Using our Car vs. Disney Transportation?

[Ontario]

We are driving from Ontario and staying 6 nights at the PC. Since we have our van, should we just drive ourselves to the theme parks, or use the Disney buses. I've read the buses can take a long time from the PC? Is parking free for on-site Disney guests?

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Yes, parking is free for the Disney guest, I haven't heard that the buses are slow from PC as they are the only restort on the bus line. I would never drive to MK nor EPCOT, the only park I have ever driven to while staying on property is the AK for EMH.

I love parking the car and never seeing it until time to go home.

 

[LindaR]

Well, I am the opposite! I always rent a car (we stay onsite) and I drive to the parks. I find it much quicker. When I want to go back to the hotel, I jump in the car, adjust the temperature to what I want, and zoom back to the room. I prefer the freedom of driving us (dd15 and I) where ever we choose. If we want noise, radio comes on......if we are tired of noise, we just sit quietly.We make our own schedule. Just a matter of opinion!

 

[cheerdaddy]

we always drive our own car to disney(I dont like to fly) and have found that it's nice to have your car with you for the out of the way(other than the parks & off-site) things....It's also nice if you plan to do alot of park hopping....If you're not planning on doing alot of park hopping on going off property, the disney transportation system really is pretty good....parking is free to disney resort guests BTW....the only park I refuse to drive to is the MK...

 

[nyfinfan]

Don't mean to take over your thread but since we're on the subject : Does anyone know if there is special parking closer to the entrance at the parks for visitors that stay "on-site"? Thanks.

 

[SnackyStacky]

Count me as one who prefers driving to the parks! Except Magic Kingdom. As much as I LOVE the monorail, it's so much easier to be dropped right off at the gates and not have to park, get to the TTC, then to the monorail.

And no, there is no special parking for Disney resort guests. You park with everybody else. But there are trams to get you where you need to go.

 

[tar heel]

We park our car and use Disney transportation -- makes it feel more like you're on vacation to have someone to drive you! The one exception to this is that we usually take the car to Downtown Disney.

 

[daannzzz]

I always rent a car when I am in Orlando and I use it quite a bit but I do use Disney transportation quite a bit as well. I always use it for the MK park. If I am at a Moderate or value resort I use the buses some of the time. In general you will get to the parks faster using your car but sometimes I get tiered of driving and not being able to look at the sites are we tool along the roads.

 

[drcmk]

I was worried about not having a car during our recent WDW vacation. But we found it convenient, easy and relaxing to let someone else take responsibility for transporting us. Maybe just becuase we drive so much in our daily lives . . . I liked not having to carry keys around, remembering where the car was, strapping and unstrapping carseats all day long and being able to chat and be together with the family while bussing or monorailing instead of watching for road signs in an unfamiliar place.

 

[sters]

Driving is the only way to go when going from resort to resort. On EMH, driving will get you a good spot and save time, provided you leave the park before park closing! We usually rent a car and mix it up. The AK lot is small, so parking is a good deal, espeically since that bus sometimes goes to a water park as well.

 

[bunnyfoo]

I can't comment specifically on PC, but I've found Disney Transportation to be fairly reliable. It's very easy to take the buses from your resort to the parks. I've rarely had to wait more than 15-20 for a bus... there were a few isolated incidents... Getting between resorts is more difficult and you'd probably want to drive in those cases