Best way... Resort hopping to see Christmas Decorations

[Kbullz]

We want to visit some of the resorts during our stay to see the decorations in Dec. we have some time on the day we arrive. Have reservations at Chef Mickeys at 5 30pm.
What would be the best way to get around to see the different hotels? We are staying in the AOA. Should arrive at hotel by 1 pm. I'm guessing that Chef Mickeys will be about 1 1/2 hours?
Can the buses take us from different resorts? Does it take a long time to go hotel hopping? I have a 5 and 6 year old and do not want to exhaust them too much on their first night.

 

[Master Yoda]

The fastest way is a car as there is no direct resort to resort transportation save for the monorail connecting the Contemporary, Poly and GF.

If you don't have a car here is a plan that should work for you. You should have an easy time with the three monorail resorts. Simply get on the monorail at the Contemporary and travel to the Poly and GF. From there you can get of the monorail at MK and take the boat to WL. From WL take the bus to DHS and walk over to the Epcot resorts. From the Epcot resorts you can take a bus to any of the parks or DTD and then get back to your resort.

 

[Nemo14]

You'd have time to see the monorail resorts before your reservations anyway. Take the bus to the MK, and hop on the resort monorail. From there you could check out the Poly and the GF. If time allows after that, get back on the monorail to the MK and take the ferry to WL, then ferry back to the Contemporary for your reservation. Remember that Disney transportation takes a while, so even if you're at AOA at 1, it will take quite a while to get over to MK. Have fun!

edit: Looks like Mater Yoda beat me to it again!

 

[The Tomorrownaut]

One resort I would definitely try to get to other than the monorail resorts is Animal Kingdom Lodge. That place is huge and partiularly impressive when all dressed up for Christmas! Plus the kids will really like to see the animals out back by the pool area and it will give them a little taste of the excitement they'll experience when they get to Animal Kingdom! (If you plan to go there of course )

 

[Buzz2001]

Bus to MK and then hop on the monorail to Cont, then to Poly, then to GF, then back to MK. Then take the boat to WL.

On our Epcot day, we took time in the middle to exit the International Gateway to visit BC, YC and BW.

On our AK day, when we were done with the park, we took a bus to AKL.

 

[tare]

Monorail for three obvious resorts and then take a boat from MGM(not calling hs) to the board yacht and beach. You could even chk out swan dolphin. These are all beautiful resorts at Christmas. Oh and don't forget wl

 

[got2lovedisney]

There are a multitude of ways of manuvering around the resorts.

Take the bus from AoA over to MK, take the launch over to WL and/or Fort Wilderness. From there, there is a launch over to the Contemporary. At this point, I'd hop on the Monorail to visit the Poly & Grand Floridian and end up back at the Contemporary. You could, instead, head straight to Downtown Disney and from there catch a bus to Wilderness Lodge or one of the monorail resorts (I believe they share a bus) and go in reverse. (previous posters mention getting off at Mk to go to WL, that is also an option). You could then take a bus over to Downtown Disney then a launch up the Sassagoula to the POFQ & PORS. Catch a bus over to Studios and hop the launch/walk over to the Epcot resorts.(Don't get on an Epcot bus because that takes you to the front of the park and you won't have access to the Epcot resorts which are by the International Gateway (admission required).

 

[Mukta]

On my MK day, i take the monorail to Contemporary, Poly and GF. I then take a boat to WL.

On an epcot day, walk between BC, YC and Boardwalk.

I make a reservation at Boma/Jiko/Sanaa and see AKL.

 

[Much-Pixie-Dust]

It does take a while to resort hop and really take all the decorations in. We did it last December with a seven year old and we all loved it. We spent the day doing it before going to MVMCP (which we went into at about 5 pm) - we got to five resorts and DTD. We hit other resorts on different days as we were going to and from the parks. We drove to all of them except WL, which we parked at the TTC and used the water transportation to get to WL. We called it a Christmas Crawl, and tried to get a sweet treat at each place we visited.

 

[JillC LI]

When you're visiting EPCOT one day, you could walk over to the Beach Club to see the chocolate carousel.

 

[75disney]

We are planning on doing the same thing as you on one of our free days. We will have a car however to get around to the different resorts easier. We are stopping at AKL (never even been there), AoA (again never seen) and then walking around the Epcot resorts. We will end with dinner at Cape May Cafe.
Without a car, the monorail resorts are the easiest to visit before your Chef Mickey's ADR. They are gorgeous anytime of the year, but at Christmas they are really amazing. You can probably make it to WL as well. I recommend taking the bus from your resort to the MK. Hopping on the monorail (or a boat) to the Poly. Then get back on the monorail and go to GF. Get back on monorail to MK. Then take the water shuttle or bus to WL. Finally, take a boat to CR. If you run out of time, you can always check out the CR's decorations after your dinner.

 

[Kbullz]

Thank you all for the help! I have been to Disney World 5 times I never ever knew that I could visit the resorts! Thank God for these boards! I have learned so much.
I like the idea of on the day we are at Epcot to see Beach club, the day we are at AK to see their resort etc.
You all have given me a lot to think of and plan!

 

[Alley7728]

Thank you all for the help! I have been to Disney World 5 times I never ever knew that I could visit the resorts! Thank God for these boards! I have learned so much.
I like the idea of on the day we are at Epcot to see Beach club, the day we are at AK to see their resort etc.
You all have given me a lot to think of and plan!

Good luck. We are going to try to do something similiar as our first day is free other then dinner reservations.

 

[JillC LI]

Thank you all for the help! I have been to Disney World 5 times I never ever knew that I could visit the resorts! Thank God for these boards! I have learned so much.
I like the idea of on the day we are at Epcot to see Beach club, the day we are at AK to see their resort etc.
You all have given me a lot to think of and plan!

Also, there's the life size gingerbread house at the Grand FLoridian. And of course, don't miss the Osborne Lights at DHS.

 

[hankhill]

If you are a walker there are two ways to do the Epcot resorts. On your Epcot day simply walk out the International Gateway and you can hit Yacht and Beach, Boardwalk, Swan and Dolphin all in one shot. Then take the walkway (or the boat) over to HS and grab a bus to AoA and walk across the bridge to POP. If you included the MK resort loop in reverse and went Poly, GF, then your Chef Mickey rezzie you could then take the boat out to WL and have done 10 resorts in the day. May be a bit much but I have been known to overachieve

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I would hit up the monorail resorts before your reservation, and take a boat from MK or maybe even the Contemporary to WL to see those decorations. And do the Boardwalk and Beach Club when visiting World Showcase one day, maybe stop at Beaches and Cream for some ice cream too!