Free shuttle from offsites?

[Jessica618]

We've booked a trip in November and do to budget restrictions, will not be staying on property

Our hotel, the Raddison Worldgate, offers a free shuttle to the WDW parks. Plural. :animwink:

Has anyone relied on an offsite bussing system? I've read along the way in these threads that it's really squirrelly at best and not very reliable.

Any advice?

 

[GOT2SAMMIES]

buses

If you are not sure about the busses and you have a car but don't want to pay for the $12 parking, why not park your car at Downtown Disney and take the buses or a boat to the parks. It may take you a lilttle longer and you might have to check the DTD bus schedule but at leat you will be traveling on Disney buses.

 

[Brommy]

If you are not sure about the busses and you have a car but don't want to pay for the $12 parking, why not park your car at Downtown Disney and take the buses or a boat to the parks. It may take you a lilttle longer and you might have to check the DTD bus schedule but at leat you will be traveling on Disney buses.

But you would have to go via a resort, which can take ages. And it is for this reason that Disney stopped direct buses from DTD to the parks. BOOOOO!

 

[Master Yoda]

We've booked a trip in November and do to budget restrictions, will not be staying on property

Our hotel, the Raddison Worldgate, offers a free shuttle to the WDW parks. Plural. :animwink:

Has anyone relied on an offsite bussing system? I've read along the way in these threads that it's really squirrelly at best and not very reliable.

Any advice?

Unfortunately, most offsite shuttles are poor at best. As a general rule they run very infrequently (once and hour or less) and many will only take you to the ticket and transportation center. From there you will have to take Disney transportation to your final destination. Because of this a simple trip to a park can take you 1 to 2 hours. Also if you miss their last shuttle your are typically stuck taking a cab back to your hotel.

If you have a car I would drive to the parks. The $12 a day parking fee will more than make up for the time you save. If you have no other choice but to use the shuttle get all of the inform from the hotel about pick up and drop off locations and schedules and plan accordingly.

If you are not sure about the busses and you have a car but don't want to pay for the $12 parking, why not park your car at Downtown Disney and take the buses or a boat to the parks. It may take you a lilttle longer and you might have to check the DTD bus schedule but at leat you will be traveling on Disney buses.

This is probably the single worst piece of transportation advice floating around about WDW. While it is technically possible the time investment to do it far outweighs any benefit. Disney does not provide and direct transportation to or from DTD to any of the 4 parks. To do this you would need to take a bus to a resort and then transfer to either a bus, boat or monorail to make it to the park. You are looking at 1 to 2 hours of extra travel time to avoid paying a $12 parking fee. To make matters worse DTD buses do not begin running until around 9-10 AM. If you are lucky and catch the first bus out you might be able to make it to a park by 10 AM at best.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

When I have stayed offsite I always drive. I go where I want and when I want - I don't want to be relying on an infrequent unreliable service

 

[Jessica618]

Thanks yall! I appreciate the word of caution about the busses and their less-than-convenient scheduling:brick:

The Worldgate sent me an email reply....they have 5 busses, one for MK, AK, Epcot, and DHS and one for IoA and Seaworld.

They leave for WDW parks 4 times in the morning and 4 times toward the end. Still, you'll probably miss the fireworks and beings as though we'll be going to MVMCP on the 17th we'll have to catch a cab back. Blah!:hammer:

It's a pain, but it's well worth it. I don't drive well here....I'm not about to subject the poor people of Orlando to my driving skills....and no one in any city deserves to have my husband behind the wheel!:ROFLOL:

 

[Philo]

The offsite shuttles aren't always that bad but they a)take a long time to get there and b)really restrict your plans.

The way I look at it is that a bad shuttle to WDW is still better than no shuttle at all (and no WDW). Bottomline is that you won't like it that much, but as long as your aware of it's problems you won't hate it either.

