Walt Disney World Is America’s Best City.
Walt Disney World has broadened my horizons. It would not be the least bit hyperbolic to say that theme parks inspired most of my interests as a child, from dinosaurs to movies and more. “Theme parks” as opposed to just Disney, as Universal Studios Florida and the Disney-MGM Studios played an equal role in the movies side, and my interest in Alfred Hitchcock films is directly attributable to USF.
While I loved Magic Kingdom and the studios parks, nothing was more influential for me than old school EPCOT Center. Future World sparked my imagination, piqued my curiosity about conservation (adopting manatees!), and made me interested in technology. World Showcase made want to see the world, from Impressions de France-inspired trips to falling in love with Japan’s ancient capital. That just scratches the surface–see Why We Can’t Let EPCOT Center Go for more.
Walt Disney World also taught me a lot of things about myself. One of these is that I really love world cities. The cuisine, culture, and–relevant for the purpose of this post–public transportation. At least, when it’s clean, efficient, and well-maintained. I always knew that I appreciated Walt Disney World’s transportation network, but what I didn’t realize until World Showcase inspired me to venture beyond the United States, is that what I really love is world cities.
This isn’t meant to be a dig on the United States. I would hazard a guess that many fans of Walt Disney World actually dislike American cities due to the many contrasts between the two; the former offers comfort and relaxation whereas the latter are often not those things. But I love our country’s great cities–including but not limited to New York, Detroit, Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville, Saint Louis, Atlanta, Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. (No knock on Texas, I’ve just spent embarrassingly little time there.)
I also think all of those cities are imperfect. Each has its individual faults, but the biggest commonality among them is the weak public transportation. Some have good mass transit “by U.S. standards,” which means grading on a rather steep curve. None are good when you broaden the comparison to Europe and Asia. By international transportation standards, there’s only one great ‘city’ in the United States: Walt Disney World.
Everyone reading this is probably already aware of Walt Disney’s original dream for E.P.C.O.T., the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. That his primary purpose for building in the Florida swamps was not to have 4 theme parks, but instead a living blueprint for the city of the future that would push the envelope in terms of urban planning, building design, governance, technological development, and mass transit.
We also know that that dream died with Walt Disney. That the EPCOT Center we got, ambitious as it was, was also a massive departure from a community of tomorrow and more a permanent World’s Fair in the spirit of Walt Disney’s E.P.C.O.T. But even before that second gate came to fruition, I would argue that Walt’s fingerprints and vision for E.P.C.O.T. were visible throughout Walt Disney World. That even if the exact vision died, its ideas were realized throughout Walt Disney World. That even to this day, Walt Disney World remains the idealized and aspirational American city of tomorrow.
This actually isn’t a new or novel idea. If you go back and watch television specials or read reviews from the 1970s and 1980s, commentators are more impressed by the apparatus of Walt Disney World than the individual theme park(s). The whole operation was viewed as a triumph of civil engineering, master planning, public transportation, etc. For good reason–it is!
People came for Magic Kingdom and EPCOT Center, sure, but what left a lasting impression was the greater Vacation Kingdom of the World. That was especially true prior to 1982, as the key distinguishing factor for that first decade-plus was everything beyond Magic Kingdom. As a kid, one of the things that blew me away the most about Walt Disney World was the Highway in the Sky gliding through the Contemporary. I didn’t really know why at the time, but I know now that I was far from the only one.
The bigger picture of Walt Disney World isn’t talked about nearly enough anymore. All of this still leaves a lasting impression on guests to this day, even if it’s not celebrated as much. Maybe it’s due to a shift in media consumption, away from things like behind-the-scenes Travel Channel specials to TikTok secret hacks about the golfball in Disney World 2 having a ride inside it.
Either way, it is worth celebrating the complex and incredible transportation at Walt Disney World…so this post takes a moment to do exactly that. Let’s start by taking a look at a recently-released infographic, and then share some ridership stats, how they compare to real world city data, as well as other fun facts along with our commentary…
Guests who visit Walt Disney World have access to an entire city-sized network of free transportation, from buses and monorails to boats and aerial gondolas. There’s a lot of ground to cover and no shortage of ways Disney helps guests travel across its property — whether to one of Walt Disney World’s four theme parks, two water parks, more than 25 hotels, Disney Springs, more than 525 restaurants and more.
