Leaving tomorrow! Couple ??

[Harligirl]

Hi all!

Can't stand the excitement!! We are renting a car for our entire stay due to the fact we found a pretty good rate- I was wondering what your opinions are with driving to the parks vs. Disney transportation...We have 11 in our party with 4 kids...

Could someone share some experiences with each park which best way to go is? We are staying at Shades of Green and frequently walked over to Poly for the monorail last time....

Magic Kingdom- easiest to use monorail?
Epcot- drive or switch to monorail?
MGM- drive?
Animal Kindom- drive?

Thank you so much!!
Lisa

 

[oogieboogie]

I like driving everywhere except MK. I especially like driving if we have a breakfast PS at a resort other than the one I'm staying at.

But there are times when I prefer bussing it. It all depends on how crowded the buses are and how long it is to wait. My family loves park hopping and we can park hop up to 3 parks in one day. When we have days like that, driving from one park to the other is the best use of time.

We also like to resort hop and it's hard to do that with Disney transport especially with all the transfers.

 

[sanibelover]

I don't know how the Shades of Green buses are - not regular Disney transportation?? They definitely look different - just saw them 2 weeks ago.

Anyway, I would drive to MGM, Animal Kingdom and possibly EPCOT. Disney transportation probably is reliable, but pretty slow!! Also, you have a large party - you may not all be able to get on the same bus if that is important to you.

We often went to a store or a restaurant after leaving the parks. That would be a big hassle if you had to take Disney transportation back to SOG and then get your car, etc.

That said, the buses from the parks to the resorts and Downtown Disney are usually not a problem, but if you are going to another resort, etc. the transportation can take a really long time - much longer than you might expect. That's what we found.

One night we wanted to go to the Contemporary from POFQ. We took the boat to Downtown Disney and a bus to the Contemporary. The bus stopped at Westside and Typhoon Lagoon before going to the Contemporary and Typhoon Lagoon had already been closed for almost 2 hours. Driving just seems so much simpler!!!

 

[bdcp]

Shades of Green buses take you to the TTC or to Water Parks, MGM, AK. For MK or Epcot, you have to go to the TTC or the Polynesian and take the monorail or bus, or the boats. We've stayed at SOG and enjoyed the walk to the Polynesian and TTC. It's less than 10 minutes. I found all the transportation worked well and didnt' take much longer than driving would. The unofficial guide to WDW has a section comparing drive times vs WDW transportation times.

We had our car the first time we went and never moved it. The second time we flew and had FL Towncar take us to SOG so we had no car, and didnt' miss it. Both trips were in Nov. We're going again next Nov and will be driving down to WDW, but I doubt we'll move the car while we're there. The SOG buses are consistently on time.

I just find being in WDW to be very relaxing.

 

[FamilyGuy]

It was our first trip to Disney, we stayed at the contemporary, and park hopped all week long, and tried various modes of transportation. I would have to say that with exception of MK, I preferred driving to the parks rather than Disney Transportation. I did notice on the weekends however that it may have been more effecient and practical to take Disney transportation. So, assuming light to non-existant traffic, I definitely prefer to drive. I am sure that many others prefer the "resort style" comfort of never having to drive a car. And I am also sure that a car is absolutely by no means a neccessity. I also suppose that if I was with a party of 11 my point of view might change also. It might be easier to take Disnet tranportation in that case.