LYNX bus/Cabs to non Disney areas?

[RolyPoly]

My Fiance and I are travelling in July for our second trip to WDW. We will be staying at the Holiday Inn at Downtown Disney and intend to spend most of our 14 nights on Disney property. With us both being only 21, and having only around a years driving experience between us, renting a car has never been an option. We have been before and the Disney transportation to the parks/resorts were not a problem to us.

This year however, we intend to venture off property for a few days. We are looking to book the Mears transportation to Universal for a day, but would also like to try a few restaurants on International drive, as well as visit some of the malls/outlets and point Orlando. On our previous trip, we were told about the Lynx buses which stop on International Drive, but were put off going on one due to some of the negative stories I had been told about them on DISboards.

For anyone with experience, Could anyone advise us on if it would be ok to take the LYNX from Disney to International drive? What are your opinions of the idea? How long would it take and would it cost much? We would be open to taking cabs to International Drive, and to the prime/premium outlets, but again, have no idea if this would be too expensive or not.

Thankyou for any help.

 

[Kath2003]

My Fiance and I are travelling in August for our second trip to WDW. We will be staying at the Holiday Inn at Downtown Disney and intend to spend most of our 14 nights on Disney property. With us both being only 21, and having only around a years driving experience between us, renting a car has never been an option. We have been before and the Disney transportation to the parks/resorts were not a problem to us.

This year however, we intend to venture off property for a few days. We are looking to book the Mears transportation to Universal for a day, but would also like to try a few restaurants on International drive, as well as visit some of the malls/outlets and point Orlando. On our previous trip, we were told about the Lynx buses which stop on International Drive, but were put off going on one due to some of the negative stories I had been told about them on DISboards.

For anyone with experience, Could anyone advise us on if it would be ok to take the LYNX from Disney to International drive? What are your opinions of the idea? How long would it take and would it cost much? We would be open to taking cabs to International Drive, and to the prime/premium outlets, but again, have no idea if this would be too expensive or not.

Thankyou for any help.

Lynx are great. Have used them for my past 4 trips; not a single problem.

Yes, you can take the Lynx 50 from Disney (TTC or DTD) to I-Drive; change to the 8 at Sea World which runs the entire length of I-Drive (ask for a transfer when you get on, it's free). It takes about 20 minutes to get to Sea World, then it depends where you want to go (probably another 20 minutes to the Prime Outlets). It costs $2 each way; you can also buy a day pass for $4.50 or a 7-day pass for $16 (they mailed these to us in the UK for free last year a few weeks before our trip).

You can also take the Lynx bus to Universal, the Premium/Prime outlets, Florida Mall and...basically anywhere in Orlando. If you tell me where you want to go, I can point you in the right direction.

 

[elainesj]

Lynx is a really affordable way to get around. I was going to use it on one of my trips to get from the airport to an offsite hotel and then to move around. The only issue that time was the timing. I couldn't use Lynx to make RD and when I checked their schedules, it didn't work for my flights either.

I would definitely look at Lynx to get to Universal. They stop in DD and at the TTC and I believe at the parks too. They have a full route map and schedules on their website so that should help with your planning.

The best info I found about Lynx was from UK-based WDW planning sites. Seems Americans don't care much for taking the Lynx but the Brits have no probs with it.

 

[UKDEB]

I've never used the Lynx buses, but when my daughter and her boyfriend visited without us for the first time, my mother-hen instincts kicked in and I wrote a guide for them. They used the buses without any problems and this is what I had to say about them (they were staying at Saratoga Springs). The fare may have increased since I wrote it.:

Lynx Buses

This is what you’ll need to use for your shopping day. My suggestion is that you go to Prime Outlets (which is a brand new outlet mall at the top of I-Drive where Belz used to be) and Mall at Millenia. I’m including some other destinations, though, in case you want to do those too, or instead.

To get to the bus stop, you need to take the water taxi or bus from Saratoga Springs across to Downtown Disney Marketplace. The bus might be the better option, because I’m going to give you directions from the bus station. With your back to the Marketplace bus station, you’ll see the main road in front of you coming down from the right and then curving away in front of you. There will be another one coming down from your left to join this big intersection. You need to get across the main road so that you end up on the bit that curves away from you, on the right-hand side of that road. It’s called Hotel Plaza Blvd. There’s a light controlled crossing to get you over there. The Lynx bus stop is over the crossing and has a pink paw-print logo. The bus will come from your right and will be heading off away from you, on down Hotel Plaza Blvd.

In this picture, you can see the bus station in the bottom lefthand corner. More or less in the middle of the picture, just to the right of the bus-stop is an arch, which is the entrance to the Marketplace. Walk through that and take the path as it bears round to the right. When you reach the intersection (the pink circle) go straight across there so that you end up roughly where the orange arrow is. I don’t know precisely where the bus stop is – probably further along than that – but that’s the side of the road you need to be on.

• Prime Outlets - bus 50 (every 30 minutes) to its first stop on Sea Harbor Drive (about 15 minutes); from the same stop take an 8 going the same direction as the 50.
• Mall at Millenia - go to Prime Outlets as above then take bus 24 to Millenia. The 24 runs only once per hour and stops fairly early so I suggest asking the driver about this. Obviously you’ll have to go via Prime Outlets both ways so you can choose whether to go straight to the Mall at Millenia first and then to Prime on the way back, or the other way around.
• Florida Mall - bus 111 (hourly) direct; trip time about 30 minutes.

• Premium Outlets - bus 50 (every 30 minutes) to its first stop on Sea Harbor Drive (about 15 minutes); cross the street and take an 8 going back the other direction.

The fare is $2 each person one-way regardless of distance. Transferring buses (eg from 50 to 8 at Sea World for the outlets) is at no extra cost as long as you ask for a transfer ticket when you board and pay.

