Which Disney Hotel has the BEST theme park transportation ?

[Donald Duck 57]

Hello Everyone,
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all. We are having a family debate and need your input please. Which DVC resort offers the Best transportation to all of the theme parks ? Thank- You for your input.

 

[FeliciaB23]

The Polynesian
- monorail or boat to MK
- walk to TTC to monorail to EP
- bus to AK and HS (not shared, in my experience)

 

[AttheParks]

For DVC I like BLT or BC.
BLT - walk or monorail to M
monorail to TTC to monoral for EPCOT
bus to AK and HS - we have never shared with another resort in our 3 stays

BC - boat or walk to HS
walk to EPCOT
bus to MK and AK - prefer to get on at YC

 

[_19disnA]

Depends a bit on your definition of 'best' (i.e. fastest, walkable, closest.........etc.) and what personal preferences you have. Some dislike Disney buses and I believe the only way to get to AK (if not staying there) is by Disney bus. No one Disney resort (timeshare of otherwise) is closest to every park. Poly/GF & Contemporary are the monorail resorts closest to MK, but requires a fairly long monorail ride to Epcot from TTC. If I was only going to Epcot/HS, then staying at the other side of the property wouldn't be my 'best' option.

 

[traveler9]

Depends a bit on your definition of 'best' (i.e. fastest, walkable, closest.........etc.) and what personal preferences you have. Some dislike Disney buses and I believe the only way to get to AK (if not staying there) is by Disney bus. No one Disney resort (timeshare of otherwise) is closest to every park. Poly/GF & Contemporary are the monorail resorts closest to MK, but requires a fairly long monorail ride to Epcot from TTC. If I was only going to Epcot/HS, then staying at the other side of the property wouldn't be my 'best' option.

Even if staying at AKL you have to use a bus to get to AK.

 

[lowlight]

Riviera. Skyliner to two parks. And buses are single resort only. At busy times, a single resort bus is a huge deal.

Probably tied with Poly, since you can walk over to grab the Epcot monorail.

 

[elvispursley]

YC/BC (or any of the crescent lake resorts). Walk or boat to Epcot or HS.

 

[matt and beth]

The BA Boardwalk of course! Walk to Epcot or HS. Take a boat or Skyliner to HS if bored and/or tired. You do NOT have to rely on any modes of transportation for two parks

Monorail resorts can’t compete with the ease and quickness of BWV. They have to get off at the TTC and then reenter a line to get to Epcot.

 

[Genie+]

I ranked ease to both Park 1 and 2, plus any bonus factor. Within each group it’s a close race.

Group A - Poly, BC, BW

1. Poly is the winner for me, at least from the DVC long house side. 4 options to MK and EP Monorail super close. Popping in to GCH before MK? The Resort Monorail or Resort Boat is easy. Direct from room? Hit TTC Ferry or Express Monorail. And I love being able to hit Grand Flo or Contemporary without much fuss.

2. BC can’t be beat for EP. I’ve seen the skyliner line longer than the distance to my bed HS is fun by boat, it’s not a quick walk but a good back up, and the skyliner makes visiting RIV or CBR easier than 2 buses for an ADR.

3. BW being pretty close to the middle HS/EP means 2 parks are 15 minutes or less walk.

Group B - BLT, VGF, RIV

4. BLT walk to MK is amazing. Having to transfer monorails for EP, that can be hit or miss.

5. RIV is quick to EP, though it doesn’t beat BC/BLT for ease to closest park. It has to transfer for HS, losing points like BLT.

6. VGF is pretty easy to MK, but EP monorail transfers can be a chore. Not sure if this ranks +/-1 from RIV since we’ve not yet stayed RIV.

 

[Ronaldo17]

Beach Club or Boardwalk for all the reasons stated before

 

[japanese maple]

Hands down any Epcot DVC resorts. Nothing beats walking out of Epcot at night back to your resort. Plus you can walk, boat or even Skyliner to DHS.

In our opinion, the only convenient park for the MK resorts is MK itself. The monorail in our opinion is actually a big pain in the butt to get to Epcot.

 

[cjlong88]

YC & BC without question. You can walk to EPCOT. You can boat/walk/skyliner to HS. When we have a park hopper we always start with EPCOT and take the monorail to MK. The monorail back EPCOT to grab some snacks and watch a show before walking to your hotel.

