Time-Saving Disney World Transportation Tips
These tips will help you save time using Walt Disney World’s transportation systems with shortcuts, fastest routes, and info about the buses, boats, monorails, and gondolas. WDW’s transit network is complicated, but this guide makes it easy. We’ll also offer the latest as of Fall 2023 as a long-missing watercraft will finally return! (Updated September 29, 2023.)
Walt Disney World claims that transportation departs every 20 minutes from the resort hotels to take guests to the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Epcot making getting around simple. In theory, that’s true. While this is often the case, it’s often not. You should always plan on transit taking more time than expected. Additionally, the monorail is not as reliable as it once was, with breakdowns and unscheduled maintenance occurring more frequently.
In terms of updates to this Walt Disney World transportation guide, let’s start with the good news. All of the infrastructure work to transform the roads, theme park arrival experience, and more is now finished and makes navigating Walt Disney World easier than ever. This has been ongoing for the last few years, and is great news for anyone who rents a car or drives themselves.
September 29, 2023 Update: As fans of the Bay Lake resorts might know, boat service connecting Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campgrounds with Disney’s Wilderness Lodge and Disney’s Contemporary Resort is currently unavailable. This transportation option–known as the blue route (named that for the flags each boat displays) was “temporarily” suspended back when the parks reopened, and hasn’t been seen since.
The good news is that the blue route for the Wilderness (Fort and Lodge) and Contemporary will finally return on October 1, 2023. Unfortunately, it’s not fully back to normal, as it’ll begin at 3 pm each day, so still doesn’t help guests staying in the Wildernesses who want to do breakfast at Chef Mickey’s. But it’ll be great for those wanting to spend an evening at Fort Wilderness for Hoop-Dee-Doo, dinner at California Grill or Chef Mickey’s, etc.
Although 3 pm is the official start time for now, I wouldn’t be surprised if the blue route service starts earlier by Christmas or early 2024. Earlier this month, I was staying late in Magic Kingdom for photos and ‘accidentally’ ended up being the last one out. To my surprise, boat service to Wilderness Lodge was still running (normally they’d put me on a bus at that hour) and they were using one of the larger boat…for literally just me.
As it turned out, there were about a half-dozen or more new watercraft Cast Members training. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re finally addressing whatever staffing shortages exist here. (Which somewhat surprise me in the first place–I always thought people retired to become boat pilots, not retired from the position!)
In other news, both EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios now have parking lot tram service restored. With this update, parking lot trams are now once again available at all four Walt Disney World theme parks.
This was another thing that had been missing since the parks closed–it had been almost 1,200 days between the parks reopening and these parking lot trams returned. While I don’t love that the blue route had been gone so long, I can give a pass to that being slow to return as there are alternative means of getting between the Contemporary and Wilderness.
However, the only other option in place of the trams is walking. For a lot of guests with mobility issues or who are older (or younger!), that’s not a great way to start the day. At the end of the day, it’s a lot to ask. Parking lot trams are a guest amenity that should be expected at a world class theme park with huge surface parking lots–especially one that has increased prices significantly over the last few years, including on parking! Glad to see the trams are back, though.
Beyond that news, transportation is largely running smoothly once you get to Walt Disney World. There are still lengthy lines for the Skyliner around park opening and closing, but they move quickly since the system is so efficient and high capacity (aside from during storm-induced shutdowns).
It’s a similar story with the buses. The downside is that you might once again be packed like sardines for rope drop or at the end of the night, but the upside is undeniable. No more standing in line waiting for two or three buses and taking 45 minutes just to get picked up. Midday things are more or less the same as before—lower usage, a seat for everyone, and no lines.
Additionally, Walt Disney World no longer has as pronounced of a driver shortage. Buses are now abundant, and dispatched with regularity. Staggered park opening and closing times help with this, and the bus service at Walt Disney World is also more or less back to normal. Still not perfect, but it never was.
As other Cast Member shortages are being resolved, Walt Disney World is scaling up operations and resuming normalcy elsewhere. Minnie Vans have been back for about a year for point-to-point direct transportation within Walt Disney World; the airport option for Minnie Vans returned last Christmas. We aren’t regular users of Minnie Vans, but from what we understand, it’s been smooth sailing in the last few months with that upcharge option.
The situation with rental cars has also improved. When travel essentially stopped, the rental car industry sold off more than a half a million cars to generate cash they needed to survive the crisis. When pent-up demand arrived in full force, rental car companies were slow to rebuild their inventory because of supply chain issues facing the auto industry.
Orlando International Airport ended up selling out of cars for many travel dates during peak season dates as a result, with astronomical rates for other dates. This has not been an issue in a while. You’ll still pay a premium for peak travel dates, but it’s no different than before.
