Staying Onsite

[dioxide45]

Okay it has been many years since we stayed on site and used Disney transportation . We have stayed offsite many times and have always rented a car. We will be at WDW for five days in October and relying on Disney transportation the whole time. Trust me, I am not looking forward to it, but we are trying to make this a budget trip. Already saved a bundle on our flights and using AAA on our room, will see if our Annual passes will save us more when they release those rates.

I have lots of reading to do about DME and the busses. Any tips from those who have always stayed offsite and will now be doing an onsite trip?

 

[myjourney]

We drive to Disney because my husband will not fly, but as soon as we get there we only use the Disney Transportation. My tip is to remember that there are many boat transportation opportunities and monorail, so learn where they are and use them.

The other tip is that the buses only go between resorts and parks, in other words you cannot take a bus from one resort to another resort or from park to park (at least that is what we found). I believe the one exception is a water taxi from HS to MK. So if we are staying at SSR and want to go to AKL for dinner we usually get the bus to DTD then catch the AKL bus.

If someone knows a better way then please post it.

 

[bdink921]

While definitely not an expert, I can tell you about my experience. DME was great--we only used it once though--of course we'll be back again next Wednesday . Seemed like a long line at MCO but we got on the bus quickly and I think we were the 2nd resort dropped off. It was fast and convenient. Our bags were in our room when we got back from dinner--nice. We liked the service and the fact that's it's 'free'. We never used DME on the return to the airport so I can't help there.

Water taxi goes from DHS to Epcot--not MK. From the TTC there are buses to AK and DHS and of course the monorail to Epcot. I'm pretty sure the other parks have buses park to park. Above poster is correct that buses don't go resort to resort. On the transportation board Robo has a 'primer' for using WDW transportation--spells it all out pretty clearly. HTH.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2086955 Here's the link--I hope I did it right

 

[awonderfulthought]

We live close to Disney and drive, but when we have the opportunity to stay onsite and use Disney transportation, we do and love it! Disney Transportation can get you to enough to do, see, places to eat, and places to shop than you will possibly need in 5 days.

However, I would recommend that you make a good list and check it twice of things you will need so you wont want or need to go to a grocery store or wal-mart for anything.

Other than that, the most we have ever had to wait for a Disney bus is 20 minutes. Not really a big deal, since when you go to Disney you are accustomed to waiting in lines....and 20 minutes ain't nothin'


Have fun!!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Okay it has been many years since we stayed on site and used Disney transportation . We have stayed offsite many times and have always rented a car. We will be at WDW for five days in October and relying on Disney transportation the whole time. Trust me, I am not looking forward to it, but we are trying to make this a budget trip. Already saved a bundle on our flights and using AAA on our room, will see if our Annual passes will save us more when they release those rates.

I have lots of reading to do about DME and the busses. Any tips from those who have always stayed offsite and will now be doing an onsite trip?

We just tried onsite in Feb for a little getaway after not being onsite since 2001. Ds12 has been wanting to try EMH and ride in a Disney bus. It was nice for a short trip. I don't know if I could stand a whole week of being in 1 room but transportation was easy and convenient. Not super fast but not crazy long either.
At first, while waiting at the bus stop at CBR, ds12 was feeling inpatient and kept saying, "Let's just drive Mom. We'd have been there by now." Which may be true but really the wait was around 15 mins.
Sometimes it felt like a bit of a tease cuz a bus would come, but then it's not to the park we wanted.
We missed having a freezer to have ice cold bottled water and a microwave for popcorn. Not a big deal though.

For what rental cars are costing these days, you're probably saving more to stay onsite!

Have fun!

eta: There was only 1 nt. that we all had to stand on the bus to return to our resort. Ds9 was fine but ds12 (Mr. Opinionated) realized that Disney buses are much cooler when viewed from the outside. lol!

 

[Pig Pen]

We view being chauffered around as an integral part of the "vacation experience." To us it's a relief not to worry about parking and finding our way around WDW (we never seem to be in the correct lane) and navigating thru traffic at park closing. Of course we no longer commando-tour so we tend to be more laid back anyway. We have had very few bad experiences on Disney transportation.

 

[sgrabin]

Okay it has been many years since we stayed on site and used Disney transportation . We have stayed offsite many times and have always rented a car. We will be at WDW for five days in October and relying on Disney transportation the whole time. Trust me, I am not looking forward to it, but we are trying to make this a budget trip. Already saved a bundle on our flights and using AAA on our room, will see if our Annual passes will save us more when they release those rates.

I have lots of reading to do about DME and the busses. Any tips from those who have always stayed offsite and will now be doing an onsite trip?

I think it's OK for up to about 5 days. After that I get to feeling that Mickey Mouse is holding me hostage and I just want to get out with my own car, you know?