Hi. I am new to this board and trying to plan our first trip to WDW in May. I am so confused about the disney transportation system, that even after reading 3 travel books, I still can not picture how it works. My issue is mainly with ADR. In the books it says the buses can sometimes take as long as 45 min each way to your destination. I plan on having one sit down dinner a day and I assume to minimize my time on a bus, I should try to eat wherever I am located; but with 4 little ones in tow, I am worried that we will get turned away if I don't make an ADR. How do I schedule dinners without wasting hours on a bus/monorail/boat? Dining in the parks isn't bad, but it seems more expensive than in say, downtown disney. Also, I think we will be heading back to our hotel in the afternoon to rest up before returning at night so I am not sure if I should bother with reservations in the parks for dinner. I am so confused on how to make the most of our time, and manage to get a few good (healthy) meals in. Can anyone help?
First, Disney transportation works by having buses (all resorts), or buses/boats/monorails (Epcot and Magic Kingdom Area Deluxe Resorts) that go from each resort to each park. They do not go resort to resort. Thus, if you're staying at, for example, the Polynesian, and have a dinner reservation at one of the restaurants at a park, you would take the resort transportation to that park (eg. in hollywood studios). If you get to the Polynesian bus stop having just missed a bus, you could wait another 20 minutes for the next bus, and then take the 8-10 minute ride to DHS, and you're looking at 40 minutes right there. You could also have a reservation at the magic kingdom and walk right on to the monorail or boat launch and be there in under 15 minutes. (as an example).
Where it gets longer is having your reservations at another resort. So let's say, again, you're staying at the Polynesian, and you have dinner reservations at Boatwrights, which is at Port Orleans - Riverside. There are no direct buses from resort to resort. So you need to take transportation from your resort to a park or downtown disney, and then go to the bus stop for Port Orleans - Riverside. That's really where time adds up, and you could (and we did) see a 90+ minute commute for a reservation. (one tip - try not to transfer at Downtown Disney if you can help it)
One thing we try to do when we make reservations is have our table service meal at lunch time. This way, we're either in the park we're having it at, or we can take a bus from the park we're in to the resort we need to get to, shaving off the first part of the waiting and the commute to a park. Then we head back to our hotel for a swim or nap, and when we leave again, we're not stressed out about getting anywhere, we usually grab a counter service meal wherever we end up. That obviously can't work for everybody, but we've found that it does work for us.
You can also call for a cab to take you from your resort to another, if time is tight. The cab rides aren't expensive, but they do add up if you do it every day.
I know it's overwhelming, and with 4 little ones in tow, that adds more time overall. I know we've been late to a reservation at the Yachtsman (like 45 minutes late), because we got stuck on a bus that the driver was training on, and we called the resevervation line, and had absolutely no problem when we got to the Yachtsman, they seated us right away. That was, of course, before the credit card guarantees went into effect, so i'm sure that adds a new wrinkle. I would say
budget in PLENTY of time to get where you're going, take a look at park hours before you make most of your reservations if you can, and try to decide what kind of schedule makes the most sense for you.
