Help Please - Confused Abiut Getting To Early ADRs!

[ninamouse]

Hi there,

I know there are some DISers out there who will probably be able to put my mind at rest.

I have a few early breakfast ADRs books for out trip next month.

It's been advised on here that for ADRs in the parks, it's best to get the Disney Transportation.

However, I have also read that Disney Transportation starts running an hour before park opening.

Therefore, my question is this. If I have an ADR booked at 8.10am and the park doesn't open until 9am - does that mean the Disney buses do not start running until 8am, because if that's the case we won't get to our ADR in time?

Or do the buses start running an hour before the first ADR time slots?

I know this may seem a minor worry but we have an ADR our very first morning at MK and want to have a bit of a plan ready!

Thanks so much.

 

[ShayBells]

Buses start running at 7 am so you'll get to your ADR just fine. Just make sure you get to the bus stop with plenty of time to make it to your ADR and some wiggle room as well. You don't want to be late.

I have an irrational fear of being late to anything. I have an ADR at 8:50 at MK and ill probably be at our bus stop at 7 am lol

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[merentha]

The run about an hour before the first ADR times. You'll be fine

 

[jenndot]

We have a 7am ADR at Chef Mickey's... I feel like I read somewhere that you could inform the front desk about early ADRs and they would make sure a bus was there? But can anyone confirm?

If buses really don't start running until 7am - then I guess we are stuck paying for a taxi to get to our ADR?

 

[Itinkso]

We have a 7am ADR at Chef Mickey's... I feel like I read somewhere that you could inform the front desk about early ADRs and they would make sure a bus was there? But can anyone confirm?

If buses really don't start running until 7am - then I guess we are stuck paying for a taxi to get to our ADR?

On the Dining Board, others have recommended asking the concierge the schedule for the ADR "Breakfast Bus" and you will be given the approximate times the bus will be picking up in the a.m.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Buses start running around 6:30 am, but they aren't as frequent that early.

 

[mum2four]

We have a 7am ADR at Chef Mickey's... I feel like I read somewhere that you could inform the front desk about early ADRs and they would make sure a bus was there? But can anyone confirm?

If buses really don't start running until 7am - then I guess we are stuck paying for a taxi to get to our ADR?

When we stayed at AOA in May, the first buses for the parks arrived at the resort around 6:45am. I would assume the other resorts start about the same time. For an ADR at 7am, I would probably take a taxi.

 

[laceyinwonderland]

I dont mean to hijack the thread, but maybe someone can help me as well as the OP! We have an 8:20 adr at 1900 PF, and plan to tour MK that day. We will have our car, and a double stroller. Should we drive to GF, pay to valet park (I know we cant regular park and stay in the lot all day), take monorail to park, then after park take monorail back to car. Or, should we take a bus to MK in the AM, and monorail over to GF for the early adr. Anyone have any advice?

 

[Q-man]

I dont mean to hijack the thread, but maybe someone can help me as well as the OP! We have an 8:20 adr at 1900 PF, and plan to tour MK that day. We will have our car, and a double stroller. Should we drive to GF, pay to valet park (I know we cant regular park and stay in the lot all day), take monorail to park, then after park take monorail back to car. Or, should we take a bus to MK in the AM, and monorail over to GF for the early adr. Anyone have any advice?

If you're not morning people take your car to GF. I believe you can park in the regular GF lot with a dining resv. GF=>MK the monorail is fastest. MK=> GF the resort launch/boat is fastest.

 

[Robbi]

We usually take taxis to early morning ADRs.

 

[mum2four]

I dont mean to hijack the thread, but maybe someone can help me as well as the OP! We have an 8:20 adr at 1900 PF, and plan to tour MK that day. We will have our car, and a double stroller. Should we drive to GF, pay to valet park (I know we cant regular park and stay in the lot all day), take monorail to park, then after park take monorail back to car. Or, should we take a bus to MK in the AM, and monorail over to GF for the early adr. Anyone have any advice?

I guess it just depends on if you prefer to take WDW transportation or drive your own car. We always find WDW transportation to be less hassle than driving our own car, but others feel the opposite. You will probably need to be up a little earlier to take the bus, but you shouldn't have any problem making an 8:20 ADR.

 

[goofy4tink]

Buses start running from the resorts by 6:30am every morning. They tend to run less frequently than the regular resort to park buses do. Maybe every 25 mins or so. If you have an ADR 7am or so, take a cab. It will be hard to get to such an early ADR using Disney transportation.
No, you can't ask at the front desk for a bus to be called. Most of the front desk CMs don't even realize the buses start running by 6:30!

