I need help understanding transportation to the parks from Disney Resorts, please

[Bete]

I don't have a clue on how this works. Which hotel(s) uses monorail and where do they leave you off?

 

[SMD]

All 3 hotels are walkable. You can be at the gates in 10 minutes at a leisurely pace, maybe a few more minutes from PPH. There is a monorail stop at DTD on the path you'd walk from DLH. You could also pass it from PPH, but the better route is to just walk through GCH from there. It will let you off in Tomorrowland. It is not faster than walking and goes down frequently. At DLR the monorail is really a ride, not a form of transportation.

 

[Jerryp49]

Distance from the first DL Hotel to the escalade is less than half a mile. ( .44 ). The monorail station in DTD is across from the AMC movie.

 

[ktlm]

Fellow WDW vet here. You have to put the WDW mentality out of your mind for DL. There really isn't such a thing as "Disney Transportation" around the Disneyland resort, like you have at WDW. Unlike at WDW, everything at DL is very compact and all walking distance. That is one of the things we like best about going to DLR. You can be anywhere on property in a walk of 10 minutes or less. The distance between the parks is just a plaza that is shorter than the distance it takes to walk from the park bus stop to the gate at most WDW parks. As far as the distance from the resorts, the Grand Californian has a gate directly into California Adventure at the hotel, and the walk out the front to DL is short. The Disneyland Hotel is a nice walk through downtown Disney to get to the gates. I have heard DL people complain it is a little far, but by WDW standards it is nothing. The Disneyland Hotel is at one end of DTD, and the parks are at the other. I haven't made the walk from the Contemporary to MK at WDW, but I would guess it is a similar distance- it is around a 5 to 10 minute walk. Paradise Pier, is the longest, and just slightly more than from the Disneyland Hotel. I haven't been to that resort, but I think that one does involve crossing a street, unlike the other two, which go direct or straight through the downtown Disney walking paths. The Monorail at DLR is more of a ride, than real transportation. It is closest to the Disneyland Hotel, but as the photo shows, you still have to walk into Downtown Disney a little ways to the station. It drops you off in Tommorowland. It can take longer to get in line and wait for the monorail, than just to walk to the parks from the resort. We have taken it back from Tomorrowland when we were really tired, or just wanted to experience the monorail- but DH has gotten on to me because at certain times of day, you will wait in line for the monorail longer than it would have taken you to just walk back (other times you might get it quickly). Also, it is great if you are already in Tomorrowland, but if you were over in California Adventure, it would take you about as much time to walk over to the monorail as it would to just walk back to the Disneyland Hotel. As you can see from the photo, the monorail wouldn't be Grand Californian transportation at all, because the stop is about as far from the Grand Californian on one side, as the park is on the other.

 

[RKKUNK]

Having been to WDW for the first time in November, I can see how you might think you would need transportation at DLR. DL and DCA are a completely different machine than WDW. If you stay onsite at one of the Disney hotels in California there is no need for transportation once you are at the resort. (unless you want to do some sightseeing) As the others have said, the monorail is more of a ride. We have stayed at the DLH and have used it to go back to the hotel during the day and maybe back to the park in the afternoon. It is a very short walk from the DLH. There is a security gate that you have to go through to get on the monorail from DTD. If the line is too long, we just walk.

 

[VandVsmama]

It's much more compact than at WDW. At DL, the monorail is a ride/attraction and not really a mode of transportation.

Here's a Youtube video I found that's a full walk from the PPHto the DL entrance through DTD.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

And that video above goes the long way! The short way is to cross the street and cut thru the GCH

 

[ktlm]

Also in the video posted above note that at about the 6:10 mark they are very close to the Disneyland gates, and they swing the camera around to show the California Adventure gates. That shows you how close the gates are. As you can see, bag check is for both parks so you can hop without having to go through bag check again. When they went through bag check on the DTD side, they went left for the DL gates, but if they had wanted to go to the CA gates, they simply would have turned right instead. We have literally been in the back of one park and gotten to the back of the other park in 10 minutes. Hopping is typically 5 minutes or less. We hop back and forth all day- to us, by WDW standards it is just one big park.

 

[peterpanandwendy]

Yeah, there is no need for transportation between the parks and the resort hotels, they are all literally a 5 to 10 minute walk away through DTD. Like others have said, the monorail is more of a ride/attraction than hotel transportation. The Grand Californian has it's own entrance into California Adventure Park. Imagine this: You are standing at the gates of Disneyland. You turn your back to the gate, and you will be staring directly at the gates of California Adventure, literally only fifty paces away. To your right will be the gates of DTD, also only fifty paces away. Walk 7 minutes through DTD and you will be at the entrance to the Disneyland Hotel (Where we often go to Goofy's kitchen for dinner with the kids), or the entrance to the GCH. The PP is only a short walk through the GCH and then across a street.

 

[Bete]

Thank you all for your responses. I feel much better about this and it appears either walking or the monorail will be just fine.

 

[pindecisive]

I agree! I was curious if it was worth it to take the monorail in the morning. It may just be quicker to walk!

 

[TechGuy]

The Monorail used to go directly to the DLH, but that was 30 years ago. It now ends in DTD and you walk the balance. If you are doing a EMH or MM, walk to the front gate. If you returning to DL and want to be in Fanstasyland, ride the Monorail. The first train does not leave the station until the rope drop inside the park and you need to wait for the next train if you are not in the first train.

Walking vs. Monorail is not really a time thing, it's riding a ride vs walking. You may not save any time but the view is fun.