Walking to HS from BWV and / or BCV

[Anal Annie]

Sooo we're going down Jan. 2nd and have planned our first night to be at HS to see the lights. Of course now I'm ready CRAZY stories of even trying to GET to HS and now I'm concerned the park could even reach capacity. With this being the last weekend for the lights I'm trying to figure the best way to GET THERE. We arrive that day (land around 2:00). I figure we should get to SSR around 3:30-4:00ish with DME. Plan is to head straight over to HS. Do you think we should plan to walk over to to DS then take a bus to one of the Epcot resorts & walk over to HS from there? BWV is a closer walk, right? How long of a walk is it typically? 15 or 20 minutes? Can you also walk from the Swan or Dolphin? Would one of those be even better? TIA!!

 

[suebeelin]

Bwv is closer to HS than both swan/dolphin or bcv. It's about a 15-20min walk from the bwv pool.

Swan/dolphin is marginally farther. Maybe an extra 5-7min.

Beach club the farthest but only by an extra 7-10min.

 

[CMNJ]

You can walk from any of them as the swan and dolphin are connected to the walking trail that circles crescent lake there. You can also take the boat. The boardwalk would be the closest walk-I think it took us about 10-15 minutes when we did it. There is a great map by Robo if you can't find it using the search tool on here just google it and you will find it for sure.

 

[Hopefully]

I read today that the wait for the boat is often 60 - 90 minutes. Getting to DHS in the PM is a challenge

 

[Anal Annie]

I read today that the wait for the boat is often 60 - 90 minutes. Getting to DHS in the PM is a challenge

That's why I'm thinking maybe we should walk it going over. Realistically I'm thinking it will be 4:00 or 4:30 by the time we get checked in & drop our stuff in our room quickly & can head out. I read that there have been traffic jams going in that even the buses have been tangled up in - that's why I was hesitant to try to TAKE the bus over. I don't know. I don't want it to take 2 hours just to GET there from SSR!!

But I guess if we walk to DS from SSR (or take the water taxi) then take a bus to BWV from DS and then walk from BWV it could still take 2 hours?

 

[Hopefully]

Yes, it could. And how will you get back to SSR at the end of the night?

 

[Anal Annie]

Yes, it could. And how will you get back to SSR at the end of the night?

We'll likely suck it up & wait on the bus to go back. I'm mostly concerned with getting into HS in a timely manner with the current crowd levels for the last year of the lights. My fear is that the last weekend (and a crowded Saturday night at that) could perhaps reach capacity before we even get there? Has HS ever reached capacity? I know MK does but not sure about the other parks?

 

[AirGoofy]

Maybe I'm missing something. Would it be faster to just take a bus from SSR to DHS than to do a double transportation? I know nothing about park capacity as we don't go that time of year.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I'd take the bus from SSR to DHS. I wouldn't bother with any work around as that will undoubtedly take longer IMO. We just got back and did too much transportation. Even if it's all working as it should you still can end up with 20 minute waits at each change, which is essentially what we had. The bus might take 5 minutes longer to get into DHS than normal but that's still faster than the other travels you are considering.

 

[disneynutz]

In reality the lights haven't changed, have you seen them before? Is it worth the effort, wait, and dealing with crowds? I don't see the draw just because they are leaving, human nature I guess.

 

[loves to dive]

I agree with just take the bus from SSR to HS and not do the whole DS thing. The few times I've been to Downtown Disney (wasn't DS yet) the wait for the buses was horrible and getting anywhere via bus from there was a nightmare. Alternatively, you could taxi or Uber over there.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Just to expand a bit more. First you'll have the trip to The DS bus stop. 10-15 minutes or likely even longer. Then a possible wait for the BWV bus. DS buses always take longer for us but let's say it's only 20 minutes at most - could be less if timing is good and could be more I'd it's not. Then the ride over to the resort - 10 to 20 minutes. Then the walk to DHS another 10 to 15 minutes. It's probably 30 to 40 minutes if it goes perfectly with no waits and more like 60 to 70 if it's just moderate waits. The SSR bus could get stuck for anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes getting into the park and it would still be equal or better and it's unlikely it would get stuck that long.

