Most Convenient Resort to all parks?

[rtfelt]

I hope this is the right place to post this. I've read through many posts trying to find this answer but haven't found just what I need.

I'm wondering what the most convenient DVC resort is for getting around to all the parks? In the past we've always rented a car to give us the freedom and eliminate the dreaded buses. Now, however, we have 8 in our family and cannot rent a vehicle that will accommodate all of us (mini-vans only hold 7), so I'm thinking of using the transportation system. I'm leaning towards BWV or BCV because of walking access to both Epcot and HS. We are AP's at DLR, so MK is not as important to us, but we still like to spend at least a day there. I really want to eliminate as much transportation issues as possible. I hear so many people say to give yourself 1.5 hours to get to an ADR if using the bus. That is crazy to me.

Here are my questions:
1. Looking at a map I was wondering if you can access the Epcot monorail from the BWV or BCV to get to MK either by walking around Epcot via Avenue of the Stars or going through Epcot?
2. Is this practical or even an option?
3. If so, I think that would only mean using the bus for AK. If not, how is the bus situation from these resorts to MK?
4. How are the buses to the water parks and AK?
5. I've never entered Epcot from the international gateway, so can you still enter to be there at rope drop for Future World even though the world showcase is not open yet?

I have never stayed at either of these resorts, so I would really like the wisdom of all you wonderful people. Is there another option that would be better? We have children ranging from tweens to young adults.

 

[SuperRob]

The Epcot resorts are all probably your best bet. Walking distance to Epcot. From there, if you have park hoppers, you could take the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom, or the TTC. (Bus would likely be faster than this option, at times.) There's also a boat launch to Hollywood Studios, and it's in walking distance as well. And of course, there's the busses.

 

[spruce]

I don't think you can get in the IG and do rope drop at future world.

 

[tjkraz]

Personally I don't think there is a single resort which offers clearly better transportation to all parks and Downtown Disney. There is give-and-take at every location. BoardWalk and Beach Club may seem to have easy access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios...but their bus service to the other destinations leaves much to be desired. And timed properly, I can guarantee I've had shorter bus rides from OKW and SSR to Hollywood Studios than the walk or boat ride from either BWV or BCV.

IMO, only time it really makes sense to favor one resort over another in terms of transportation is if you plan to spend an inordinately high amount of time at one park. Epcot fans love BCV and BWV. No mystery there.

BLT and VGF are close to Magic Kingdom.

SSR is close to Downtown Disney.

You can't walk to any park from AKV, but the bus ride to the Animal Kingdom park is much shorter than from other resorts.

If you're going to spend half of your visit at the Magic Kingdom, try booking a MK area resort. Same for Epcot and all of these other examples.

But if the trip will be split amongst all of the different destinations, I don't think there is any one resort which will save you a substantial amount of time on transportation.

 

[Anal Annie]

We have stayed at all of the WDW resorts (except the new GF) and I would have to say that BLT was awfully convenient being on the monorail and within walking distance to MK. Next in line I would say BCV and BWV - esp. for Epcot. The worst thing about those 2 is if you're just toooo tired to walk and there is a t-storm they shut down the water taxis. The "commute" turns a little on you then and sometimes the water taxis can be tedious to wait on. There is also a a fair amount of walking involved with either of those resorts and by the end of a week it can be exhausting. All in all I think BLT offered the most convenience of all of the WDW resorts. We stayed there over spring break last year because we knew it would be busy (which is putting it mildly) and we wanted that help getting around and wanted to avoid the buses as much as possible. 2nd in line would be BCV (it feels slightly closer to Epcot than BWV). We never did walk to HS, even from BWV. It was just too far for us.

(FWIW we have never, ever rented a car and have always relied on the Disney transportation system. We are driving down on the 10th for the 1st time because DS just had a medical emergency that required us to cancel our trip to DL & Aulani because he's not allowed to fly. Even tho we'll have our car down there I don't foresee us using it all that much. We will be staying at SSR and will probably only use it a handful of times over the 9 nights we're there. The worst resort IMO for bus service is OKW. Beyond that everything else is livable.)

