Disney Transportation for Dining After Park Closes

[Megan07]

I have a dinner reservation at Rainforest Cafe for 6:45 at Animal Kingdom. The park closes at 6pm that day. Will it be hard for me to get to the park for my reservation and back to All Star Music. Flight doesn't land til 2pm. I figure around 3:30ish I'll be checking in and heading to the room for a quick sit down and rest the body before heading out.

Any thoughts?

 

[Magicbus]

Not a problem. Buses run until AK is clear, about two hours after closing. Then they have special buses to take guests back to their resorts from the Rainforest Cafe. You'll probably get a bus just for your party.

 

[Alesia]

Not a problem. Buses run until AK is clear, about two hours after closing. Then they have special buses to take guests back to their resorts from the Rainforest Cafe. You'll probably get a bus just for your party.

But there won't be buses going from the resort to AK after AK closes. I would plan on being on a bus headed for AK by 4:30 or so.

 

[Magicbus]

Your res is for 6:45 and if AK closes at 6, at the earliest, there will be buses dropping off from AK at AS until about 8. You should be ok. If the driver tells you that they are just dropping and not picking up, tell them you're going to the Rainforest.

 

[Alesia]

Your res is for 6:45 and if AK closes at 6, at the earliest, there will be buses dropping off from AK at AS until about 8. You should be ok. If the driver tells you that they are just dropping and not picking up, tell them you're going to the Rainforest.

But buses dropping off from AK do not always return to AK if the park is already closed.

 

[Magicbus]

You're correct. Sometimes during the day buses that came from a certain park do not return to that park and return to their base. It's called a figure 8 route. But at closing time, we return to our base hub to pick up another load in order to clear the park ASAP. Unless it's our last run of the night from that park or if we're on loan from another hub, I don't think that'll be the case.

 

[scottnj1966]

I've been on the wrong bus before but sicne it was empty they made a special stop to get us to our destination.
Everyone is always so nice at Disney.

 

[clkelley]

Yep, I honestly would leave your resort NLT than 4pm to get to your dinner.

What you want to do is "go upstream" and it is quite difficult to do.

The buses coming from AK that late in the evening may not even stop at the AK stop to drop off guests. Their sign may already say DTD and stop at the DTD stop, or the Epcot stop.

The buses are configured so that they rarely run empty.

 

[Megan07]

Okay! Sounds like I got my work cut out for me on arrival day. We love this restaurant and want to eat a nice meal after traveling all day! If by chance there are like no buses, would I contact one of the cafe staff to inquire about getting home to AS Music?

 

[clkelley]

Okay! Sounds like I got my work cut out for me on arrival day. We love this restaurant and want to eat a nice meal after traveling all day! If by chance there are like no buses, would I contact one of the cafe staff to inquire about getting home to AS Music?

You will not have ANY issues at all leaving the restaurant to get back to your resort after your dinner. There are busses there just for that purpose. Just don't wait till to close before closing to get TO your dinner. That is where the trouble will come in.

 

[Traveliz]

My only comment is - whenever you get there go ahead and check in - assuming you are hungry - I will almost guarantee you that you will be seated then rather than have to wait until 6:45 -- unless you have a huge private party or something like that planned.

Liz

 

[Megan07]

Thanks so much everyone! I feel a little better about it now! Just hope I arrive on time!!

 

[cranbiz]

There are buses just to take Rainforest guests back to their resorts after dinner, there will be absolutely no issue returning to the All Stars.

If you have a 6:45pm dinner ressie, then you would normally want to leave the resort by 6pm anyway. At 6pm (with a 6pm closing), the All Star buses from AK will return to AK so getting there will be no issue, just let the driver know you have a Rainforest ressie if you don't get asked first.

At park closing, there are almost no figure 8 routes, the object is to clear the park, period. Drivers scheduled to float a new location after closing will either make a last run and return if necessary or will be sent directly from the park to the new location.