Here sure some tried and true routes.....
ADRs at the CR....bus to MK then walk over to the CR...takes about 8 mins to walk.
ADRs at the GF...bus to MK, then monorail to GF....monorail takes about 20 mins once it gets there, and it starts running at 7am.
ADRs at the Polynesian....bus to MK, monorail to Polynesian.
ADRs at Epcot/DHS resorts....bus to DHS and walk (about 15-20 mins) to BW, YC/BC, S/D. Sometimes a driver may offer to drop you at these resorts.
ADRs at AKL.....bus to AK, then transfer to the AKL-Kidani. Again, drivers will sometimes offer to drop you off at the AKL directly.
ADRs at WL/FtW....bus to MK, then boat to WL/FtW....if the boats are running at that time.

Hope that helps a little bit.

Fr the poster with the double stroller and GF ADRs....why not just drive to the TTC, then take the monorail to the GF, and then to the MK? You can just take either the monorail or ferry back to the TTC at the end of your day.

 

[Brian_WDW74]

I've moved this thread to the Transportation board.

 

[wtrowbridge]

We had this same issue just last week. My travel agent got us an 8:00 am ADR for Tusker House at AK months ago. I was concerned though because the park did not open until 9 and we were traveling from the Poly. She assured me that if Disney offers ADRs to on site guests that early that they have to provide transportation. Well, when we got there, I went down to concierge two nights before to double check and could not find anyone who could give me an exact answer. They kept saying buses typically do not run until one hour before and agreed that would be a problem for us. They made several phone calls but it was 11:00 at night and could not get a straight answer so they told me to come back the next morning and they would provide us with taxi vouchers. I did not have time to go back the next morning but went back the next night and got a new person. That person assured me that busses started running at 7 am and we would have no issues. I again explained my fears but he acted positive. So, on our reservation morning, we got all 12 of us up at the crack of dawn to be at the bus stop by 6:45 to make sure we did not miss that first bus. Well, we did not even see a bus until 7:10 and then it was a DHS bus. By 7:15 I went to the front desk to find out what was going on. They made calls got confirmation a bus would be there by 7:20. When 7:25 rolled around and still no AK bus The front desk was calling taxis complimentary for us, which I am sure they were not happy about because there were 12 of us, and we had to have at least 4 car seats for the younger kids. I guess lucky for them an AK bus showed up at 7:30 so we took that. It got us to AK around 7:50 and we literally walked into Tusker House right at 8. I was sweating thinking for sure we would not make it.

They really need set early AM dining busses running for everyone to have peace of mind. One of the only things that frustrated me all week was that many departments did not seem to be in tune with others. We view it as Disney, one whole entity, and expect them to know what is happening in other departments. Busses should know on average for Disney resort guests who has early ADRs, where they a going from and to, etc. but instead, it was a bunch of people who did not know. We had issues the last day with MDE in very much the same way

 

[dsneprincess]

We had this same issue just last week. My travel agent got us an 8:00 am ADR for Tusker House at AK months ago. I was concerned though because the park did not open until 9 and we were traveling from the Poly. She assured me that if Disney offers ADRs to on site guests that early that they have to provide transportation. Well, when we got there, I went down to concierge two nights before to double check and could not find anyone who could give me an exact answer. They kept saying buses typically do not run until one hour before and agreed that would be a problem for us. They made several phone calls but it was 11:00 at night and could not get a straight answer so they told me to come back the next morning and they would provide us with taxi vouchers. I did not have time to go back the next morning but went back the next night and got a new person. That person assured me that busses started running at 7 am and we would have no issues. I again explained my fears but he acted positive. So, on our reservation morning, we got all 12 of us up at the crack of dawn to be at the bus stop by 6:45 to make sure we did not miss that first bus. Well, we did not even see a bus until 7:10 and then it was a DHS bus. By 7:15 I went to the front desk to find out what was going on. They made calls got confirmation a bus would be there by 7:20. When 7:25 rolled around and still no AK bus The front desk was calling taxis complimentary for us, which I am sure they were not happy about because there were 12 of us, and we had to have at least 4 car seats for the younger kids. I guess lucky for them an AK bus showed up at 7:30 so we took that. It got us to AK around 7:50 and we literally walked into Tusker House right at 8. I was sweating thinking for sure we would not make it.

