Early Morning Arrival at Crystal Palace

[POTCfan]

I have a reservation for the Crystal Palace at 8:05am (almost an hour before the parks open). I am staying at the Wilderness Lodge. I have read that the Disney Transportation starts an hour before the parks open, but that is the time I am supposed to be at the Crystal Palace. Am I mistaken about what time the busses start running? Or will I have to take a taxi? And if the best option is a taxi, are there always taxis in front of the resorts / parks in a queue waiting for the next patron, or do I have to arrange any taxi trips ahead of time?

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Last month we had an 8:05am ADR for Crystal Palace, also almost an hour before MK opened. We were staying at BWV and took the bus to MK. We were at the bus stop a few minutes before 7am, and it took about 5-10 minutes to wait for an MK bus. This was NOT an emh-morning either.

Is there a bus from Wilderness Lodge to MK rather than the boat?

 

[POTCfan]

I believe there are busses and the water taxi from Wilderness Lodge. But from the DisneyWorld website it says:

"Complimentary transportation is available one hour prior to Disney Theme Park opening times and up to one hour after Disney Theme Park closing times. Additionally, buses operate until 3:00 a.m. from the Downtown Disney area."

Wouldn't that mean that it wouldn't start until 8:00 AM (if parks open at 9:00AM)? But if you caught it at 7:00 AM, maybe they count on some people going in at 8:00 AM (even without the EMH)? I'm confused.

 

[Withacy]

The best thing to do is ask at the front desk. It varies. Sometimes there's an early bus (for those early ADRs) and sometimes there isn't and you have to take a taxi. Hopefully, there'll be an early boat.

I always try to go to an early ADR at Crystal Palace every trip, because there's something wonderful about walking into the park before the crowds. It's the perfect time to get those castle shots with the family!

And Crystal Palace is one of my favorites. But then, I'm easy to please.

 

[witchesbrew]

We had a similar situation this past July. We had an 8:05 AM at CRT. We were staying at the Yacht Club, and we took a taxi to the TTC and took the resort monorail from there to the MK. There were taxis waiting near the valet station at the YC. I am sure that all the deluxes have taxis waiting near their front entrances, but if not, the valets will call one for you.
A better bet for you if you don't want to take a taxi to the TTC is ask the taxi driver to drop you off at the Grand Floridian and take the monorail from there since MK is the very next stop.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Double check at your resort. But, we've never had any problems getting to character meals with early ADR's. They generally have buses just for this. During our most recent stay at All-Star Movies, we had an early ADR for Tusker House and were at the bus stop at 7:20. Our bus didn't come until 7:40 (which was fine because AK is so close to the All-Stars but while we were waiting we saw a couple buses for MK and one each for Epcot and DHS. Make sure you mention that you have an early ADR when you are asking. When I first asked concierge, they told me that the buses didn't run that early. When I then asked for advice on getting a cab for my ADR, they said, "Oh, we have buses for character meals." I think they just didn't want people with no ADR on the buses and then all confused when they couldn't get into the park.