Downtown Disney Hotels - Afternoon Breaks?

[SkylarKD]

I posted this is the 'Orlando Hotels & Attractions' forum, but it occurred to me that this would probably be a better spot for it. So my question is...

Is an afternoon break do-able if we're staying in a Downtown Disney hotel? (Specifically, Hotel Royal Plaza) We'll probably want a break at some point, but not if it will take up the whole afternoon. Do the busses take forever to go from park to hotels & vice versa?

 

[kilee]

It's better when you have your own transportation. Some hotels offer a very limited shuttle service. Meaning they pretty much run in the mornings and near closing. You'll need to check w/ your specific hotel. However, if you have your own car, then going back wouldn't be too much of a hassle at all.

 

[nwalbert]

I am staying 5 nights at the Wyndham Palace in Downtown Disney next week and from what I have been told, its only a 4-5 minute walk to Downtown Disney, so you can just take the Disney transportation from there. I don't think you will need your car.

 

[webmomom]

This is just my opionion. We always stay in a hotel inside the park. We also always use a car. We have found it takes us shorter amounts of time to get from one location to another, than waiting for buses or monorails. Plus you get to sit. If you are leaving when everyone else is leaving, chances are you will be standing and at that time that is the last thing I want to do.

 

[SnackyStacky]

This is actually more of a transportation issue, so I'll move it there.

But before I do, I never had a problem with the busses running to the Downtown Disney resorts. An afternoon break would very much be doable.

As others have suggested however, having your own car makes it about a million times easier.

Have a wonderful trip!

 

[nwalbert]

LIke I said I am staying at the Wyndham, but I will also have a rental car for duration of my stay. I had planned on not using the car inside Disney, do you recommend using the car ? I figured taking the time to park, and paying for parking would not be worth it ??

I have never used Dinsey transportation before, maybe I am underestimated the amount of people that will be using it ?? Especially since I will be there June 30th - July 5th ??

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[sue1013]

There are no busses from Downtown to the Parks. You can only get busses to a resort. Staying at the Wyndham you would be better off driving, since you would have to go Downtown then to a resort then to a park. I've never stayed at Wyndham so I don't know about their transportation.

 

[SkylarKD]

We're flying to WDW, and renting a car isn't an option, so I guess we'll play the wait-and-see game! If we're desperately tired, maybe we'll be willing to sacrifice a few hours. It's be nice to stay at one of the monorail resorts, so this wouldn't be an issue, but unless we win the lottery, that isn't going to happen! (darn it! )

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by SkylarKD
We're flying to WDW, and renting a car isn't an option

Have you at least priced rental cars? There are often great deals to be found.

Even if you are flying, you must be paying for some sort of airport transportation. Even Mears charges something like $40 per person round trip.

Having a car enables you to save money several other ways as well. Purchasing soda and bottled water at a supermarket (there's a Publix about 5 mins from Downtown Disney) means that you aren't forking over $2.50 each at WDW. Eating a nice meal or two off-site will save a few bucks. And, if you can do some souvenir shopping at one of the area outlet stores (which sell genuine WDW merchandise that has been discontinued or overrun), you can really make a killing.

Just a few more things to consider...

 

[nwalbert]

This was actually the exact same situation I was in. I didn't want to spend the money to rent a vehicle, but when I looked at it from all angles (airport transportation, etc..) it made much more sense to rent the car, and I even had to pay the underage fee.

It may cost me a few extra bucks in the end, but it will be well worth the added luxury of having the car. I would recommend you check into the National Emerald CLub deal on the Mousesavers.com

Good Luck

 

[SnackyStacky]

There are no busses from Downtown to the Parks.

There is no DISNEY transportation from Downtown Disney to the Parks. However, the Downtown Disney hotels offer their own transportation for guests of those hotels for free.

NWAlbert - play it by ear. If the offered transportation isn't to your liking, by all means, use your car. To me, paying $8/day is worth it to not have to wait for a bus and sit with complete strangers. But it really is a very personal thing. (If you have an Annual Pass, you don't have to pay to park. If you DO have to pay, $8 is good for the whole day. If you park hop, just show them your receipt, and they'll wave you right through)

SkylarKD - Although a rental car is helpful, it isn't at all necessary.
I really think though that it's worth it to take the break in the awful heat. You paid a lot of money for those park tickets, and it'll be a waste if you're tired, ill, cranky, or all of the above because of the crowds and the heat. I don't know what your budget is, but post your dates and I'll look at cars and see if I can find a good deal for you.

 

[SkylarKD]

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions!

I'll talk it over with my FH to see what he thinks. It originally seemed to us that renting a car would be a hassle, and an added expense. We will, however, be getting a town car to and from the airport, and to Universal and back for a day, so there's that expense, plus the $8 a day for DTD transportation. I don't know if we could rent a car that cheap for a week though! Our budget is pretty tight.

We'll be arriving late at night 11:30pm on August 25th, and leaving around noon on September 1st.

 

[anne930]

We stayed at Doubletree Suites on Hotel Plaza Blvd several years ago and used their bus transportation the whole time. I believe this is the same bus system as Hotel Royal Plaza. It was as good as the Disney resort buses, but the bus stopped at about 6 hotels along the blvd. The stops were quick, though. You had to walk a little further to the bus stop at the parks and if I remember right , it went to the Ticket & Transportation Center instead of Magic Kingdom (that could be different now). During the middle of the day, we have found all the buses slow, including Disney buses and even the monorail. Afternoon breaks are certainly do-able and I think a must if you plan to stay out late. We are considering renting a car this year too - we would probably use the buses for going back and forth from the parks, but use the car to go to Downtown Disney and anywhere else.

 

[cruiseonmagic]

Hi there,

There are pros and cons of taking a vehicle to the parks.

It's a 10 min. walk down a sidewalk with plenty of shade trees to hotel royal plaza (from wyndham palace you just walk across the street)from downtown disney. While it's true that you need to go to a resort to get a dtd bus how hard is that? It's not at MK or Epcot. Mk--monorail to CR 3 min, boat to GF less than 5 min, ferryboat to TTC walk next door to poly. Epcot--walk to swan

If you take your own car to MK you may have to walk almost the same distance depending on where your car is compared to the tram stop. Your car will have been in the sun for several hours and will take time to cool. You will still have to walk from the parking lot to the hotel. You spend the extra $ plus gas plus the hassle of driving, re-parking, walking back to the tram when you return to the park.

The busses from the hotel plaza blvd hotels run approx every 1/2 hour and already have the a/c on and will take you to the hotel door.

If you stay for wishes at mk, and drive your own car, your choices are pretty limited. You take disney transportation to the ttc and it's going to take as long as it takes to get to the parking lot and through the traffic.

If you don't have a car, get on the form of disney transportation with the shortest line. It doesn't even matter which one you choose. All disney transportation goes to a resort (the ferryboat is next to the poly) and all resorts have transportation to downtown disney.

Bill