They really need set early AM dining busses running for everyone to have peace of mind. One of the only things that frustrated me all week was that many departments did not seem to be in tune with others. We view it as Disney, one whole entity, and expect them to know what is happening in other departments. Busses should know on average for Disney resort guests who has early ADRs, where they a going from and to, etc. but instead, it was a bunch of people who did not know. We had issues the last day with MDE in very much the same way

I guess I am confused. Why should Disney keep track of early reservations and travel and have to pay for a cab for your 12 people? You made an early reservation, you need to get your party to it or cancel. No one is forcing you to eat anywhere prior to park opening. I really think this is on you and not in Disney or Disney buses. I just don't see how ANY of this falls to Disney's responsibilities.......

 

[goofy4tink]

We had this same issue just last week. My travel agent got us an 8:00 am ADR for Tusker House at AK months ago. I was concerned though because the park did not open until 9 and we were traveling from the Poly. She assured me that if Disney offers ADRs to on site guests that early that they have to provide transportation. Well, when we got there, I went down to concierge two nights before to double check and could not find anyone who could give me an exact answer. They kept saying buses typically do not run until one hour before and agreed that would be a problem for us. They made several phone calls but it was 11:00 at night and could not get a straight answer so they told me to come back the next morning and they would provide us with taxi vouchers. I did not have time to go back the next morning but went back the next night and got a new person. That person assured me that busses started running at 7 am and we would have no issues. I again explained my fears but he acted positive. So, on our reservation morning, we got all 12 of us up at the crack of dawn to be at the bus stop by 6:45 to make sure we did not miss that first bus. Well, we did not even see a bus until 7:10 and then it was a DHS bus. By 7:15 I went to the front desk to find out what was going on. They made calls got confirmation a bus would be there by 7:20. When 7:25 rolled around and still no AK bus The front desk was calling taxis complimentary for us, which I am sure they were not happy about because there were 12 of us, and we had to have at least 4 car seats for the younger kids. I guess lucky for them an AK bus showed up at 7:30 so we took that. It got us to AK around 7:50 and we literally walked into Tusker House right at 8. I was sweating thinking for sure we would not make it.

They really need set early AM dining busses running for everyone to have peace of mind. One of the only things that frustrated me all week was that many departments did not seem to be in tune with others. We view it as Disney, one whole entity, and expect them to know what is happening in other departments. Busses should know on average for Disney resort guests who has early ADRs, where they a going from and to, etc. but instead, it was a bunch of people who did not know. We had issues the last day with MDE in very much the same way

That's pretty unusual. I have seldom had any issue getting to an early ADR. Possible scenario...you may have just missed the first bus, which would mean up to a 30 min wait for the next one. I always tell people not to bother talking to anyone inside the resort...they generally have no idea about the buses!! I have been told, on many occasions, that the buses don't start running until an hour prior to park opening!! I ask just to see what the answer will be. When I ask the front desk people how I am supposed to get to my Chef Mickey's 8am ADR? The answer is always 'Well, the buses start by 8, unless it's EMH morning. You should probably just take a cab over there.'....drives me nuts.

I have said it before and I'll say it again....if you book an ADR for 8am or before, you may want to think about taking a cab, right up front. Yes, Disney should provide consistent transportation for it's guests. But here's the thing....if guests book an ADR for 7:30, at a distant resort, it's going to be tough getting there in plenty of time. Disney seems to be cutting back on some things, and these early bus runs seem to be suffering from the cutbacks.
I don't think it's up to Disney to try to figure out what buses they need to put in service in order to get a few guests to particular restaurants. It's up to the guest to figure that out. I'm sure the cab drivers in the area are thrilled to find fewer early morning buses running!!!! So, rather than book a very early morning ADR, you may be better off booking one later in the morning and calling it 'brunch'. Just a thought.

 

[seashoreCM]

I guess I am confused. Why should Disney keep track of early reservations and travel and have to pay for a cab for your 12 people? You made an early reservation, you need to get your party to it or cancel. No one is forcing you to eat anywhere prior to park opening. I really think this is on you and not in Disney or Disney buses. I just don't see how ANY of this falls to Disney's responsibilities.......

The experts here on The DIS say that buses start running at 6:30 so you should have been out on the platform at 6:25, not 6:45. Another reason to be there extra early is that the first bus might be too full for you. Not everyone can get on the sweet spot bus for rope drop, fireworks, restaurant reservation, etc. Six twenty five is such an ungodly hour that in a sense the phone CMs are not giving bad advice when they suggest taking a cab over.

Meanwhile the resort staff said they would provide taxi vouchers so in this instance they should.

