Driving to Parks vs. Disney Transportation

[acamusic]

What's the general consensus about the best thing to do? I like Disney transportation, but I also like not having to wait for three or four buses at the end of the day. I know it's faster to take Disney transportation going to MK, but the other three are a toss up for me. I'm trying to justify driving. I like being able to step out of my hotel room, jump in the car and be in the park lot in just a few minutes.

 

[Ariel on Land]

We prefer to drive for the same reasons you've listed!

 

[BigMommaMouse]

Same for us.

 

[Missymouse18]

We never drive. Too convenient to just get on the bus. Plus we love the bus rides.

 

[sam1998]

We drive to all except MK. It's convenient for us to have our own vehicles and not be packed in to a bus at the end of the day.

 

[khertz]

On our first offsite visit in 2009 after several trips onsite using only Disney transportation, I was thinking we would hate having to drive to the parks. Turns out, it was exactly the opposite! We love it, for all of the reasons you listed. Our most recent trip, we actually stayed onsite again and drove to the parks except for MK because of the convenience of bypassing the TTC. But even that part doesn't bother us when we stay offsite. We just budget more time for parking and taking the boat or monorail.

 

[evilqueenmindy]

I like to park the car at the beginning of my vacation and not see it again until the end of the vacation.
The only time we drive is between resorts for ADR's and such, because Resort to Resort is a pain unless its in your specific resort grouping (like MK Monorail or Epcot Crescent Lake area)

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

We have always relied solely on Disney transport and love it! We fly in, so this means we don't need to rent a car, drive on unfamiliar roads, figure out directions, etc. Cost savings there is nice too! I feel a lot less stress waiting for a bus than doing the driving myself! We get to meet other folks and have some great conversations on the buses, boats, and monorails. And one of the things I really like? At the end of the super hot August day, I get to climb onto an air conditioned bus rather than the sweltering heat of my car that's been baking in the sun all day!

But this is definitely a different strokes for different folks thing! Other people will completely disagree with me and that works better for them!

 

[saxman]

We drive to all except MK. It's convenient for us to have our own vehicles and not be packed in to a bus at the end of the day.

Us too. When we park hop, it's usually during lunch so we have lunch in the car on the way to the next park.

 

[It's A Happy Day]

1st trip (no kids) we stayd offsite so we drove in everyday

last 2 trips with the kids (younger then) we took our own vehicle even though we stayed on site because I wanted to leave when I wanted to leave and loved the convenience & ability to pack stroller, etc. easily w/o worrying about being packed into a bus, waiting for transportation, etc.

planning our current trip (kids are 12 & 13 now) and still planning on driving to either TCC or parks directly - rather be on my schedule than waiting for transportation. We do utilize the ferry and monorail for traveling to MK & Epcot and hopping from 1 to the other, have taken the boats from MK to wilderness lodge for dinner, but have yet to step onto a bus....

 

[Burnedout]

Car. 9 times out of 10 it has saved us time and aggravation.

If we are truly scheduless we will take the bus just for fun.

 

[donnawine]

Personally, I like not having to drive my car for the whole vacation. I don't want to bust my Disney bubble!

 

[photo_chick]

We've always ridden Disney transportation in the past but I'm considering driving some this trip. We're doing more early mornings and not having to plan the extra time that early for the bus might be nice.

 

[Tazzik]

I like the bus if we expect to have a need to split the group at some point in the day (plus, it's free). Other than that, car all the way. I found driving to and from the parks to be very simple and easy, and not having to pack ourselves into a crowded bus was much more comfortable. Plus, we brought our own stroller, which is *much* easier to deal with in the trunk of your car.

 

[ktlm]

We had a trip over a year ago where some friends met us at WDW for the last few days of our trip. They drove and we used WDW transportation. As a result, we wound up testing the time difference between driving and Disney transport several times. We park hopped a few times during the weekend and we also would set off from the park back to a resort at the same time and vice versa. To our surprise, we found that driving did not save any time. By the time our friends had driven there, parked and walked to the gate, we were usually arriving at exactly the same time. There was one time when we park hopped from AK to EPCOT that we got on a bus right about when we got to the stop, and when we got to EPCOT we had to wait for over 15 minutes outside the gate for the drivers to arrive. They had to get out to their vehicle and wait for traffic to get out of AK and also traffic getting into EPCOT and then get from their vehicle to the gate. Even if we left at park closing to go the resort when Disney transportation is crowded, we got there the same time. We might have a wait for a bus, but they would have the wait of all the traffic exiting the park at the same time, so it evened out.

 

[JoshuaShaw]

As someone who flies in and relies on Disney transportation, I love it. That said, if I had access to private transportation I would almost always take it instead.

 

[disneyfan55]

On our first offsite visit in 2009 after several trips onsite using only Disney transportation, I was thinking we would hate having to drive to the parks. Turns out, it was exactly the opposite! We love it, for all of the reasons you listed. Our most recent trip, we actually stayed onsite again and drove to the parks except for MK because of the convenience of bypassing the TTC. But even that part doesn't bother us when we stay offsite. We just budget more time for parking and taking the boat or monorail.

Exactly what happened to us. We started driving in 2008 as well for the most part. So much quicker. I, as well, didn't think I would like it. Disney buses have gotten slower and more crowded over the years. Same with off site. We tried Caribe Royale due to cost and space. We had a villa and 8 of us. No problem and about the same drive as a value! Much less cost than 2 value rooms as well.

 

[Bullseye]

Always drive everywhere including the MK!

 

[6loversofdisney]

I am a cheapo so I hated paying to park every time we went to a park. I think their prices are too high and we were often very far from the entrance. We walk enough in a day so I didn't like that. I don' like sometimes having to wait for the buses or having to stand but for the most part, it's not that bad. Disney does a good job with transportation like they do with everything else!!

 

[disneyfan55]

I like to park the car at the beginning of my vacation and not see it again until the end of the vacation.
The only time we drive is between resorts for ADR's and such, because Resort to Resort is a pain unless its in your specific resort grouping (like MK Monorail or Epcot Crescent Lake area)

We used to do this as well, but the buses just seem to have been overcrowded and long waits and thus, we decided to start driving. I wasn't fond of the idea at first but after the first day-a quicker better ride.