Personal Vehicle vs Resort Shuttles

[Jasmineandrajah]

We'll be driving down to Disney. Would you recommend taking the shuttle from a Disney resort or taking your own car? We'll get free parking in the parks since we'll be staying on property. But how is the parking/parking lots? Would we save much time if we took our own car?

 

[DLM1980]

Always take my own car. Every time I took a bus the bus I needed just left or was full and it was a 20 min wait till another showed up. Also the herd of cattle that shows up at nite is crazy so it's just easier to take my car. I feel like I get everywhere I want to go faster

 

[Gracie09]

If I was going to mk - bus. The parking lot requires you to take a monorail or ferry to get to the gates

 

[melanielll]

Epcot or Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom - take your car.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I agree with the others, take the bus to MK. Parking at TTC and having to take the monorail or ferry over won't save you any time.

 

[sharonabe]

Just like the dining plans have value other than money, for us using Disney transportation has value other than time. We take the buses because we don't have to worry about driving. The ride is relaxing and fun and gives us a chance to interact with each other and other guests. We stayed off site last year for a one day park day before our cruise, and driving around Disney property just wasn't fun and was a bit stressful. People don't know where they're going and do crazy things.

We build in time for waiting, so taking the buses is my vote for a more relaxed vacation.

 

[Klayfish]

You'll find this to be a very individual and personal decision. Some people wouldn't touch their car, some people wouldn't touch the bus. Some would do half and half. My own $.02 is that I wouldn't rely on a WDW bus if you paid me. No way, no how, any park.

The parking lots are very large, but very easy.

 

[Parker Clan]

I agree with the previous poster. Always drive and always will. We don't feel like wasting our precious vacation time in the heat on someone else's schedule.
We take our car everywhere, except the last two years at Grand Floridian we take their ferry to the MK.

 

[DLM1980]

I agree with the others, take the bus to MK. Parking at TTC and having to take the monorail or ferry over won't save you any time.

I consider this part of the MK experience. And while it's a wait to the gate it's an emotional experience I wouldn't give up. At park close I just wait in the park till the masses go away. If it's still a horde of people still then I grab a boat to the poly and enjoy my walk over to the TTC

I really wish Disney would finish the walk around the world path and provide a walkway to the TTC. While long it would be a relaxing walk and most likely faster than waiting for boat/monorail

 

[Hopefully]

The last time we drove we parked the car on arrival and never touched it until check out. We like leaving the driving to Disney

 

[sweetmama17]

We drive everywhere except MK...I hate driving to MK, especially since we have a double stroller and I don't like folding the stroller to use the parking trams. The walk from the parking lot coupled with the added ferry/monorail transportation takes waaay to long for me.

 

[Shellyb84]

We do a mix of both, it really just depends where we are staying. We mostly take Disney transportation, except we've been driving to AK in the morning (the main reason for driving to AK is that we like to make RD and lately its opening so early we're not able to get coffee anywhere at the resort, so we drive and stop by McDonald's for coffee). When we have ADRs, they are usually at resorts so we always drive to those.

 

[gap2368]

We'll be driving down to Disney. Would you recommend taking the shuttle from a Disney resort or taking your own car? We'll get free parking in the parks since we'll be staying on property. But how is the parking/parking lots? Would we save much time if we took our own car?

I can not stand to drive ( hate it with a passion) so I take the buss.

With this said I have heard that you can get to the parks faster if you drive the only park this is not true is for MK. since you have to park and then take either the boat or monerail over to the MK the busses drop you right off.

There are some times that the above is not true where taking the bus to MK is longer or it is quicker to take a buss to the parks

 

[Cinderella94]

When we drove down for many years, you couldn't have paid us to set foot on a Disney bus. Had no interest. We wanted to come and go anywhere anytime on our own time, and have our own space. Once we started flying, no way we were going to pay for a rental car, so we gave the buses a try and now we love them. Where we've stayed anyway (Beach Club) they come regularly and we never have to wait very long. Also, getting dropped off close to the park is a huge plus. I think you'll have to try both ways, if you're curious, and see what you prefer.

 

[Disneylover99]

We drive to the Waterparks and Disney Springs, but we usually take the bus to the four parks.

 

[Klayfish]

I agree with the previous poster. Always drive and always will. We don't feel like wasting our precious vacation time in the heat on someone else's schedule.
We take our car everywhere, except the last two years at Grand Floridian we take their ferry to the MK.

That's a good point. I should add to my opinion that we stay offsite, so we need the car anyway. However, if we stayed onsite (which I have no desire to do), we'd still use our car. Only exception would be if we were in one of the monorail resorts, then of course we'd use that for MK. But no buses.

 

[Eddie512]

I think the busses work pretty well, except for after the evening shows. It's late, you're tired, you're waiting and waiting and waiting...wanted to light myself on fire after Fantasmic!

 

[RangerPooh]

Since we now live close enough to drive we just drive to the parks. Occasionally we'll catch the bus, but usually we drive. It's easier for us, especially at the end of the day. A few times it saved us when getting out of the car in the parking lot a child puked or developed a gushing bloody nose due to the heat. If we hadn't drove it would have been a long drive back to the resort for change of clothes and to get cleaned up. Ultimately it's a convenience factor. Personal space and AC.

 

[Tomh]

We used to stay onsite, and even though we had our car there, for the most part, we took the buses. Last summer, we stayed offsite, so we had to drive, and I learned something. I could drive, offsite, and get back to the house we were staying at in pretty much the same time it would take to get a bus back to our Disney Resort, even from MK. So, my answer is going to be this: If you think you will be tired enough at the end of the day to not want to drive, or you think you may be partaking of enough adult refreshment during the day to not want to drive, then take the bus. If you want to avoid waiting in lines, sitting, or standing, on a bus where riders are packed like sardines, and then walking a mad mile from your bus stop to your room, then drive.

 

[loves to dive]

We drive down, park the car and don't get in it again until we leave or to change resorts during split stays. We don't mind the buses and aren't ever in a hurry to get anywhere so it's not big deal. We tend to do split stays with the first two nights at a moderate then over to an Epcot resort. We use those first two days for AK and MK then we walk to Epcot and HS, which are our favorite parks and where we tend to spend most of our time. I dislike the monorail so even if I'm going to MK while at an Epcot resort, I'll take the bus. We enjoy a refreshing adult beverage or two and the Disney transportation allows us to indulge and not worry about it.