Specifically, Tusker House has the policy of honoring late ADRs for guests who drive and who were held up at the toll plaza that did not open on time. By honoring, I mean merged in with the schedule of ADRs using arrival times. Not sure how they handle bus problems. Otherwise one choice would be to park at All Star Music or Animal Kingdom Lodge (tell the guard you are having breakfast at that resort) and take the bus, but you need to be at the platform at 6:25 AM.

Hmmm. How thrilled are taxi drivers who are called and come and at the last minute the bus arrives and the guests take that instead?

 

[wtrowbridge]

I guess I am confused. Why should Disney keep track of early reservations and travel and have to pay for a cab for your 12 people? You made an early reservation, you need to get your party to it or cancel. No one is forcing you to eat anywhere prior to park opening. I really think this is on you and not in Disney or Disney buses. I just don't see how ANY of this falls to Disney's responsibilities.......

First of all, I did not make the reservation, my travel agent did, as she did with all of the reservations. I would have cancelled or rescheduled it had she not assured me that when Disney offers early ADRs they offer transportation.

IMO though, if Disney is going to offer packages and "magical experiences" where I can utilize MDE to get to their resort, and at the prices I am paying for Deluxe accommodations and to eat at their high priced restaurants, and where I have no other means of transportation because I am not paying more for a cab or a rental car, then yes, they should make it their responsibility. I chose to go to Disney and spend a good amount of money knowing EVERYTHING was included. I knew I did not have to pay extra for rental cars, cabs, etc. because transportation was included.

They should either A) Have early transportation avl. for those guests they know have early ADRS who are staying on Disney property or B) CLEARLY STATE UPFRONT THAT BUSES ABSOLUTELY DO NOT run any earlier than one hour prior to park opening and that visitors with no other means of transportation should not ever schedule an ADR earlier than park opening. They should not be telling travel agents that they will provide transportation.

Additionally, if it were not Disney's responsibility the first CM I spoke to on the first night should have just told me that I needed to cancel the reservation while I was still within the 24 hour credit card hold window. Instead, she is the one who offered up cabs because she couldn't even find an answer for me and she was a Disney employee. My entire point was with the frustration of all of their departments not being linked.

And the number in our group does not matter. 12 people or 2, the fact was that we had ADRs which on Weds. morning at 7 am could not be cancelled without us forfeiting a $10 per person fee and none of that was my fault as I was going on what I had been told.

Would you still say the same thing when I had my issue on our departure day and their MDE bus did not show up for our 7:40 am pickup to the airport? We had 12 people all out there 20 mins. early, and by 8:10 there was still no bus. When we inquired why no one knew what was going on, etc. They "sell" their MDE as part of their packages and experiences and it was their responsibility to get us to our flight, especially when we did as we were told and were there early, ready to go, etc.

 

[bdklein]

If you're not morning people take your car to GF. I believe you can park in the regular GF lot with a dining resv. GF=>MK the monorail is fastest. MK=> GF the resort launch/boat is fastest.

But not supposed to park there all day. if you want to park there all day then you should use the valet parking option.

 

[wtrowbridge]

That's pretty unusual. I have seldom had any issue getting to an early ADR. Possible scenario...you may have just missed the first bus, which would mean up to a 30 min wait for the next one. I always tell people not to bother talking to anyone inside the resort...they generally have no idea about the buses!! I have been told, on many occasions, that the buses don't start running until an hour prior to park opening!! I ask just to see what the answer will be. When I ask the front desk people how I am supposed to get to my Chef Mickey's 8am ADR? The answer is always 'Well, the buses start by 8, unless it's EMH morning. You should probably just take a cab over there.'....drives me nuts.

I have said it before and I'll say it again....if you book an ADR for 8am or before, you may want to think about taking a cab, right up front. Yes, Disney should provide consistent transportation for it's guests. But here's the thing....if guests book an ADR for 7:30, at a distant resort, it's going to be tough getting there in plenty of time. Disney seems to be cutting back on some things, and these early bus runs seem to be suffering from the cutbacks.
I don't think it's up to Disney to try to figure out what buses they need to put in service in order to get a few guests to particular restaurants. It's up to the guest to figure that out. I'm sure the cab drivers in the area are thrilled to find fewer early morning buses running!!!! So, rather than book a very early morning ADR, you may be better off booking one later in the morning and calling it 'brunch'. Just a thought.

Certainly that is good advice now, but I did not know that last week and was going on what my travel agent informed me. It was a lesson learned and luckily everything turned out ok.