Staying at Poly - Should we rent a car for DTD, AK, DHS?

[fairy oma]

We are staying at the Poly for 7 days in December and we cannot decide if we should rent cars for our party of 9 (6 adults, 3 children) instead of using Disney buses for the non-monorail parks and DTD. We are thinking of renting for 3-4 days. Any suggestions?

 

[CarolMN]

If your only reason for renting a cat is transport to DTD, AK or DHS, I'd say no. It's a 5 minute walk to the TTC and you can catch direct buses from there to AK & DHS. You could also consider a taxi - you can pay for several taxi rides before you spend more than it costs to rent a van for 9.

Parking & traffic is a big mess for DTD right now and it's not likely to be better until all the construction is finished - the current schedule calls for completion in 2016. I'd rather skip DTD rather than sit in that traffic and hunt for parking. Bus service may not be all that wonderful to DTD, but it is better than driving right now.

 

[siskaren]

It's a 5 minute walk to the TTC and you can catch direct buses from there to AK & DHS.

There are no longer buses going from the TTC to AK or DHS; those buses now leave directly from the MK.

 

[Cats2]

Piggybacking on this topic: I'm in a slightly different situation but the thread title still applies. Also staying at the Poly for a week, but only 4 of us in April. Parks open at 9a. We are DLR vets going on our first trip to WDW. At DLR we typically like to be at parks early at RD (using on site EMH-we've been known to be at the security tables by 6:15a for a 7a EMH), but take midday naps. (Kids are 5y old soon to be six-but both myself and DH like the break too!). We haven't taken a stroller to DLR since they were 2y old and even then they refused to sit in it. DD in particular doesn't nap well on the run. DS would more likely nap anywhere. Normally we do pool time after nap, then dinner and maybe a little bit of evening park time. Kids go to bed by 8:30p typically. It's easy enough to do hotel breaks at DLR due to walking distance of onsite hotels to parks.

This entire WDW transportation issue however is intimidating to me. I've read the entire "how to get from point A to point B" thread! I've also read through EasyWDW, and the recommendation to arrive 45 min before park open to be at front of crowd for RD. We'll also be dealing with a 3h time change (coming from Calif.) , so early AM starts will be challenging (& even more reason to be take a midday break). Not planning on using EMH at WDW. We have ADR's for dinner at DHS @ 5:30p, and on another day at AKL @ 6:15p. Will be in each respective park those days, but hoping to take a break back at the Poly in the afternoon. I'm just concerned with the amount of time that needs to be allotted for use of Disney buses, and trying to maximize rest time for the kids. For example, I'm supposed to allow for 90 min to get from Poly to AKL? (Poly to AK to AKL) So in order to check in 15 min before my ADR, I might need to leave 1.75 h before my ADR?

Is a taxi faster than driving? (Bypass the need to park and the need to take parking tram to the park entrance?). I know the quickest option back from Boma would be taxi or rental car, correct? I currently have a rental car reservation, so I suppose we can just drive to AKL. But, I heard that AK parking lot may not open early in the morning, so perhaps taking the bus to get there early for RD would be better and then use car for the ADR later in the day? With our DHS day, the ADR is even earlier, which leaves even less afternoon break time (it's our first day in the parks that day), so again wondering if driving to the park for RD would be the better choice? (The kids love TSMM). I'm not sure if we have time for a visit to DTD, though am intrigued by its sheer size-but scared off by the issues of getting there.

For people who do drive to AK or DHS, how long does it take to get from car to park entrance and vice versa? How much time do I need to allow if driving from Poly to my ADR's?

Sorry for the rambling post. Would greatly appreciate any advice! All this planning ahead of time is tiring :-(

 

[wdwrich]

There are no longer buses going from the TTC to AK or DHS; those buses now leave directly from the MK.

To get to DHS or AK from the Poly, just take the bus from the Poly. No need to go to MK or TTC first.

 

[fairy oma]

Thank you for your replies.

We are planning on going to DTD the first evening for dinner and while we are therewe will go to the large Disney store so DGDs can spend some of their gift cards they are getting from Tinkerbell upon arrival; they also get to choose their favorite Princess costume for CRT and BBB - grandma's treat. (They will not know they are going to WDW until MDE...hopefully we can pull the wool over their eyes that long). Maybe we will take cabs to DTD and utilize the buses back to the resort so everyone can return at their own leisure.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

We are staying at the Poly for 7 days in December and we cannot decide if we should rent cars for our party of 9 (6 adults, 3 children) instead of using Disney buses for the non-monorail parks and DTD. We are thinking of renting for 3-4 days. Any suggestions?

Yes that is what I do. We are seven days at the Contemporary and will have a car the first 4 to go to DTD, Target, HS etc. The last few days will will just do monorail stuff.