Looking for resort with good shuttle service to WDW

[det8z]

My family is going to WDW for the first time Feb 2011. Because my husband has a conference to attend 2 of the 5 days, we need to find a rental at a resort with a good shuttle service. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks!

 

[Carriemel]

If you're looking for something on the Disney property, they ALL have shuttle services. The buses run pretty regularly from the hotels to the parks. Offsite, it's a crapshoot, more or less. If you give us more information about where you're looking to stay, we can give you more information about the type of shuttle service you're looking for.

 

[Applemomma]

You might try posting on the Orlando Hotels and Attractions board ... you'll get some good first hand info there.

When my husband had a conference in Orlando in 2007 we stayed right on Disney property for that very reason. He got a rental and we used Disney transportation. It was great for the girls and I to be able to come and go as we pleased. Disney transportation runs pretty much continuously while the off property hotel shuttles are often limited to a few times a day.

And to the DIS!

 

[goofy4tink]

Where will you be staying??? And where do you need a shuttle to go and from where?? All of the onsite Disney resorts have buses, boats or monorail service to the parks. Same with the S/D...they have boats and buses. If you are staying offsite, at a non-Disney resort, then that's a whole different thing. Most off-site resorts do run a shuttle to the parks, but there is sometimes a cost involved as well as the fact that they don't run very frequently.

 

[det8z]

We were hoping to stay off site at either Regal Palms or Windsor Palms. We really want a place that has its own pool. And I am trying to decide if it is worth it to stay at Disney and use its shuttle service, at a place like listed above with shuttle service, or just rent the house I want and pay for a cab the two days my husband needs to go to the conference. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated... Thanks.

 

[TaraPA]

Offsite shuttles can be very unreliable & inconvenient. I stayed offsite once (NEVER AGAIN!) and that hotel ran a shuttle 3 times a day to Epcot only. You had to sign up for the shuttle the day before & it was first come, first served. I never got the shuttle time I wanted because I was at the parks at the time they opened up the sign-ups. The shuttle was also shared with 4 other local hotels, so the bus was always crowded. It took 90 min. to get to any other park (it only dropped off & picked up at Epcot, so I had to transfer there). It picked up at 10:30pm WAY out in the offsite shuttle parking lots at Epcot which was a hike at the end of a long day! The shuttle also was always running about 15-20 min. late.

I'm sure some offsite hotels have a better shuttle service, but my experience has scared me away for good! Onsite Disney all the way!

 

[Alesia]

If having a car (either my own or a rental) wasn't an option, there is no way I'd stay off site. Very few off site hotels have decent shuttle service and cabs would get very expensive.

 

[goofy4tink]

I wouldn't stay off site without a car.

That would be my thought as well. It isn't all that difficult driving in that area. Signage is very good.
If you want to go to WDW, and aren't staying on-site, then a rental car is almost a must. You can use cabs, but that's going to get expensive. Most likely going to run you about $70 a day, r/t.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Offsite shuttles can be very unreliable & inconvenient. I stayed offsite once (NEVER AGAIN!) and that hotel ran a shuttle 3 times a day to Epcot only. You had to sign up for the shuttle the day before & it was first come, first served. I never got the shuttle time I wanted because I was at the parks at the time they opened up the sign-ups. The shuttle was also shared with 4 other local hotels, so the bus was always crowded. It took 90 min. to get to any other park (it only dropped off & picked up at Epcot, so I had to transfer there). It picked up at 10:30pm WAY out in the offsite shuttle parking lots at Epcot which was a hike at the end of a long day! The shuttle also was always running about 15-20 min. late.

I'm sure some offsite hotels have a better shuttle service, but my experience has scared me away for good! Onsite Disney all the way!

Tara is absolutely correct. Off-site shuttles are a pain. I remember the first time we headed down to Orlando, we stayed off-site and had to do the "book the day before" thing. We took the shuttle to the park, but before we got there we had to stop at 4 other hotels on the way. When we were ready to return back to the resort, we actually had to wait almost 2 hours for the scheduled pick-up ... both of us were tired and hot, and after waiting for those 2 hours to get picked up we were just a tad cranky and decided we weren't staying off-site again unless we rented a car ...