DON'T USE DISNEY TRANSIT!!....bring your own car?...

[FUNDAD]

Do you agree?

This is our first time to WDW....We are traveling from Canada..... We'll either have to rent a car, or rely on the Monorail/bus/boat system......What have you found with the Disney Transit System (DTS)...If you are staying in a resort, do you use your own car to get around, or the DTS?

Comparing the Disney Transit System (DTS) to car travel times "door to door" in the Unofficial Guide To WDW 2006, it shows having a car can save you a lot of travel time.....For example: We are staying in the Polynesian for four nights, then moving to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.....Travel times to the parks per the guide book are:

Downtown Disney....by car: 22 min, DTS: 51 min.
Typhoon Lagoon......by car: 20 min, DTS: 55 min.
Epcot....................by car: 19 min, DTS: 40 min.
MGM......................by car: 19 min, DTS: 30 min.
Blizzard Beach.........by car: 12 min, DTS: 40 min.

Over a full week that adds up to a lot of time difference!...Time we could be spending in the parks..... Of course to Magic Kingdom, the DTS is about the same as a car....

Would you recommend we rent a car and shave some time off?

Daryl & Connie.

 

[pinkrose]

We have never had a problem with the Disney transportation. We always drive down and leave the car parked for the most part.
I am not a fan of the Unofficial Guide at all. Perhaps if used along with another refrence book, but not alone. It totally turned my next door neighbor off from going. I explained to her that it's really not as bad as the book makes it out to be. She took her daughter and they had a wonderful time.

 

[Disney MDACK]

I am lucky enough to have a car down there. Having gone there the past three years in a row I know my way around ok so making a dinner is a snap. I would rather rely on myself than the bus to make it somewhere on time. I am not knocking the buses, I just like the idea of driving around disney:animwink: .

 

[pinkrose]

I totally recommend Disney transportation...especially since you are staying at Poly for half the trip with the monorail right there. Those times that were quoted I have never experienced there. We will never drive at WDW again. I can always find what I need on property without having to leave. Not having to drive makes me really feel relaxed on vacation.

I couldn't agree more. We pretty much just leave the car parked while down there.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

It's just my opinion, but I really enjoy Disney transportation and have only rarely had any problem with it. I look forward to getting off the plane, have a car take me to my hotel and don't drive again until I get home.

There have been occasions when I have had a car there (offsite conventions and the like) and find driving on property a bit confusing...and as others have said, you park out in jabipsville and have a long walk or wait for a tram.

The only real challenges you will have are park opening morning busses (mostly to MK) and leaving the parks at closing. Even those can be managed with minimal pain.

 

[fers31]

Always better to have a rental car. You're already spending $xxxx on your vacation, shell out $140 more and have a much nicer time. No need to wait for loud busses, go wherever you want, eat outside of Disney. There's so much around Disney, we find it stupid to rely on the bus system. There are tons of outlet malls, great restaurants, places to see, and other theme parks (yes I said it). Renting a car in Florida is dirt cheap compared to many other places. I have never not rented a car down there. It's completely worth it. Just my opinion but why be at other people's mercy on your vacation? Go where you want, when you want!!! Have a fun trip.

 

[JimboJones123]

We have kids. So for all the hopping back for mid-day naps... a car is a must. Besides, the few times we did stay late, bus waits to come back can be up to 6-7 busses -- coming every 10-15 minutes. For EMH nights, everybody will be on those busses. So midnight + another hour wait for the bus, 20 minute ride, and 10-15 minute walk back to the room can be very exhausting, even without kids. Count me in for a car. Cheap car is okay, we don't need full size.

 

[frankd1962]

In the two trips I made to WDW I've rented once and use WDW transportation the later and I will use WDW on my next trip. Unless you're planning on a trip off property you reall don't need it.

If you rent, you still have to make sure that the tank is full during and after the visit, you have to wait in line to get into the parking lot, you might be park on the other side of the lot from where you enter the park and just fact of the scams that are performed on rentals by who make money this way. A friend who lives in the area sent me years ago an article about how there were bump and run scams on visitors to the area.

By using the WDW transportation, you can relax or even nap while someone else drives you, most of the drivers are entertaining and make the trip anywhere fun, less cars on the roads and you get closer to the netrances than by car.

At home I use public transportaion to get around everywhere. I feel more relax because when I drive I get tense because so many crazies out there behind the wheel. And I'm one of them.

But seriously, I enjoyed the rides on the buses, Monrail and all others while I was there. Don't worry. You'll get to the palce you want in time.