Walt Disney World has a team of more than 3,500 transportation Cast Members. That doesn’t even include the hundreds of engineers and maintenance Cast Members working behind the scenes to ensure every vehicle in the fleet is ready to move the tens of thousands of guests who use Walt Disney World transportation every day.
“We’re one of the most-visited vacation destinations in the world, and we spend a lot of time thinking about how to get everyone where they need to go,” said Ketan Sardeshmukh, Director of Transportation Operations at Walt Disney World. “We’re always looking at ways to move people safely and efficiently, while also creating the easiest, fastest and friendliest experience possible.”
Disney Monorails
The Walt Disney World Monorail System has transported hundreds of millions of guests since it first opened in October 1971, with an annual ridership of about 22 million.
A fan favorite for more than 50 years, Disney cast continue to find new ways to keep the experience fresh for guests. To celebrate the resort’s 50th anniversary a few years ago, engineers designed a feature that illuminates the beam underneath each train at night. Last week, they added another new feature, which allows the logo on each train to glow in the dark.
You might recall that from around 2017 to 2019, there were persistent rumors that Walt Disney World was in negotiations with Bombardier to purchase a new monorail fleet. Despite Disney and Bombardier both (repeatedly) denying this rumor, it persisted. Regardless, nothing ever came of that rumor and it fizzled out even pre-COVID. Whatever chances existed of Walt Disney World getting a new monorail fleet were likely fully killed by the closure and phased reopening.
Instead, Disney has undertaken a staggered refurbishment or refresh of the monorail fleet over the last 5 years. I don’t know the specifics of what this work has entailed, but I really wish Walt Disney World would release details about the engineering side of this. It seems to have breathed new life into the monorail fleet, and the once-weekly stories about extended breakdowns or falling pieces that we heard back before 2019 have died down.
There’s still downtime and delays, sure, but the problems are nothing like they were back at their peak. There was a time when we wouldn’t take the monorail for any time-sensitive reservation, but now we have no reservations about taking it anytime. Our experiences aboard the Highway in the Sky have been fantastic over the last ~3 years (knock on wood). I’d love to know more about how Disney extended the useful life of the monorail fleet, but I’m guessing that’s not the type of behind-the-scenes content Disney wants to share.
Disney Boats
Like the monorail, boats have been around since day one at Walt Disney World. 36 different vessels carry guests around Seven Seas Lagoon to the Magic Kingdom, across Crescent Lake to Hollywood Studios or EPCOT, and through Village Lake to Disney Springs daily.
Each Walt Disney World ferryboat can transport up to 600 passengers to and from Magic Kingdom per trip. They share the waterways with two other kinds of boats: motor cruisers and motor launches. The motor launches — often referred to as water taxis — have been in service since Walt Disney World first opened in 1971.
Across Walt Disney World property, there are two other areas of watercraft transportation: FriendShip Boats and the Sassagoula River Cruise.
- FriendShip Boats sail between EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and several surrounding resorts. These boats were an opening-day attraction at EPCOT, starting their service on October 1, 1982.
- The Sassagoula River Cruise offers transportation between select resorts – like Port Orleans French Quarter – and Disney Springs. With 15 boats, the Sassagoula River Cruise has 13 more vessels than the New Orleans RTA, which transports passengers to and from the real French Quarter, according to the French Quarter Journal.
I don’t have a ton to add about boats at Walt Disney World, other than the fact that they are underappreciated by guests. Everyone loves the monorail loop resorts, us included, by resorts with access to a theme park or other destination by boat are comparatively undervalued. This is a shame, as the boats are something special from a ‘journey is the destination’ perspective.
There are few things I enjoy more at Walt Disney World than closing down Magic Kingdom, then taking a late night boat ride (with Cast Members outnumbering guests) back to Wilderness Lodge. Ditto those sunrise cruises when the water is calm–bonus points when there’s a layer of sea fog, which adds atmosphere.
Speaking of which, Walt Disney World will soon be getting its first new boat launch in…I’m not sure how many years…probably a few decades! As covered in our latest Disney Lakeshore Lodge construction update, that massive Magic Kingdom area resort will have its own dock. Given its size relative to Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness, I’m guessing that boat service to Magic Kingdom won’t be shared with the existing resorts.
Disney Buses
Last year alone, Disney buses transported 73 million guests. According to the Federal Transit Administration NTD report, Walt Disney World ranks third in the United States for bus riders per square mile of service, only behind New York City and San Francisco. In fact, Disney’s bus network outpaces many metropolitan areas around the country with more than 420 buses in the fleet.
