Do you drive around The World?

[Granny]

I've read several posts about people extolling the benefits of driving their personal (or rented) vehicle around the WDW property.

I'm interested to see how many people drive to the parks and other places. I'm only asking about on-site driving....not to other locations in or outside of Orlando.

Personally, I've only used the WDW Transportation system. But then again, I haven't visited many of the "hard to get to" places. Isn't it a pain to drive to one of the theme parks....that parking lot at MK is HUGE!

Anyway, it would be great to hear your thoughts on driving.

Thanks,

 

[CaptainMidnight]

No driving. That's one of the beauties of WDW. The exception would be to Downtown Disney, but thats usually on the way out of town.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Hhhmmm...not sure which category we are. We always stayed at Beach Club; our first DVC trip (BWV) is hopefully coming up soon.

We never drive to MK...take the bus. We walk to EPCOT, take boat to MGM; now that the walkway is open, we may walk. After our first trip where we took the bus to DTD and Blizzard Beach, and roundabout ways to other resorts, we now drive. We also drive to AK.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Yes, driving to the parks is too much of a "pain" for us. We do, however, drive to the other resorts for dinner ressies and drive or walk to DTD since it too takes a long time on the bus.

 

[wdwnut]

hi: we are usually at bwv and therefore walk to epcot and mgm. for ak and bb and dd, we'll usually drive. for mk, half of the time we'll either go through epcot and take the monorail or drive. that gives us more options than the bus system, especially with teens with us. the last time i used the bus system exclusively at wdw was may, 2000. it was the last week of may/first week of june. it was crowded and service was a bit scattered. we've been driving around wdw since 87, so it's not a big problem for us.

 

[janiejo]

We are DVC owners at the BWV but even before purchasing there we never used the rental car except to travel to other resorts for meals and to DD. I have stayed at most of the Disney properties and think the bus, boat, and monorail provide great transportation back and forth to the parks from each resort. That's the beauty of being on-site - no parking hassles!

 

[ducklite]

We tend to drive to other resorts , but not always... A lot depends on why we are going to the other resort, and where it is in relation to where we are staying or going afterwards. So lets say we are staying at the BW, and having dinner at the Contemporary. We want to be able to drink, so we would go via bus to theMK and walk to CR.

If walking or taking WDW transit is convenient, we would do that. We always drive to Hoop De Doo, Sunday early mass at the Poly, etc. We usually stay at BW/BC/YC and walk to Epcot/MGM/those resorts and Swan/Dolphin/Fantasia Mini golf, etc.

The one park we seem to find ourselves driving to is ANimal kingdom. I don't know why, perhaps because we like to get there when it opens, and don't want to rely on DIsney to have us there at the crack of dawn.

We NEVER drive to MK.

Anne

 

[minster22]

We have always rented a car for each trip to WDW. Even when staying at BWV we used a car. Since we can walk to many places from the BWV, we find that the most convenient resort area. We always spend time "resort hopping", going to waterparks, spas, DD.... all of which would take forever via Disney transportation. We have always gotten great rental rates so we feel the cost is minimal, sometimes even less than other modes of transferring from the airport! One time I booked an economy car for $76.00 for the week,prayed my husband would not upgrade and ruin our great buy and they asked if we would mind taking a brand new Dodge Ram pickup!! My hubby was thrilled! So yes we almost always drive and take the monorail for fun!

 

[robinb]

I drive everywhere except for the MK. I detest the T&TC. You're so close, yet sooooo far. The monorail ride does not make up for it, IMO.

 

[dvc93cats]

My cat is the reason I drive. He stays at the kennel at either Epcot or FW and to be
able to see him as often as I wish I drive. I don't like the kennels at TTC or MGM (wish I did
it would be alot easier to stay at BWV) or AK. He like to take walks and there is not enough walking area. So I drive. I also drive to other resorts to shop and eat at the resturants and sometimes just to see the place.

Now when he is not going (I took a plane instead of driving) I generally use the WDW transportation except to go to the other resorts.

 

[GEM]

We usually drive to WDW, so we have a car with us on most trips. Even though we have one, we don't use it very much once we check into our resort. We love Disney transportation and we ALWAYS use the busses, boats, monorails, etc. to get to and from the parks. We also like to use Disney transportation to and from Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island. We really enjoy not having to drive much while we are there. We only use the car to get to and from other resorts for meals (if we are going directly from our hotel and not from one of the parks), the water parks, mini golf, and the Boardwalk. So, even though we have a car, we ony use it a few times on each trip. Other than that, it's Disney transportation for us. We have never had any problems. It's part of the fun for us. We find it quick, easy, fun, and efficient.

We have also done a few trips where we have flown down and we haven't had a car at all. We really didn't have any problems relying exclusively on Disney transportation on those trips. I would never rent a car if I was flying down. I would just take a town car to and from the airport and let Disney handle the rest.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

We drive about everywhere at WDW. We do not care for bus transportation. We do use the boats and monorails, though.

 

[Disney Doll]

It depends. We will drive to the hard to get places, but we do take advantage of the busses while we're there too...especially if there's a big group. If we've driven to a park, and some want to leave and some want to stay, then those who want to leave go by bus. We usually always thake the bus to the MK, because where it drops you off is so convenient. Having the DVC and not having to save that big amount of money to pay for the hotel has spoiled us in that we always used to use a limo for transportation to and from the airport, but now we rent a car.