Strategy Questions for Saratoga Springs

[Nikki G]

We are staying at Saratoga Springs for the first time in 12 days (I seriously cannot wait!). I am trying to fine tune some of our transportation strategy and need some assistance. In general our plan is time at Disney Springs, a full day of Resort Hopping for decoration viewing, and MVMCP.

1. We will have our car with us. Would it be easier to use our car on our resort hopping day (mainly going to hit the monorail resorts and WL) or just take the bus over to MK and walk/monorail it from there?

2. How long would it take us to get to MK on the MVMCP night from Saratoga Springs? We plan to take the bus. We want to get to MK probably no later than 3:30p

3. If our room is in an area that is one of the last bus stops, should we just walk to the part of the resort that has an earlier stop to get on the bus? Is that even feasible? I know it's large but have no idea of scale. I just keep reading about how hard it is to find a spot on the bus if you are the last stop.

I'm sure I will come up with more questions, but that's all I have for now. TIA!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We just got back from SSR and did not do the parks. We just visited the resorts and Disney Springs. If you are going to the MK resorts, take the bus to the Magic Kingdom (or catch a resort bus from Disney Springs) and do the resorts there. We took the Contemporary bus from DS and the bus stopped first at WL, then Contemporary Resort. Later on we hopped the monorail (you will go through bag check every time you get on the monorail) to the GF. We skipped the Polynesian. The next day (we were only there one night) we went to WL, but you could take a boat from the MK or CR to WL. On your party night, it will take about 30 minutes to get to the MK. If you only have party tickets, you can enter the park at 4PM, so no need to be there at 3:30.

Do you have preferred or standard at SSR? We were in Congress Park which is preferred along with the Springs, and those are the last two stops for the bus at SSR.

 

[Nikki G]

Do you have preferred or standard at SSR? We were in Congress Park which is preferred along with the Springs, and those are the last two stops for the bus at SSR.

We are standard. At the time we booked I didn't know about the difference between preferred and standard, and quite frankly were just looking for any room we could get since it was last minute, at least in the world of DVC. We are requesting to be in The Paddock as close to Congress Park as we can get, but who knows where we will actually be.

My husband seems to want to take our car and park at TTC and then just hop the resorts from there, but I'm wondering if it would just be simpler to take the resort bus to MK or DS bus to one of the resorts.

 

[Wild4Walt]

Driving for the resort hopping has it's advantage that you can come and go as you please, the only thing you may want to check into is how long you can park at the resort of your choice. I know a few years ago we parked at the Poly for breakfast and were advised by security when we entered that we were limited on how long the car could stay there. I think it was 3 hours if I remember correctly. A car is also nice if you want to go over to WL or even the POR or POFQ.

If you want to enter the MK no later than 330p, then I would be at the bus stop no later than 245p. Some may say an hour - but we have never had too many issues with the transportation and from that location drive itself is only about 20 minutes with moderate traffic.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We are standard. At the time we booked I didn't know about the difference between preferred and standard, and quite frankly were just looking for any room we could get since it was last minute, at least in the world of DVC. We are requesting to be in The Paddock as close to Congress Park as we can get, but who knows where we will actually be.

My husband seems to want to take our car and park at TTC and then just hop the resorts from there, but I'm wondering if it would just be simpler to take the resort bus to MK or DS bus to one of the resorts.

If you want to be close to Disney Springs, you might even consider the Grandstand as that area is closer to the boat dock that goes to DS.