 

[Muhlenberg]

You're going to get a variety of answers, as everyone has their opinion.

While AKV seems "remote" to some people, and only "close" to one park, there are only two bus stops...the first one at Kidani and the second one at Jambo.

BWV/BCV are convenient for Epcot and HS, but the bus shares with Swan/Dolphin for MK and AK. Many people dislike the bus service on this loop, us included. To take the monorail for MK requires walking all the way through Epcot, getting on the monorail, etc. I don't think that really saves any time over the bus.

OKW and SSR are sort of centrally located, but they have the 5 internal stops. However, this can be "minimized" if you stay in an area within the resort that is in the middle of the bus loop. So if you stay in the area that is the 3rd stop, you only have to wait through 2 other stops on the way to/from a park.

BLT also shares buses for HS and AK.

The starting/stopping and taking on passengers can be time consuming. In my opinion, the fewer times a bus has to stop, the better off you are. Just my opinion.

 

[DoryDorito]

Personally I don't think there is a single resort which offers clearly better transportation to all parks and Downtown Disney. There is give-and-take at every location. BoardWalk and Beach Club may seem to have easy access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios...but their bus service to the other destinations leaves much to be desired. And timed properly, I can guarantee I've had shorter bus rides from OKW and SSR to Hollywood Studios than the walk or boat ride from either BWV or BCV.

IMO, only time it really makes sense to favor one resort over another in terms of transportation is if you plan to spend an inordinately high amount of time at one park. Epcot fans love BCV and BWV. No mystery there.

BLT and VGF are close to Magic Kingdom.

SSR is close to Downtown Disney.

You can't walk to any park from AKV, but the bus ride to the Animal Kingdom park is much shorter than from other resorts.

If you're going to spend half of your visit at the Magic Kingdom, try booking a MK area resort. Same for Epcot and all of these other examples.

But if the trip will be split amongst all of the different destinations, I don't think there is any one resort which will save you a substantial amount of time on transportation.

This. Word for word.

 

[chalee94]

I'm wondering what the most convenient DVC resort is for getting around to all the parks?

another +1 vote for tjkraz. there's really not one best option for "all" the parks.

I'm leaning towards BWV or BCV because of walking access to both Epcot and HS.

those are great options for epcot and HS.

Here are my questions:
1. Looking at a map I was wondering if you can access the Epcot monorail from the BWV or BCV to get to MK either by walking around Epcot via Avenue of the Stars or going through Epcot?
2. Is this practical or even an option?

you can't go around epcot, you'd have to walk through it (i.e. you'd need parkhoppers or an AP). then when you get to the monorail, you'd still have to transfer at the TTC to the MK loop. IMO it's probably not practical.

3. If so, I think that would only mean using the bus for AK. If not, how is the bus situation from these resorts to MK?
4. How are the buses to the water parks and AK?

i have very limited experience using the buses from BCV and BWV - so i could have just been unlucky - but i was not a fan. others can speak with more experience...

 

[hakepb]

I would definitely lean to BCV over BWV
Most of the time, busses are split with YC/BC on one bus and BW/Swan/Dolphin stops on the other bus (which means it takes a long time before a BW bus actually gets on the road to a park)

Then sometimes (like when you go back for an afternoon nap) you get a 5 stop bus that goes from a park to Swan, then Dolphin, then YC, then BC, then finally BW...
And you get that same bus route from DHS when an afternoon thunderstorm stops the boats.

 

[disneynutz]

Running around while on vacation isn't a vacation for us. We do a different park(s) each vacation. The parks don't change much from one year to the next and they will be there next vacation.

We have our MK vacations and stay at VWL or soon VGF.

For our Epcot/DHS vacations we stay at BWV or BCV.

If and when we do AK we can stay at AKV or just do a AK day from the other resorts.

