First time to WDW with our own car...

[nursetinagb]

For our past several trips, we've flown and only had Disney transportation. But this time we're road tripping it. I've looked at the our laughing place website but wanted "real" feedback on taking our car vs busses or a combo. Here's our itinerary: Day 1: HS with Lunch at H&V Day 2: AK (am EMH) with dinner at EP - Tutto Italia Day 3: EP with lunch at Coral Reef Day 4: MK with dinner at Ohana (plan to head back to MK after) Day 5: MK with brunch at Chef Mickey's and then dinner at Whisp Canyon possibly going back to EP or MK after dinner...


Oh, and are the roads pretty easy to navigate? (This coming from a small town Midwesterner dde09) Thanks much!!

ETA - we're staying at ASMo

 

[supersnoop]

Where are you staying? I highly recommend the "Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World" book. They have a chart that shows average and worst-case transit times from each resort to each park, both for buses and driving. For my trip, their recommendation is the opposite of what I expected.

 

[nursetinagb]

Oh yeah, should have put that in- ASMo

 

[MissMaryQC]

Getting around WDW can be a bit tricky; there are always signs but I've found that if you aren't really paying attention you could easily be taking the very long way to go to parks and such. When we go (we live in Miami so we always have a car) we leave our car at the hotel. I know lots of people like the convenience of having the car at the parks but I feel like it takes as long to catch a bus/boat/monorail as it does to get to your car and on the road.

 

[nighttowll]

I personally prefer taking the Disney transportation. This is for two reasons.

1. I'm on vacation, someone else should get to be the chauffeur for once.

I really don't care if it takes a little longer. I enjoy being able to just be the passenger for once. Especially, when we are returning late at night after a long day. By that point, I'm half asleep and staying focused and awake enough to drive around unfamiliar roads is the last thing I want to be worried about.

2. I'm unfamiliar with the roads, and usually end up getting hopelessly lost and frustrated. By the time I finally get where I'm suppose to be, I could have rode the bus and gotten there faster.

My go to plan is drive down, park the car and never move it again until we leave. I love this plan. It works very well for my family.

I don't mind driving around Orlando. I don't think it is really any worse than any other large city, but I absolutely hate driving around Disney. It may just be me, but I always get hopelessly lost. Last trip, I think I went in and out of every park before I finally made it where I was trying to go. I felt so bad telling the CMs at the gate that I was lost and just trying to turn around. I also always seemed to end up in the far left lane when I needed to be in the far right to turn at the next light or vice versa. And the fact that the whole place is filled with just as many lost confused people as me and all the giant buses, just makes it all the worse to drive in, IMHO.

But if you want to give it a try, I say go for it. It can save time when you don't get lost, and I'm sure there are tons of people out there who have better luck and directional sense than me who drive and never have issues. I'd recommend familiarizing yourself with the streets and routes ahead of time though, so you know when you'll need to turn ahead of time and such. That really was my worse problem. I tried to just to depend on the GPS, and hadn't really researched ahead of time, but by the time my GPS told me to turn, it was already way too late for me to get in the correct lane. If I had mapped it all out in advance, it wouldn't have been so bad.

 

[tazadd0420]

I personally prefer taking the Disney transportation. This is for two reasons.

1. I'm on vacation, someone else should get to be the chauffeur for once.

I really don't care if it takes a little longer. I enjoy being able to just be the passenger for once. Especially, when we are returning late at night after a long day. By that point, I'm half asleep and staying focused and awake enough to drive around unfamiliar roads is the last thing I want to be worried about.

2. I'm unfamiliar with the roads, and usually end up getting hopelessly lost and frustrated. By the time I finally get where I'm suppose to be, I could have rode the bus and gotten there faster.

My go to plan is drive down, park the car and never move it again until we leave. I love this plan. It works very well for my family.

I don't mind driving around Orlando. I don't think it is really any worse than any other large city, but I absolutely hate driving around Disney. It may just be me, but I always get hopelessly lost. Last trip, I think I went in and out of every park before I finally made it where I was trying to go. I felt so bad telling the CMs at the gate that I was lost and just trying to turn around. I also always seemed to end up in the far left lane when I needed to be in the far right to turn at the next light or vice versa. And the fact that the whole place is filled with just as many lost confused people as me and all the giant buses, just makes it all the worse to drive in, IMHO.

But if you want to give it a try, I say go for it. It can save time when you don't get lost, and I'm sure there are tons of people out there who have better luck and directional sense than me who drive and never have issues. I'd recommend familiarizing yourself with the streets and routes ahead of time though, so you know when you'll need to turn ahead of time and such. That really was my worse problem. I tried to just to depend on the GPS, and hadn't really researched ahead of time, but by the time my GPS told me to turn, it was already way too late for me to get in the correct lane. If I had mapped it all out in advance, it wouldn't have been so bad.

Agree first 2 points. Always drive to disney. Once at disney, only disney transportation. I love it, but to each there own.

 

[bumbershoot]

Here's our itinerary:

Day 1: HS with Lunch at H&V

Is that your park for the day? Just drive there for the day.

Day 2: AK (am EMH) with dinner at EP - Tutto Italia Day

I would drive to AK and drive to Epcot. I assume dinner is nicely after your AK plans are done? Give yourself time to get to your car, drive, park, and walk from the entrance of Epcot to Italy.

3: EP with lunch at Coral Reef

Park for the day? Just go and park.

Day 4: MK with dinner at Ohana (plan to head back to MK after)

Park at MK for the day, monorail to Polynesian for dinner and back (though I've been reading about monorail issues so maybe there's a different way), play some more, take car to hotel.

Day 5: MK with brunch at Chef Mickey's and then dinner at Whisp Canyon possibly going back to EP or MK after dinner...

Whew. Starting at Contemporary, going to MK, going to WL, then beyond? That COULD be a day even I (disney transportation serious-disliker) might just deal with the transportation. Except it would take you to MK first then you'd walk...

Maybe...pay $15 plus tip to Valet park at Contemporary, leave the car there for the day, go to MK, take boat to WL. Then either go to MK to end the day then rescue car OR go rescue car and drive to Epcot.

OR taxi to breakfast then take transportation all around and even back to the hotel that night.


Oh, and are the roads pretty easy to navigate? (This coming from a small town Midwesterner dde09) Thanks much!!

ETA - we're staying at ASMo

The roads are as close to highways as you can imagine. They have HUGE signs telling you where each exit takes you.

It is VITAL that you know what resort area you're coming from and what resort area you're going to. Knowing this will help you immensely. I kept forgetting what resort I was at on this last trip, and was forgetting what area I was going to (in my defense I was REALLY sick during this trip and was only going out when necessary), and it took me longer to get places than normal. I also didn't have a nagivator b/c DH wasn't there.

The one thing WDW does that makes me crazy is that they don't just put Animal Kingdom Park, they put Disney's Animal Kingdom Park. So you have to wade through a bunch of Disney's when looking at signs. Try to ignore the starting "Disney's"s.

Try to make sure you have one good navigator in the car and one good driver who will listen to the navigator. Make sure the navigator proves him/herself by using sentences or helpful words in a hurry...none of the *sudden intake of breath* stuff that some do. That's not helpful and CAN be dangerous if something fast happened on the road. And once those things are worked out, no getting angry with each other! If you take a wrong turn just work to make it better. No holding grudges.

 

[Hawk]

You won't regret it! Driving is a snap - very tourist friendly. There are more than enough signs to get you where you need to go - including the parks! More freedom to move about the community. No need to be in cramped WDW transportation or dealing with frustration (except going to MK, but there are ways around that as well). Do it!!

Tim/Hawk

 

[OKW Lover]

Driving around WDW is very easy. There are only a few major roads and the signs are huge.

Driving yourself saves you a lot of waiting time, with the exception of going to the MK. When going to the MK its usually faster to take the bus since it leaves you off near the entrance.

Going from resort to resort is way faster driving.

 

[Disney Ron]

Driving around WDW is very easy. There are only a few major roads and the signs are huge.

Driving yourself saves you a lot of waiting time, with the exception of going to the MK. When going to the MK its usually faster to take the bus since it leaves you off near the entrance.

Going from resort to resort is way faster driving.

I absolutely agree with this post. We always rent a car and love it. Most days we don't want to eat heavy for breakfast so we head just outside of Downtown Disney to Dunkin Donuts for a muffin and coffee.

