Disney Dining without a car?

[Smylie]

How hard is it going to be to get to the different resorts/parks to eat if we don't opt for a car? We really don't want to have to rent one, but if it is going to be a bigger hassle without one then we'll have to get one. We are staying at the Wilderness Lodge Villas. Any advice?
Thanks!

 

[Kae]

If you don't mind giving yourself extra time to get to the resorts you will be ok.

monorail resorts will be easy for you to get to just take the boat to the CR, stay there or ride the Monorail to GF or Poly. Otherwise just hop on the first bus you see going to a park then transfer at that park to the bus for that resort. The worst wait we had was coming home from the boardwalk to POFQ. It was late so we had to wait for a bus to DTD.

Kae

 

[tjmw2727]

Its not to difficult get to the other resorts but you do have to do it via a theme park since the buses don't run from resort to resort.

I never rent a car so I try and coordinate my resort restaurant meals with the park we are visiting. On our MK day we may have lunch or dinner at a MK monorial resort. Maybe do Boma at AKL after a day at AK, etc.

Just allow extra time to take a bus from WLV to a park and then take the bus from that park to the resort your eating at. Often we use WDW transportation to a meal but if its dinner we often grab a cab back to our resort. We just budget in a few cab rides during the trip, its worth the convience and still much cheaper than a rental car.

HTH
TJ

 

[disnut1149]

Hi!
We're going in August and are not renting a car. Last year was the first time we did not rent a car and when we went to a resort that was not on the monorail line, we took a taxi. It was cheaper than renting a car for the few times we did go to the other resorts. Have a great trip.

 

[pennyplanner]

Smylie,

We never rent a car at WDW and have always stayed at WL.

The longest journey we had was to DDD.

Where is it you're planning to dine?

This past Thanksgiving, we dined at Le Cellier, California Grill, Cindy's Castle, Boma (dinner,) 1900 Park Faire (breakfast) and Wolfgang Puck's. In the past we have dined at Artist's Point, Kona Cafe, Narcoosees, Jiko, Hollywood & Vine and Brown Derby among others!

Specific questions? Ask away!

pennyplanner

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

I always recommend planning on being in the nearest theme park to the resort you want to dine in. Then it's easy to go over to the resort from that park. I never advise trying to get directly from one resort to another as this takes too much time.
From the MK you have the CR, GF, and Poly on the monorail. WL is just a boat ride away.
From the Epcot International Gateway you can easily walk to a the restaurants in the Epcot resort area (Boardwalk, Beach Club, Yacht Club, Swan and Dolphin). You can also get to the Epcot resort area from the Disney Studios via a longer walk or the Friendship boats that travel between the Studios and Epcot. They make three stops along the route at the Epcot resorts.

 

[majortom]

How hard is it going to be to get to the different resorts/parks to eat if we don't opt for a car? We really don't want to have to rent one, but if it is going to be a bigger hassle without one then we'll have to get one. We are staying at the Wilderness Lodge Villas. Any advice?
Thanks!

My experience has been different than those who have already responded. I have always rented a car when I have visited the parks. I find that I do not want to waste the substantial amount of time that it takes to go resort to resort on the buses/boats. If you end of traveling at peak times that can be substantial.

/carmi

 

[LeCras]

We never rent a car and have never had a problem with Disney's transportation. That said, we stay at SSR which is just a short walk from Downtown Disney where we catch buses to other resorts.

Charlotte

 

[pennyplanner]

Because we usually head back to the WL after lunch at the parks, we do head to dinner from our resort. We pick the park we would like to be in for the evening to see fireworks and plan accordingly. If it's a resort restaurant, we pick one that is close to the park we are going to.

For Boma, the plan was to take the bus to AK late in the afternoon and we were the only ones on. When we mentioned to the driver that we were headed to the Lodge from the park, he just shuttled us there directly. A nice bonus for us! Ideally, we would have spent the afternoon at AK and then head to AKL but weather changed our plans.