Similarly, the Uber or Lyft shortages are largely resolved, with more drivers starting to return to the apps. Wait times are down as a result, and there are far fewer instances of no drivers being available at all. (We’ve had no issues whatsoever when using ride-sharing around Walt Disney World recently.)
With that said, prices are still elevated. We’ve seen prices as high as $75 to $100 for peak travel times. The lower end of that range wasn’t even during a busy time of year–just a busy time of day. It’s likely that this is going to be the “new normal” with Uber and Lyft, as costs had gradually increased over the course of several years pre-closure, and analysts have suggested that Uber and Lyft only have long-term viability with higher rates.
Speaking of airport transportation options, Disney’s Magical Express officially ended, so you’ll need to find a different way to get from Orlando International Airport to Walt Disney World. When DME ended, two competing services launched to replace it–Mears Connect and the Sunshine Flyer.
Last month, those two “joined forces” to form Mears Connect Driven by Sunshine. This merger has pros and cons for consumers. Competition is always good for keeping prices and service competitive. In this case, there arguably wasn’t a market for two competing shuttle services between MCO and WDW. The two were stretched thin, and had issues with both supply and demand at times.
For the full range of choices, see our Airport Transportation to Walt Disney World Guide. While some guests will be perfectly suited by a limo or car service, more will be better off with a shuttle, Uber, rental car, or something else.
As always, it’s good to crunch the numbers and do a bit of legwork yourself–rather than just booking what’s presented to you on DisneyWorld.com and assuming the money-hungry company is looking out for your best interests.
Our final updates are more about parking than transportation, but you can’t have the former without the latter. First, the good news is that overnight parking is once again free for hotel guests. We were tempted to put free in air quotes as the charge is arguably built into the nightly rate or resorts, but the reality is that discounts have increased since the free parking was restored–so you’re truly paying less than at the same time last year.
The bad news is that parking for day guests of resorts has become even stricter. Now, if you do not have confirmed Advance Dining Reservations, you will not be allowed past the security checkpoint for the vast majority of resort hotels. This means no Walk-Up Waitlist or Mobile Order, and it also often means no Uber or Lyft drop-offs, either.
This is a trend that first started several years ago with busier resorts in close proximity to the parks (e.g. Contemporary, Grand Floridian, Beach Club) and other resorts during peak season (e.g. Christmas, Spring Break). It has now spread to almost all on-property hotels, except a handful of options that you probably don’t want to visit, anyway (e.g. All Star Sports, Port Orleans Riverside). You can still arrive via Disney transportation or by walking–just not by car without an ADR!
With those updates out of the way, let’s start with an overview of transportation at Walt Disney World, followed by tips and hacks for efficiently navigating the 43 square miles of the sprawling vacation complex…
WDW Transportation Overview
Given the abundance of transportation, it’s easy to have a Walt Disney World vacation without renting or even using a car. Simply using an airport shuttle, stay in a Walt Disney World resort hotel, and utilize Disney transportation during your stay.
Of course, you may want to rent a car. We have an entire post titled Tips for Renting a Car at Walt Disney World that covers the ins and outs of renting a car. Suffice to say, if you don’t like waiting at all, like to be in control, and don’t mind driving while on vacation, renting a car is probably for you. This is doubly true if you ever want to leave Walt Disney World property–then a rental car becomes almost essential.
When we rent a car at Walt Disney World, we typically use Hotwire for car rentals and book one of their “blind” Hot Rates. Renting a car can reduce waits and commute times, but we’ve found that not renting works better for us. Consider your circumstances and decide whether you might want a rental car. Your mileage may vary.
We’ve found Uber and Lyft to be great alternatives to renting a car at Walt Disney World. You can read some of our tips for using Uber and other ride-sharing services in the post Uber & Lyft at Walt Disney World Tips.
In addition to Uber, Lyft, and rental cars, Walt Disney World offers a private point to point transportation service called the Minnie Van. You can read our full Minnie Vans Tips & Review post here, but suffice to say, it’s an efficient and themed option for those who don’t care about cost. If you’re on a tighter budget, it’s not for you.
Let’s assume you don’t want to rent a car, nor do you want to use Uber or a Minnie Van. Once you arrive at your resort hotel, you can rely upon Disney transportation.
The most common form of transportation is Disney buses, which are fairly self-explanatory. These run from every single hotel to at least some of the theme parks, except where alternate transportation such as boats or the monorail are available. Buses are the least glamorous and most frustrating form of transportation, and we try to avoid them to the extent possible, but they get the job done.
Several resorts, especially those near Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, also offer boat service to the parks they’re near. This is reasonably efficient, as most of the boats make multiple stops. It’s also very leisurely and a pleasant experience. Who doesn’t love a boat ride?!
