Is the Monarail free with dinner reservations at the Floridian?

[bsg5698]

We will be getting to Orlando late afternoon on the 18th and I dont want to use a ticket for 1/2 a day. We'd like to ride the monarail that eveNing just to get an overview of the parks.If I get dinner reservations at one of the hotels on the monarail route can we park at the hotel and ride the monarail for free?

 

[brertoad]

If you had a dinner reservation you should be able to park at the hotel where you are dining at no charge. The monorail hotels are the Polynesian, the Contemporary, and the Grand Floridian. You can ride on the monorail for free. You can get off at each hotel and explore a little, there are gift shops and quick service food, and then get back on to the next stop, etc. If you want to go all the way over to Epcot, there is a different monorail for that which you would access by getting off at the Transporation and Ticket Center Stop and switch over to the other line. I wouldn't really recommend doing that because there isn't anything outside the front gate of Epcot to entertain yourself with, but the monorail does drive over future world in Epcot, so you can look at some stuff from the window, but I wouldn't get out of the monorail at the Epcot stop since there isn't anything to actually do there.

Just a tip, if you are dining at one of the monorail resort restaurants, you should be able to get a view of Wishes if you time your dinner right, check a times guide for fireworks time, or check it online. From the Poly, you can watch wishes from the beach or dock. From the Grand Floridian you can also watch from the marina area or dock outside of Narcoosee's, and from the Contemporary, you can watch from the viewing area on the 4th floor, the walkway between Bay Lake/Contemporary or it can be watched from the parking lot or sidewalk outside.

The monorail does not go to Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom.

 

[lovetoscrap]

I have moved your question to the Transportation Board.

 

[tjmw2727]

Just to clarify no ticket is necessary to ride the monorail - it does not enter a park and you won't really get a great view of the parks, just a peek at MK and Epcot. You can see some of Epcot on the Epcot line and the entrance to the MK from the MK line. There is also the Resort loop - there are 3 monorail routes.
That said it can still be a fun first day experience!

You can park at the monorail resorts at no charge with a dining reservation - I would plan for a 3 hour parking pass.

This should give you enough time to eat dinner and do some monorail riding. If you ride the Resort loop, accessible from all the monorail resorts you will pass buy the front gate of the MK. If you want to see Epcot you will have to transfer at the TTC to the Epcot monorail

Personally I would enjoy the Grand (or whatever resort you end up choosing), enjoy dinner, watch the water parade and maybe wishes and if you still have time ride the resort loop past the MK and through the Contemporary and save the Epcot loop for another day.