Bill

 

[amym2]

I agree that walking through EP to get to the monorail to MK probably isn't worth the hassle. I'd just take the bus.

I've never done it, but I've always thought that you can enter EP through the IG at rope drop. FW isn't closed off, you can walk around it before it opens, there just isn't anything open there before 11.

You might consider SSR or OKW in addition to the EP resorts. We stayed at OKW last year and loved it. We didn't use the buses much, but I've read that they are good and certainly better than the EP resort buses to MK and AK. OKW also has the largest rooms of all DVC resorts.

 

[DenLo]

Personally I don't think there is a single resort which offers clearly better transportation to all parks and Downtown Disney. There is give-and-take at every location. BoardWalk and Beach Club may seem to have easy access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios...but their bus service to the other destinations leaves much to be desired. And timed properly, I can guarantee I've had shorter bus rides from OKW and SSR to Hollywood Studios than the walk or boat ride from either BWV or BCV.

IMO, only time it really makes sense to favor one resort over another in terms of transportation is if you plan to spend an inordinately high amount of time at one park. Epcot fans love BCV and BWV. No mystery there.

BLT and VGF are close to Magic Kingdom.

SSR is close to Downtown Disney.

You can't walk to any park from AKV, but the bus ride to the Animal Kingdom park is much shorter than from other resorts.

If you're going to spend half of your visit at the Magic Kingdom, try booking a MK area resort. Same for Epcot and all of these other examples.

But if the trip will be split amongst all of the different destinations, I don't think there is any one resort which will save you a substantial amount of time on transportation.

This. Word for word.

I agree to Tim's comment with one exception. We frequently have had a shorter bus ride from AKV to DHS than any other resort including BWV ( even for boat or walking).

 

[lions1995]

You can enter EPCOT via IG at rope drop. They just simply direct you in the direction of Future World. You can not roam around the World Showcase. I love the EPCOT resorts personally.

But like stated above, each resort is closest from some parks and further away from others.

As for walking through EPCOT to hit the Monorail, I would not recommend it. We did it one time because the kids wanted to ride the monorail. I am convinced it was much longer than waiting for the bus (one has to walk through EPCOT, get it line for the Monorail, wwait for the monorail, go the TTC, get of and then wait for another monorail to MK).

 

[Carrie in AZ]

We had the best transportation while staying at CR. Obviously, the walk to MK is a piece of cake. Being able to take the monorail to EPCOT is easy also, even with the transfer at the TTC. So, that leaves buses for HS and AK which I thought were pretty easy and the best part is CR gets dropped off first on the way back. Believe me, that is a big deal at midnight!! Another benefit of CR, you can easily walk to the MK bus area and hop on any resort bus to get to an ADR at a resort. If at CR, you can easily ride monorail to ADRs at Poly and GF.

For us, though, the very best trip was a split stay between CR/BCV. Being able to walk to a park or two on each part of stay really made a difference. Being
able to walk out and be on your way ideal.

Good luck!

 

[drusba]

There is no ideal resort for access to all four parks. It does not exist. Also from the Epcot resorts, you cannot walk outside of Epcot to get to the monorail. You must go through Epcot to get to the monorail and that cannot be done before rope drop at Epcot. You can get in before rope drop through the International Gateway entrance but there is a rope drop you have to wait for between the Nations and Future World. Also, that trip to MK would be long -- the walk is long and then two monorails. It is usually quicker to take the bus.

BWV and BCV are ideal for Studios and Epcot but BWV bus system is the absolute worst in the universe. BCV is better except when it has to share with BWV. We have found the AKV bus system, with only two resort stops and no sharing with other resorts, to be usually reliable and fairly good for all parks. OKW is OK but too many internal stops; likewise SSR which can also have poacher problems (people coming from non-Disney resorts to ride the busses). BLT has ideal walking access to MK and monorail is OK for MK and usually Epcot though you have to switch, but both those resorts share buses with another resort and their bus systems are just the average Disney bus, menaing mediocre at best.

