Would you drive during easter week?

[ADisneyQueen]

We are contemplating staying at Buena Vista Suites with a car or onsite (POR ) and taking the buses. I think getting to MK with a car will be a hassle, but the other Disney parks will be OK.
Will there be a lot of traffic b/c of the holiday? What about parking lots?
Which would you choose?

 

[PrincessDadx2]

We did Christmas onsite at the Dolphin and Easter offsite at Marriott Horizons.

You are correct about MK. It is very much a pain to get to from offsite. Leaving was the worst because of the crowd. We ended up walking to the CR and taking the monorail to the T&TC and that worked OK, but the kids whined the whole way

The other parks are pretty reasonable if you get there early, but I would not plan on going at 11:00 and having an easy time.

Staying at the Dolphin was wonderful. If you are doing all parks then I would stay on site. We accomplished more in the first EMH than many people did all day. EMH is really great during peak times if you are a morning person. Evening hours were not so great because they are still very crowded.

We hit the MK at 7am stayed for lunch and then went back to our room for a swim and a nap. At night we went for dinner and fireworks. It worked really well for us.

 

[crazelion]

Take your on car if staying off site. The off site bus or spot when using there transportation. Now if stay on site by all means use WDW transportation. Off site have a car.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

We will probably arrive at the parks at 8, no way can we do 7. Also, we would never stay past 9 so the EMH would not help us. That is a good idea about walking to the CR and taking the monorail from there. I research my trips a lot, but have never heard or thought about that.
We're not sure if we will spend all our time at Disney so that adds to our confusion.
I guess I would rather wait in a traffic jam in my car than wait in a line for a bus. I am having a hard time finding a good rate for a car for that holiday week. Prices are very high.

 

[spiceycat]

I like to drive.

but you are talking about the 2nd busiest time at WDW. the traffic will be bad. Although your place is definitely closer than most - and easily to get to and from - than many others.

so I would stay onsite and take WDW transportation.

also look before you walk over to CR.

the monrail stays busy. but if the ferry is just pulling up - it might be faster.

the ferry is BIG - takes enough people for 3 monrails. that say I won't think you will have problems at all - since you are not staying until closing.

I like to get there early - take a break around lunch - then come back that night after dinner. (you eat your meals in your hotel or condo)

 

[KayR]

We stayed last Easter off site at Emerald Island Resort. We drove to all the parks. We didn't have any problems with parking/traffic.

...but...

We arrived at the parks in time for rope drop which meant getting up early (sometimes getting up at 6am to be at the parks in time). We left the parks around 2-3pm when they were getting too busy to really be fun. (I don't enjoy waiting in long lines on a hot day). I really cannot stress enough - get to the parks early.

We use TGM's advise on which park to go to and getting around the park to do all the best attractions. At the end of the day we had a great, unstressful visit to the parks. Saw all the major attractions, left the parks early, went back to the home and swam.

No, we didn't do everything, but we did the best of everything. (Got a few 'dreams' amongst us all too!)

We had a group of 14 of us ranging from 1 year old to 50. We did split up so the 'roller coaster faatics' could do those whilst the younger ones could do more age appropriate rides.

We did book lunch in the restaurants, but we did it mostly by phoning up the night before (because we were being flexible in which park we would do when). We managed to get reservations for our group of 14 with not much hassle. We were flexible about where we went and often we were sitting down for lunch at 11.00 - 11.30 am (which worked out fine - trust me! After an early start, early lunch is great and well needed!).

We went back to MGM for fantasmic one evening (had fantasmic reservations already booked in advance) and saw the EPCOT fireworks from one of the cruise boats another night (great view - highly recommend it!).

Enjoy it! We did (and I was totally worried about going over Easter as I was used to going out of season!)

-Kay