First Day/Night - MK, Ohana and back to POR?

[JVig]

Hi!
We are first timers and staying at POR.

I initially thought on our first night we would just hang at the resort, have dinner at TRex and use the boat to come back from DTD.

However, once I bought our plane tickets I changed plans because we will have a full day available to us (flight lands at 9 am, I'm figuring we are at the resort by 11....)

So I decided lets go to MK, and then started tweaking dining plans. I want to have a meal at 'Ohana while there, and I found a decent reservation time for our first night (7:50 pm - figure we can eat and then watch fireworks on the beach?).

How will I get back from the Polynesian though? I'm thinking I take a bus from that resort to DTD, and then the boat? Do the buses to DTD run at that time or will I have a problem getting us "home" this way?

Also, as first time visitors, do you think this is a good idea for our first night? I don't want the first night to be stressful so I'm hoping the transportation stuff will be relatively simple....

Thanks!

 

[pepe of ohio]

If the MK is still open, I'd boat or monorail back to there and catch my bus to POFQ.... DTD will work too but transfers at DTD are long in coming unless you walk down and take the boat back... Boat would be a nice night trip..

 

[JVig]

If the MK is still open, I'd boat or monorail back to there and catch my bus to POFQ.... DTD will work too but transfers at DTD are long in coming unless you walk down and take the boat back... Boat would be a nice night trip..

That's what I was planning actually-bus to dtd and then take the boat from there. Is it a long walk from where the bus drops you at dtd to the boat?? I've never done this-one of my concerns with this being our first night is that we will end up lost and confused and stressed.....

 

[GaBelle]

Please note that you will more than likely not be finished with your meal by the time Wishes starts, if it has a 9pm start time. 'Ohana is notorious for running past ADR times. You can view Wishes from inside the restaurant if you have a table near the windows; and music is piped in.
My suggestion to keep everything stress free is take a cab back to your resort.

 

[JVig]

Please note that you will more than likely not be finished with your meal by the time Wishes starts, if it has a 9pm start time. 'Ohana is notorious for running past ADR times. You can view Wishes from inside the restaurant if you have a table near the windows; and music is piped in.
My suggestion to keep everything stress free is take a cab back to your resort.

Thanks-wishes starts at 10 that night so I THINK the timing should work? We will see....
Cab isn't a bad idea. I am planning to keep checking for an earlier ADR also (seeing wishes is by priority that night, but if we are there when it's near start time I figured why not...)

 

[uccats97]

I would take the monorail to MK and a bus back to your resort. That is easy enough.

 

[JVig]

I would take the monorail to MK and a bus back to your resort. That is easy enough.

Part of my concern is if we do stay for wishes, are there going to be tons of people all trying to leave mk at that time? Or will that have mostly disbursed by the time we get from poly to mk by monorail?

 

[GaBelle]

Part of my concern is if we do stay for wishes, are there going to be tons of people all trying to leave mk at that time? Or will that have mostly disbursed by the time we get from poly to mk by monorail?

Yes, there will be tons of people streaming out of MK. The plus on your side is you're coming from the Poly on the monorail and you won't have to wait with a lot of people FOR the monorail. You will, however, have to fight thru the crowds to load onto your resort bus.
Hate to be redundant, but I really would take a cab. Then after Wishes, you can have a stress free ride back to your resort. Keep in mind, ya'll will have had a long day: travel, MK, etc.
Even if you have to wait a little for your cab to arrive, there are worse placed to have to wait than the lobby of the Poly.

 

[Angeejoe]

TAKE A CAB!!! The DTD buses are honestly the worst of all transportation, not sure why. The cab is worth every penny & your times too precious as I think by the time you travel to DTD & back to your hotel it will be 1.5-2hrs! I was at Pop last month & had dinner at Ohana, my cab fare was $18+ tip, so worth it!

 

[melissafox18]

The only time I ever feel like we really waited for buses is DTD and it seems like a really long, long wait regardless of the resort.

They step up the buses after Wishes/park closing. We stayed at Pop last time and there was bus after bus coming to take us back to our resort. I don't think we waited more than 10 or 15 minutes and there were tons of people in line!