As you might recall, Walt Disney World began modernizing its fleet of back in Summer 2019 with the debut of “Sensational Six” buses, with the addition of approximately 75 new buses. Those were also Gillig buses, and replaced the oldest Nova buses (just under 50), bringing the total fleet size to over 400.
Last year, Walt Disney World announced that it would be adding 90 new buses to the fleet, which was both an expansion and retirement of more dated models. In that announcement, the company also noted that it was part of a larger investment that Walt Disney World was making in its complimentary transportation offerings–with no explanation as to where else that spending was occurring (perhaps the aforementioned monorail refresh?).
Buses remain my least favorite form of transportation at Walt Disney World, but that’s largely due to their lack of novelty. In terms of the overall guest experience, it’s largely been positive during stays over the last few years–including at the All Stars, Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, and other resorts known for spotty service. Early morning and end of night have been incredibly efficient, even when lines have been long.
My general perspective on Walt Disney World buses is that the service is far better than it was a decade ago, and a lot of longtime fans have now-outdated perceptions based on horror stories from back in the day. This isn’t to say bus service is perfect now and no one ever waits over 20 minutes–that does happen–but it’s kind of the nature of the beast.
It used to be commonplace to see a few Animal Kingdom buses arrive (and depart) empty while waiting ~45 minutes for one to Magic Kingdom. I haven’t had that type of issue (knock on wood again!) in a while, suggesting improvements to dispatch and resource allocation. Buses will never be as efficient and predictable as the Skyliner, walking, boats, or the monorail (assuming no breakdowns–not always a safe assumption).
Disney Skyliner
Disney Skyliner is the newest mode of complimentary transportation at Walt Disney World. This 300-cabin aerial gondola system has made a big impact in the five years since it opened, during which time it has traveled over 1,000,000 miles (not sure how that’s measured). The system connects EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and four resorts that accommodate nearly every family size and budget.
It’s no secret that we love the Skyliner. I’ve called it a “game-changer” in countless posts about the resorts it services, and love it for Early Entry at EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, as well as easy midday breaks. In fairness, it’s not perfect–especially during peak season at Pop Century or Art of Animation, or midday storms during a few-month stretch of the year.
Nevertheless, the Skyliner is at or near the top of my additions at Walt Disney World in the last decade. It still kind of boggles my mind that it got approved in the first place, especially with Bob Chapek as the head of Parks & Resorts (although in his defense, I guess, he greenlit a lot of “big swings”). And although I doubt it’ll ever happen, I’d love to see Skyliner expansion. It seems like the kind of thing we’d never get today…but I would’ve said the same back then, so who knows. Maybe there’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow for Walt Disney World transportation, and the improvements we’ve seen over the last decade will only accelerate into the 2030s!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, 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 clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Walt Disney World transportation? Is it one of the defining features–and unique selling points–of the Vacation Kingdom? Is Walt Disney World truly America’s best city? Any experiences of your own to share with regard to Walt Disney World transportation? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? Any questions we can help you answer? 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!
I spent some quality down time mapping out an entire WDW day doing nothing but riding all the forms of transportation. My outing covers about ten hours, including stops to eat, drink, and explore. And it takes you to far corners of the World with visits to some often overlooked attractions. If I ever get back (I’m 81) I will definitely devote a day to my personal WDW adventure.
Erm… European perspective… living in London… I’m afraid i wouldn’t rate WDW transport at all!
Limited walking options (realistically AKL cannot be more than 1km from the theme park but no obvious or pleasant route), bus network is quite unpredictable, I’m not aware of a decent app that shows transport times (although this may be out of date as not visited since 2022).
I do like the skyliner thiugh!
I’m still mind blown that Animal Kingdom does not have any transportation option besides the Disney Bus.
For a Deluxe Resort, you’d think they would’ve put in some sort of transportation to AK at least to be more conveinent that the bus, albiet its a VERY short ride to the park. But with kids, breaking down the stroller, loading the kids up, etc, busses can be a hassle.
Great article – this has been on my mind on a few occasions but I think you covered it all! I grew up in Europe and have since lived in different big cities – most of which with substantial transit systems. Maybe because of taking so much public transport at different times in my life, I’m always in awe with how well WDW transport runs. In my estimate, there are 2 underrated WDW transport modes – boats and buses.
