to Super Target and got everything we needed.

We had dinner reservations at Chef Mickey's so instead of taking a bus to the MK and then the monorail or walk over we drove. The drive was easy but we had to park farther away and it was raining, no pouring. We eventually got out and were soaked by the time we were inside from the walk. While the bus would of been more time to get from point A to point B we would of pretty much stayed dry as we would not of walked in the down pour but taken the monorail....OK we'd get a little wet from where the bus drops off to the monorail.

The next morning we had DHS planned. I wanted to be there for 6:15am and we were planning on walking but I said we have the car lets just take it. So we did. It was nice to be able to just drive there and not worry about leaving early. But on the flip side, the bus dropped you off closer, actually it would of been the boat for us if that was working but it wasn't at dark o'clock in the morning. We returned the car on our way back from the studios that morning and didn't miss it.

We went to DS the next evening and used the app. It was pretty accurate. But it didn't show the next bus time when we were at the springs to bring us back but I looked at our resort bus times on the app and the estimated arrival time at the springs so I knew if we had to run to the bus stop or leisurely walk. We went to the springs again and it showed the bus was coming at say 5:53. Well we walked out of our room at about 5:48 and had to take the elevator down, go thru lobby and out the door. We saw the bus there and figured we were going to miss it so we ran. The bus driver saw us running and stopped and picked us up...phew! I knew we were not going to make it because we were cutting it close.

When we went to AK, the same thing with the bus. We used the app and it was pretty accurate. And again for the return I looked at our hotel bus times and it showed the bus was due to arrive around xx time. We knew that was soon so instead of going to xxx in AK we just left as we didn't want to wait another 20 min.

The app said the buses run every 20 min. There were a few times that it didn't update but it could be because the bus just got to one location and it was trying to give new estimates?? But it was pretty accurate.

We went to Blizzard beach one day (last Tuesday actually) and we planned to take the bus to AK and make the transfer. My dh was not ready (no surprise) so we missed that bus and the next one was going to be 20 min later. I told him about 3-4 times that we would have to switch at AK but he didn't listen to me. Finally he did and we ended up taking a Lyft (not the Minnie Van one the cheaper one) and it was great! We took my sisters car back with us as she was staying off site and her friend had a car so why should they pay for 2 cars at their hotel. We had free parking since we booked before the parking fees.

Personally I would rather take Disney transportation. We rush rush rush while in the parks, etc... so that is one time that I don't have to rush. I get anxious too "did it miss us" "did it forget us" type of anxiety. I hate the buses but they actually were not so bad this trip (we only took the bus 6 times, LOL).

The app is pretty reliable and sometimes the bus came a few minutes before it said which was a nice surprise. I would rather save the $200 but like your sister I have kids too and would rather spend it on them. If you really need the car then I would say you pay for the entire rental. The buses drop you off closer then the car can which to me is big when you are tired and have tired feet. The buses are already cooled. You don't have to think about where you need to drive to.

 

[_19disnA]

Is the bus phone app different from the DisneyWorld app or is it all part of the same thing?

 

[Tksolomom]

It is all part of the MDE app.

 

[sjlogghe]

Just got back today, and taking the buses wasn't as bad as I was picturing it in my mind to be!!

We did spend about $40-50 on Lyft while there. To/from Walmart, one day we were going to be late for a dining reservation, another day we were going to be late for bibbidy bobbidy boutique appointment, and another time we didn't want to go from the resort to Animal Kingdom and then transfer to Blizzard Beach. (My sister's kids are not early risers, especially in the summer - so getting them out the door was a little rough at times. ha!)

The app with bus times is great, it was pretty spot on! However one of the bus drivers did remind us that it's great when the technology on the bus is actually working! Which I found it to be working and accurate most of the time. It is only from resort to parks right now, not on the return - from the parks to the resorts. Which would be super helpful, hopefully they'll get to that in the future! The only other small issue I found was that you could only get the bus times for the resort you're staying at. I don't know if there is a way to get times for a different resort, but I couldn't figure it out. We went to Contemporary for Chef Mickey's, and would've liked to look up the bus times from there to the parks - but weren't able to. (They do have tv's at the bus stop that tell the times, but that doesn't help when you're in a store and wanting to know how much time you have!)

Our waits from resort to the parks were never too bad because of the times in the app. At night, from the park back to the resort, I don't think we ever waited more than 20 minutes. We are park closers - we go later and close the parks down, most of the time shopping until the crowd clears. We were at All Star Sports, and there was usually a little bit of a line, but we never had to wait for a second bus. There were a couple of times we had to stand, but not horrible.

A few times throughout the trip I thought to myself, if we had a car, we wouldn't have to sit and wait right now ... but I jut took a deep breath, reminded myself this was vacation, and sucked it up!

The only other thing that somewhat bothered me but wasn't that bad was Magical Express to the airport. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 8:55 am, 3 hours and 10 minutes before our flight. I know they do that to give a cushion for picking up at other resorts, traffic, etc ... but it was still a bit early for us, as we generally don't follow the 2 hour before flight rule. So being at the airport over 2 hours before our flight time was odd for us, but we just bought more stuff! LOL

All in all, like I said, it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I would consider doing it again in the future!! I definitely spent that extra car rental money - and then some!