WL to MK...boat or bus?

[monty]

I am a little confused....is there a boat and a bus option to get from WL to MK? If so how long does each of them take? Not sure if some of the sites I am reading information from are out of date.

 

[Chicago262]

We have always taken the boat. It is a pleasant ride and something different from the usual busses. We have never waited for more than 10 minutes for the boat. I have heard that they added busses, but I would recommend the boat.

 

[Anewman]

From what I remember of my early AUG trip, MK buses were pretty much the quikest ones @ WL. While waiting for Epcot or AK it always seemed like 2 or 3 MK busses would come and go.

 

[DisneyWisher]

In the morning Bus definitely. In March we had to wait for 4 boats before we were able to board. In the morning they stop at FW before picking up WL. The bus takes about 4 mins to get you to MK. Plus since most people still don't know about the bus its practically empty. In the afternoon we enjoyed the boat but the boat does take about 15-20 mins to get to WL.

In March people were taking the CR boat and walking to MK so they wouldn't miss their CRT reservations.

 

[fun & fancy free]

In May we always took the boat. It was a much nicer ride. In the early am there is a line but keep in mind there are two boats one goes to MK and the other to CR. We would get on either and then just take the monirail or walk from CR. The kids loved it. In one weeks time we only used the bus a handful of times.

 

[mouseketeerwannabe]

It depends on the time of day. In the morning, when I wanted to get there before they opened, I grabbed a bus. Walked outside and within minutes the bus was there. I was at MK four minutes later. After park closing, it is also easier to take the bus. The line for the boat was quite long. I walked to the bus stop and got on the bus that was just sitting there waiting for someone to show up. The driver waited a few more minutes then finally left. There were only five of us on that bus while the boat people had to wait through two or so boats to get on.

In the middle of the day, I would grab the boat and enjoy the ride.

 

[can]

According to the info I have, it shows MK by boat. Also states that boat departs every 8 minutes. It also states that Ft. Wilderness and WL share their bus routes. Cannot remember which one was faster, may depend on what time of day you are traveling.

 

[Aimeedyan]

When we stayed in May, we always took the boat (one of the reasons we stayed there was to avoid those buses!) and never waited. It seemed that there was always a boat coming or waiting to pull in and it was never crowded. Course, in July or Easter Week it's probably a different story but it was very quick and relaxing to take the boat instead.

 

[*Fantasia*]

I love taking the bus! It is so much faster and it's never crowded in the bus. And I love the fact that WL is the first one at the bus parking in front of MK.

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

This is from my post over on the WLFAQ Thread

News Flash...Please Read
This information was post by Tyler our Man in the purple pants (Cast Member that works for Disney Transportation)
Originally posted by Chip 'n Dale Express
Disney Transport will have a new route for the Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness. There will be DIRECT BUS SERVICE from Wilderness Lodge to the Magic Kingdom.
The Fort Wilderness "Orange" bus that would previously head to Wilderness Lodge and onto the Transportation & Ticket Center will now only head to the Wilderness Lodge. After the Magic Kingdom clears for the night, the original route that use to go to TTC will resume.
BOAT SERVICE WILL NOT CHANGE.

I have used both while I do enjoy the Green Flag Large Boat One afternoon in June we reached the bus stop right as a downpour started, we were able to ride the bus back to the Lodge and never got wet...Remember the dock area isn't covered, The walkway back to the Lodge from the Bus Stop is.

Beckie

 

[disneyholic family]

we were just there last week and there were no buses, only boats...
i suspect it has to do with the time of year (crowd level)...

the boats were great....
on the way to the MK, it was direct (since the boat came from FW)....and on the way back to the WL, we had to first stop at FW...

we found the boats to be wonderfully relaxing...like another nice attraction...

 

[Geoff_M]

Thoughts on the matter from several trips over the years:

Even when shared, the buses go directly from WL to MK. The route is MK-FW-WL-MK. The buses are a pretty solid bet and time effecient, but they lack the "atmosphere" of the boat ride (sorry, Tyler).

