EMH (Morning)/Rope Drop Buses vs Car

[KrzyKtty]

We are staying at the resort from June 10-18th. We are planning on Rope Dropping every park and using the Extra Magic Hours. Also for Epcot, we have a 8:05 AM ADR. With these early excursions, do you find it easier to Drive yourself or ride the bus? My husband is a VERY comfortable driver, so that is a non issue.

Also, what are the car line like to park before the park opens? How long does it take to park and get to the front?

We have stayed before and used the buses every time, however, we have found that it seems to add a lot of time to and from and it waiting.Just curious if driving will help, but there is no point if I am going to be in traffic for an hour to park.

 

[Master Yoda]

I have always found driving to be a little less stressful when trying to get to the parks early. The actual travel times are probably a wash, but you don't have any of that watching your watch waiting on a bus stress.

The lines to get into the parking lots are typically very short in the morning.

For travel times, I have found the link below to be fairly accurate.

http://www.ourlaughingplace.com/aspx/twiz.aspx#.WLBBvW8rJhF

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Driving will help at Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot. It will make your commute time longer at the Magic Kingdom. There's no "line to park," they're very efficient at getting everyone in quickly in the mornings. For the most part, the roads you'd take in the car are the same roads you'd take in the Disney busses.

When you say "rope drop and extra magic hours," are you saying you're going to be at every park at 7:30 AM every morning? Forgive me for saying so, but that seems insane. It's a major recipe for disaster from cranky parents and cranky kids.

 

[Master Yoda]

Driving will help at Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot. It will make your commute time longer at the Magic Kingdom. There's no "line to park," they're very efficient at getting everyone in quickly in the mornings. For the most part, the roads you'd take in the car are the same roads you'd take in the Disney busses.

When you say "rope drop and extra magic hours," are you saying you're going to be at every park at 7:30 AM every morning? Forgive me for saying so, but that seems insane. It's a major recipe for disaster from cranky parents and cranky kids.

Depends on the family. We have been doing rope drop and early EMH with kids ranging from newborns to teenagers for the better part of 20 years with no real issues.

The advantage is a largely deserted park for around 2 hours as most people don't want to get up that early. It is not uncommon for us to hit every ride in FL before 9:30 on an EMH day.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Depends on the family. We have been doing rope drop and early EMH with kids ranging from newborns to teenagers for the better part of 20 years with no real issues.

For every day on a week-long trip?

 

[Master Yoda]

For every day on a week-long trip?

Yes. Getting up at 6:30 is actually sleeping in a little for us. I am at work by 7:00 AM, the latest the wife gets to work is at 6:00 AM and 6:30-7:00 AM bus pick up times were the norm for the kids.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Yes. Getting up at 6:30 is actually sleeping in a little for us. I am at work by 7:00 AM, the latest the wife gets to work is at 6:00 AM and 6:30-7:00 AM bus pick up times were the norm for the kids.

In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.

Well then, OP, it can certainly work, but make sure you know your family. Many (most?) of the meltdowns you see in the parks are due to families who forget to rest on their vacation. My family has success with daily rope drop at normal 9am openings but if we tried to do morning EMH more than one day, we'd be ruined for the week. I also highly recommend the park hopper option if you're going to be doing morning EMH. The EMH parks can get crowded by late morning so it's good to get out and head elsewhere around lunchtime.

 

[KrzyKtty]

Driving will help at Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot. It will make your commute time longer at the Magic Kingdom. There's no "line to park," they're very efficient at getting everyone in quickly in the mornings. For the most part, the roads you'd take in the car are the same roads you'd take in the Disney busses.

When you say "rope drop and extra magic hours," are you saying you're going to be at every park at 7:30 AM every morning? Forgive me for saying so, but that seems insane. It's a major recipe for disaster from cranky parents and cranky kids.

Yes, about that time, except more 8:30 for Magic Kingdom. We are doing Evening EMH for Epcot and Magic Kingdom. For my family it isn't that insane. our Children are used to getting up at 6 am or earlier every morning. Their bus picks them up before 6:30. So even with Rope Drop, they would still get to sleep in an extra 30 minutes from normal. My husband and I start work every M-F at 7-7:30 am. We frequently don't go to bed until Midnight. It is just how our family works. That being said, we are [planning on mid day breaks most of the time.

 

[BigRedDad]

Driving hands down beats Disney buses. The only time Disney transportation beats driving yourself is maybe MK since you have to ferry or take the monorail. In all other instances, driving beats it.

 

[MomofPrincessGrace]

We definitely preferred driving, especially when we had early reservations. Even on our Epcot days, we would drive to the TTC, be within the first 100 to be parked, and just walk over to the monorail. We were usually also parked close enough that if we wanted to take a cooler of drinks and walk back to the car for a little break and have a chest full of cold drinks instead of having to take any into the park. The only thing I will say is dont trust google maps too much. There were a few times we were trying to get back to the resort, or to one park, and ended up getting lost (trying to get to DHS I believe and Google took us to AK).

 

[LeighM]

I'm not sure if you're used to the heat and humidity of FL in the summer but that can also impact the moods and crankiness level on your trip. The humidity can really take a toll so glad to see you're going to take afternoon breaks.

 

[sxeensweet]

We much prefer to drive our own car and it is faster and easier. We use our car everyday and on rare occasion use the busses. We use the monorail and boats too but busses is a last resort. You can park free at the parks anyway if staying onsite etc. I have timed the busses even at "slow" times and it took us longer to get where we had to go even MK that some say busses are faster for. Another perk to a car is you always have a guaranteed seat! After a long day on my feet that's a must. I have had to stand on the busses 75% of the time and wait in line standing for them at the end of the night too even after waiting an hour to exit the park to let the crowds die out. No fun.

 

[KrzyKtty]

I'm not sure if you're used to the heat and humidity of FL in the summer but that can also impact the moods and crankiness level on your trip. The humidity can really take a toll so glad to see you're going to take afternoon breaks.

Maybe not FL, but we are from SC, so we know humidity intimately. Part of the reason why plan on having late lunches and most of our shows in the heat of the afternoon. Good way to get inside.

 

[LeighM]

Maybe not FL, but we are from SC, so we know humidity intimately. Part of the reason why plan on having late lunches and most of our shows in the heat of the afternoon. Good way to get inside.

I'm sure you do LOL. I've heard so many people at WDW complain about the humidity because they didn't know it was going to be that bad. I think one of the families on the bus with us was from Montana or someplace. The funny thing was that my husband and I didn't think it was all that bad at the time The things you get used to when you live in the South lol.

 

[SAV]

I prefer to drive everywhere. Then I am in control of where I go, when I want to go.

During the early hours I prefer to park and just walk instead of waiting for a tram since you park so close to the entry.

 

[DryerLintFan]

Yes. Getting up at 6:30 is actually sleeping in a little for us. I am at work by 7:00 AM, the latest the wife gets to work is at 6:00 AM and 6:30-7:00 AM bus pick up times were the norm for the kids.

This is us too!! I'm up at 5am and get my daughter up at 6am. Rope drop will be sleeping in for us, even if we're able to hit EMH

Thank you for this thread OP!! I was wondering the same thing!

 

[Tom P.]

In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.

LOL. That reply made my day.