WDW Transportation vs Car ... Input needed!!

[NicholeB630]

Hi I am sure there are a million threads regarding this topic but would really love some input from you all for our family/trip ect.

We are arriving to Orlando FL on Dec 7th and staying a full week leaving on Dec 14th. We will fly non stop into Orlando from a DC airport. I plan on getting an early morning flight and hoping to arrive in FL around 11ish. When we came to WDW before we used the transportation and it was fine. We didn't really have any hiccups. It wasn't to busy waiting for buses or anything or the Magic express from airport. But being there a week this time I was wondering if its better to rent a car?

The pros I understand are not worrying about luggage, its all included, not having to drive. The cons I have heard though are waiting for a long time before getting a bus, putting strollers on the bus. We'll be using a double and we are that family that always has a crap ton of stuff crammed in the bottom of the stroller!! Let me add we have dinner reservations at Epcot at 5:50 the day we arrive. I think we will have plenty of time to get there but I am hoping we can arrive at Epcot by 2ish, not sure if that will depend on the type of transportation we choose.

We are also staying at Bay Lake tower so no need for transportation to and from Magic Kingdom, we stayed there last time and had no issue walking to and from the park.

My questions are how much time does it save driving yourself to the other parks? Is it any quicker going to Epcot rather than using monorail? If we do drive to HS, AK or EP do we have to park somewhere far, ride a bus or tram of some sort? I plan on getting to all the parks before rope drop so hoping we get good parking but if we plan on going back to the room for mid day breaks we have a 5 and 2 year old then when we go back are we going to have to park miles from the entrance? Also we will be doing Downtown Disney as well.

I do like how Disney has buses ect but it does sound nice being able to just get in your own car and go and not having to wait for however long especially late at night.

 

[grimley1968]

If we have a car, we prefer to drive to all parks except MK. MK has their parking lot at the TTC, so drivers have to park there, then ride the ferry or monorail to get to MK. Of course you can walk to MK from BLT.

All other parks just have a parking lot. We normally are able to park close enough at the other 3 parks that we don't need the tram.

Driving would be faster from BLT to EPCOT than the monorail. Taking the monorail from BLT involves transferring to the EPCOT monorail at the TTC. Driving from BLT means you go straight to EPCOT and park.

Driving yourself is great for midday breaks, and for leaving the parks at night. It's nice knowing you don't have to wait for a bus (or whatever form of transportation that park offers).

EDIT: I will add that the parking situation at Downtown Disney is an unholy mess right now, with the construction there. Bus transportation would actually be slightly better than driving yourself while this is going on. Boat transportation (from one of the resorts connected via water to DtD) would be even better if you can get to one of those resorts easily on an EPCOT or DHS day.

 

[hsmamato2]

with your description of your own travel style, I'd say rent a car, you won't be sorry. those strollers, loaded down with lots of stuff, are royal pain and you will be happy you don't have to deal with buses for all of that. (note, when my kids were little we traveled light, and always packed a small foldable stroller and a backpack, and used the buses. If I had traveled 'heavy' it would have been miserable.)

 

[sam_gordon]

with your description of your own travel style, I'd say rent a car, you won't be sorry. those strollers, loaded down with lots of stuff, are royal pain and you will be happy you don't have to deal with buses for all of that. (note, when my kids were little we traveled light, and always packed a small foldable stroller and a backpack, and used the buses. If I had traveled 'heavy' it would have been miserable.)

What happens with the "loaded down" strollers when you have to get on a parking lot tram?

 

[Alesia]

What happens with the "loaded down" strollers when you have to get on a parking lot tram?

That would be my question as well.

I guess you can bypass the tram if you get to the parks early enough to get a close parking spot and plan on staying there all day, but if you're going to take a mid-day break you'll have to deal with the trams anyway, so it won't be really different than taking the bus..

 

[GillianP1301]

I love the freedom of having a car.

If you're getting to the parks early in the morning, you won't have to use the tram. We never used the tram once on our trip last year and we weren't even doing RD, just arriving within the first hour of park opening. I'm not sure how that will play out when you're leaving the park and then going back. I'll be finding that out myself this year as we are park hopping and plan to drive between the parks.

If you have resort ADRs, the car is really nice to have. Especially if it's an early breakfast. Because there is no resort to resort busses, having to use WDW transportation in the scenario will add significant time to travel.

Hands down, you will get to the parks significantly faster with your car. The only exception I found was MK since that was really only less than 5 minutes faster than the bus. But, you're staying at BLT, so that's a non issue for you.

Given your situation and where you are staying, I'd say the car is definitely the way to go.

 

[ericstac]

we either use our car or take a cab. The bus system aggrevates us and thats not needed when on vacation so we chose not to use it... I will add though this last trip a few weeks ago we did use the bus a couple time because the bus was pulling up for the park we were heading to so we hopped on.. It was nice and cool. After a long day in the heat of the park a cold bus is nice, but again that is short lived. On the way to the park it was great. On the way back to the resort we were crammed into the bus, standing room only was even packed in.. but the bus was there when we were walking by so we hopped on it rather than grabbing a cab.

basically, we prefer to drive but we look for the easiest and comfortable transportation for that given moment... we are done with the buses again. I would rather spend $14.00 on a cab to get to MK in 10 minutes rather than spending an hour using the WDW bus system.

 

[hsmamato2]

as to the stroller question we just walked to our car, way easier than getting on that tram (I avoid it even without a stroller) it is fine anywhere except MK, I honest;y prefer walking to those trams any day of the week

 

[Wild4Walt]

I'm fairly Type-A so we get a car. This trip we are going to use a combination of the two. We are getting a car at the airport so we can use it later in the trip. We will be using Disney bus transportation to go to DTD ( I've read and understand the concerns about the parking lot over there during construction ) . We're also using the bus system for the day we go to Epcot so I can have a worry-free cocktail or two. ( I'm a light weight and the only driver - better safe than sorry I say )

 

[DebbieB]

I stayed at BLT last year and decided at the last minute to get a car. One day I did decide to take the bus to DHS, it was at least a 25 minute wait around 10:00am. I just don't have the patience for the busses.

The monorail from Epcot is a long ride. You have to take the Epcot monorail to the TTC, then switch trains and go 3 stops on the MK train. My room was on the north side of BLT, it was probably a 5 minute walk from the monorail station to my room. I ended up driving the next time.