You described boats perfectly. I find that the time riding a WDW boat never feels like lost time (as pretty much any other transport does). It’s also such contrast in terms of relaxation and serenity to what surrounds it. Boats are also deceivingly fast. Perhaps as they don’t make much noise or create big waves, they feel slower than they are.
The other underrated mode are by far busses. It’s not like I enjoy riding a bus all that much. But in comparison, the WDW bus system is outstanding. The way busses are deployed is very impressive. Not as fun as the other transport options for sure, but highly effective and no less comfortable. I guess it’s the not so positive context that drives perception, but bears reminding: When everything else shuts down in hellhole/FL-weather conditions, busses are still running. Or picking up slack wherever needed, as the only flexible backup option.
With the rise of driverless ubers and AI, it will be interesting to see how fast Disney adopts driverless transportation to save costs (don’t have to pay humans to drive the buses and monorails = huge cost savings). I think the Minnie Vans (Powered by Lyft) will be first, then the monorail.
I remember reading several years ago about Disney investing in a driverless-vehicle company. WDW seems like a perfect environment for the technology – running the same routes in (fairly) controlled circumstances. Then again, airport parking shuttles seem an even more controlled environment and I haven’t seen driverless shuttles pop up anywhere.
I saved a WDW meme that says, “I don’t care what they say. I totally count the monorail as a ride.” If I’m having a slow day at Epcot, I’ll totally count the Friendship ferry across World Showcase Lagoon as an attraction that I did that day.
Though I enjoy the monorail & find Jack Wagner’s announcing nostalgic, I often wish I could park right outside the Magic Kingdom because it’s a time-exhausting hassle to take a monorail or ferry from the Ticket & Transportation Center. Even though Magic Kingdom is my 2nd favorite park after Epcot, I don’t get to it very often by being intimidated by such things. When a survey asked me about my last 2 visits to Magic Kingdom, I was surprised when consulting my Theme Park Journal to realize they had been over a year apart. (Keep in mind I’d been a local annual passholder for years, though my pass is currently expired. Disney Tourist Blog & YouTube walkthrough & ridethrough videos make me feel like I’m still part of the action.)
I enjoyed taking the Sassagoula ferries to Disney Springs when I’ve done my Port Orleans staycations, but I have a quibble that when you’re on the ferries at the Disney Springs port, they play regular Top 40 music instead of original music (like the jazzy stuff closer to the Port Orleans resorts themselves) or Disney movie/theme park classics. Except for concerts at Epcot, I hate hearing “real world” music inside the Disney bubble.
I haven’t tried the Skyliner yet because I used to get nervous on the Skyway in Magic Kingdom, ever since there was a news story when I was a kid about similar gondolas in some non-Disney park where one of the gondolas fell in a deadly accident. Though that’s kinda like being scared to travel by jet even though crashes are rare compared to car accidents because you heard of a sensationalistic plane crash on the news.
I also appreciate the boats at WDW. I appreciate the the entire WDW transportation system and it’s a primary reason why my family always stays on-site.
However, I do think Disney still relies far too much on busses. Sure, there are newer busses coming online all the time, but they are still just ICE powered busses and that’s still early 20th century technology.
I also appreciate the boats at WDW. I appreciate the the entire WDW transportation system and it’s a primary reason why my family always stays on-site.
However, I do think Disney still relies far too much on busses. Sure, there are newer coming online all the time, but they are still just ICE powered busses and that’s still early 20th century technology.
Forget the skylines. It just looks good in comparison to buses or monorails because it is so new.
Imagine if they had put in modern up to date monorails where we have skylines today. That could have been world class.
Would love to see more monorails to replace the existing bus routes and more electrification of the existing transport.
I too would love to see an expansion of the Skyway and the monorail; a monorail from TTC to AK would be wonderful.
Even better would be a train or monorail from the airport to WDW. I wish that idea had come to fruition.
I am *really* curious how they picked the ‘comparisons’ on the Transportation infographic. Three New York and one St Louis is really strange! Though, I’m still happy for two shoutouts in one article for my hometown, which I’m sure does have less busses but has a kickass icon that could rival any Disney Park~
A Skyliner extension that included Coronado Springs, Blizzard Beach, AKL and Animal Kingdom would be awesome!
Love this article. On a trip a few years ago my daughter and I decided to try to hit all forms of Disney transport in one day, and were delighted when we met our goal. One of the highlights was boat from Wilderness Lodge to our room in Contemporary after seeing the Evil Queen at dinner. Somehow we timed it just right to see the fireworks. Not sure if they were from Epcot or from MK, but our captain took it slow to allow us to enjoy that magical moment. Thanks Tom for the article and the infographic is first rate.