Boats, there's two of them, as previously noted:

The larger boats offer good service in general to MK. The view can't be beat. They normally start running 30 minutes before MK opens. If you have a pre-opening PS for Cindy, you'll need a Plan B. If you want to be sure to be there at opening, you'll need to make the first boat, or you're sunk (excuse the pun). In the morning the larger boats run the following route: MK-FW-WL-MK. As mentioned, in the AM Wilderness Lodge guests get to fill the space left after people at Ft. Wilderness board first. This can be a problem at busy times for WL guests. If you want to avoid a long wait for a MK boat in the AM, get to the dock at WL early. About 15 minutes before the advertised start of service families will start showing up at the dock in numbers. If you want a fast exit, show up sooner.

In the afternoon the route flips to MK-WL-FW-MK. Good news for returning guests headed back to the Lodge.

Resort Launches: the "other boats". The smaller (and faster!), boats run between the CR, LW, and FW resorts. These boats can offer a great "Plan B". For starters, they begin running a lot sooner than the MK boats. If you take one to the CR, you can quickly walk to MK from the CR, or if you've got a little more time, hop the monorial from CR to MK. At times, we've walked past decent lines of people waiting for the MK boat (one time the line looked to be about 30 minutes long) and hopped onto a Resort Launch headed directly to the CR. These boats are our number one way of getting to Cindy's for a pre-opening breakfast.

 

[Hincher]

Does anyone know what time those boats to the CR start from WL? We have a couple of early ADRs at Chef Mickey's and I'm wondering if we're going to make it on time.

 

[Geoff_M]

I'm 85% certain the resort launch boats start at 7 AM. Depending of the walking speed of your family, allow 10-15 minutes walk time from the CR dock to the MK gate. The monorail will take a little longer as the resort monorail runs clockwise, so you'd board at CR and then stop at the TTC, Poly, and GF before reaching MK. If it's close to opening time, the monorails will also have heavy traffic boarding, which will slow things down some more.

 

[SueM in MN]

The larger boats offer good service in general to MK. The view can't be beat. They normally start running 30 minutes before MK opens. If you have a pre-opening PS for Cindy, you'll need a Plan B. If you want to be sure to be there at opening, you'll need to make the first boat, or you're sunk (excuse the pun). In the morning the larger boats run the following route: MK-FW-WL-MK. As mentioned, in the AM Wilderness Lodge guests get to fill the space left after people at Ft. Wilderness board first. This can be a problem at busy times for WL guests. If you want to avoid a long wait for a MK boat in the AM, get to the dock at WL early. About 15 minutes before the advertised start of service families will start showing up at the dock in numbers. If you want a fast exit, show up sooner.

In the afternoon the route flips to MK-WL-FW-MK. Good news for returning guests headed back to the Lodge.

Resort Launches: the "other boats". The smaller (and faster!), boats run between the CR, LW, and FW resorts. These boats can offer a great "Plan B". For starters, they begin running a lot sooner than the MK boats. If you take one to the CR, you can quickly walk to MK from the CR, or if you've got a little more time, hop the monorial from CR to MK. At times, we've walked past decent lines of people waiting for the MK boat (one time the line looked to be about 30 minutes long) and hopped onto a Resort Launch headed directly to the CR. These boats are our number one way of getting to Cindy's for a pre-opening breakfast.

I know this question doesn't involve wheelchairs/ECVs, but.......
I just wanted to point out that (depending on the water level), the large boats are sometimes not accessible to people using wheelchairs or ECVs. If the water level is too high or too low, the boat is floating too high or low to roll a wheelchair/ecv onto the boat. The boat CMs have some "tricks" for dealing with this, including a ramp and/or arranging the passengers in the boat so their weight raises or lowers one side of the boat.
The small boats are not ECV accessible at all. They might be able to bring a wheelchair if the person can get out of the wheelchair and step into the boat and if the wheelchair can be folded and lifted onto the boat.

Almost 100% of the buses are wheelchair/ECV accessible with room for a maximum of 2 wheelchairs/ECV on each bus.