Transportation Shortcut

[BoarderPhreak]

Say you're at one resort, and you want to get to another one. Perhaps to do a resort crawl. There's conventional wisdom which says take a bus to the Village and from there go to - wherever. I'm not sure what the official Disney line is, or if there is one... But that's what someone suggested to me once. It makes sense to.

I had my own suggestion.

Take a bus from where you are - to the nearest park. In most cases it will be a lot closer than the Village - and have just about as many routes outbound. A real timesaver sometimes, if you know you're way around at least a little.

Bonus tip: If you're staying at the Swalphin and the bus line at MK is waaaay long (which it will be)... Take the bus to the Yacht & Beach Club - and walk the rest across the Boardwalk! The bus line is usually much shorter, right across from the Swan and Dolphin line (#5 IIRC) and you'll get back quicker.

 

[The Mighty Tim]

On my last trip, I wanted to get from AS Sports (where I was staying) to POFQ (where my folks were staying) in the morning. I asked at reception the best way of doing this, and they suggested to go to DHS and then get a bus to POFQ from there.

Trouble was that the time we were making this trip (I forget the exact time, but it was between 9:30 and 11am), there are not many buses going from the parks back to the resorts. In fact, I overheard someone say that they only send buses back to the resorts from the parks at that time of the day if they see people waiting.

Despite this, we did wait a good half hour for a bus to show up. I don't know whether it would have been different if we went to DTD first, but regardless, it is something to bear in mind.

 

[Tiggertoo56]

I've been a few times now and learnt on the first visit that you can use the transport to get anywhere. We look at where we want to go and what is available and use bus/ferry/monorail to get around. Done this from ASM, CB and POR with no problems, apart from early morning and as parks close.
Can't wait to do it all again! - hopefully October 2014, still deciding where to stay.

 

[jkl2000]

Sorry, what is the Village?

 

[MOXOMUMD]

Sorry, what is the Village?

I think he means Downtown Disney. Many many moons ago it was once called Disney Village Marketplace.

 

[tare]

We've done a taxi and also hopped a bus from a park to the resort of choice.

 

[Demeter Tess]

We resort hop a lot and, the majority of the time, we will simply take the first bus to the parks that arrives and switch busses outside the main gate. Saves having to wait for one specific bus, and the DTD bus loop always seems to be longer/slower than any of the theme park bus loops, anyway. But our favourite way to get around (albeit not always as speedily) is water transportation.

 

[toasty]

Good tip when using Disney Transportation, but I think in most instances, taking a cab is the best way to get from one resort to another. Yes, it obviously costs money as opposed to Disney transportation, which is free, but it usually doesn't cost THAT much, and it can save a really significant amount of time. In some instances, you can be at your destination by the time your bus would even arrive and on vacation, that makes a big difference.

Obviously, not appropriate if you're on a really tight budget, but even the longest cab ride on property should still clock in around $20. That's less than the cost of 2 glasses of wine. Well worth it to have the extra time it affords you.

 

[The Mighty Tim]

I think he means Downtown Disney. Many many moons ago it was once called Disney Village Marketplace.

I still call it that from time to time!

 

[Todd L]

Last Year we took the Bus to Hs for the Day, Water Taxi to Boardwalk to spend some time, Bus To Dtd for a Dining Reservation and Water Taxi back to Okw.....Planes, trains and Automobiles...Id have to guess that we saved a bunch of time by going that route and Hey Even if we didnt It was a nice chance to see some New things!!

 

[disney4life2008]

On my last trip, I wanted to get from AS Sports (where I was staying) to POFQ (where my folks were staying) in the morning. I asked at reception the best way of doing this, and they suggested to go to DHS and then get a bus to POFQ from there.

Trouble was that the time we were making this trip (I forget the exact time, but it was between 9:30 and 11am), there are not many buses going from the parks back to the resorts. In fact, I overheard someone say that they only send buses back to the resorts from the parks at that time of the day if they see people waiting.

Despite this, we did wait a good half hour for a bus to show up. I don't know whether it would have been different if we went to DTD first, but regardless, it is something to bear in mind.

