Transportation from Disney Hotel to Animal Kingdom

[horse11]

What is the cheapest transportation option for a party of 8 from Beach Club Villa to Animal Kingdom to arrive at 7:30 for an 9:00am opening? We would like to Ride FOP at rope drop but I am afraid we would not get there at a descent time if we depended on the bus. Also we are getting in the park on a guest pass with my cousin whom is a CM so want to be sure to have time to take care of that.

 

[DWillowBay]

In my experience, you would get there in plenty of time by taking the Disney Transportation Buses. But, your alternates are the Minnie Vans ($20.00), Taxi (roughly 20.00 with a tip), Uber (if you can get someone to pick you up that early ....I did not have good luck with that last year). But...all that being considered, I still would bank on the Disney Buses. JMHO

 

[Disnsyncey]

buses should start running around 6:30ish from all the hotels, but their frequency is lower than normal....if you MUST get there at a particular time, I would take a taxi/minnie van/uber...though being at the bus stop 20 minutes before you might think you want to leave would give yourself time for a happy accident of a bus arriving....

 

[Alesia]

Take the bus

 

[stace1214]

We had a hard time with buses on our late August trip. We tried to make PPO reservations using the bus and after waiting and waiting ended up getting an Uber to avoid missing our reservation. On our AK days we took an Uber to get there an hour before opening. I don't know if it was the time of year or the resort (Caribbean Beach) but the morning bus service was pretty awful and unreliable.

 

[KittyKitty]

My comfort zone would be the Minnie Van.

 

[amylevan]

Cheapest? The bus.

And aren't the minnie vans for a party of 6? And can you uber/lyft with 8?

 

[DisneyOma]

Cheapest? The bus.

And aren't the minnie vans for a party of 6? And can you uber/lyft with 8?

They'd need to get two, that's all.

OP, check with guest services or any CM you see near the bus stops - they should be able to tell you when the first bus runs to AK. Then decide from there.

 

[FastPasser.]

For what it's worth Disney says the following on "The HUB".

"Early morning bus service begins at the following times each morning:
Buses to MK – 6:15 a.m.
Buses to DHS – 6:45 a.m.
Buses to Epcot – 7:15 a.m.
Buses to DAK – 7:15 a.m."

And they also say:
"Once at a bus stop, Guests should have to wait for no more than 20 minutes for a bus to arrive."

 

[MrKnight]

As stated by pp, WDW transportation is your best bet, it is reliable and will get you there before RD..

 

[Robo]

OP, check with guest services or any CM you see near the bus stops - they should be able to tell you when the first bus runs to AK. Then decide from there.

Not so reliable, I'm afraid.

 

[seashoreCM]

I would not use an automobile to get to Animal Kingdom early in the morning. The road entrance plaza might be slow in opening and you could miss a breakfast or behind-the-scenes tour.

 

[TXDisneyFan1]

We took an Uber from the Poly for a nominal fee and were dropped off close to the front gates. We waited about 10 minutes before we were walked back to FOP and waited a total of 40 minutes before riding. That was in July.

I like Uber because it's pretty cheap, the cars arrive within about 4 minutes (no waiting) and I don't have to stress about getting a spot on the bus in time.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We will be using Lyft to get to morning EMH from Pop.

 

[CAS239]

I would not use an automobile to get to Animal Kingdom early in the morning. The road entrance plaza might be slow in opening and you could miss a breakfast or behind-the-scenes tour.

The gates don't fully close. You can drive into the parking lot as early as you'd like

 

[My3SweetSuns]

I’m so bummed. I didn’t realize since i have two reservations, I could make fast passes already.
I missed FOP - our flight is 6pm, so we have to be back to Yacht Club by 2pm, so we need to leave park by 1pm. The only time I can get for FOP is 5:05pm.

So I guess this means my son and I (mom/son trip 3 day trip) will be hitting rope drop at AK. With EMH, it opens at 8am.
What’s the earliest I can have a Minnie Van pick us up? And how do I schedule it?
Thanks!

 

[YawningDodo]

In my experience, you would get there in plenty of time by taking the Disney Transportation Buses. But, your alternates are the Minnie Vans ($20.00), Taxi (roughly 20.00 with a tip), Uber (if you can get someone to pick you up that early ....I did not have good luck with that last year). But...all that being considered, I still would bank on the Disney Buses. JMHO

Do the buses really start running early enough to get you there an hour before opening? That's what I'm seeing people say is necessary to get ahead of the line for FoP. The day I'm going, AK has EMH starting at 8:00 AM, so I'd be looking to get to the gate by 7:00. The WDW website says the buses start running 45 minutes before the parks open, which wouldn't cut it.

 

[DisneyOma]

We took an Uber from the Poly for a nominal fee and were dropped off close to the front gates. We waited about 10 minutes before we were walked back to FOP and waited a total of 40 minutes before riding. That was in July.

I like Uber because it's pretty cheap, the cars arrive within about 4 minutes (no waiting) and I don't have to stress about getting a spot on the bus in time.

So Uber drivers are just hanging around WDW property hoping to get a customer?

 

[mesaboy2]

Do the buses really start running early enough to get you there an hour before opening? That's what I'm seeing people say is necessary to get ahead of the line for FoP. The day I'm going, AK has EMH starting at 8:00 AM, so I'd be looking to get to the gate by 7:00. The WDW website says the buses start running 45 minutes before the parks open, which wouldn't cut it.

The WDW website is wrong. See Post #9 above for a better answer.

 

[Meriweather]

bus....we had a PPO tour and it got us there way early enough