Almost every resort that offers boat service is also within walking distance of those same parks. Walking can be more efficient than taking a boat, but it’s obviously also more tiring and work.
Some hotels around the Magic Kingdom–Grand Floridian, Contemporary, and Polynesian–also offer monorail service to Walt Disney World’s iconic castle park. The monorail also connects to Magic Kingdom via the Ticket & Transportation Center, which is essentially Magic Kingdom’s parking lot.
From the Ticket & Transportation Center, guests can board the monorail to EPCOT. This means that the aforementioned monorail resort guests can access EPCOT via monorail with a transfer. Fortunately, the EPCOT monorail line is back up and running!
Our favorite transportation option is the Disney Skyliner gondolas. These connect Pop Century, Art of Animation, Caribbean Beach, and Disney’s Riviera Resort to EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios!
Our personal experiences with the Disney Skyliner have been positive. We cover initial impressions in our Skyliner Gondola Review: Walt Disney World’s Most Magical Flight on Earth article, and have subsequently used the Skyliner gondolas countless times in the past few years since they opened.
Transportation to the theme parks, water parks, and Disney Springs begins approximately 2 hours prior to that park’s opening time and all transportation runs until approximately 1 hour after the parks close.
If you’re still in the park one hour and 5 minutes after the park close, worry not, as Disney won’t leave you stranded at a park. Sometimes it’s closer to 2 hours after the parks close when transportation ends. All forms of Disney transportation have unload and load zones very close to the park entrance, making them more accessible than the parking lots for each of the parks.
If you’re planning to rely on Walt Disney World Resort transportation rather than renting your own car or utilizing a taxi, be sure to give yourself at least 1 full hour of transport time to get where ever you wish to go. Typically, it won’t take this long, but on occasion it can (it has taken us over an hour and nearly two hours on multiple occasions).
Best Hotel for Transportation?
If you won’t have a car at Walt Disney World, the first time you should think about transportation is before you book a hotel. There is no one “best” hotel for transportation to all of the Walt Disney World parks, but here are a few factors that you should consider in your booking decision:
- Whether the hotel has non-bus transportation to a park
- Distance from the hotel to each park (with weight given to the parks you’ll be visiting most)
- Whether the hotel has an internal bus system
- Whether the hotel shares buses with another hotel
Non-Bus Transportation – Hotels with non-bus transportation to the parks earn bonus points because buses are, generally, less efficient (and cooler) than non-bus transportation. Monorails provide transportation to Magic Kingdom and EPCOT; boats provide transportation to EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios; Disney’s Animal Kingdom is accessible only via bus.
Hotels on the monorail loop are Grand Floridian, Contemporary, and Polynesian Village Resorts. Each of those hotels also has boat service to the Magic Kingdom, as do Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness Campground.
Additionally, all monorail loop hotels are also within walking distance of Magic Kingdom.
This used to just be true for Disney’s Contemporary Resort, but a new bridge is now open that connects the Grand Floridian and Polynesian Village Resort to Magic Kingdom. This path can be tricky to find, so be on the lookout for signage (or ask a Cast Member if you don’t see it).
Boat service to EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios is available to and from BoardWalk Inn, Yacht & Beach Club Resorts, and the Swan & Dolphin (non-Disney) Hotels. These resorts are also within walking distance of both parks.
Skyliner gondola service is available from Pop Century, Art of Animation, Caribbean Beach, and Rivera Resorts to EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Distance – Hotels that offer non-bus transportation do so because they’re closest to the parks to which they offer the transportation, so that gives you an idea of where those hotels are located.
For other hotels, refer to this Google Maps view of Walt Disney World to determine actual distances from hotels to the parks. The Value Resorts and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Resort are located the farthest from every park except Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Walt Disney World is a large place, and this difference in distance is not negligible.
Internal Bus Systems – Internal transportation is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s nice to be able to take a bus from near your room to the lobby or food court, especially at the spread-out resort-hotels. On the other hand, if you’re going to a park, that means either waiting for two buses or making multiple stops on your way to the park.
In general we find transportation to take longer when there’s an internal system. Hotels with internal systems are Caribbean Beach Resort, Coronado Springs Resort, Port Orleans Resort Riverside, Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, and Old Key West Resort.
Shared Buses – Unfortunately, there’s no simple answer here. Whether buses are shared depends upon how busy Walt Disney World is. The less busy, the more likely shared transportation will be used. As a general rule, none of the hotels above that have internal bus systems (except Fort Wilderness) have shared buses, but other hotels can at times.
Due to personal preferences, there’s no one-size-fits-all “best” resort-hotel at Walt Disney World for transportation. It all depends upon which parks you’ll visit most, whether you’ll have a rental car, and your tolerance to walking. For example, from a transportation perspective, Animal Kingdom Lodge is a pain for us, because it’s really far from everything (except Animal Kingdom) and it has two stops. To someone who visits Animal Kingdom a lot, it might be the best hotel! So know which parks you want to visit most on your trip, figure out which hotel will work best for your circumstances, and book accordingly.
