Driving while at The World

[TravelinSouth]

My DH and I are leaning towards driving to Florida for our 2010 trip. As we were talking about the pluses and minuses last night, my DH wondered about driving to the parks instead of taking the buses. We will probably stay at POR this time. We stayed at AKL in 2008 and remember the wait for the buses being very long in the evening (ie. after Spectromagic and Illuminations). We were wondering if it would be easier to take our car in the evening into the park. But...I like to play devil's advocate and thought that the chaos to get out of the parking lot is just as bad.

What are your thoughts. For those that drive down or rent a car (and stay onsite), do you drive to the parks or use the bus transportation?

 

[monkeybug]

We stayed at POR on our last trip (loved it!) and took our car. We wanted to try the bus, so we did take it once, and while not bad we much preferred the car. We drove to every park, including MK and always got parking near the front (we arrived at rope drop in most cases). We found coming/going to the parks easy and quicker than the buses. We are taking our car on our next trip as well. It was nice to be in control of when we left, nice to have the trunk to shove our stuff in, nice for going from resort to resort (I needed that real coffee at the Poly), and a lot easier with the kids.

 

[Mouse511]

Since we purchased DVC last year the last two trips we have taken we have rented a car - we find it much easier to jump in your own car after the parks and not have to worry about the hussle and bussle of getting onto one of the buses.

Also - doing the mid-afternoon break back to your resort is much easier as there is no wait for a bus.

Overall we prefer our own transportation much better then the worlds buses.

Another plus is the ability to eat off-site - there are many wonderful resturants outside the world that offer much more then what Disney has to offer.

 

[monkeybug]

I also don't remember getting caught in any crazy traffic line at the end of the night. One night we left after wishes, waited for the monorail, got off and walked past LONG tram lines, saw the long bus lines, and walked to our car (right up front from when we arrived in the morning and then took the monorail to epcot) I don't remember hoards of people driving off at once, but maybe that's because they were still in line for the tram? In any case I'd rather wait in my air conditioned car with the radio on in a line of traffic, than in a long bus line, but that's just me.

 

[robert@dvcstore]

As others have mentioned, having your own car does have it's plusses. There is a minimal wait at park closing to get back on the road. Of course you will receive your free parking pass when you check in at Port Orleans.

Getting back to your car at the Magic Kingdom does require using the Monorail or the ferry boat to return to TTC and depending on the time of year, this could cause some delay.

Robert

 

[Poohbear Fan]

I agree! We ALWAYS rent a car and almost always drive to the parks. The one exception is MK, when we often take the bus because it's just easier than dealing with the Monorail and TTC after the park closes. Driving yourself also makes park hopping much easier and, as mentioned above, makes taking a break or eating off property a breeze.

The only consideration might be what time of year you will be going to WDW and the crowd levels at that time. I almost always go during low crowd times, so parking and the exit from the park after closing are not a big deal. However, I can imagine it's much worse when crowds are high.

Overall, though, I really enjoy the freedom of having a car there and love not having to spend time waiting around for the buses or monorail.

Good luck!
Poohbear

 

[TravelinSouth]

My DH will be happy to hear these responses! I never thought about the break during the middle of the day being easier too. Going in August, I know we are going to need a swimming break every day!

It is free parking at the parks if you're staying onsite, right?

 

[Brian_WDW74]

I've moved this thread to the Transportation board.

Yes, parking is free for resort guests.

 

[karaeric]

I agree with the others - we rent a car every time we visit WDW. We love the ability to just "go" whereever...be it to the resort for a quick break, or to DtD for some shopping, or a water park, just what ever. Oh, and we also like to do one day of off-site, like Kennedy Space Center.

Since you're staying on site, parking is free, so that's also nice. And I also do not remember a parking lot "crush" at the end of the night...remember that people all arrive at different times of the day, so they are parked all over the place, which helps spread things out.

 

[Mouse511]

My DH will be happy to hear these responses! I never thought about the break during the middle of the day being easier too. Going in August, I know we are going to need a swimming break every day!

It is free parking at the parks if you're staying onsite, right?

Yes - just show your KTTK key !!!

 

[truck1]

The only park you may have an issue getting out of is DHS, and that is because it is the only lot that has a traffic light at the end. Even then youre talking maybe a 5-10 minute wait for the lights to cycle.And then, its only on the nights theres one or more Fantasmic shows.(They run Fantasmic 2 or 3 times a week, instead of everynight. That may or may not change next year.This week theres 3 nightly showings, 2 shows a night, a month ago there was only 2 showings 2x a night.)
The MK and Epcot, both have multiple lanes for exiting vehicles,and the roads are all clearly marked, and lead to major roads on property that are not traffic controlled.

AK unless something has changed, does not have the closing shows, its sister parks have.Its is pretty much the same thing though, in that the lot empties into a multi lane road with plenty of signage.So when you exit AK, youll prob be out there with a handfull of other drivers.