Girls trip in Orlando and resort hopping ???

[LAMurphy]

In May I am bringing my 2 adult daughters and my eldest daughter’s friend is surprising her and joining us for her birthday! Trying to plan resort hopping, have never done it before, this is what I have…

After breakfast at Embassy Suites, International Dr. We will check out and uber to AoA, leave our bags with bell services, take the Skyliner to Caribbean Beach and Riviera and Polynesian.

Bus to Magic Kingdom, hop on the monorail to the contemporary and grand Floridian, have lunch at the café

Bus to Magic Kingdom, then take the bus to Animal Kingdom

Bus to the boardwalk and have dinner at Trattoria Al Forno…do I need reservations? Would 7pm be good timing ? I’m not sure how long we will be at Animal Kingdom or how long it takes from Animal Kingdom to the boardwalk.

We are just staying the one night at AoA, 3 nights at Embassy as we are seeing Orlando! No parks this trip, we’ve stayed at POP, PO Riverside and the All Stars previously

Is there one of these resorts you would cut? We may be tight for time and we definitely want Grand Floridian, Animal Kingdom Lodge and Polynesian

I’ve left the Boardwalk for evening as it looks like more fun at that time!

 

[Goofy4]

Bus to the boardwalk and have dinner at Trattoria Al Forno…do I need reservations? Would 7pm be good timing ? I’m not sure how long we will be at Animal Kingdom or how long it takes from Animal Kingdom to the boardwalk.

....

I’ve left the Boardwalk for evening as it looks like more fun at that time!

Welcome to the Dis!

Reservations are recommended anywhere, especially if you are short on time.

If you are planning AKL -> Boardwalk, you can't do that directly via Disney transportation. If you are visiting the Riviera you are a short Skyliner hop away to the Epcot International Gateway and then a short walk to the Boardwalk. Consider Jellyrolls https://www.jellyrollswdw.com/gallery.php on the Boardwalk. We sat next to a group of ladies last week and they were having a great time.

 

[patty57]

Poly is on the monorail, not the skyliner. I might bus to AKL, and when done there, bus to MK. You can do the monorail loop of Contemporary, Poly, and GF. If you have extra time, Wilderness Lodge is a beautiful resort. You can boat there from MK and boat back. You can catch a bus to Boardwalk and explore Yacht Club & Beach Club as well as Boardwalk. At the end of your evening, you can take the skyliner to Riviera. When done there, get back on skyliner and change to the AoA line at CBR.
Hope I didn't mess this up or confuse you. Others will be along to correct me, or give a better plan.

 

[Marthasor]

In May I am bringing my 2 adult daughters and my eldest daughter’s friend is surprising her and joining us for her birthday! Trying to plan resort hopping, have never done it before, this is what I have…

After breakfast at Embassy Suites, International Dr. We will check out and uber to AoA, leave our bags with bell services, take the Skyliner to Caribbean Beach and Riviera and Polynesian.

The Skyliner doesn't go Poly. You can take the Skyliner to Riviera and from Riviera take a bus to MK. From MK, you can monorail to CR, Poly and Grand F where you can have your lunch (I recommend getting a reservation)

Bus to Magic Kingdom, hop on the monorail to the contemporary and grand Floridian, have lunch at the café

Bus to Magic Kingdom, then take the bus to Animal Kingdom

From Grand Floridian, you can either walk or take the monorail back to MK. There is no bus from Grand Floridian to Magic Kingdom.

As PP mentioned, when you get back to MK from Grand Floridian, you may want to consider a boat to WL to explore there. I don't think there is enough to do at AKL to take up the entire time between lunch and dinner. You could boat to WL, explore and either take the boat from WL back to MK to catch an AKL bus or just take a bus to AK from WL and take a bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge from there.

Bus to the boardwalk and have dinner at Trattoria Al Forno…do I need reservations? Would 7pm be good timing ? I’m not sure how long we will be at Animal Kingdom or how long it takes from Animal Kingdom to the boardwalk.

There is no direct bus from Animal Kingdom Lodge to Boardwalk. You will either have to bus to Animal Kingdom (theme park, not hotel) and then bus to Boardwalk or bus to Hollywood Studios and take the Skyliner or a boat from there.

I would make reservations for any table service restaurant you are planning to go to including Trattoria al Forno.