Hotel-to-Hotel Transportation
While Disney attempts to make its internal transportation from resort hotels to the theme parks reasonably convenient, the same is not true with regard to using Disney transportation to get from resort hotel to resort hotel. Instead, you will need to go from your resort hotel to a park and then catch transportation to the resort hotel you’re intending to visit. This can make dinner reservations at resort hotels that are not your own especially difficult.
For this reason, many people only dine at the resort hotels on the monorail loop (as visiting them for dinner can be a nice change of pace from a busy day in the Magic Kingdom) or Crescent Lake (a short walk from the International Gateway entrance to EPCOT and a moderate walk or boat ride from Hollywood Studios).
If you are planning on dining at any other resort hotel and are leaving from your resort hotel or returning to your resort hotel afterward, you may want to consider utilizing a taxi for transportation. Taxis are readily available (and if not, the resort can call one for you) at Disney resort hotels, and usually cost around $15-25 one way within the Walt Disney World Resort (obviously, the price varies based upon distance).
When relying on Disney transportation to go from one hotel to another hotel via at least one bus, you will want to give yourself at least 1.5 hours for transportation times. Usually, it’ll take around an hour. Unfortunately, quite often it takes the full hour and a half. So don’t ignore the recommended transportation times Disney provides to you when you make those Advance Dining Reservations!
Quick Tips
- There is no parking at the Magic Kingdom. Instead, you park at the Ticket & Transportation Center lot, catching a tram to the Ticket & Transportation Center, and then take a monorail or ferry to the Magic Kingdom (this was done, among other reasons, so the Magic Kingdom has a “magical” introduction to guests).
- Because of this, even guests who rent their own cars may be better off taking a bus to the Magic Kingdom, as the Disney buses drop-off guests directly at the front entrance to the Magic Kingdom, bypassing all of the intermediate steps.
- If you’re leaving one of the parks right around closing, or after fireworks or a evening parade, consider waiting. Buses are especially bad at this time of night, and the park’s gift shops are open for a short time after the parks official closing time. Do your shopping then, instead of during the day, and leave a little later. Chances are, you’ll still get back to your resort around the same time, and you won’t wait in line so long for a bus, monorail, or ferry in the process!
- Skyliner lines can appear long at the end of the night right after park closing, but the Skyliner is incredibly efficient and the line moves quickly.
- You can walk from Disney’s Contemporary Resort to the Magic Kingdom via a sidewalk. This walk takes about 5 minutes, and is much faster than taking the monorail.
- You can walk from Disney’s Polynesian Resort to Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort or Shades of Green Resort via a sidewalk (and vice-a-versa).
- You can walk from Disney’s Polynesian Resort to the Ticket & Transportation Center via a sidewalk. It’s about a 5 minute walk, and will save you time over taking the monorail.
- You can also walk from the Grand Floridian to Magic Kingdom, meaning you could also walk from the TTC, Poly, and Shades of Green to Magic Kingdom–it’s just a potentially long walk.
- Guests of Caribbean Beach Resort can also use the Skyliner station at Disney’s Riviera Resort, which is more convenient in some cases.
- Generation Gap Bridge connects Pop Century to Art of Animation Resort; on the middle of this bridge is where the Skyliner gondola station is located.
- This bridge provides quick access to the highly regarded Landscape of Flavors food court at Art of Animation. This easy access also means you can take whichever of the two buses arrives first when leaving the parks, if you don’t mind a little walking.
- You can walk from Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa to Disney Springs via a pedestrian bridge. It’s about a 10 minute walk from Saratoga Springs, depending upon your location.
- The internal boats around Disney Springs have also made traversing this area, and the resorts around it, much easier than in the past.
- You can walk between any of the All-Star Resorts, but it’s not always a ‘simple’ path. Still, might be useful if buses are slow (and not shared) and one quickly arrives at a park for an All-Star Resort besides the one where you’re staying.
- You can walk from All Star Sports to Coronado Springs Resort via a walking path. Along this path, you can access Blizzard Beach and McDonald’s. All Star Sports to Coronado is about 30 minutes; it takes around 5 minutes to get to McDonald’s from All Star Sports, and about 15-20 to get to Blizzard Beach.
- You can walk from Disney’s BoardWalk Inn, Yacht & Beach Club, and Swan & Dolphin resorts to International Gateway (World Showcase) entrance, but you cannot walk from the front entrance of EPCOT to any of these resorts, without going through the park.