 

[jonesenon4]

those travel times are way off we have been to wdw every year since 87 stayed on site most of the time main reason disney transportation. think of convience if nothing else just consider bus ride the first attraction of the day.also do you really want to fight that traffic first thing every morning. then at the end of the day do you want to face that long walk back to your car when you are already worn out and once again fight traffic back to resort.to me and my family disney trans is the only way to go.back in the world sept 24 06 counting down the days.:wave: :sohappy: :wave:

 

[GoofyGuySouthFl]

the travel times my be off in the guide but from previous experiences its about the same whether your on the bus or in your own car, but we still prefer to drive our own car. we have been to the world over 20 times and we know our way around pretty well and it just makes it so much easier for us. plus i hate during the crowded times when the pack you in those busses like sardines. thats the last thing i want when i've been in the hot park all day long is to be crammed into a bus with 100 other smelly sweaty people. no thank you. i'll take my nice air conditioned car any day.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

I personally would never rent a car at WDW unless I needed to get off property. We usually stay at the Boardwalk, so we're fortunate to have easy walk or ferry access to MGM and Epcot, but we still need buses for AK, MK, water parks and DTD.

In the mornings, we've never encountered an annoying wait time for a bus to where we wanted to go. Park-hopping, it's probably a bit based on luck, but again, we've never had a memorably long wait time. The main areas where we get annoyed is buses at park closing. Things obviously get a little jammed, but you also can't get a bus directly to DTD from the parks. So you have to go to a resort, and then wait for another bus to DTD. We've tried to figure out the fastest strategy for getting around this, but haven't nailed one yet. But even with that, I would NEVER want to deal with a car getting out of the parks either.

My strategy on that is from the MK, walk to Contemporary then get the DTD bus there. Epcot or MGM walk to the nearest boardwalk hotel then bus to DTD from there.

 

[freediverdude]

Well I think the answer is, "It depends." It depends first on whether you're a newbie to WDW, in which case I definitely would recommend the Disney transportation until you get a feel for where everything is. The signs can be very confusing within Disney, and the roads send you around in loop de loops and you have to be in the correct lane to turn where you need to turn, etc. It took me several years of going before I really felt comfortable driving around Disney, knowing where I was going and which road went where. So an unfamiliar rental car with unfamiliar roads in the dark after a park closing isn't the best idea for a newbie.

Second, it depends where you are staying. If you're staying in a monorail resort or an Epcot resort, where you have real convenient access to at least 2 parks without a car, it's probably not worth it, unless you have plans to eat or meet people offsite. If you're staying in one of the other resorts, however, it can make sense. Usually, if you're in a resort room, and you have to take a bus to meet someone in a park, you have to allow about an hour from room to meeting, in case you end up waiting fairly long for a bus (and I have waited up to 55 minutes for one before, timed it on a watch. But other times the bus is sitting there waiting for you- it's just luck of the draw.) But getting into your car and driving to a park and parking and walking in usually takes about 30 minutes tops (maybe a little more for Magic Kingdom because of the extra monorail or ferryboat, it's often more worth it to take the bus to MK). So the timing of a car trip is a little more certain. But, you do have to be familiar with the roads in Disney somewhat.

Third, other factors come into play, such as whether you have your own stroller, which can be a pain to fold up and take on the buses, whether you're likely to want to visit other resorts for eating, which would make the car a more attractive option, how often you want to go back and forth from the resort to the parks each day, whether you want to store grocery food in your room and need to go to the grocery every so often, factors such as these. So it really does turn out to be an individual decision. I will say this, though- if you're at Magic Kingdom exiting right after the fireworks, your options aren't very good either way :lol: If you have the car, you can either walk over to the monorail station with several monorails full of people standing in front of you, or you can go wait to squish on a ferry with a thousand people. If you're staying at a non-monorail resort, you can go stand in line with hundreds of other people for a bus. Your only good options in this situation are staying at a monorail resort, or traveling to one of the monorail resorts and then going somewhere else from there.

 

[shoppingnut]

I've never had a problem with the transportation and I've gone both with and without a car. Now I use DME and if I want to go off property, I rent a car from the CCC for a few days and do my things during that time. I have found that there is little difference in the time driving to the parks or taking DT. the only place that does make a difference is sometimes getting to DTD.

Also, I noticed that at Epcot after EMH they don't run the tram to the parking lot, you have to walk to your car. Don't know if this is true for other parks, but it's annoying to say the least.

Renting a car for a week isn't that cheap. Car rental prices vary widely depending on the time of year. For instance, I'm renting a car for three days in July which is costing $30 more than when I rented one for four days in January. And, if you're not going to be going off property why waste the money on a rental, just so you can buy a case of water somewhere for $4.99. It's just cheaper to buy drinks on property and get the refillable mugs than to rent a car for $140 or more if that is all you're going to use if for.

It's not stupid not to rent a car, it's a choice someone makes depending on their situation/needs. And if they do it for $$ so they can then eat someplace special or do something else on the vacation, that is a personal choice.