We also love the convenience of being able to travel from resort to resort. Having a car gives us more park and pool time. We also find it very easy to navigate the Disney property. Like a PP said just know the resort area the place you are going is located and it's a snap to get there.

 

[conniehar90]

We totally prefer driving ourselves. We like to be in control of our own destiny and not have to wait. Driving around is super easy. The signage is great and for the most part, if you miss your turn, another way of getting to your destination will be on the next sign.

We usually stay offsite so we have to drive. However, DD and I stayed at WL one summer and after trying out Disney transport, we decided to only use it for MK. We drove everywhere else as it was just easier and quicker.

 

[lovesdumbo]

I need to first say I do not have a good natural sense of direction. I get lost at home.

I've been to Disney 30+ times since 2000. The first family trip we rented a car but found it was a hassle dragging car seats on the plane and didn't rent again until last summer(no more car seats). I LOVED having a car. It was easy getting around. I couldn't believe how close everything is. It all seems so spread out when riding the bus. Last summer was a family trip so there was another adult to help navigate using maps on my phone. In December I went with just my youngest DD so I got a Garmin GPS which made things even easier.

 

[medic5399]

If you are using a GPS device it would be very wise to download the MouseSaver POI file. You can't really get lost with that. I messed around with the Google Maps app on my phone and it also seems pretty accurate as well. If all else fails: read the signs lol

 

[NurseKim]

If you have GPS you will be fine. The signage is pretty good too. I always rent a car now. Like the others, if I stay onsite the only park I would use Disney transportation for is MK. Every other place is easier to drive to.

 

[nursetinagb]

Thanks for all the tips! I think we'll be taking the car everywhere but MK!

 

[AaronInWI]

Thanks for all the tips! I think we'll be taking the car everywhere but MK!

I see you are coming from Green Bay. I'm from the Sheboygan area myself. If you have any questions about the drive down and back, I invite you to check out the "For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only!" thread (if you haven't already). They were a big help when I made my first drive a couple years ago.

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3124884

 

[nursetinagb]

I see you are coming from Green Bay. I'm from the Sheboygan area myself. If you have any questions about the drive down and back, I invite you to check out the "For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only!" thread (if you haven't already). They were a big help when I made my first drive a couple years ago. http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3124884

Thanks! I did check out that thread and found a few useful tips but we're fairly experienced road trippers, just never to WDW. My brother lives in NC so we're making a short side trip on the way down and back to break up the drive. So we'll have 16 hr drive (leaving around 4-5 pm) and then a 9 hr drive to WDW (leaving around noon). Hoping the kids sleep for that second leg cause we have a full day at HS scheduled for the next morning!!

 

[Rosebud123]

I think it's super easy to drive around WDW, and I'm directionally challenged! I've had to loop around once or twice when I've missed an exit (on my first trip), but there are so many signs and they're so clear, you can't miss what you're looking for!

 

[vital]

Once I finally drove to WDW I swore I'd never go there without my car again. Yes, being driven around WDW can be relaxing for some people, but it's stressful for me. There's a lot to be said for always having a seat, not having to wait on another bus, turning the air on high, riding in either silence or your favorite song on the radio, not having to listen to kids/adults whine about being tired, hot, etc. and my personal favorite........if someone stinks you can roll the window down and air that sucker out

Seriously, the signs are huge and the roads are well marked. Now that Magic Bands are in use I'm not sure you'll get the book from the front desk when you check in, but that's what we would use as our map. We would see if we had to turn right or left out of the hotel and my son would navigate until we figured it out. Took us about 2 days to feel comfortable not using the map.

I've seen posts about taking the bus to Magic Kingdom, but that's the last place I'd take the bus to. Dealing with the smaller kids and all of the strollers can ruin a great day pretty quick. No, I'm not hating on the kiddos and strollers, they just add stress that I don't have to deal with any longer now that my son is 14.

 

[Chuckers]

This thread has been very comforting.. I, too, am making my first trip using a car and was worried about traveling and signage.. I was probably going to use Disney Buses, but now I think we could do better driving.

However, I do have a question. I will have a dinner reservation at Epcot on Sunday night. I then want to go to MK for EMH via monorail. Since MK is open later than Epcot, would I still be able to pick up my car at Epcot or will there be no way to get there?

Should we park at TTC first and go to Epcot from there? Or is it just as much time to park at Epcot, eat, move car to TTC and go to MK?