- The FriendShips (boats) travel from the Crescent Lake resorts to EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The boat stops in this order – Boardwalk, Yacht Club, Swan & Dolphin, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Swan/Dolphin, Yacht Club, Boardwalk, and EPCOT. If you’re staying at or visiting Boardwalk, it’s much quicker to exit the ferry at the Swan & Dolphin and make the 5 minute walk to the Boardwalk if returning from Disney’s Hollywood Studios (and vice-a-versa when the boat stops at BoardWalk first and you’re staying at the Swan or Dolphin).
- For park hopping between EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, your most efficient option is the Skyliner (transferring lines at Caribbean Beach), followed by your feet, followed by the FriendShips.
- Ferry transportation is available from Old Key West Resort, Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, Port Orleans Riverside, and Port Orleans French Quarter to Disney Springs.
- Buses don’t travel between Disney Springs and the theme parks. Instead, you’ll have to take a bus to a hotel, then a bus to a park if your ultimate destination is a park. By looking at other tips here (such as walking from the Contemporary to Magic Kingdom or walking from Disney Springs to Saratoga Springs), you can easily circumvent this and save time.
- Buses make multiple stops at Disney Springs. If the parks are closed and you want to visit another resort from your resort, your only option via Disney transportation is Your resort>Disney Springs>other resort. This will take you at least one hour, and more likely closer to two. Take a taxi instead!
- You can save money by parking your car at Disney Springs (free) and taking a bus to a resort that is close to the park you’re intending to visit, and then walk or take another bus from there, but this is a colossal waste of time and, to some, morally reprehensible (I don’t care about the moral perspective–I just think it’s an idiotic idea). If your time has any value to you, suck it up and pay for parking at the park you’re visiting.
- The fastest way to get from Disney’s Animal Kingdom to the World Showcase via bus is taking a bus to BoardWalk or the Yacht & Beach Club and walking, due to the bus route being more efficient that way than from Animal Kingdom to the front of EPCOT.
- Bus service isn’t offered from resorts to parks when the resort offers alternative means of transportation (via the monorail or ferry).
- When the All-Star Resorts share a bus, it stops at All Star Sports first, and often will fill completely there. It is thus the best All Star Resort during these times of year.
- In addition to the My Disney Experience app having bus wait times from your resort, there are now real-time wait time boards for buses posted at the bus stops for every Walt Disney World hotel). We have tested these on several of our past trips, and have found them to be accurate within a few minutes.
- There are a lot of other “secret” time-saving tips and tricks to Disney transportation, many of which I’m probably forgetting here. Please share your tips in the comments.
Transportation Review & Summary
Ultimately, I like Disney bus transportation. I like it because it allows me to kick back and relax, without worrying about renting a car, navigating on foreign roadways, or breaking the “Disney bubble” and transporting me back to reality. This Disney bubble is an important thing for us. Really important. Because of it, we are unlikely to regularly rent a car at Walt Disney World.
On the negative side, the buses can be inefficient, especially for getting from resort to resort, and they aren’t exactly the paramount of futuristic or cutting edge transportation methods, and have poor and too few routes. On the plus side, the buses don’t cost anything extra, and are becoming increasingly efficient. Moreover, when used in tandem with an occasional Uber or Lyft, it’s very easy to travel to Walt Disney World without renting a car.
The bus system at Walt Disney World is not perfect. There have been occasions where we’ve waited 45 minutes for a bus to show up at our resort heading to a particular park, and in the meantime, 4 showed up for a different park. There have been other times where lines have been so long in the morning that it has taken three separate buses to consume the line in front of us. Other times still, we take multiple buses to get from hotel to hotel for a meal.
As the wait time boards pictured above have become more and more widespread, we’ve noticed this has become less and less of an issue. Presumably, these boards are tied into new technology Walt Disney World is using on the backend to more efficiently allocate its buses. Whatever the case, in the past few years, we’ve notice considerable improvements in Walt Disney World’s bus transportation. Whereas we would’ve given it a B- score 4 years ago, we are now inclined to give it a B+. Still, some room for improvement, but pretty good as a whole.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? If you’re interested in learning more about hotels, our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page is a good place to start. For where to eat, try out our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews page. If you want to save money on tickets or determine which type you should get, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at unconventional things you should take on your trip. Once you arrive at the parks, our Walt Disney World “Ride Guides” are great for determining what to do and when to do it. For overviews of all of these topics and so much more, the best place to start is our comprehensive Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide to make the most of your experience!
Your Thoughts…
What are your Walt Disney World transportation tips? Have a “hack” that can save considerable time off the norm? What’s your favorite WDW resort from a transportation perspective? Any questions about the various forms of transportation at Walt Disney World? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge in Sept, not driving. Heard mixed reviews about transport with it being out of the way, any tips? Thansk
With the exception of 1971 I’ve always used alternate transportation around Disney and gotten around quite nicely. I always figured they know where they are going better than I so I’ll let them. Our first extended stay we took a limo from the airport and we’ve had town cars. Now we take the Express to and from MCO.