 

[Julia Ann]

hey Debbie - you must have been so nervous with your little girl going for the first time alone - Wow - what great instructions though. We are looking at returning in a few yrs time (too long to wait!) but was considering not hiring a car this time and staying on site instread, depends on what DD is into by then she will be 7yrs old so maybe keeping to disney and the odd Univeral/Seaworld trip. But this is a great tip that i shall try and remember, thanks....

 

[disneydaft]

We use the lynx busses occasionally. They are good value but take an age to get anywhere.

The only issue we had was getting the 42 from idrive to the Florida Mall. I wrongly assumed it would turn right and go along Sand Lake Road . It doesn't, it goes all the way up to the prime outlets then through a less then desirable looking neighbourhood before getting to the mall. The trip took about 40 minutes from Wonderworks. By car or cab it takes less than 10.

 

[martin1]

we just got bk wednesday and we stayed at pop and used lynx to go shopping the 111 was every 30 mins not hourly it was quicker imo if you want to hop on and off i drive defo get a daily ticket which is good value, you can get off the 111 near doubletree hotel on westwood boulevard/idrive and transfer to the 42 as another option

 

[oreodisney]

I've have never had a car when I've been to Orlando & always used the lynx buses. I've never had a problem always found them good & the drivers will tell you about which bus to use if you ask. The weeks pass if great so you don't need to find the correct money each time you use the bus. If you have an iPhone there is an app you can download, & then you can download maps & they are saved to the app, just need to make sure you download them before going otherwise it can be expensive.

 

[Kath2003]

I've have never had a car when I've been to Orlando & always used the lynx buses. I've never had a problem always found them good & the drivers will tell you about which bus to use if you ask.

We have asked drivers many questions. They have even told us when we reach our stop. Very professional and friendly providing you are curteous. The only time they seem to get a bit narked is when passengers ask them idiotic questions: we did see some eyerolling when someone asked several times what number bus she was on (it's plastered all over the front and sides on the bus and she still proceeded to ask three times! ).

The weeks pass if great so you don't need to find the correct money each time you use the bus. If you have an iPhone there is an app you can download, & then you can download maps & they are saved to the app, just need to make sure you download them before going otherwise it can be expensive.

Before I got my iPhone, we simply printed off the timetables for the routes we wanted and took them with us. You can also pick up timetables for free when you're on the bus.

Yes, there are times when it can take longer than driving but the money we spent using the buses was less than the cost of parking alone, never mind car rental and petrol.

You need to do your research before you go, but if you know what you're doing then you should have no problems with Lynx. It is significanlty better than any form of public transport in operation in the UK.

 

[WiganTony]

Not seen it posted on this thread, but the Lynx website is at www.golynx.com if you want to print out the timetables before you leave.

 

[RolyPoly]

Sorry for the delayed reply, But thankyou so very much to everyone with your help, and thankyou UKDEB for those instructions, I really do appreciate it! We will definately give it a go!

Once again, Thankyou everyone!

 

[mitchfishguard]

went to i-drive from the airport on arrival. easy to do, stick your suitcases on, pay $4 and enjoy the ride !!! they leave every half-hour and every hour on sunday. it takes an hour and your done. no cabs or mears for mitch,next time!

 

[jwalker0727]

I am confused. When I go onto the Lynx website and put in the airport to Doubletree, it says that it will drop us off outside of the disney property and then we will have to get onto Hotel Plaza and walk to the Doubletree. But, if you look on google maps street view, you will see a Lynx stop right in front of the Doubletree entrance. This sure seems more convenient than walking a half mile and crossing the busy road that runs in back of the doubletree. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Kath2003]

I am confused. When I go onto the Lynx website and put in the airport to Doubletree, it says that it will drop us off outside of the disney property and then we will have to get onto Hotel Plaza and walk to the Doubletree. But, if you look on google maps street view, you will see a Lynx stop right in front of the Doubletree entrance. This sure seems more convenient than walking a half mile and crossing the busy road that runs in back of the doubletree. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Take the 111 and just don't get off the bus until you see the Doubletree! The Lynx website assumes that you are totally incapable of:
a) walking more than 50 yards
b) crossing a road

 

[Debbyt28]

Is there anyway you can get to The crossroads on the bus no car this year and would like to go to red lobster

 

[Kath2003]

There's 2 on I-Drive. Take the 50 to Sea World, free transfer to the 8. Should take about 20-30 mins.

 

[WiganTony]

Is there anyway you can get to The crossroads on the bus no car this year and would like to go to red lobster

If you are staying on-site at Disney, you can get a resort bus to Downtown Disney then either walk to Crossroads (around 20 minutes) or get Lynx #50 or #111 to the end of Hotel Plaza Boulevard. If near to MK, you could catch the #50 or #111.

There are also a couple on the 192, one not so far from Celebration, which can be reached by Lynx bus #56 from the TTC at Magic Kingdom (but not DTD).

 

[onlyholly]

Is there a direct bus from the Premium Outlet mall to TTC and back ?

Thanks
Catriona

 

[WiganTony]

Is there a direct bus from the Premium Outlet mall to TTC and back ?11

Afraid not. You would have to get the #50 to Seaworld, then effectively double-back on yourself by catching the I-Ride Trolley or Lynx # 8 to get to the Premium Outlets on Vineland Avenue. There is also a Premium Outlets at the other end of I-Drive past Wet'n'Wild, but again you would need to get the #8 there.

Another option may be to catch the Disney Buses or Lynx #50 to DTD then get a cab from there to the Vineland Ave branch.

 

[onlyholly]

Thanks Tony, it was for my DS(18) as we're staying next door to Premium at the HGVC. Never mind I'll have to ferry him around again