Downtown Disney to Contemp resort

[acgift]

Hi - Need some transportation advice from you experts. If we take the bus from POP to Downtown Disney and then need to go directly to Chef Mickey's at the Comtempory for dinner, is there a bus to take us there? Not sure if there is a bus there or would it be to the transportation center where we would take the monorail. Thanks.

 

[mousefan1972]

There will be a bus that goes to the Contemporary from Downtown Disney. Just find the appropriate stop at DD and you will go directly there. The bus will also go to another MK resort, so the Contemporary may or may not be the first stop. :wave:

 

[nolatron]

From: Downtown Disney Marketplace
To: Contemporary Resort

​

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Using Disney Transportation:[/FONT]
Board Bus marked Contemporary Resort or Transportation Center (then Monorail to resort)

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Approximate Travel Time:[/FONT]
60 minutes

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/transportation/transportation1.cfm

 

[Tinkerbella16]

Or you can just take the bus from Pop to MK and ride the monorail right into the Contemporary.

That's what we would do...and thats what we do usually every time we have a ressie for Chef Mickeys. Bus to MK, then monorail to CR.

 

[mousefan1972]

Or you can just take the bus from Pop to MK and ride the monorail right into the Contemporary.

That's what we would do...and thats what we do usually every time we have a ressie for Chef Mickeys. Bus to MK, then monorail to CR.

That would work, except the OP said they needed to get to Chef Mickey's from Downtown Disney. :wave:

 

[Tinkerbella16]

That would work, except the OP said they needed to get to Chef Mickey's from Downtown Disney. :wave:

I know, but the OP didn't mention if they were just going to DTD to get a bus to CR, since the busses don't go from resort to resort...Or if they will be spending the day at DTD, so they wanted to leave from there to go to Contemporary.

 

[CleveRocks]

From: Downtown Disney Marketplace

To: Contemporary Resort

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Using Disney Transportation:[/FONT]​

Board Bus marked Contemporary Resort or Transportation Center (then Monorail to resort)

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Approximate Travel Time:[/FONT]
60 minutes

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/transportation/transportation1.cfm

The part I highlighted in red above is outdated information.

There is no longer any direct transportation between Downtown Disney and the theme parks or the TTC. It's been YEARS since there was such a thing.

There's a direct bus from DTD to the 3 Magic Kingdom area resorts.

 

[acgift]

60 minutes...YIKES

Yikes!!! 60 minutes seems like a long time to get to the Contempory Resort from Downtown Disney. Here's our plan...on our last full day we will spend the morning in AK before returning to POP for a swim. We then want to go to the marketplace to shop and see the lego structures. We have a 6:40 reservation at Chef Mickeys so we thought it would be great to just go there from the marketplace. If there's a direct bus that's great, but doesn't 60 minutes seem awfully long? (The night of our reservation the MK closes at 7:00 for the Xmas Party, so we wanted to try to avoid the monorail at that time. We're talking mid December. Last year, at the same time, with a different grandchild, we were over 1/2 hour late to the Grand Floridian for a Cinderella dinner because of the crowds going to/leaving from the MK. ) Thanks again for your info.

 

[mousefan1972]

Well, the actual bus ride won't be 60 minutes, but the unknown is how long you will have to wait for a bus. If you get to the bus stop 5 minutes after the bus to the Contemporary has left, you could possibly be waiting 20-30 minutes for another one. Then, if the bus goes to the Polynesian (for example) before going to the Contemporary, that will add another 10 minutes or so. Maybe if you're worried about being late for your dinner reservation, it would be worth taking a cab? :shrug:

 

[Tinkerbella16]

Well just allow yourself an hour or more before your ressie, to get to the Contemporary from DTD. Spend the morning at AK, come back to the hotel around Noon to swim, relax and get ready. Then, I would catch the DTD bus by 3pm so you have plenty of time to see what you'd like to see at DTD, be at the busstop for CR by 5:30...there may be other stops like GF, Poly, or WL so just incase, you should def allow enough time to get there. :wave:

 

[jjgoo]

Here's another idea. I'm not a proponent of needlessly spending extra money, however you may want to consider a taxi.

Before you leave POP ask for the number of a taxi company and then if there are none available around the time you are going to leave DTD (there ususally are a bunch waiting though) have a store call a cab for you. It should probably cost about $15-20 including tip.

It may be well worth it if you want to maximize your time on your last day.

People are not exaggerating when they say it could take 60mins for a bus. Around 6:00 will be a busy time for people to returning to hotels or getting to dinner reservations. I have always found bus service at DTD to be unreliable. Sometimes you get bus after bus that is empty and other times it could be a half hour between busses and it's standing room only.

Either way the ride itsself is about a half hour. Go to the bus stop near Planet Hollywood. If you don't get a bus in 5-10 minutes then grab a cab. But you should do it at least 45mins before your reservation.

 

[nolatron]

The part I highlighted in red above is outdated information.

There is no longer any direct transportation between Downtown Disney and the theme parks or the TTC. It's been YEARS since there was such a thing.

There's a direct bus from DTD to the 3 Magic Kingdom area resorts.

I kinda thought so. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[hokielutz]

Well just allow yourself an hour or more before your ressie, to get to the Contemporary from DTD. Spend the morning at AK, come back to the hotel around Noon to swim, relax and get ready. Then, I would catch the DTD bus by 3pm so you have plenty of time to see what you'd like to see at DTD, be at the busstop for CR by 5:30...there may be other stops like GF, Poly, or WL so just incase, you should def allow enough time to get there. :wave:

I agree with the day plan as stated above. The real unknown is how long it will take a Contemporary bus to get to the pickup point at DTD. Backup plan is to hail a cab if you are stressed for time.

 

[luckyeye13]

Since the MK Resort routes have not changed too much over the last few years (except for the roads used to get to DTD), I am going to go out on a limb here. At the time of day you should be traveling, the order of stops from DTD will be DTD Marketplace, DTD Pleasure Island, Typhoon Lagoon (though it will be closed in December, so buses won't stop there during your trip), Contemporary, and Polynesian. Buses are supposed to depart about every 20 minutes. If you board at Marketplace, the trip to the PI stop will be about 5 minutes. After that, the trip to the Contemporary should take around 15 minutes. Basically, if you allow an hour, you should have a good bit of cushion time, in case there is a change of bus drivers (which means that the new driver has to walk around the bus at PI and inspect it to make sure it is fit for service), traffic, etc.

 

[One Lil Spark]

I agree with the taxi option.

If your Chef Mickey's ADR is really important to you and there's no direct path to get you there from DTD, don't take the chance being at the mercy of Disney Transportation. Shell out the extra $15-$20 and take the guess work out of it. It will be worth it in the end!

:wave:

 

[shoppingnut]

I agree with the taxi option.

If your Chef Mickey's ADR is really important to you and there's no direct path to get you there from DTD, don't take the chance being at the mercy of Disney Transportation. Shell out the extra $15-$20 and take the guess work out of it. It will be worth it in the end!

:wave:

I agree with keeping this option as your backup plan if you want to maximize your time at DTD and not be stressed by waiting for the bus. I'd say if you've finished DTD early and are ready to go to the CR, then head for the bus, but if you feel you want to spend more time there, well then just hop a taxi.