It has always been a prime concern on the bus location as to where we have stayed. At the All Stars I prefer Movies because if the bus stops at all 3, Movies is always the first stop. Likewise at Coronado Springs I chose to stay in a building closest to the first bus stop on that circuit.
A little planning is all it takes and very little hassle using Disney transportation.
What’s the fastest way to get from All-Star Music resort to Art of Animation?
I was told to take a bus to 1 of the parks (or Downtown), then take another bus to Art of Animation, same route to get back. Is there a faster way? If there’s no other way, which park is the closest to the Music resort? I only need it as a transfer point.
Epcot, HS, or Downtown Disney buses would all work. Just hop on whichever one comes first.
Since all the All Star Resorts are in the Animal Kingdom area, your best bet will be to hop on a bus to AK then take another bus to AOA. I think it will be fastest since you are already in the AK area.
When I stay at Vista Way for my Disney College Program this summer, whenever I feel the urge to visit Magic Kingdom I will definitely take the bus to Epcot, the monorail to the TTC and then hop on the ferry. It’s such an incredible journey over the lagoon, I hate skipping over it by just taking the bus straight there. It takes three times longer, but is definitely well worth it!
Both times we stayed at WL, I loved taking the ferry to and from MK. Despite being so close to MK, the WL bus almost always makes a stop at GF – sometimes FW too. What should be a short bus ride (being so lose to MK) can be ridiculously long! The WL ferry boats are smaller making the return trip from MK a great way to decompress after a long day there. Great views too!
Something very few people seem to know (or it’s just nobody talks about it) is that there’s a walkway going from the All-Stars all the way up to CSR. Going from Sports to CSR usually takes half-an-hour but along the way, there’s access to Blizzard Beach and the only McDonald’s on WDW property.
So, in essence, you can walk from Coronado Springs or any of the All-Stars to the front of Blizzard Beach. There’s legitimate walkways and everything. Check it out on Google Maps!
Awesome tip–I’ve added it to the list!
It’s probably worth updating this to note that it’s not a long walk from Pop Century to Art of Animation and the bus stops are usually next to one another at the parks. So if you are staying at Pop and an AoA bus shows up, you can grab that instead.
I think the most valuable tip to us was taking the Contemporary bus and walking to the MK when hoping over there. That was a huge time-saver!
Totally forgot about the Generation Gap (or whatever they’re calling it now) Bridge. Added it to the list!
We always drive to WDW, so we have our car available, but we do use Disney Transportation. Especially for Magic Kingdom if we’re staying till close. The buses are faster than the massive backup for the monorail and ferry. If you are using the monorail, remember that the resort monorail goes to the TTC. 😉
We’ve ridden with a friend before from our hotel to the Magic Kingdom (or from our hotel to the TTC parking lot, to the monorail, to the Magic Kingdom) and after I found myself wondering why we just didn’t take a bus. Definitely agree with that tip. Driving to the Magic Kingdom seems pointless to me.
We will be staying off-site at a private house and will be renting a car. If we were to take an Uber to a Disney hotel, do you know if we could get on a Disney bus to Magic Kingdom?
I was a “bubble” person until getting fed up with the bus service at Coronado Springs this June. The next trip I had a rental car and saved so much time in transportation and had the flexibility to easily get back and forth between the resorts that, unless I’m staying in one of the hotels between Epcot and the Studios or rental car prices are insanely high, I’ll want to have a car with me for future trips.
My boyfriend and I are going to Disney this next week and have an ADR at the Grand Floridian Cafe at 8:50. That day we will be in Hollywood Studios and are hoping to watch Fantasmic!, which starts at 7:30. My question is. . . do you think it’d be possible to make our ADR on time if we drove from HS to the Grand Floridian? We will have my own personal car down there, and can park by HS that morning so we can get to the Grand Floridian faster. Is there free parking outside of the Grand Floridian?
Yeah, you’d be fine driving.
Your biggest issue will be how long it takes to get out of HS after Fantasmic.
I totally agree about the “bubble”! On next trip (9 days!) we are actually taking the train from Raleigh NC to the Kissimmee station. DH has arranged for a car to pick us up (only $25 more than taxi fare). We are at the Beach Club Villas so will walk to Epcot for the Food & Wine festivities. We leverage transportation whenever possible but we will often opt for a taxi if we are going resort to resort for dining or returning from pub crawling.
we tend to use a complete mixture travelling on boats, ferries, monorails and buses, although we also rent a car too. I actually enjoy driving when over and we dine all over the place so view the rental of a car as an easily justifiable expense. We plan our trips to the nth degree to maximise park time so any time spent waiting for transportation is something which has to be minimised as much as possible.
