Drivers: We Need advice

[julsmom]

We are driving down next month and we need some advice. Do you leave your car at the resort and take the buses, or do you drive to the parks and pay to park in the lots? How much is it to park?
We don't know what we should do. It will be thanksgiving weekend, so it will probably be busy.

 

[tink1978]

We leave our car at the resort and ride buses, generally. Sometimes, we dirve though and park at the parks. If you are a Disney resort guest, parking will be free at the parks as long as you have your guest pass thing in the window.

 

[dawn8226]

You don't pay to park at the parks if you stay on-site. It is much quicker to drive to the parks if you are going during a busy time, no waiting in long lines for buses and you can come and go whenever you please.

 

[geffric]

we drive from Chicago and after a 20+ hour drive , we ride the buses and let Disney do the driving for the rest of the time..

 

[shoes99]

On-site guests get free parking at the theme parks. We drive to all parks except MK. If DH and I split up, or he goes back to the hotel, he takes the bus and I keep the car.

 

[madfordonald]

With 2 children we much prefer to drive to the parks, even MK. We fly down and rent a car. I didn't like the rush for the bus and the chance of not getting on one, esp. with 2 kids.
Now that we are staying at POR, I've read that getting on buses is even more challanging than the other resorts, so that sort of cinches it for us.

 

[Conan the Librarian]

With 2 children we much prefer to drive to the parks, even MK. We fly down and rent a car. I didn't like the rush for the bus and the chance of not getting on one, esp. with 2 kids.
Now that we are staying at POR, I've read that getting on buses is even more challanging than the other resorts, so that sort of cinches it for us.

We have stayed at POR a number of times and have had NO problems with the buses. It is just a matter of going to the right bus stop. We have always stayed in Magnolia Bend and the Bus Stop there is very nice. This last trip to POR we were closer to the bus stop at FQ so we walked over there. If there is a French Quarter bus and a POR, we always take the FQ bus as it has shorter lines and also goes to POR.

By all means drive if you can. Having the freedom of a vehicle makes life so much easier. We like to go exploring at other resorts so it is very nice. And who wants to ride in a bus in a wet bathing suit after Typhoon lagoon.

 

[madfordonald]

Thanks for you info! This is our first time staying at POR and we've requested the Magnolia Terrace (per UOG, hope they know what they're talking about). This board paints the POR/POFQ bus system in a bad light I guess because that's all I've heard.
I know we've done both the bus and the car, I guess it just depends on where you want to go that day. Say if you go to MK and have ADR in AK then wanted to do some shopping at DTD..

Lol...what a full day of bus hopping! Not saying this is anywhere in our itinerary

 

[mecllap]

I think parking for people staying off-site may be up to $10.00 a day now -- you only have to pay once a day, you can move your car to another park without paying again. As already noted, if onsite -- parking is included -- you get a sheet of paper to put on your dashboard. We generally prefer to drive (lately we've had an annual pass which includes parking), but if you're onsite -- you might want to use the bus at least for MK -- getting back out to your car after a long, tiring day at MK can be a long, unpleasant experience.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

We park the car when we arrive, put the sun shade in the windshield, and that is where it stays until we check out. We went in August and my car got a 6 day rest, after driving from New Hampshire to Disney! LOL! We always use Disney transportation.

 

[Snow_White]

We prefer driving ourselves to the parks (we stay on-site, so it's free). It does save a lot of time and it's nice at the end of the day to be able to go directly to your car rather than waiting forever for a bus.

 

[Disney Crazy Family]

Thanksgiving parking lots and traffic huge use the resort buses and save
a lot of headaches

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

We always use Disney transportation. It's just a lot less hassle to let Disney do the driving.

 

[isyt]

I have stayed at POR many times and have always had good luck with the buses. If you do drive DON'T drive to MK. You would have to take the tram to the monorail to the park, the bus drops you off right in front of MK. We check in Saturday to POR and Sunday to OKW afetr Thanksgiving, so maybe I'll see you there (I got my lime green Mickey the other day)!!!

 

[wdwherewecome]

We used a diamond parking pass from AAA and got parking just next to the handicap. We used it at MGM, Epcot, and AK. Decided we would take the bus next time we went to AK.

 

[NC State]

We prefer driving ourselves to the parks (we stay on-site, so it's free). It does save a lot of time and it's nice at the end of the day to be able to go directly to your car rather than waiting forever for a bus.

We do the samething.