Friendship Boats from HS.

[bigmac5]

I just saw a posting that Skyliner will be down for maintenance Jan. 16-27. My plan was to take the bus to HS and then skyliner to the back of Epcot to do EE for ratatouille. So Now I am wondering about taking the boat from HS to Epcot. How long is this route? How often do they run? Is there a better way?

 

[Skippyboo]

It’s about a half hour plus waiting for the boat to come. HS- Swan/Dolphin- Yacht/Beach- Boardwalk- Epcot.

You can get off at YC/BC and walk from there. There is also a walking path along the canal from HS to Epcot resort area. The entrance for path is by bus stops at HS.

 

[gharter]

there also is a walking trail that goes to Boardwalk and YC/BC. Its about a 15 minute walk. For us, its usually shorter than waiting for the boat.

 

[Upatnoon]

I just saw a posting that Skyliner will be down for maintenance Jan. 16-27. My plan was to take the bus to HS and then skyliner to the back of Epcot to do EE for ratatouille. So Now I am wondering about taking the boat from HS to Epcot. How long is this route? How often do they run? Is there a better way?

The easiest would be to stay at the Beach Club, the closest resort to the International Gateway.

The Friendship boats run an hour after park close, so if Hollywood closes earlier than Epcot you might have to walk, which is about 20 minutes or so for me.

The boats are also fairly slow with 3 stops.

With no Skyliner, I would probably just take the bus to Epcot and walk back and forth.

I would suggest waiting until the end of EE to ride Ratatouille. We got in line too early and had to wait an hour when we could have been doing other Epcot stuff with less wait.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

With no Skyliner, I would probably just take the bus to Epcot and walk back and forth.

Even with the skyliner I wouldn’t recommend going to HS and then to the IG. It takes. Lot more time to save a little bit of walking. Especially now that HS and Epcot are opening at the same time, you might lose some or all of the half hour EE waiting for a boat or waiting in line for the skyliner at CB.

 

[bigmac5]

So what I am reading the friendship boats don't start running until 830 so the boats are not an option. I think I will take the path form HS to gateway.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

So what I am reading the friendship boats don't start running until 830 so the boats are not an option. I think I will take the path form HS to gateway.

With early entry starting at 8:30 for both parks the boats start operating at 7:30. Don’t know where you read 8:30.

Also it’s less walking to go from front of Epcot to Ratatouille than it is to go from Hollywood Studios there.

 

[focusondisney]

Also it’s less walking to go from front of Epcot to Ratatouille than it is to go from Hollywood Studios there.

Yep. And we’ve entered from IG near the middle of the opening crowd. By the time we got to the bridge after entry, we were mixing with the crowd from the front of the park. We still basically walked right thru the preshow areas to the ride.

 

[bigmac5]

I did find this ... Disney’s Friendship Boats begin running in the Epcot Resorts area around 7:00 a.m. and continue until about one hour after the parks close.

 

[DVCjj]

I just saw a posting that Skyliner will be down for maintenance Jan. 16-27. My plan was to take the bus to HS and then skyliner to the back of Epcot to do EE for ratatouille. So Now I am wondering about taking the boat from HS to Epcot. How long is this route? How often do they run? Is there a better way?

FYI....Friendship boats do not run if there's a storm or lightning even in the general vicinity. Also, the line for the boat can get quite long. Many times we had to wait for another boat. I'm thinking with the Skyliner down, that boat line and the bus line will be one pain in the neck. (Can you tell I'm staying at BCV the EXACT week and am used to taking the Skyliner many times during the trip?) On another thread (same topic), I wrote Darn. Darn. Darn.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

I did find this ... Disney’s Friendship Boats begin running in the Epcot Resorts area around 7:00 a.m. and continue until about one hour after the parks close.

They were beginning at 7 am this summer when Studios was starting early entry at 8. Once HS moved EE to 8:30, the boats shifted their opening to 7:30.

 

[bigmac5]

Thank you

 

[gottalovepluto]

...I am wondering about taking the boat from HS to Epcot. How long is this route? How often do they run? Is there a better way?

Are you gong to ride Frozen? Then the better way is to take a bus to EP and RD Frozen. When you look at Thrill Data's historical wait time data on both of the attractions they aren't terribly far apart making all the time and effort to RD Remy rather pointless these days. (It also highly unlikely you will be first in line for Remy due to the parks opening at the same time & IG's habit of opening up to half an hour early to let those crowds start lining up for Remy inside the park.) Remy is also a risky RD, if it's down there is nothing nearby you can pivot to quick thereby putting you behind everyone who RD'd the front of the park.

Frozen
Remy

 

[bigmac5]

Are you gong to ride Frozen? Then the better way is to take a bus to EP and RD Frozen. When you look at Thrill Data's historical wait time data on both of the attractions they aren't terribly far apart making all the time and effort to RD Remy rather pointless these days. (It also highly unlikely you will be first in line for Remy due to the parks opening at the same time & IG's habit of opening up to half an hour early to let those crowds start lining up for Remy inside the park.) Remy is also a risky RD, if it's down there is nothing nearby you can pivot to quick thereby putting you behind everyone who RD'd the front of the park.

Frozen
Remy

That might be a better plan... much easier. Thanks