early AM transportation

[in2013]

hi everyone,

I have a question regarding early morning transportation within the Disney parks/resorts.

we are staying at pop century. on our epcot day, we are having breakfast at chef mickey's at 7:35 am. I had great difficulty getting reservations because our Disney trip is somewhat last minute.

so -

leave pop century. have breakfast at chef mickey's. go to epcot. is this doable using Disney transporation or will busses/etc not even be running that early in the morning?

the amount of information regarding Disney is overwhelming! you wouldn't think such a simple question would lead me on such a wild goose hunt for an answer. I gave up researching things on my own and figured i'd turn to the this board instead.

 

[maxiesmom]

It is do-able using Disney transportation, but it will take a bit of time.

Using Disney buses, you need to be at your resort's bus stop by 6:30 to get to your breakfast at the Contemporary. Disney actually recommends 90 minutes to get around using their transportation, but an hour ahead will usually suffice. You can then take the monorail to Epcot.

I highly recommend taking a taxi to your early morning ADR. It will cost around $20, but will gain you half an hour of sleep. Plus then you don't have the stress of "Did we just miss our bus? When will another one come by?" For my family that extra sleep is well worth the $20.

 

[joelkfla]

M'mom neglected to mention that there is no direct bus scheduled from Pop to CR. You will be taking the bus to MK. Tell the driver you are on your way to breakfast at CR; they may offer to drop you there. If not, you will be walking from MK to CR, or taking the resort monorail one stop. The walk is about 1/2 of a mile, and may be faster than walking to the monorail station, waiting for the train, and riding the one stop -- or it may not.

 

[JessicaKnits]

Totally do-able. I stayed at Pop on my very first trip and we had no problem making it to sever 7:30 am ADRs at several different resorts. Your best bet would be to take the bus to Magic Kingdom and then either walk or take the monorail to the CR. We also had good luck in just mentioning to the bus drivers that we were having breakfast at a hotel near the park, and once they dropped off the park guests they were usually more than willing to drop us off at the hotel. I wouldn't bank on it, but we had a lot of success with this.

 

[goofy4tink]

A few points....these early morning buses run less frequently than regular resort to park buses do. So, if you arrive at the MK bus stop at 6:35, you may very well have missed the first one, and face a longish wait until the next one comes along. So, be sure to be out there no later than 6:30...I would actually get there by 6:20ish. You will have to stand around waiting but you should be able to hop on that first bus.
When you get to MK...just walk to the CR. The monorail is in the opposite direction. So, you would have to walk up to the platform, and possibly wait up to 15 mins for the next car to come along. Then, it's about 4 mins to the CR, then off and down a level to CM's. If you walk, just get off the bus, head to the overhead monorail line, towards the park entrance. But, when you get to the end of the bus roadway, you go right vs those going left towards the park entrance. Just follow the sidewalk that runs beneath the monorail. You will cross a street..use the pedestrian cross button!! It's a busy street in the morning with CMs heading to work! The walk takes about 8 mins.

 

[in2013]

hi everyone,

a note regarding having our own car with us.

would it be a good idea for us to simply use our own car rather than rely on disney transporation? i'm thinking from a time wise perspective. we're going to be there 6 days. would we have more time in the parks if we eliminated the need for bus schedules and just drove ourselves?

 

[bdklein]

hi everyone,

a note regarding having our own car with us.

would it be a good idea for us to simply use our own car rather than rely on disney transporation? i'm thinking from a time wise perspective. we're going to be there 6 days. would we have more time in the parks if we eliminated the need for bus schedules and just drove ourselves?

If I were you, I would drive to the CR for CM. And when done with breakfast drive to Epcot.

 

[wdwrich]

hi everyone,

a note regarding having our own car with us.

would it be a good idea for us to simply use our own car rather than rely on disney transporation? i'm thinking from a time wise perspective. we're going to be there 6 days. would we have more time in the parks if we eliminated the need for bus schedules and just drove ourselves?

We find that yes, you save time by driving yourselves to EPCOT, AK and DHS vs. using the buses. For MK, it's a toss-up between driving and using the bus (we actually timed it using both methods).

 

[goofy4tink]

Absolutely. Figure on 15 mins or so between Pop and CR. Then about 10-15 back to Epcot. Easy. And much quicker than using Disney transportation.

 

[in2013]

thanks so much, everyone.

since i'm a resort guest, do i have to pay to park my car at any of the parks? i spoke to guest services at pop century and they told me that i don't have to pay parking at any of the resort restaurants if i have a reservation there. but what about the parks themselves? that could add up if we park hop several times.

 

[sam_gordon]

thanks so much, everyone.

since i'm a resort guest, do i have to pay to park my car at any of the parks? i spoke to guest services at pop century and they told me that i don't have to pay parking at any of the resort restaurants if i have a reservation there. but what about the parks themselves? that could add up if we park hop several times.

You will get a parking pass when you check in at Pop. If you don't, ask for one. That pass will entitle you to free parking at all parks.

As far as parking at resorts... anyone not staying at a resort is generally allowed a set time (3 hours) of free parking to allow for shopping, eating, sightseeing. If you want to stay longer than the allowed time, you need to utilize valet parking (and pay for it).

Depending on the time of the season and the mood of security, the time limit may be strict or not.