I wanted to know how long after the parks closes does the monorail and buses run to hotels. Thanx
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Disney transportation hours
- Thread starter dynamix_disney
- Start date
MiceysBestPal
New Member
The generally "published" info says, "one hour following park closure."
But, in practice, it varies greatly.
The first thing to stop running in the evenings (and the last to start running in the mornings) will be the BOATS.
They stick to a pretty tight schedule as they are usually backed up with another form of transportation.
Assume the "one hour rule" to apply to the boats.
The next thing that shuts down will be the MONORAILS.
But they will run for (typically) 90-120 minutes after Epcot and/or MK closes. The last of these trains to stop for the evening will be the RESORT Monorails.
The most reliable at all times will be the BUSES.
Buses will begin running from the resorts to the parks in the mornings starting about 6:40am. (Commonly called the "Breakfast Buses" or "Breakfast Routes.")
In fact, because of the aforementioned lack of early BOAT transportation, even the MK-area resorts -normally served by boats to the MK- will have special ("Breakfast") buses running in the morning to take guests to early breakfasts and other activities at MK or the other MK area resorts.
A note to those who have early Chef Mickey's or Ohana breakfast ADRs-
You will board the bus from your resort marked "Magic Kingdom" (as expected) but, as you board, be sure to TELL YOUR DRIVER that you are going to Chef Mickey's or Ohana that morning and (s)he will likely make a swing by the Contemporary on the way to MK... and then stop by the Poly on the way back out of the area (be sure to CHECK about the Poly stop with your driver.)
At night, the buses will continue to run until virtually ALL the guests have been picked up from the parks.
This can sometimes mean (for the late stragglers) a "last bus" (sometimes more than one or two) that will actually go from the park to "all" the resorts (if there are guests onboard who are staying there) to deliver the various guests to their respective locations.
The buses run LATE, and the DTD/PI buses will be returning guests to the resorts until well past 2am.
This is very helpful. I was just trying to figure out (on another thread) how early the resort buses start running -- the nearest I could figure was that they start about one hour before park opening.
Do the "breakfast buses" start early for resort-to-Epcot routes as well, or do they start early only for the MK and MK-area resorts?
Do the "breakfast buses" start early for resort-to-Epcot routes as well, or do they start early only for the MK and MK-area resorts?
stalkingmickey
Active Member
I wish I knew about the breakfast buses. We just got back and had ressie for chef mickeys at 7am. Staying at the Poly we went to the monorail to take over to the Contemp. We were not the only ones waiting for a monorail for our 7 am ressie's. We actually watched a monorail pull into the hotel at 7am, but the CM had not shown up yet so the door was locked. At 7:10 he finally showed up and unlocked the door. We got to Chef Mickeys about 7:25, because we had to wait for another monorail for about 15 minutes.
I was wondering why they had 7 am ressie's if there was no transportation running to get your there in time. I asked a CM at Chef Mickeys. Believe it or not she actually said that I should have rented a car to drive there. I said to her doesn't that defeat Disney wanting people to stay on proerty and use their transportation. She looked at me like I had 10 heads.
OmegaKnight
New Member
I can tell you the hours of the monorail system:
Resort Monorail: 7:00 a.m. until 2 hours after final park close (MK/Epcot). On EMH/Special Ticketed Event nights, this system shuts down as soon as park has cleared of guests.
Epcot Monorail: 7:30 a.m until 1.5 hours after final park close (MK/Epcot). On Epcot EMH nights, this system shuts down once Epcot has cleared of guests.
Express Monorail: 8:00 a.m. until posted Magic Kingdom park close. This system does not run during MK EMH nights.
Approximately 1 hour after final park close will be when the monorails start dropping off at the parks for transfers to Disney resort buses. When this occurs, all guests needing bus service must go to one of the three monorail resorts, take the bus to Downtown Disney and then catch bus service from DD to their respective resort.
When the Epcot monorail has shut down for the night, guests needing to return to Epcot to pick up their car must board the Disney-MGM Studios bus at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) and inform the bus driver that Epcot is their destination.
Hopefully this all helps you out.
Resort Monorail: 7:00 a.m. until 2 hours after final park close (MK/Epcot). On EMH/Special Ticketed Event nights, this system shuts down as soon as park has cleared of guests.
Epcot Monorail: 7:30 a.m until 1.5 hours after final park close (MK/Epcot). On Epcot EMH nights, this system shuts down once Epcot has cleared of guests.
Express Monorail: 8:00 a.m. until posted Magic Kingdom park close. This system does not run during MK EMH nights.
Approximately 1 hour after final park close will be when the monorails start dropping off at the parks for transfers to Disney resort buses. When this occurs, all guests needing bus service must go to one of the three monorail resorts, take the bus to Downtown Disney and then catch bus service from DD to their respective resort.
When the Epcot monorail has shut down for the night, guests needing to return to Epcot to pick up their car must board the Disney-MGM Studios bus at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) and inform the bus driver that Epcot is their destination.
Hopefully this all helps you out.