 

[JWG]

We feel BLT is the most convenient overall (not just to parks) because:
- Walk to MK (or monorail, but not worth it if you are ok walking)
- Monorail to Epcot
- Direct bus to any other park
- Walk to MK bus station for direct transport to any resort and back

With the new bus loops being added at MK, I imagine you may even have more choices coming soon.

As to Epcot and IG, you can get in at rope drop but cannot enter World Showcase toward France, only head through Britain and Canada.

We do also like BWV/BC for easy walk to/from Epcot and DHS, but the ridiculous "Epcot resort" bus routes are a detractor.

 

[PlutoFan10]

We're doing our first split stay in a few months - BCV and BLT. Love the Epcot resorts but miss the monorail and actually make a point to ride it at least once, even during an Epcot resort stay. (Need to hear that Spanish warning to stay clear of the doors at least ONCE!) on the other hand, the monorail has been less reliable in recent visits, and the busses back to BLT for Epcot EMH were a nightmare with the monorail finished its nightly runs. (Not sure if that has changed since Dec 2012.) So, I guess I agree with the others that there is no perfect resort for convenience, and it depends on your preferences.

 

[Kidanifan08]

You have gotten some very good feedback. As you can see, there is no perfect answer. We love walking to Epcot and HS from BWV, but getting to the other parks is not perfect. Walking to MK from BLT is wonderful, but it is easily 35-45 minutes getting to Epcot via monorail, and the shared buses are a bit of a drag.

We just returned from a BLT/AKV split stay. We had a car for most of the time at BLT, so we did not take a bus from there. We did use the buses while at AKV. We have always been very happy with the bus system at AKV. We usually stay at Kidani, and we love that the bus stops there first and is usually empty. It is also the first stop coming back from the parks. The worst bus issue we had at AKV this trip was an evening when we had ADR's at Crystal Palace at 6:30. An MK bus was leaving just as we walked up to the bus stop at 5:40. Another MK bus finally came right around 6. By the time we got through security and the gate, we arrived at CP at about 6:40. Still not bad.

A little off topic, but given your family of 8 with tweens and adults, if you are planning a 2BR, don't forget that AKV-Kidani and BLT are the only resorts with 3 full bathrooms in the 2BR. They also have the largest living rooms of the DVC 2BR's, with the exception of OKW. If you are planning a GV or multiple rooms, then you'll be fine. We had 9 in our party (6 adults plus 12, 9 and 7). The 2BR was tight, but the 3rd bath made a big difference.

Although I realize that you are looking to minimize your use of Disney transportation, I would encourage consideration of AKV-Kidani, as it truly is a Disney attraction in and of itself, and it has generally very good transportation. Otherwise, I would support your decision to look at an Epcot resort. The kids in your party would probably love SAB at BCV. While the hike to HS from the Epcot resorts is a bit long (especially in the midday heat), walking to Epcot from there is a breeze.

Have fun planning!

 

[rtfelt]

Thank you to everyone for your input. I can see that there really is no best solution. Like everything, it's very dependent. Maybe I should plan where we're going to spend each day and then consult the family to see how much walking versus waiting for buses they would be willing to do then make our decision.

I really wish WDW had a better transportation system. I also think if Walt had designed WDW, he would have designed it with an advanced transportation system in place. After all, didn't Walt design this park to be a "park/world of the future" with everything convenient and included.

 

[rtfelt]

A little off topic, but given your family of 8 with tweens and adults, if you are planning a 2BR, don't forget that AKV-Kidani and BLT are the only resorts with 3 full bathrooms in the 2BR. They also have the largest living rooms of the DVC 2BR's, with the exception of OKW. If you are planning a GV or multiple rooms, then you'll be fine. We had 9 in our party (6 adults plus 12, 9 and 7). The 2BR was tight, but the 3rd bath made a big difference.

Thank you. That is really good to know. 3 bathrooms would definitely help-- especially with 3 daughters.