What is Transportation and Ticket center?

[gracie1]

Sorry if this is a silly question. But I am trying to get together the information for my upcoming trip.
I understand you can take the bus, monorail or boat...but on the printout I got from wdw.com it says the from MK to HS to monorail or ferryboat to the Transportation and ticket center, then transfer to the bus. Same with epcot. So what is the transportation and ticket center? Is it the bus stop where you pick up the buses? Do the ferry and monorail go there too?

 

[goofy4tink]

The TTC 'used to be' the main hub for transportation. Not so much anymore. This is where you will get either the boat or monorail to MK if you drive your own car. You can also get a bus to DHS and AK here....helps if you are staying off-site and your hotel shuttle runs only to the TTC. You can also get the monorail to Epcot from here.

If you are staying on-site, there is really no compelling reason to go to TTC...you can get a bus/boat/monorail (depending on your resort) to the park you wish to get to.

 

[Endeavour105]

The TTC 'used to be' the main hub for transportation. Not so much anymore. This is where you will get either the boat or monorail to MK if you drive your own car. You can also get a bus to DHS and AK here....helps if you are staying off-site and your hotel shuttle runs only to the TTC. You can also get the monorail to Epcot from here.

If you are staying on-site, there is really no compelling reason to go to TTC...you can get a bus/boat/monorail (depending on your resort) to the park you wish to get to.

For clarification and for example, only the MK and MK area resorts (except the WL and FWC) and EPCOT are serviced by the monorail system. Also, there is no monorail or boat service to the AK/AKL.

 

[WillCAD]

When the Magic Kingdom was being designed in the late 1960s, it was decided to put the parking lot far enough away from the park itself that it couldn't be seen, in order to assist in the "suspension of disbelief." To accomplish this, the Magic Kingdom was built on the north side of the completely man-made Seven Seas Lagoon, and the parking lot was built on the south side, 3/4 of a mile away and completely out of sight from the park.

To get from the lot to the park, one needs to take either a ferryboat directly across the Seven Seas Lagoon, or a monorail around the Lagoon. With these two transportation options, stations or terminals were needed, and so the monorail stations and ferryboat terminals on the south (lot) side of the Lagoon were built together, forming a complex of sorts. Ticket Sales windows were added, as well as a bus depot and several other transportation-related facilities, and the complex was dubbed the Transportation and Ticket Center. In 1982, when Epcot was constructed, another monorail line was added from the TTC to Epcot, with a station at TTC built next to the original two.

TTC was originally envisioned as the main transportation hub for any kind of transport in and around WDW, and still serves as the biggest transportation hub. However, as new parks and resorts were added to WDW over the years, and priorities changed, TTC has not remained the end-all, be-all of transportation that it was in the early days.

At TTC you can still find the following facilities (and I may leave some out):

1) The Magic Kingdom's parking lot
2) WDW Ticket Sales windows and Guest Relations windows
3) Monorail station for the Magic Kingdom Express line (which only stops at MK and TTC)
4) Monorail station for the Magic Kingdom Resorts line (which stops at MK, TTC, and three MK resorts - Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and Contemporary)
5) Ferryboat terminal for the Magic Kingdom ferryboats (General Joe Potter, Admiral Joe Fowler, and Richard F. Irvine)
6) A bus depot serving busses to Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom parks, and Orlando's Linx bus system (WDW resort buses do not stop at TTC, they go direct to MK)
7) Pet kennels
8) Footpath to the Polynesian resort
9) Taxi drop-off area

I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff out; TTC is still a pretty busy place, despite the sprawl that WDW has undergone since it was initially built.