We are just staying the one night at AoA, 3 nights at Embassy as we are seeing Orlando! No parks this trip, we’ve stayed at POP, PO Riverside and the All Stars previously

Is there one of these resorts you would cut? We may be tight for time and we definitely want Grand Floridian, Animal Kingdom Lodge and Polynesian

I’ve left the Boardwalk for evening as it looks like more fun at that time!

You should have plenty of time to do all of these resorts. If you want more flexibility, consider doing a QS lunch somewhere instead of going to GF Cafe for lunch. Except for CR, every resort you mention has good QS, IMHO. We particularly like the QS at RIV and the outdoor area near the Grand Floridian QS has a beautiful view of the MK castle.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Absolutely certain no parks OP? In 2025 everyone staying at a Disney hotel gets a free water park ticket on check-in day. Even if it’s only 1 day at a value.

 

[Skippyboo]

If you want to see the Animals at AKL, I would go in the morning. They are more active then. You can take Skyliner from AoA to Caribbean Beach hub take the Skyliner to HS and get AKL bus. The bus will stop at Kidani first and then Jambo. Both have animals but Jambo has the impressive lobby and majority of dining. Go out to the area straight out from lobby. There is animal viewing there and also go down by the pool there are flamingos by the playground and another viewing area to the left .

 

[patty57]

I knew I would goof somewhere. You can't bus to AKL from AoA. Honestly, I would rideshare to avoid having to bus to a park, and then to AKL. Also, I would check out the Swan and Dolphin when you are in the Boardwalk area.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I knew I would goof somewhere. You can't bus to AKL from AoA. Honestly, I would rideshare to avoid having to bus to a park, and then to AKL. Also, I would check out the Swan and Dolphin when you are in the Boardwalk area.

Some hotels like monorail resorts or Skyliner hotels only allow guests or those with ADRs. Having neither OP could rideshare just to get turned away.

 

[kiford]

Some hotels like monorail resorts or Skyliner hotels only allow guests or those with ADRs. Having neither OP could rideshare just to get turned away.

Anyone can go to any of the hotels, but you generally can't park there without staying there or having an ADR. Some also will not allow rideshares in if you don't have an ADR or aren't staying there. But if you take Disney transportation or walk you can go to the hotels.

 

[patty57]

Some hotels like monorail resorts or Skyliner hotels only allow guests or those with ADRs. Having neither OP could rideshare just to get turned away.

True, but I'm guessing you can rideshare to AKL since it isn't walking distance to a park. You're right that it's possible, but honestly, I would attempt it. I suggested then taking the bus to MK to do the monorail resorts and Wilderness Lodge by boat. Then boat back to MK and bus to Boardwalk, or actually any of the Epcot resorts. I would hop on whichever bus came first.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Anyone can go to any of the hotels, but you generally can't park there without staying there or having an ADR. Some also will not allow rideshares in if you don't have an ADR or aren't staying there. But if you take Disney transportation or walk you can go to the hotels.

i was replying to a post about Rideshares.

 

[patty57]

Wonder if OP has ever come back to see our suggestions?

 

[Miffy]

True, but I'm guessing you can rideshare to AKL since it isn't walking distance to a park. You're right that it's possible, but honestly, I would attempt it. I suggested then taking the bus to MK to do the monorail resorts and Wilderness Lodge by boat. Then boat back to MK and bus to Boardwalk, or actually any of the Epcot resorts. I would hop on whichever bus came first.

We were staying at AKL in September and took an Uber back to the resort one day. The guard at the gate was refusing to let us in, even though we were staying there. He kept misspelling my sister's name, preventing him from being able to look us up accurately on his tablet.

So I would definitely not recommend taking a rideshare to AKL. If you get that guard at the gate, you would not be able to gain entry unless you had an ADR.

 

[patty57]

We were staying at AKL in September and took an Uber back to the resort one day. The guard at the gate was refusing to let us in, even though we were staying there. He kept misspelling my sister's name, preventing him from being able to look us up accurately on his tablet.

So I would definitely not recommend taking a rideshare to AKL. If you get that guard at the gate, you would not be able to gain entry unless you had an ADR.

Wow. That's terrible. Thanks for sharing that.

 

[jason423]

If you want to do that much resort hopping Id consider a different route. I'd skip breakfast at Embassy and plan on heading to AKL first thing in the AM. You can either book Bomas if you want a buffet or do one of the quick serves if you just want to see the Savannah. You can bus to the park from AOA (there should not be much of a line) and then take the bus from there to the lodge.