We LOVE using WDW transportation because it gives us a break from driving. And for us small town residents, riding the bus is a novelty. My teens still love it! And then there's the monorail... sheer bliss.

--penny

 

[Hopefully]

As others have said, it certainly is do-able. You just need to allot the appropriate amount of time.
We have not rented a car for many years. We use Disney transportation. Part of being on vacation for us, is to not have to worry about driving.
We also plan a resort dinner near to the park we will be in that day.
This year, I budgeted a few cab rides in, since it was cheaper than renting a car for the week. As it ended up, we never took a cab, but used the Disney transportation all week.

 

[ReneeA]

We tried to plan our meals around what park we were at on that day...booked monorail resort restaurants on a MK day, Epcot resort restaurants on an Epcot day.

Otherwise, we just gave ourselves enough time to get to each restaurant by using the busses.

It worked out great, and it was a relief to me not to have to woryy about driving.

 

[DaisyD]

We take cabs to other resorts. They are always waiting outside of the resorts and are very convenient.

 

[wscato]

As stated above, it's easy to get around without a car. I think Disney Transportation is good. Just plan ahead and allow extra time (an hour+or-) and you should be fine. Down Town Disney always has a bus to each resort, but going to a theme park might be a better option. There used to be a website that had a transportation calculator. I can't remember the address, maybe someone else can post it.

 

[GreenGirl8]

I think it is do-able with Disney transportation. I have done the parks twice without a car and twice with a car. I will never go back now. I really hated using the buses because they felt so unsafe to me. There were always people standing up and I could just picture the mess if the bus got into a serious accident. It just bothers me.

When we rent, we always get a price of about $100 for a full week. We use the discount codes and usually find the cheapest cars with Alamo or Budget. We also find having a car saves us lots of time, stress, and gives us tons of freedom.

 

[RebelHawk]

.
My DW and I drive to WDW on our visits but once we hand our keys to the valet we don't see them again until we check out. As was said above we plan our ADRs around our park schedule and when we leave the park we head to whatever hotel we are having dinner at. If we need to freshen up or change for a nicer meal we will use Disney transportation back to our hotel and then just take a cab to where we are going. We usually make a point to go from there to DTD or just cab it back to our home resort when we are finished.

I guess the average price for a one way cab fee is around $10 without a tip but I think we have paid as much as $15 which after a long day at the parks followed by an amazing meal is a small price to pay to get be back to my resort so I can kick back and relax.

-Tom in SC

 

[majortom]

As stated above, it's easy to get around without a car. I think Disney Transportation is good. Just plan ahead and allow extra time (an hour+or-) and you should be fine. Down Town Disney always has a bus to each resort, but going to a theme park might be a better option. There used to be a website that had a transportation calculator. I can't remember the address, maybe someone else can post it.

Transportation Calculator.

Just a few samples:

From Wilderness Lodge to Animal Kingdom Lodge: Minimum 46 minutes (no waiting time at all but including walk time for transfers), average 66 minutes (allowing 10 minute wait for each bus), Maximum 76 minutes (allowing 15 minutes wait per segment).

By car, less than 20 minutes.

From Wilderness Lodge to Downtown Disney: Minimum 29 minutes, average 39 minutes, maximum 44 minutes.

By car less than 17 minutes.

Universal Studios City walk for dinner or lunch: Impossible

About $35 each way by taxi.

By car about 15 minutes.

If one stays in a single park all day, and only goes to dinner or lunch at a restaurant in that park or walking distance from it, one can probably get by without a car. If one wants more flexibility, wants to be able to visit any non-Disney restaurant or park, likes to switch parks during the day, a car makes it much more convenient.

/carmi

 

[PocahontasLookALike]

I agree, as long as you give yourself plenty of time to use the internal transportation system, you'll be fine! When we were there last summer we did not rent a car and did just fine! Even saved some money to spend on other things!