I've driven on disney property and know my way around well, but there are lots of maniacs on the roads down there, so it does increase your risk of having an accident because you are unfamiliar with the roads as well as others and combine that with the speed demons and it's just trouble.

 

[nmj91385]

Those times don't look right at all for the dts. We always use dts and have never had to ride a bus for that length of time. The longest is usually 20 mins.

 

[Teenchy]

With the amount of people and the amount of destinations within WDW I think Disney transportation is amazing, but that being said we always rent a car .

Its really for flexability. We like to do things on the spur of the moment and having a car really helps. No waiting for a bus to show up. No crowded buses at the end of a long hot day in one of the parks.

Plus we visit often so sometimes we do a few things off property. Even just visiting a grocery store.

If $$ are ac issue you can do just fine without a car, plan out your day and things will run smooth, but if you have the extra $$ I think having a car is an extra perk.

If you go for the rental car, sign up to be a preferred member with Avis or someone else, its usually free online, but it allows you to bypass the normal rental car lines in the airport and go straight to the rental car pick up to get your car.

 

[THECARISMINE]

I have never seen times like that well once at the all-stars but thats expected at a value resort. Are you sure about those times exact usally the high resorts have the least times I think the most I waited at the polyeanisan which in my opinion was sadly changed for the worse when they changed the pool even though I do like the rooms now anyway the most I waited there was 27 min. to get to AK and that was in July so the park was a mess along with the buses back depending on the time you left though I love the buses at WDW and would never rent a car it would take more time to get to your car anyway and to find it then with my luck I'd forget which road to take back to the resorty get lost and 2 hours later find the resort empty mind you because it was a late night at MK and it is now 5AM and you have reservations at AK for breakfest and the Donald dinosaur thing and you need to wake up in three hours if u don't want to waste the vacation. in any case I'll stick with DT:sohappy:

 

[CaptainMichael]

Personally, I don't want to have to deal with parking, driving, etc. while I am on vacation. If Disney provides it at no additional cost, why not take advantage of it? Disney Transportation is just too convienient to pass up IMO. It is also fun to interact with fellow guests, and perhaps help them have a better trip by sharing some knowledge.

 

[wannab@dis]

It is also fun to interact with fellow guests

We always strike up conversations on the bus and have met some great people during the ride. It's makes for a short ride and before you know it, you're at the destination. Can't do that in a rental. :lol:

 

[utrythinkinof1]

Do you agree?

This is our first time to WDW....We are traveling from Canada..... We'll either have to rent a car, or rely on the Monorail/bus/boat system......What have you found with the Disney Transit System (DTS)...If you are staying in a resort, do you use your own car to get around, or the DTS?

Comparing the Disney Transit System (DTS) to car travel times "door to door" in the Unofficial Guide To WDW 2006, it shows having a car can save you a lot of travel time.....For example: We are staying in the Polynesian for four nights, then moving to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.....Travel times to the parks per the guide book are:

Downtown Disney....by car: 22 min, DTS: 51 min.
Typhoon Lagoon......by car: 20 min, DTS: 55 min.
Epcot....................by car: 19 min, DTS: 40 min.
MGM......................by car: 19 min, DTS: 30 min.
Blizzard Beach.........by car: 12 min, DTS: 40 min.

Over a full week that adds up to a lot of time difference!...Time we could be spending in the parks..... Of course to Magic Kingdom, the DTS is about the same as a car....

Would you recommend we rent a car and shave some time off?

Daryl & Connie.

I would use Disney Transport. Conserve gas!! Too many people are wasting gas by being lazy and buying huge SUVs when they don't need it!

And if you do rent a car, try getting this: http://www.robotmonkeypants.com/blog/uploaded_images/IMG_0231-797139.JPG

The Smart car is coming to the USA in '08 and gets (I remember reading this somewhere) 77 miles to the gallon on the highway. The "Americanized" version gets 40.

 

[Kaertos]

A little from column A...

I've done both as of this year, that is a trip totally on WDWTrans and a trip totally in my own car. I've also done a trip where I have mixed the two, and that is the way I'll be doing it from now on.

I have no problem with WDWTrans. They do a great job as far as I am concerned. However, for little things like running out to play a round of mini-golf or hopping over to DTD for a little shopping, a car is nice. And it is nice to know you have it if you need it. However, it is extra $$ and that is important. I can usually get pretty good deals on rentals through AAA so I like having that option.

However, if I had to choose one or the other? Give me my bus ride!

 

[wannab@dis]

And if you do rent a car, try getting this: http://www.robotmonkeypants.com/blog/uploaded_images/IMG_0231-797139.JPG

I'll stick with my SUV... there's no amount of money in the world to get me to drive around that tiny ugly bubble. :zipit: