parking at Disney

[bobemsam]

Here's another one for all you Disney pros. We are driving to Disney from Delaware (approx. 16 hours). Is it beneficial to drive your own vehicle to the parks each day? Is there a long walk to the front gate from parking? Or, are we better off taking Disney transportation?

 

[HUFF590]

Boy after 16 hours I would let Disney do the drivin

 

[AU Tigger]

You're going to get a lot of opinions on this, but I prefer to drive. Getting back in the car is probably the last thing you want to do, but we've found that there's usually a longer walk from the bus drop-off than from the tram drop-off. And if you leave at a time when the rest of the world has decided to leave, you're much more likely to have a seat for everybody in your own car! (Not to mention food and water!) If you're staying on property, there's no charge for parking, either.

Have a great trip!

 

[tkd lisa]

This depends on which resort you're staying at, and what your touring style is.

Generally speaking, I let Disney drive except to Animal Kingdom (and sometimes Downtown Disney). A lot of the resort buses to AK stop at Blizzard Beach. Plus AK is a long way from most of the resort, and the bus just seems to take a long time to get there.

I never drive to MK. You have to park at the Ticket and Transportation center and take the monorail or ferry anyway, so it's just not worth the hassle to me.

But if you are in an All Stars resort (especially if it's not Sports), you may have a hard time getting a seat on the bus. The buses to AS start at Sports, then pick up Movies and Music (or maybe Music and Movies, we were at Sports). As you can imagine, that's a lot of people on one bus. And the bus stops for AS is a fair bit away from the park entrance.

The bus stops for OKW and SSR are always very close to the front, so when we stay there I always take the buses.

Boardwalk, Swan/Dolphin and Yacht and Beach Club all share one bus many times, so buses to these resorts can take longer than you'd think.

I guess it boils down to whether it's more important to you to not worry about leaving when you want or if it's more important to you to not worry about finding your way.

 

[AStamm]

I would much rather drive to the parks (with the exception of MK) than take the bus. While WDW transportation is generally pretty efficient, there's always the chance you may have just missed a bus or that there are more people in line than can fit on a bus and you will either have to stand or wait for another.

In the summer it's really uncomfortable with all those hot, sweaty people crammed together. Just writing this makes me happy we've got our own car to use on our upcoming trip.

 

[disphoto]

I stay on property and prefer to drive, sometimes even to MK. Just because I know I can get in my car at the time to go home. I will ride the boat from POR to DTD when I stay there, the ride is nice.

 

[DisBride2007]

I have to STRONGLY recommend driving. This is coming from someone who lives in New York and prefers to take the subway AND bus to driving in traffic, so it's not like I'm averse to public transportation. However, I have found Disney transportation to be: a) slow b) crowded c) unreliable and d) all of the above! There have been situations where we have waited 45 minutes for a Disney bus. In certain resorts, you have to wait for the bus to go all... the... way... around the entire resort (i.e. Caribbean Beach). And forget it if you're there after the park closes. The lines will make you wish you had a Fast Pass!

While some might consider it inconvenient that you generally have to wait for a tram to take you from the parking lot to the gate, there is another one along every minute. (And if you get there early enough, you might be able to walk it! Particularly at Epcot!)

As a PP mentioned the MK is the hardest to get to, because you have to take the monorail from the TTC. That might be the one to take the bus. However, if you're planning on staying until the park closes, it's easier to take the monorail to TTC than wait on a long line for a bus!

Getting from park to park is not easy on Disney Transportation either (your parking fee is good for the whole day so don't let that stop you) and forget it if you need to go hotel to hotel. You could (and we have) literally spend 2 hours trying to get from one hotel to another. For example, you spend the day at AK, then go to dinner at Jiko at AKL. You'll need to take a bus from AK to a park, and then switch to your hotel. I'm breaking out in hives just thinking about it!

At least you'll already have your car, so it's not like you have to make the decision to rent one. GL!

 

[EmptyCinema]

I love disney transportation... when I'm in the parks from 8 am to 1 am, I REALLY don't want to drive then... especially (no offense to anyone intended) with all the tourists on the road who are ALSO tired and don't know where they're going.

I let the pros take the lead on this one.

 

[Geoff_M]

We pretty much drive ourselves when we have a car to every place accept MK. The MK buses drop you by the front gate, but when you drive you still have to take a ferry or monorail to get to the MK gate.

 

[airman]

We prefer the taking the buses, but it has been 13 years since we stayed off site and I miss the boat ride alittle to MK and the tram ride ( brings back old memories)

 

[Donaldsfan176]

I think I would also say drive to the parks. Even MK. Last time we stayed at the CBR. We took the bus to the parks in the morning and when we left the park for our mid-day break. When we would go back to a park at night we drove. I found that you can usually get a close spot after 5:00pm when some of the day visitors would leave. I just thought that waiting in line for a bus with a hundred other people who are just as hot and tired as me wasn't too magical. Especially when the bus is packed like sardines. Whatever you choose have a good trip!

 

[HunnyPots]

We've done both but we found on our last trip that we LOVED driving our own car to the parks! WDW is so easy to get around with every exit clearly marked so we never got even remotely lost, as we had feared on previous trips. Bus service from Pop was so slow we were losing lots of park time just waiting for buses and standing out in the hot Florida sun while doing so, since the bus stop is not covered at Pop. We could get in our car and be at the parks in 5-10 minutes tops. Much easier!
When we stayed at CBR however, we had no problems with the buses. They came every 15 minutes or so and it was no problem to let Disney do the driving. I don't know if it really depends on the resort or the time of year or if it's just a crap shoot. I do know that either way, it was nice to ride with just my family and not with 50 other hot tired sweaty people!

 

[Praying Colonel]

We also drive down. From our experience you're better off driving yourself--the exception to that rule is MK because the bus drops off right at the front entrance, so you skip the step tram/TTC steps. So this time around we'll be driving to 3 of the 4 parks.

 

[fAnnF]

I think it depends on the resort your staying at, your touring plans, and time of year.
I normally stay at values and just use disney transportation, expecally during peak seasons. We park hop so we take a break between parks so we just hop a different bus at the resort.
If I were staying at Mod or some of the DVCs that were more spread out I'd drive to the parks.

 

[sunee]

Except for the Magic Kingdom, driving to the parks is almost always faster. And getting to another hotel is much, much faster with a car.

There are many DISers who hate to drive and love taking the bus. In the years when I had no car and relied on the bus, I hated it. Everyone I knew that rode the bus hated it. #1 topic of conversation at the bus stop was always how much everyone hated the bus. We all hoped and planned for the day when we could afford cars. So, it cracks me up that so many DISers seem to think taking the bus is some kind of joyful, freeing experience.

I always wonder why all the DISers who say they hate the chore of driving and love to give that up on vacation don't take the bus at home. It is certainly cheaper than driving...and they wouldn't have to wait until vacation to get rid of the chore of driving. They could have the wonderful experience of riding the bus all the time!

I say, check it out for yourself at home. Take the bus and see how you like getting around that way. If you find that you prefer that to driving, then take the Disney busses. They're exactly the same as public transportation busses at home, but they are cleaner - and instead of ads telling you not to do drugs while you're pregnant or where to get your check cashed (CHEAP!), you get pictures of Mickey.

If you find that you hate spending all the extra time, being exposed to the elements while waiting, making transfers and riding around with a bunch of (sometimes stinky) strangers...drive your car.

 

[Uncleromulus]

We always drive--everywhere.

 

[tinkandpan]

WE too always drive to the parks- it just works out easier for our family. The only exceptions to this is if we are on a monorail resort and then we will take it to MK and usually epcot.