How easy/difficult to get from one restort to another?

[aripantaloon]

We're planning on staying at the AKL in May and are in the middle of trying to plan our ADR's. DH was looking at some restaurant in the Beach or Yacht club (I was exhausted, so I don't really remember what he was talking about. ) and said that we could be the MGM for the afternoon and then take a boat ride to where the BC is for dinner. He said that the walk from where the boat is isn't that bad. He was then looking at the little dots of other resorts in the Epcot area (or maybe MGM area) and the map scale of XXXXX=1/2 mile and said that walking between certain ones would be easy.

I told him that he's nuts and that just because the dot to do is 1/2 mile doesn't mean there is a way or an easy way to get there. I'm remembering threads of people complaining how big their individual resort is in getting from, say, the lobby to their room or a restaurant.

I also know that you can't go directly from resort to resort by bus. You have to take it to a park and then go from there. Plus, there's no guarantee that the resort you want will be the first stop on the list.

Help me out here. Am I blowing this out of proportion? Is it easy to get from restort to resort? Does it depend on which ones you are talking about (monorail resorts excluded!)?

 

[JenSop]

On our last trip, we did alot of dining at the different resorts, which usually entailed getting from our resort to the other. It's really not that big of a deal. And there's a few ways to go about it. We usually just went to the park nearest the resort we were eating and grabbed a bus or other transport to the resort with the restaurant. (That was quite the run on sentence - I hope I made sense.) So when we wanted to eat at Ohana, we went to MK and got the monorail to the Poly. When we had dinner at Boma, we went to Epcot and grabbed a bus for AKL.

 

[G8RFAN]

Certain resort areas share the same shuttle such as the EPCOT resorts. They are not meant for resort to resort travel, as they generally do not reverse their pickup/drop off schedule, so you may be able to hop on the BC bus and take it to the Dolphin, but you couldn't take it back. Plus, walking along the lake or taking one of the friendship launches is so much easier. Specific to MGM, the launches are very convenient with probably no more than a 20 minute wait between arrivals. We have walked many times to MGM, but it is a good long ways by foot. Between the buses, boats and monorails, you can pretty much get anywhere just fine without too much hassle. DTD is a nice central hub to get to any resort by bus.

 

[Mickeefan]

He's right. It's not a big deal to be at MGM and take the boat to the Beach Club area to eat in a restaurant there at that resort. In fact, I'm planning to do that in January. We'll take the boat from MGM and eat at Beaches & Cream and the Beach Club, then take the boat back to MGM and catch a bus back to our resort. I've also done what the PP suggested when I'm going to a resort on the monorail line. Taking a bus from your resort to the MK will get you to the monorail and you can then transfer to the Contempory, the Polynesian or the Grand Floridian.

 

[Sherrkel]

Keep in mind - you can always take a taxi from one resort to another - we did this when we dined at the Poly and dinner finished @ 9:30, and since the closest park (MK) closed early 8pm (this was late february), we were told to xfer by going via DTD. Since I knew that could take a while, we opted for a taxi back to our resort (CS) which took 10 min. Other members of our party who left a few minutes earlier than us at 9:15 took the DTD bus route and it took them 45 minutes to get back to our resort! I'm glad we took a taxi, worth the extra $.

 

[Elmo888]

It can be a pain - don't go to DTD to catch another bus to a resort unless all of the parks are closed. This takes forever. And this seems to be what Disney recommends. As amateurs, this is what we did.

It seems best to take a bus to a park that is close to your resort or the resort at which you want to eat. So, if you are staying at AKL and AK is open, you can take a bus to AK and then to another resort. Eating at YC/BC might not be a problem on the way there (boat from MGM to YC/BC or go to Epcot for the day and walk to YC/BC), but getting back to your resort might be difficult, esp. if parks are closed. This is where a cab might come in handy.

After eating at YC/BC, you could take a bus to AK if it is open and then to AKL. If AK is closed, you could take a bus to MK if it is open and then to AKL (but that is kind of backwards). Or take the boat to MGM if it is open and then bus to AKL. Or walk through Epcot and catch the bus to AKL. Is that clear as mud?

 

[Quinn222]

We did just that in reverse to go from the Yacht Club to Jiko and it worked out fine. The only problem is we couldn't do it to go home, because MGM was closed by the time we finished dinner. For that we took a bus to MK, which was open later, and grabbed a bus from there to the Yacht Club. It's not always easy to get from resort to resort. Sometimes we just take a cab or drive ourselves. We had to take a cab back from the contemporary and it was $20. Not bad but it can add up in a hurry if you're doing it both ways every night and you can add on $10 if you're at AK since it's so far out.

 

[Mickiethepooh]

He is quite right, you can take the boat to the Board Walk or the Beachclub, the Swan, Dolpin, Board walk, Yacht club, and Beach Club are all right next to each other and the same boat that goes to and from MGM to these hotels also goe to the International Gateway at World Showcase.
Easy walking between all of those places.

 

[spiceycat]

you can walk from one Epcot resort to the other - not a problem.

even easier than the monrail resorts to get around. they were designed to allow walking entry.

from the Studio (MGM) definitely take the boat to the YC/BC exit.

but from Epcot - you are better off walking to Cape May Cafe - over that small hill is the BC.

go out the IG - it is between GB and France.

