Off-site Hotels/Transportation

[momoftwins]

Just curious, what has been your experience with using your off-site hotel's transportation? It seems that most people that stay off-site rent a car.

I still will not forget when we went in DW,Feb 2000, watching a group of people standing out in the rain - in the middle of the Epcot parking lot - waiting for their transportation. We had waited over 25 mins for a bus back to POR, but at least we could stand under a canopy. I felt so bad for them. Some of them had children.



Do most hotels drop you at the parks directly? Or the TTC?

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Master Gracey]

You're right, momoftwins. It can be a bad experience. Most offsite hotels advertise "free transportation to Disney parks", but I urge eveyone to ask a lot of questions about that before booking a room.

If your resort has it's own van or bus it will make several trips to the parks during the day. The service is rarely continuous, so you must meet their schedule. If you miss your ride it will be a long time before the next one.

Many offsite hotels use one of the private bus services that go around from resort to resort taking on passengers. This can be a long process. At the other end, these buses then go from park to park letting folks off. Again a long process if you are going to the last park.

Finally, as you observed at Epcot, buses from outside resorts are not permitted to use the Disney bus zones. They must drop off and load passengers at designated spots out in the public parking lots. There are no benches and no shade out there, and guests have a longer walk to/from the park entrance.

 

[BarryHom]

I used off-site transportation twice. One was at the Travelodge. The bus looked like it was held together with duct tape and gum. The driver seemed to get his license from a Cracker Jack box. I used one year the transportation from the Four Points Sheraton Lakeside. They use Coach USA, which has some nice and clean buses, good drivers, and was on time! So it really depends on where you stay.

Oh, the transportation is free, but the drivers kindly ask for a tip. It's up to you if you want to give one.