We have also had the pleasure of being on those boats during MK fireworks and it is indeed “magical.” 😉
Looking forward to reading your whole article later.
Although I love what I’ve read so far…. here’s some quick notes.
The problem with American cities is that real people LIVE in them.
Transportation? NYC is the best. Moving 8.48 million people around every day.
We had the monorail in 1867, it’s called the El Train.
I know you marvel at the water bridge that connects Magic Kingdom to Wilderness Lodge, Fort Wilderness etc.
Its’ a bridge,,,for water…with a short tunnel underneath it.
Manhattan has 15 tunnels connecting the island to the world.
Long tunnels under big rivers.
I’m just sayin’.
NYC vs the rest of the planet….FUHGEDDABOUDIT!
PS check out Dallas and Houston.
“NYC vs the rest of the planet….FUHGEDDABOUDIT!”
I see your point… but while the Manhattan tunnels are impressive, visit Norway and drive around sometime. They know tunnels! (https://www.cycletourer.co.uk/maps/tunnelmap.shtml). We drove through the 15+ mile-long Lærdal Tunnel. It’s impressive.
Hey Kevin,
No question, Norway is beautiful. Been there four times. The Land of Tunnels. Deep, long tunnels. Only problem driving through their tunnels is the scenary.
The one thing they have better than NYC is their fjords.
Nobody goes to Manhattan for the fjords.
Seriously, my breathe is taken away by their fjords.
The first time I was in a Norwejian fjord, my thoughts flew to how the word awesome is soooo overused and almost never approprietly. Fjords are the true meaning of breathtakingly awesome.
All my best college friends are civil engineers (mostly due to the ratios of women in engineering at the time) and on one trip in 2017, I was traveling with one of them and we launched what has become a new family tradition of “Transportation Day”. We try and do as many different transportation modes in one day as we can. That first trip we did bus to MK, monorail to EP, friendship boat to HS, bus back to POP, not including the numerous space ships, doom buggies, etc. Since then, even if we don’t have a day we planned as transportation day, we’ll joke about it if we end up taking an unexpected route somewhere (my recent favorite was HS->monorail->poly was too crazy during party changeover so we bussed to HS to skyliner back to Caribbean Beach)
This is a great article tom, thanks!
(i meant MK->monorail->poly)
I am offended you did not include Philadelphia! 😉 The most walkable city in the entire country. Also, there is no less formal city in the country. Incredible restaurants almost all totally fine with a pair of jeans.
Disney World as a city is a very interesting thought exercise. The parks stand out as the expensive boondoggle compared with all the value you get from the transportation and food access just by staying on property. I’d liken them to a sports stadium in a major city. You can get a lot out of just being there in the city, but then you pay 30 dollars for a beer and a hot dog and it all seems insane.
It’s great to have all these transportation options. And yet, for me, nothing beats the simplicity and convenience of staying in a hotel across the street from Disneyland, walking a few minutes to the esplanade, and having two theme parks directly across from each other.
I know Walt Disney extolled the Florida Project’s blessing of size, but do you think the four parks are purposely spread out or did they just build in the areas that weren’t unusable swampland? Disney World seems sprawling to me, and I don’t have much knowledge of whether that’s by design or necessity.
I think the transportation is definitely a great part of the WDW experience (my daughter when little had only ridden a bus at WDW and thought it was one of the rides). I think back to our honeymoon in the internet-infancy days. Planning, transportation, and navigation on vacation was hard back then, but at WDW when we wanted to go to Epcot, we just went to the bus stop and waited for a bus that said Epcot. Even today when navigation by car is much easier, there is joy in that simplicity. And I agree with your post that the general experience has improved over the past decade (except for Swolphin. It would be really nice if they could revert the transportation there.). I’m disappointed the brief experiment with bus-tracking in the app didn’t work out since many cities do that, but aside from that things feel pretty efficient.
Yay! First to comment. My husband, a PE in civil and environmental engineering read this article before me (which is saying something because I am the Disney person lol). Kudos on a great and interesting article. These are things I love to read about Disney. For us the transportations system is definitely a big factor in our visits. Disney does an amazing job all things considered. I will also note that the walking paths between Resorts has become a favorite of ours too. They have really improved. We just returned two weeks ago from Poly and the walk from there to MK was our favorite thing to do (there and back in am and late at night!).