 

[CoachBagFanatic]

We always take a taxi when traveling from resort to resort. We did the bus one time trying to get from the GF to the YC. It took us 40 minutes. We swore we would never do that again. So we take a certain amount of money with us just for the taxi's. Going from bus to bus to bus is not for us but for some it's ok. DTD is a great place to catch a bus to just about anywhere on Disney.

 

[G8RFAN]

It can be a pain - don't go to DTD to catch another bus to a resort unless all of the parks are closed. This takes forever. And this seems to be what Disney recommends. As amateurs, this is what we did.......

Here's the problem with this statement. The hours that transportation runs at DTD is far more consistent than the parks. You also don't have the huge ebs and flows of masses of people from certain parks such as right after parades or fireworks. So if you really want to be a sage of time management with Disney transportation, you really have a lot more to consider. Ultimately, my rule of thumb is if we can't walk it or monorail it or take a dedicated bus to it, and we can park there, we take the car. I know a lot of people who don't want to think about driving once there and that's great too. We just like to have the flexibility of managing our time better with a car.

 

[crazy4wdw]

There's another option that was briefly mentioned in another post. If you have a park hopper pass, you can walk through Epcot to the bus station at the front entrance. You would need to exit the BC or YC on the Crescent Lake side and walk towards the International Gateway which is between the France and United Kingdom Pavilions (about a 10 minute walk). From there, just walk towards the geosphere at the front entrance of Epcot. This would prevent you from having to transfer bus at a theme park.

 

[LilGoofy]

We have an early ADR at Chef Mickey's (7:40am) for breakfast and need to get there from CSR. No early morning hours at MK so will busses run? I think that I can take the monorail or a boat to Comtemporary. Am I right? Or is there a better way to do this?

 

[Luv2Roam]

The absolute best way really would probably be by taxi.
If traveling from resort to resort, allow yourself an hour and a half. It could possibly take that long.
This is one of the main reasons why resort restaurants usually have open seating slots.
Walking from MGM to the Boardwalk area is a nice walk. But it is quite a walk too. Very do-able. But after being in MGM walking, you probably will not want to walk to the Boardwalk too.
Take the boat. But allow a minimum of a half hour.
You may have to wait for the boat. And those boats are not exactly fast. Plus they make stops. And your stop may not be the first.
Walking from the Boardwalk to the side of Epcot is an easy 10 minute walk, and that is without hurrying. You are there before you know it.

 

[crazy4wdw]

We have an early ADR at Chef Mickey's (7:40am) for breakfast and need to get there from CSR. No early morning hours at MK so will busses run? I think that I can take the monorail or a boat to Comtemporary. Am I right? Or is there a better way to do this?

Your best option is going to be taking a taxi. There is not a monorail or boat which runs from Coronado Springs to the Contemporary. I'm not sure how early the bus from CSR would run to the Magic Kingom, most likley it would depend on the MK operating hours for the day you have your ADR's. If the buses are running early enough, you could take the bus to MK then monorail to the CR.

 

[Elmo888]

We have an early ADR at Chef Mickey's (7:40am) for breakfast and need to get there from CSR. No early morning hours at MK so will busses run? I think that I can take the monorail or a boat to Comtemporary. Am I right? Or is there a better way to do this?

I think that you can take a bus to the TTC (Ticket and Transportation Center) and catch the monorail from there to CR. Ask when you get to the resort. There are buses running to the MK waaayyy before the MK opens because they know that people have early ADRs at MK restaurants (CRT and Crystal Palace). Since the same is true of Chef Mickey's, I would bet that buses are running early to the TTC. They may even have buses running to CR that early. If I am remembering correctly, I believe that there were early buses going to CR from WL when we were staying there.

 

[LilGoofy]

Thanks for the help. I really didn't want to spend the extra money on a taxi; I would rather spend it on Disney stuff.

 

[Tiffany]

We're planning on staying at the AKL in May and are in the middle of trying to plan our ADR's. DH was looking at some restaurant in the Beach or Yacht club (I was exhausted, so I don't really remember what he was talking about. ) and said that we could be the MGM for the afternoon and then take a boat ride to where the BC is for dinner. He said that the walk from where the boat is isn't that bad. He was then looking at the little dots of other resorts in the Epcot area (or maybe MGM area) and the map scale of XXXXX=1/2 mile and said that walking between certain ones would be easy.

I told him that he's nuts and that just because the dot to do is 1/2 mile doesn't mean there is a way or an easy way to get there. I'm remembering threads of people complaining how big their individual resort is in getting from, say, the lobby to their room or a restaurant.

I also know that you can't go directly from resort to resort by bus. You have to take it to a park and then go from there. Plus, there's no guarantee that the resort you want will be the first stop on the list.

Help me out here. Am I blowing this out of proportion? Is it easy to get from restort to resort? Does it depend on which ones you are talking about (monorail resorts excluded!)?

The transportation system is not realy set up to take people from one resort to another. The best way is to drive or take a cab.

But, you can walk from the STs to the BW/YC/BC/S&D or take the Friendship Boat from the dock at the STs over to the resort that you are having dinner at.

 

[teacher5]

How much do taxis cost and are they usually already at the resorts or do you need to call to arrange one? I am thinking of a taxi from BC to WL.

 

[Tiffany]

How much do taxis cost and are they usually already at the resorts or do you need to call to arrange one? I am thinking of a taxi from BC to WL.

The valet can get one for you. At the deluxe resorts there are usually taxis queued but if not the valet can call one for you.