After AK you can bus to MK and then there are plenty of places to go from there. You could boat to WL if you wanted to check that out or simply monorail to the poly first. After the poly you can walk, boat, or monorail to GF for lunch and then head back to MK from there.

I would bus back to AOA from MK if your room is ready and you wanted a quick mid day break. If no break is needed bus from MK to CB and take in that resort and then head to RIV. You can then take the skyliner to Epcot where you can do all of the resorts starting with Beach Club if you want or you can head straight to BW.

I like ending the night at BW. Depending on what day of the week they may have some of the night time entertainment which is usually fun. You can always grab a drink, ice cream, cake, etc... after dinner too. You will need to make a reservation for Trattoria but they usually have easy availability and its not hard to move a reservation up or back same day if needed depending on how the day is going.

About the only thing you have to be aware of is the time. The skyliner will run an hour after Epcot closes so as long as you are back at the skyliner from BW in time you can then get back to AOA.

 

[LAMurphy]

Wonder if OP has ever come back to see our suggestions?

Yes ma’am, I’m making notes and planning!!!

 

[LAMurphy]

If you want to do that much resort hopping Id consider a different route. I'd skip breakfast at Embassy and plan on heading to AKL first thing in the AM. You can either book Bomas if you want a buffet or do one of the quick serves if you just want to see the Savannah. You can bus to the park from AOA (there should not be much of a line) and then take the bus from there to the lodge.

After AK you can bus to MK and then there are plenty of places to go from there. You could boat to WL if you wanted to check that out or simply monorail to the poly first. After the poly you can walk, boat, or monorail to GF for lunch and then head back to MK from there.

I would bus back to AOA from MK if your room is ready and you wanted a quick mid day break. If no break is needed bus from MK to CB and take in that resort and then head to RIV. You can then take the skyliner to Epcot where you can do all of the resorts starting with Beach Club if you want or you can head straight to BW.

I like ending the night at BW. Depending on what day of the week they may have some of the night time entertainment which is usually fun. You can always grab a drink, ice cream, cake, etc... after dinner too. You will need to make a reservation for Trattoria but they usually have easy availability and its not hard to move a reservation up or back same day if needed depending on how the day is going.

About the only thing you have to be aware of is the time. The skyliner will run an hour after Epcot closes so as long as you are back at the skyliner from BW in time you can then get back to AOA.

I want to have breakfast at Embassy because it’s included. Then I will only have to buy lunch, snacks and a nice dinner.
My daughter’s friend moved thousands of miles away and she’s flying in to surprise her. So I’m paying for her expenses except for flights. I’m trying to save where I can

No mid day rest is needed, thank you for such a great reply, it helped!

I’m getting excited!

 

[LAMurphy]

We were staying at AKL in September and took an Uber back to the resort one day. The guard at the gate was refusing to let us in, even though we were staying there. He kept misspelling my sister's name, preventing him from being able to look us up accurately on his tablet.

So I would definitely not recommend taking a rideshare to AKL. If you get that guard at the gate, you would not be able to gain entry unless you had an ADR.

That’s scary! I did a quote online and it would be pretty expensive to use Lyft/uber. I’d rather skip 1-2 resorts to wait for the bus!!

 

[LAMurphy]

Absolutely certain no parks OP? In 2025 everyone staying at a Disney hotel gets a free water park ticket on check-in day. Even if it’s only 1 day at a value.

We’ve been to Disney 7x, this originally started out as a long weekend to see a show at Dr Phillips.
Jet Blue changed our flight and we added a day, so I decided to splurge and stay 1 nt at AoA as it wasn’t finished being built when we went years ago and we ended up at POR. My eldest loves Disney so we were always going to do Disney Springs but the extra night means we can do a resort hop which will only cost me the food and wee can see the other resorts

We aren’t water park lovers… we wear glasses and other than the lazy River, we wouldn’t enjoy it.

 

[LAMurphy]

If you want to see the Animals at AKL, I would go in the morning. They are more active then. You can take Skyliner from AoA to Caribbean Beach hub take the Skyliner to HS and get AKL bus. The bus will stop at Kidani first and then Jambo. Both have animals but Jambo has the impressive lobby and majority of dining. Go out to the area straight out from lobby. There is animal viewing there and also go down by the pool there are flamingos by the playground and another viewing area to the left .

I originally thought of that. However I read the menus and didn’t think we would like it. I’ve read reviews of guests raving about the food, but my daughter is a vegetarian and my other one is super picky
The grand Floridian quick service looked to have more options