 

[Nabas]

Hands down any Epcot DVC resorts. Nothing beats walking out of Epcot at night back to your resort. Plus you can walk, boat or even Skyliner to DHS.

In our opinion, the only convenient park for the MK resorts is MK itself. The monorail in our opinion is actually a big pain in the butt to get to Epcot.

From the Poly, especially from the Poly DVC, it’s a relatively short walk to the direct Monorail from Transportation and Ticket Center to probably shorter than the walk from Hollywood Studios to Boardwalk.

The direct Monorail to Epcot is not bad, IMO.

Boating from Hollywood Studios to the Boardwalk is a bit of a pain. The boats tend to be hot plus in that direction, the boats make two stops. It’s quicker to walk.

The walks from the Contemporary to the Magic Kingdom, and from Boardwalk to Hollywood Studios are ok. But they can be brutal in hot weather.

My point is, what works for one might not work for another. Really, it depends on what trade offs you want to make. I prefer walking whenever possible; my spouse does not.

 

[japanese maple]

From the Poly, especially from the Poly DVC, it’s a relatively short walk to the direct Monorail from Transportation and Ticket Center to probably shorter than the walk from Hollywood Studios to Boardwalk.

The direct Monorail to Epcot is not bad, IMO.

Boating from Hollywood Studios to the Boardwalk is a bit of a pain. The boats tend to be hot plus in that direction, the boats make two stops. It’s quicker to walk.

The walks from the Contemporary to the Magic Kingdom, and from Boardwalk to Hollywood Studios are ok. But they can be brutal in hot weather.

My point is, what works for one might not work for another. Really, it depends on what trade offs you want to make. I prefer walking whenever possible; my spouse does not.

I just gave my opinion on what we think is better.

 

[Ricguz]

Yacht and Beach Club. Easy walk to Epcot or take the boat. Nice calm walk to HS or boat/skyliner ride. Now that park hoppers are back w/o restrictions I live that I can go to Epcot for a walk around then get on the monorail to ride to MK. I am not a much of a AK fan so I don’t mind being away from that

 

[kylenne]

For me the convenience of the Crescent Lake resorts to EP and HS is pretty much negated by the horrible bus setup over there so I’m still going to say Poly. Yes it’s fantastic being able to walk to two parks, but god help you if the friendship boats go down for weather and you’re trying to get back to your resort from HS. Once I watched about 10 buses come for Riviera and then 45 min later when a bus came it was for literally all Crescent Lake guests, including Swan and Dolphin (and yes this was post-covid closures). Even during regular operations the sharing situation at nonpeak times is way worse than at any of the monorail resorts. I’ve never shared with two other resorts before at GF or Poly and that has happened with BC/YC/BWI more than once.

Meanwhile Poly has multiple ways to get to and from the most annoying park to get to/leave, and pretty much direct monorail service to Epcot. When it does share buses with GF it’s the first stop.

But this is why the ideal trip imo is a split stay between Poly and a Crescent Lake resort. You get the best of both worlds transportation wise, all the positives with none of the drawbacks.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

For us, it is the ability to walk to the them park and is the reason that we do split stays. We go to VGF and alternate BC and BWV each year.

 

[Mle8308]

The Polynesian
- monorail or boat to MK
- walk to TTC to monorail to EP
- bus to AK and HS (not shared, in my experience)

Agree. However, we did share with the GF mid day for AK and DHS this past fall, not sure if they do this during peak season. But the Poly was the first stop. Felt bad for the GF guests, especially those in ECV's because most of the time, the busses were pretty full and often no ECV spaces left. And the walking path to the MK is back open, another plus!

 

[westie55]

This depends on where you like to spend most of your time. For us, MK is our favorite park so we love to be in that resort area, on the monorail if possible. If you are spending more days at Epcot and HS, you might prefer to be at BC/YC or the Boardwalk.

 

[MouseyMin]

Poly shares the bus most of the time with Grand Floridian. (I just spent 2 weeks at the Poly.) And Bay Lake/Contemporary shares with Wilderness Lodge.

One of the worst trips of all is Bay Lake coming back from Epcot. You have to take the monorail from Epcot to TTC. Then transfer to the Resort Monorail, which takes forever making those 4 stops. Several times I have had to take the ferry from TTC to MK and then walk to Bay Lake because the queue for the monorail was so long. I found it a lot quicker to take the Epcot bus to Wilderness Lodge and then transfer to a bus coming from Studios, Animal Kingdom, or Springs for the one stop to the Contemporary.