Epcot/Spoodles?Illuminations Cruise Transportation

[Grumpy56]

I've been racking my brain about his and hope soemone can come up with the answer. On a Thursday in late Jan here's my plan. Come form the Contemporary to Epcot for several hours around 3pm. Have a PS at Spoodles at 6:30 and a ressie at 8:15 for the Illuminations Cruise at the Yacht and Beach Club marina. Here's my dilemma. If we drive, where do I park? If I park in the Epcot lot will we be able to go back in to Epcot to walk all the way through to the lot at 9:30? Ditto if we take the monorail. If we park at the Yacht and Beach Club or the Boardwalk won't they give us a pass only good for a few hours? I'd really rather not have to walk all the way back to either the Epcot parking lot or the monorail but what's the other alternative using Disney transport? A bus from the Beach Club to TTC and then transfer to the monorail? I'm getting tired just thinking about it. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[JEDI1138]

Here you go:
Monorail to Epcot
Epcot International gateway exit get Friendship boat to Boardwalk
Dinner
Friendship to Yacht and Beach If that is where they Launch from
Illuminations cruise
Back to Marina
Bus to TTC from Boardwalk or Yacht & Beach
Monorail to Contemporary.

OR

Just drive to Boardwalk and Say you have dinner reservations at Spoodles

Piece of Cake!

 

[Grumpy56]

Thank you! The way you say it it makes it sound so easy!

I was not familiar with the friendship boats, but that makes it make a whole lot more sense to me.

One more question, if we drove to Boardwalk at 3pm would we be able to stay parked there until 9:30 or 10pm?

 

[Katherine]

Be careful!! Check the bus schedules cause we went to see the last show of the night of the HOop De Do Revue(great show byt the way!)and they had shut down the monorail and other transportation so some people had to go to Downtown Disney to catch a bus to their hotels. Just make sure you know what's going on cause a lot of people got angry about this!

 

[Maria]

If you are coming from the Contemporary, can´t you just take the monorail to Epcot and then back on the monorail to the Contemporary after Illuminations? I think the monorail runs until late, when the parking lot gets almost empty. Call me crazy, but I think I remember it runs one hour after park closing. Not sure about TTC though, but I think you would have plenty of time to walk to the entrance of the park after Illuminations.

 

[TURKEY]

Originally posted by Grumpy56
Thank you! The way you say it it makes it sound so easy!

I was not familiar with the friendship boats, but that makes it make a whole lot more sense to me.

One more question, if we drove to Boardwalk at 3pm would we be able to stay parked there until 9:30 or 10pm?

You can stay at Boardwalk as long as you want. There is general parking there, not only for the hotel. I've driven and parked at Boardwalk and stayed at ESPN all day and had no problems.

 

[TURKEY]

Originally posted by Maria
If you are coming from the Contemporary, can´t you just take the monorail to Epcot and then back on the monorail to the Contemporary after Illuminations? I think the monorail runs until late, when the parking lot gets almost empty. Call me crazy, but I think I remember it runs one hour after park closing. Not sure about TTC though, but I think you would have plenty of time to walk to the entrance of the park after Illuminations.

I'm not sure how the cruises work, but I don't think this would be a good idea.

You could do it if you disembark from the cruise while in Epcot. If not, I don't think you could go to where you exit, I think Epcot closes the gates after Illuminations so you would be stuck.

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by turkey leg boy
I'm not sure how the cruises work, but I don't think this would be a good idea.

You could do it if you disembark from the cruise while in Epcot. If not, I don't think you could go to where you exit, I think Epcot closes the gates after Illuminations so you would be stuck.

You are right! I was thinking he would get off the boat in Epcot! :brick:
Does anyone know if that´s possible? :veryconfu

 

[Grumpy56]

Originally posted by turkey leg boy
You can stay at Boardwalk as long as you want. There is general parking there, not only for the hotel. I've driven and parked at Boardwalk and stayed at ESPN all day and had no problems.

Thanks, Brent, this is what I was trying to figure out. This sounds like the easist way to do it. Honestly, I don't know how people manage without all the great info on these boards. I've been to WDW a bunch of times, but I'm still not very familiar with the Boardwalk/Epcot area. Thanks again!

 

[Grumpy56]

Originally posted by Maria
You are right! I was thinking he would get off the boat in Epcot! :brick:
Does anyone know if that´s possible? :veryconfu

I haven't done it yet but what I was told when we I booked the cruise was we would be returned to the Yacht and Beach Club Marina. I suppose you could always ask the driver to let us off at Epcot but I think I'll stick with the Boardwalk plan since we have the car and we're eating there.

 

[Maria]

....and if you are going with adults, after Illuminations you can check Jellyrolls for the dueling pianos at the Boardwalk and/or Atlantic Dance. :animwink:

 

[diegorivera2]

We took the Illuminations cruise this past June and, no, you cannot disembark from the boat except for where you boarded and that is in front of the Yacht Club resort.

 

[Grumpy56]

Originally posted by diegorivera2
We took the Illuminations cruise this past June and, no, you cannot disembark from the boat except for where you boarded and that is in front of the Yacht Club resort.

So, tell me more..

How was the cruise? I keep hearing things about smoke, was that a problem? Did you enjoy it? Love to hear of your experience!