I made a similiar mistake earlier this Month. We had left EP to park hop to HS but took the Pop Century bus. We ended up having dinner there and when we left for the bus it was 915. HS closed at 10pm that night - not a single bus came until 1010pm. We were going to see the 1030 showing of Fantasmic and the bus driver almost refused to let us on the bus because he said the park was closed. However, once we got to HS - the CMs said guests can come in 25 mins after the park close

 

[Rob562]

I made a similiar mistake earlier this Month. We had left EP to park hop to HS but took the Pop Century bus. We ended up having dinner there and when we left for the bus it was 915. HS closed at 10pm that night - not a single bus came until 1010pm. We were going to see the 1030 showing of Fantasmic and the bus driver almost refused to let us on the bus because he said the park was closed. However, once we got to HS - the CMs said guests can come in 25 mins after the park close

For future knowledge, there is a direct bus from the front of Epcot to the Studios. (There are inter-park connections to/from all parks) There was no need to connect through a resort.

The only time you need to connect via a resort is trying to get from a theme park to Downtown Disney. (And the only time you need to connect via a park or DD is when going from resort to resort)


-Rob

 

[disney4life2008]

For future knowledge, there is a direct bus from the front of Epcot to the Studios. (There are inter-park connections to/from all parks) There was no need to connect through a resort.

The only time you need to connect via a resort is trying to get from a theme park to Downtown Disney. (And the only time you need to connect via a park or DD is when going from resort to resort)


-Rob

Thanks Rob. Yes I knew that fully - we walked right pass it. However, I wanted to go to POP for dinner.

 

[TXDisney]

We're staying at the boardwalk, so obviously getting to epcot is easy. My question is... What's the best way to get to the other parks. It's just me and my wife going and we are 30 and in good shape, so we don't mind walking. We were thinking the fastest ways to get to places. Is the fastest way to MK to just walk through epcot and hop on the monorail to MK from the front of epcot rather than the buses? Also we know we can walk or take the boat to HS, I assumed that might be faster than bus as well. Only park that seems it might take some time to get to is AK, I believe we have to take a bus there, how long does that take? Just wondering, bc we are pretty efficient when we are there, and don't like wasting time.

 

[FigmentsFangirl]

We're staying at the boardwalk, so obviously getting to epcot is easy. My question is... What's the best way to get to the other parks. It's just me and my wife going and we are 30 and in good shape, so we don't mind walking. We were thinking the fastest ways to get to places. Is the fastest way to MK to just walk through epcot and hop on the monorail to MK from the front of epcot rather than the buses? Also we know we can walk or take the boat to HS, I assumed that might be faster than bus as well. Only park that seems it might take some time to get to is AK, I believe we have to take a bus there, how long does that take? Just wondering, bc we are pretty efficient when we are there, and don't like wasting time.

If you are stuck for time, yes indeed. I walked it from DHS to EPCOT monorail in exactly 25 minutes {its twenty minutes exactly from bag check at DHS to bag check at International Gateway} just to get to the monorail to get to MK to get to my fastpass, took about an hour in total {waiting for monorails mostly; they're pretty timely though}

 

[Rob562]

We're staying at the boardwalk, so obviously getting to epcot is easy. My question is... What's the best way to get to the other parks. It's just me and my wife going and we are 30 and in good shape, so we don't mind walking. We were thinking the fastest ways to get to places. Is the fastest way to MK to just walk through epcot and hop on the monorail to MK from the front of epcot rather than the buses? Also we know we can walk or take the boat to HS, I assumed that might be faster than bus as well. Only park that seems it might take some time to get to is AK, I believe we have to take a bus there, how long does that take? Just wondering, bc we are pretty efficient when we are there, and don't like wasting time.

Doing the walking route requires a bag check to get into Epcot and two separate monorail rides (or a monorail and the ferry). Whereas the bus that picks you up at Boardwalk drives you right to the front gate of the MK. Unless there's a meltdown in the bus system or you hit everything perfect walking, then the bus is faster.

Going to Epcot, your only option is to go to the International Gateway by boat or on foot. You can walk faster than the boat, though if there's a boat approaching or sitting there ready to board it's only a minute or two difference, so I take the boat and save the energy for the park.

Going to the Studios from Boardwalk your only two options are boat or walking. If you don't mind the walk, walking is probably faster, especially if you're staying in a villa at the far end of the Boardwalk complex. On your way back, if there's a boat already boarding at the Studios you can take it to the first stop (Swan/Dolphin) and walk over to the Boardwalk.

-Rob

 

[BoarderPhreak]

I think he means Downtown Disney. Many many moons ago it was once called Disney Village Marketplace.

Yes, I did. Go figure, now it's Disney Springs... Whatever. "The place next to the Disney Institute."

Sorry to respond so late to this thread (and drag it back up again).