How much time should we allow to get from Animal Kingdom to Disney Springs for a dinner reservation?

[elovell]

We will be a party of 6, so with the new regulations unable to fit in an Uber. How much time should we allow to get from Animal Kingdom at closing to Disney Springs for a dinner reservation? Also, I know the busses don't go direct, what's the best route to get there?

 

[Rick195275]

Best option is probably to take a bus from animal kingdom to Saratoga springs and walk over the bridge. If you want a ride directly to the bus stop at Disney springs, hop on the first resort bus you see and then transfer to a Disney springs bus. The timing on buses can be all over the place.... we just waited an hour a couple weeks ago for a bus from the poly to Hollywood studios.... and then another 35 mins for a bus back to the poly. I would plan for at least 90 minutes if you are relying on buses, especially if you plan to take a bus to a resort and then to Disney springs might be able to cut it closer if you go to Saratoga. Also kind of depends on where the ADR is, Disney springs is pretty large haha. Hope that’s some what helpful.

 

[nkereina]

Where is your ADR at Disney Springs and what time? Pre-pandemic, buses would run from the parks to Disney Springs after 4pm, though I'm not sure if that's been suspended in the current environment.

Otherwise, I agree with PP that your best bet is to bus from AK to SSR. You can get off at the Congress Park stop and walk to SSR from there, but the connecting bridge to Disney Springs takes you into the Marketplace side. If your ADR is over on the West Side or Town Center, it can be a long-ish walk. If that concerns you, you can bus to any other resort from AK (AKL would be the closest) and then take the Disney Springs bus from there, which would drop you off at Town Center.

A general rule of thumb I use is to allow 60 minutes to get wherever I need to go on property. In the current environment with limited bus capacity and the fact that Disney Springs buses seem to be few and far between, I might give myself more like 80-90 minutes, especially if you need to transfer to another bus or have to make the long walk from the SSR path.

Lastly, if you have two people over age 18, you could just call two UberX's and split your party up. It would definitely be the fastest - no longer than 30 minutes to arrive there from the time you call it, based on my experience using Uber there back in October.

 

[GoingSince1990]

Take an Uber XL and an Uber X. Probably $30-$40 or so total, but you're on vacation, spoil yourself.

 

[elovell]

We will be going to T-rex. Haven't made reservations yet. Hoping I can use my Landry's card to make a reservation for May 17.

 

[nkereina]

We will be going to T-rex. Haven't made reservations yet. Hoping I can use my Landry's card to make a reservation for May 17.

T-Rex is on the Marketplace side of Disney Springs. I would bus from AK to SSR, exit at the Congress Park stop at SSR, and then walk across the bridge to Disney Springs. The bridge is not far at all from T-Rex. Because you would not have to transfer to another bus, I would allow an hour to get from AK to SSR when leaving the park.

As a side note, I believe with the Landry's card you'd get priority seating without a reservation. If you can't secure reservations online, try calling the restaurant directly. This is one of those restaurants that does not release all reservation availability and often has availability by calling directly.

 

[CarolynFH]

An alternative would be to take the bus from AK to AKL, then catch the DS bus at AKL. I’d still allow 90 minutes from when we walked out of AK, though, no matter what route you take - I’d rather be early to DS than late to my reservation because we just missed a bus!

 

[nkereina]

An alternative would be to take the bus from AK to AKL, then catch the DS bus at AKL. I’d still allow 90 minutes from when we walked out of AK, though, no matter what route you take - I’d rather be early to DS than late to my reservation because we just missed a bus!

It is an alternative, but would not be as fast or as efficient as busing directly to SSR and walking from there. To bus to AKL then to DS requires a bus transfer so you'd be at the mercy of whenever the DS bus decides to show up, and with bus capacity being severely limited, you now have to worry about fitting on two buses as opposed to one. The DS bus from a resort also drops off at Town Center, so OP would have to walk all the way over to Marketplace for T-Rex.

 

[CarolynFH]

It is an alternative, but would not be as fast or as efficient as busing directly to SSR and walking from there. To bus to AKL then to DS requires a bus transfer so you'd be at the mercy of whenever the DS bus decides to show up, and with bus capacity being severely limited, you now have to worry about fitting on two buses as opposed to one. The DS bus from a resort also drops off at Town Center, so OP would have to walk all the way over to Marketplace for T-Rex.

Yes, but not everyone is up for the walk from DS to T-Rex, either! So now OP can choose from several alternatives the one that fits their group best.

 

[nkereina]

Yes, but not everyone is up for the walk from DS to T-Rex, either! So now OP can choose from several alternatives the one that fits their group best.

Yes, that's true. But if everyone is able-bodied, I would still assert the fastest option with fewest variables would be to bus to SSR.