Do the busses really start running from the resorts 2 hours before park opening? All the info sites out there say “about an hour”. I’ve been deliberating what to do to get to Epcot by 8:15.
Anyone have the answer? Two days till my trip!
Yes. The buses run (2) hours early. 🙂
Did you have any issues with the buses being there two hours prior when you traveled?
“You can save money by parking your car at Downtown Disney (free) and taking a bus to a park…”
Is this true? When I was there in May I wanted to leave Epcot and go to Downtown. I was told I needed to take a bus back to my resort (or any resort) and then take a bus from there to Downtown. I assumed this was to prevent people from trying to get “free” parking.
I totally forgot about this change–I’ve corrected it on the post. Thanks!
Interesting premise and a worthwhile question for anyone going on vacation [anywhere]: how much is your time worth and what are your priorities? I agree with you that maintaining the “bubble” is important… you pay a premium to stay on property, etc. so you may as well embrace it. Too often I think people mistakenly calculate their time spent in lines… particularly lines to get *to* the park (not even getting IN to the park or waiting for an attraction). Also agree it would be nice for some inter-resort (intra?) connections.
If you are at AK and have dining reservations at a World Showcase restaurant DO NOT get on the Epcot bus unless it is actually there. Instead, get on the Epcot resort (i.e. Boardwalk, S/D, and Yacht/Beach Club) bus and walk through International Gateway.
Never heard this one. Is it because the path the bus takes from AK to Epcot is longer than the path from AK to the Epcot resorts, or because it’s a longer walk from the front of Epcot to the WS than it is from Epcot resorts to WS? I’d assume the former, as I think Epcot resorts are farther from Mexico and other countries on that side of the WS than they are from the front entrance.
Yes, the bus from AK to the Epcot Resort loop is the most efficient path for a World Showcase destination. When I was a tired CM during Food & Wine I would ride to the last stop, Beach Club, and walk into the international gateway. Also great to catching your favorite band during Food & Wine. I beat my friends who drove every time. You save time because of the roadways and the walking.
Same works for Magic Kingdom to World Showcase because the resort bus loop is at the actual Magic Kingdom entrance. Downside, you do miss the great monorail ride.
As I’ve written before, I’ve had very positive experiences with the Disney buses. Here is my advice: get a VERY EARLY bus to the park in the AM. I usually leave about 1 hour before park opening. Sometimes, I’m the only person on the bus and often one of the first to arrive at the park. Fine by me! I think the buses get backed up as the day progresses.
I also must strongly disagree with your point about waiting after park closing to get a bus. This might hold true if you wait 1+ hours, as you do, but if you are only waiting 30-45 mins, you are out of luck. My plan is to “walk briskly” out of the park (I have NEVER run, of course) as SOON as the night ends — the very last note of Wishes!, or the last spark of Illuminations. By the time I get to the bus stop I am out of breadth and sweating, but you know what? I never wait more than 15 mins for a bus, and am often on the first bus that comes along. I tried the “waiting” strategy at DHS 2 weeks ago. What a disaster. Fantasmic! ended at 9:30, but the park closed at 10. So I waited until about 10:20 to head to the bus stop, thinking the F! crowd must be gone by now. Huge mistake. CBR was bus stop 10. The LINE was out to bus stop 7 — 3 bus stops long! I had to wait 45 mins and for the 4th bus. In Disney’s defense, the buses were coming every 10 mins on the dot. So my advice stands: get out of the park ASAP and rush to the bus stop.
Also, I believe you’re incorrect about being able to park at DTD and take a bus to the parks. There are no buses from parks to DTD (or vise versa) for the very reason you mentioned — people were parking at DTD for free and taking the bus to the park. This makes it very hard to get to DTD (which has the worst bus service, by far) and one of the reasons I usually avoid it.
I really wish Disney made it easier to get from one resort to another. Maybe having a bus from each resort that goes to the TTC (or do they have this?) and one that goes to the “Epcot resort area” (a “Creasant Lake” bus?). That would open up all the MK and Epcot area resorts in the evening and early morning, perfect for breakfast and dinner.
I guess it’s a YMMV type thing. You’re right that you have to wait more than just twenty minutes after the park closes, though. Personally, I would rather be in the parks for an hour after they close (then, you can actually DO something, like shop or take photos) than arrive an hour early and just stand around. I mean, besides that, what’s the difference, really? You’re going early to avoid the masses, I’m staying late to avoid the masses. We also usually leave really early in the morning, too, but we can’t do the late nights AND that early of mornings (although we come close).
So I guess it comes down to whether you’re an early morning or late night person. If you can do both, more power to you, as that’s probably the best way to go.