 

[Menpell]

Out of our dozen trips to disney, we decided once to stay out of Disney. We found the transportation aweful. It is best if you do park at Downtown Disney and take their transportation. If you stay with your offsite hotel's transportation, you will be waiting long periods of time for buses and the lines for buses are usually somewhere in a parking lot. At least with the Disney Downtown buses, you will have a constant flow of buses coming and going from each park. No doubt the wait will be much less. From experience, that is my best recommendation. Park at Downtown. Waiting at the end of the day is really hard, especially with young children. We never stayed outside of the park again, because of that reason.

 

[mousebymarriage]

We've booked a trip in November and do to budget restrictions, will not be staying on property

Our hotel, the Raddison Worldgate, offers a free shuttle to the WDW parks. Plural. :animwink:

Has anyone relied on an offsite bussing system? I've read along the way in these threads that it's really squirrelly at best and not very reliable.

Any advice?

Years ago before we had kids we stayed off property at the Holiday Inn Maingate east I think. Anyway, when we booked our ressie they said free shuttle to the parks so we thought "great now we don't have to rent a car and can say a few $$". WRONG!!! The shuttle service was sporadic at best and not very reliable. After only the first day of dealing with this and hearing others complain of the same situation ( a few people had been dealing with this for most of their trip), we decided to rent a car. It was the wisest decision we ever made. My DH had to take ataxi to one of the hotels in downtown (I think) to rent a car but, it was worth it.
Now, things may have changed because this was about 14 years ago but, I have heard that they are still not so great. Good Luck!!!

 

[slappy magoo]

Are you going around Thanksgiving, or before? WDW is offering some deep discounts on rooms (except during the holidays) right up to Christmas Eve (do you have any flexibility with your vacation dates?

From mousesavers.com:



Late Fall / Holiday Discount

Valid most nights: 10/4/09-12/24/09. Some resorts will NOT be available for all dates. Use code KHP. Compare these rates with regular "Rack" rates. (Note that this time period covers more than one "season" for rates.) Rates not available for all dates and resorts. Your stay will be priced on a day-by-day basis, so rates may be higher or not available on weekends.

Availability is limited and some dates during this span are blocked out. These rates can also be booked as part of a vacation package.

Sample rates:

* Value resort, Standard view: $59 plus tax (Value season)
* Moderate resort, Standard view: $96 plus tax (Value season)
* Animal Kingdom Lodge, Standard view: $149 plus tax (Value season)
* Other resorts and room types are available

About Booking

You must book by 9/26/09. For phone bookings, you pay a deposit of one night's room rate plus tax. No change or cancellation fee will be charged if you make your modification more than 5 days before arrival.

Thanks to Small World Vacations for info.

To reserve a room with the Late Fall / Holiday Discount, call the Disney Reservations Center at (407) W-DISNEY or contact a travel agent who specializes in Disney travel, and request the specific offer code.

 

[Lynne M]

Out of our dozen trips to disney, we decided once to stay out of Disney. We found the transportation aweful. It is best if you do park at Downtown Disney and take their transportation. If you stay with your offsite hotel's transportation, you will be waiting long periods of time for buses and the lines for buses are usually somewhere in a parking lot. At least with the Disney Downtown buses, you will have a constant flow of buses coming and going from each park. No doubt the wait will be much less. From experience, that is my best recommendation. Park at Downtown. Waiting at the end of the day is really hard, especially with young children. We never stayed outside of the park again, because of that reason.

Not to pile on, but it's important to emphasize that parking at DTD to get to the theme parks is NOT a good idea.

Disney stopped the direct buses from DTD to theme parks years ago - just because offsite guests were doing this.

If you stay offsite and park at DTD, you will need to first catch a bus from DTD to a resort. Then, wait at that resort for a bus to your theme park of choice. DTD buses don't run as often as the theme park buses, so you'll be spending an hour riding/waiting for buses before you even get to a theme park. And an hour riding/waiting for buses to get to your car on the way home. To save 12 bucks.

And if you need to get to the parks at opening for rope drop or a character meal? Forget it. The DTD buses don't even start running until later in the morning.

 

[Susan Savia]

Your best best is to drive. We always stay offsite and drive our own car. The motel shuttles tend to go around to various motels and don't start for the parks until their full. With your own transportation you can come and go as you like with little wait.