Experienced Disney Visitors....Help

[c4241]

I need the advice of experienced visitors to Disney. Wanting to spend one day in early December doing nothing but visiting the hotels to see the decorations. Have a car to use....what would be your plan for going to all the hotels/resorts? Would you drive to each individually? Can you just park at each hotel and go in?

For those of you that know Disney...please share what order you would do if you were in my shoes. Thanks.

 

[JennyDrake]

We have done EXACTLY what you are talking about, only we did not drive! From the MK we took the monorail to each monorail resort, then the boat to WL. Baot back to MK then monorail to Epcot where we walked/boated to the Epcot resorts, then the bus to AKL.

I think the Disney transportation was at least half the fun!

Personally, I would skip the All Stars (and possibly the moderates.)

 

[The Disney Bunch]

We did that the year we were down there at Christmastime. We tried the restaurants at each resort each night so it was spread out over our entire vacation. We like to try the different types of transportation when we are going to the resorts, each one has a dufferent view. If you are planning on spending an entire day just touring the resorts, then you are probably better off taking your car because WDW transportation would take too long since you would have to take the transtportation back to either a park, DTD, or the tranportation center and then on to the next resort.
Good luck!

 

[swilphil]

I would do a combo of Disney transportation and driving. I'm not sure if you have to pay to park at the resorts.

You could take the monorail to Contemporary, Polynesian and Grand Floridian, or drive to one of those and take the monorail to the others. You then could drive over to the Epcot resorts, park at the Boardwalk (I think it's free parking) and check out Boardwalk Inn, Swan/Dolphin, Beach Club and Yacht Club. Take the boat back over to the Boardwalk if you're tired of walking. I don't know if you actually need to go inside the Swan. We were just at the Dolphin, which has a wonderful lobby, but the Swan's isn't much. I don't know what they do for Christmas though. I would think you would want to drive to Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge.

You might check into doing a special meal during your tour. Character Meal at Chef Mickey's, Luau at Polynesian, or Hoop de doo. Also stop for ice cream at Beaches and Cream.

 

[sandygirl]

I was glad to see this thread. I am very excited about our first Christmas Season trip to WDW. One of the things I specifically want to do is tour the resorts to see the decorations. We will be at VWL. I like the idea of taking the boat to MK and then the monorail to GF, Poly and Contemp. I guess we would drive to AKL. Thanks for the info.

 

[c4241]

Thanks for some great ideas....sounds smart to do the monarail tour and then the boat/bus. Forgot that we already do have plans for AKL and GF....but there are still plenty of other beautiful resorts to check out. I love the idea of grabbing a snack or drink at each one also.

Any other past winter travelers have any suggestions?

Thanks all.

 

[currycook]

Wehave done this and I'm sure many others have too. You can use the m-rails around the MK parks and drive to the others. If you dont have a car it is a bit harder as you will have to take the buses. It can be a fun time especially if you take in a dinner with friends at one of the hotels.

 

[kimbac3]

OK, Here's my question..... If I grab the monorail at MK, take it to one of the resorts for dinner/snack/decoration viewing will I be able to get back to my truck parked in the MK lot? If the parks close around 6 or so will the transportation still be running?

Thanks,
Kimba

 

[Dan Murphy]

Kimba, the monorail should be running the loop for all the resorts and TTC, you should not have a problem.

We also toured all the resorts at Christime, a beautiful day it was. We did drive to many of them.