In my admittedly entirely DL experience, it depends entirely on the park. CA closes right when World of Colors does, so your strategy of getting the heck out is best, but DL stays open for HOURS after the fireworks and Tom’s strategy is far better; the young children and first-timers who haven’t looked at park hours are waiting an hour for buses while the park is still open! By the time we drag ourselves out there’s no wait at all. Now, because DL is much smaller these buses are to good neighbor hotels rather than part of the world, but the process stays the same.
When I was in the World in March my husband and I wanted to go from the Studios to Epcot in the afternoon…we exited the park and saw a huge line for the boat that was just arriving at the dock. Figuring we wouldn’t make that boat and didn’t feel like waiting for the next, we decided to walk. I don’t know how long it took us, but I do know that we were approaching the International Gateway and the boat was still at its 2nd stop. Bottom line, we learned that walking is usually faster than the Friendship boats, so if you’re in a hurry, just walk it out.
Yeah, there have been a number of times when we’ve beat the boats by walked from DHS to Epcot. A word of warning, though: in the height of humidity on June, you may not want to go this route. There’s not much shade on that path!
Where is the closet or best place to drop off people from our car to get to Epcot. I am dropping a couple off there while we go to AK.
There’s also a bus that goes from DHS to Epcot. For some reason we ended up doing this transition a lot last February (closing down DHS at 7, we didn’t want to go back to the hotel yet and Epcot was open til 9!). It never seemed to take very long even though the park was closed.
We always use Disney transportation, but we used to stay at monorail hotels and now stay at the Boardwalk, so we’re only relying on buses for 2 of 4 parks plus water parks (and if we’re going to from MK not at opening hours or closing hours, we take the monorail to Epcot and walk through the park, so it’s really only on Animal Kingdom and the water park days that we’re totally stuck with the buses). We find that walking is almost always more pleasant and time-efficient than using the boats from the Epcot hotels to Epcot and DHS, but I could see families with older relatives or young kids (or families who travel during the heat of summer) wanting to use the boats!
Yep–that is the AWESOME thing about the Epcot resorts! The best resorts for transportation, in my opinion!
you’re letting the cat out of the bag! boardwalk is hard enough to get a reservation thru dvc as it is! haha so right though! stay away from disney buses as much as possible…
Can you walk from the Beach Club/Boardwalk resorts to Epcot when it first opens or does the back entrance not open until World Showcase opens?
Yes, you can, but nothing in World Showcase is “open” until 11-ish.
Just another reason I’m staying at the Boardwalk Villas in 5 days…
We rented a car on our trip to Ft Wilderness in December 2009, because we were also going to DCL at the end of our stay. We vowed then and there to NEVER again rely on Disney Transportation. I rented a car for my solo trip in January, and we have a rental car for our trip at the end of the month. Waiting in that long hot line with tired cranky toddlers, two arms full of shopping bags and diaper bags, and no easy way to fold up the stroller?? No thank you! And truthfully, Disney property is really well marked, and is almost impossible to get lost or confused driving to and from the parks and resorts. We used Priceline and got a full size car for a week for under $200 with taxes!! that’s just a deal we can’t pass up.
I agree, if you don’t have a car, rent one. We always camp at Fort Wilderness and already have a vehicle. This coming trip we will drive a motorhome and will have to rent a car when we get there. The main purpose to rent a car will be to drive to the parks. At Fort Wilderness, the only Disney transportation we use is the ferry to the Magic Kingdom. The buses are completely useless to got to any of the parks and Downtown Disney. You have to go to the Wilderness Lodge every time before you can begin your trip to the park. Same thing coming back. You will save a minimum of 2 hours every day driving your own car to the parks. Your parking is free if you are staying in a Disney resort. This is based on 5 trips in the last 5 years.
Between the internal buses and the stop at Wilderness Lodge, Fort Wilderness is the worst place to *not* rent a car. Thanks for the tips!
Thanks for the tip! We’re headed to Ft. Wilderness in 4 days!! It’s the first trip for my four children, my husband and my mother in law, so I want the experience to be great. Knowing we should just use our truck to drive to the parks is a huge relief! There’s always debate whether it is worth waiting for the transportation over walking long distances back to a hot vehicle after a long day at the park, but it looks like us driving ourselves is the best option. We received a AAA diamond parking pass in our package when we booked our trip – does anyone know if it’s worth utilizing that offer? Also, our first day, we have early morning ADR at Chef Mickey’s – I get the impression we can drive to the Contemporary and stay parked there all day while we take the monorail to the park? That would be awesome!
I think that a rental car is a waste of money $. Also, you just read something encouraging you NOT to rent a car and then you go yelling people they should? You are CRAZY!
I mean telling.