 

[drusba]

You should be fine just taking the bus to Studios. The Studios have seldom, if ever, reached capacity so that new entrants are not allowed; it is generally MK that has that risk. Even when it occurs, the capacity is something that happens in two stages, in that it is the parking lot that will be closed to further parking before the parks themselves are shut down to new entrants. Also, taking the bus or walking over is not going to make a difference because if the park is closed to new entrants, it is not going to matter how you got there.

 

[Kidanifan08]

You could always spring for a cab from SSR to BWV or HS. Although, a cab directly to HS could get caught up in that potential traffic. I guess you could cab from MCO directly to HS, but that may be a little pricey. Otherwise, I would just take the park bus.

We were there 12/2-12/6 and went to the light twice -- despite seeing it many times before, it was definitely worth it and was our favorite activity we did on this trip. We're going to miss the lights!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

In reality the lights haven't changed, have you seen them before? Is it worth the effort, wait, and dealing with crowds? I don't see the draw just because they are leaving, human nature I guess.

If that analogy applies to the lights it could apply to all of WDW, couldn't it? If you've seen it once......

We went and saw the lights twice on our visit we just completed. And that was after we saw them twice during the early preview in Nov. We just enjoy them like we enjoy all of WDW. And we've enjoyed them in this setting which won't ever happen again nor from Disney's announcements they won't be anywhere again. But in previous years we'd typically see them more than once also. The Nov experience was just a bonus we hadn't expected.

 

[pinklotusflower]

It's difficult to know if it will be really busy getting in to HS, we went to the Villains night there last year and it was madness with cars trying to get in to the car park & the park reached capacity. Even buses were waiting ages to get in, if you don't mind walking I would get on the bus at SSR to Epcot and then get the boat if the wait is not too long or walk, we've walked it a few times and it's not too bad a walk.

 

[Anal Annie]

In reality the lights haven't changed, have you seen them before? Is it worth the effort, wait, and dealing with crowds? I don't see the draw just because they are leaving, human nature I guess.

DH and I just happened to get to see them one night in November for the first time as he ended up having a conference for a few days at CSR. Pure stroke of luck that the dates coincided with the week that they came on & we slipped over there one night to see them. Our DS however has not seen them. We had never been down before during the holidays - that was the whole entire reason for planning this trip. I booked it like 8 months ago once rumors seemed certain that this would be the last year for the Osbourne Lights. We'd never gone before because DS was in HS & his break just wasn't long enough but now he is now in college & has a much longer break. We've only been down in winter before 2x over MLK weekend - but by then the lights were all always off as it seemed the Marathon week was the end of them.

But so yes, for us - worth the hassle because that's the whole reason we planned the trip to start with!!!! And now with it being the very last weekend for them (they're only on thru Jan. 3rd, not even thru the Marathon) it's our mission for our arrival night.

We will likely just take the bus and hope traffic isn't too bad. I wish the MDE app could tell you about what was going on with the transportation. Like overhead message signs on major highways that tell you how many miles to I-95 and how many minutes at the current time.

 

[disneynutz]

If that analogy applies to the lights it could apply to all of WDW, couldn't it? If you've seen it once......

We went and saw the lights twice on our visit we just completed. And that was after we saw them twice during the early preview in Nov. We just enjoy them like we enjoy all of WDW. And we've enjoyed them in this setting which won't ever happen again nor from Disney's announcements they won't be anywhere again. But in previous years we'd typically see them more than once also. The Nov experience was just a bonus we hadn't expected.

IMO seeing things at WDW more than once is different than Disney hyping the lights leaving causing huge crowds. My point is, is it worth dealing with transportation and crowd issues to see the lights again or is human nature causing us to do things that we normally wouldn't do.

That being said, DW wants to see them tonight because they are leaving, I wonder if she will think it was worth it after we try to see them.

 

[jekjones1558]

We were at BWV on Sat. Dec. 5. I went to church on Saturday night and on my way back to BWV the traffic backup getting into DHS was crazy. OP, since you are going to see the last Osborne Lights on the last Saturday of the busiest week at WDW, I think your instincts about traffic are right on. Ordinarily I would just take the bus from SSR to DHS but in this case I think I would take a taxi from SSR to BWV and walk. I would not be surprised if DHS reaches capacity.

 

[disfanforlife]

We stayed at BWV last month and walked over 3 times. But that is one if the things we love about staying there or BCV. It took use between 15-20 minutes depending how fast we were walking.