Minnie Van Availability

[darly2004]

We are going to be at Disney in mid March and will be staying at the Grand Floridian. We are going to Epcot on the first day and plan on staying for Illuminations. I was wondering would any Minnie van be available after Illuminations? We are considering doing EMM at MK the next morning and want to make sure we get back to the hotel ASAP. Is it easier to pick up a van at Beach Club after? We need Minnie van for car seat since we have a 3 year-old. Our other option is to fight with the crowd and take monorail back but from what I read, it will take about 40 minutes. Thanks so much for your help!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Availability of MinnieVan well depend completely on whether there are any available when you get to a pickup location and request the ride. But yes, watch Illuminations from near France, edit through the IG, and walk to Beach Club. If you can't get a MinnieVan in a timely manner, ask Bell Services for help getting a taxi with a car seat.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

First off, I agree with your strategy of going for a Minnie Van to get back to GF to save a a bit of time in getting back to GF. You're paying for the convenience for sure, but with a little one and an early morning the next day, those minutes add up.

What we have done is as we're walking towards/nearly at the front/main Epcot entrance is check the app for Minnie Van availability, and if one is available in a reasonable arrival time we'll book the ride. If we don't see any Minnie Vans available or the arrival time is materially long, we'll abandon the Minnie Van plan and use the monorail.

It's really hard to predict Minnie Van availability, especially post-nighttime show where a lot of people are doing your same strategy, so I like having the monorail close-by as an alternative in case Minnie Van availability isn't working in our favor.

The IG/BC plan works well too and can be convenient depending on where you watch Illuminations, you just don't have the monorail as an alternative option and become 100% dependent on Minnie Van, taxi, ride-share, etc for a direct route back to GF.

 

[AngiTN]

Park close is one of the hardest times to get a Minnie Van. So many of the parks close one right after another. So many are battling for them. And no, it's not easier to get one at BC than at the park pick up spot. Where you are picked up shouldn't make any difference really.
You do have the option of Uber with a car seat (since you only need one). There are not a lot of them but fewer are usually calling for them than Minnie Van.
3rd I'd try to go with Taxi.
Still, needing that car seat is the one thing that can make ride share/taxi more limited as you have to get one with a car seat.
You also need to consider, is IG really the way you want to go. There you are pretty much locking yourself in to providing your own transportation via ride share or taxi. You've eliminated bus/monorail simply because it will be even harder to do that since you'd then have to take a bus to a park (MK would be the most likely) and than transfer to Monorail. If you go out the front of Epcot at least you have Monorail as a back up and won't have to worry about taking a bus too.

 

[darly2004]

Thanks for all your input. You guys make very valid points. As much as I hate to rush to exit out the front of Epcot with everyone else, it may be the way to go. At least we will have monorail backup. Yes, we will need a car seat. Plus, we are a family of 5 so will need Uber XL (or a larger vehicle) as well.