Getting Downtown from Animal Kingdom

[ExtinctJenn]

We drive down to The World and use our car to get around. In the past this has always worked out best for us and offers us some freedom. This trip, coming first week of December, we have ADRs for T-Rex at 4:00. We have FP+ selections at Animal Kingdom that day with our last one being a return time of 12:00-1:00 for Dinosaur (see what I did there? lol). Our plan was to leave AK after Dinosaur and head to Downtown and spend the rest of the afternoon/evening there.

It dawned on me that they are doing a ton of work in the parking areas of Downtown but I'm not sure what all that will mean as far as true difficulty parking. It seems to be changing pretty frequently and from what I read here it's more than just lot changes but also traffic flow. Beyond that though I'm not sure what to expect.

Assuming we get on Dinosaur closer to the 12:00 side of that and arrive over at Downtown around 1:00-2:00 I am thinking the parking situation won't be that bad but it got me to wondering, is there a bus that heads to Downtown from Animal Kingdom? Further... with AK being a park with an early closing time, if we took said bus and then needed to get back to the AK lot to get our vehicle around say 10:00pm, would we be able to or would bus service to AK no longer be running?

I'm leaning toward driving based on the fact that it'll be mid-day on a Thursday that we'll be getting there but wanted to get your thoughts. Thanks in advance folks!

 

[Master Yoda]

There currently is (or at least was) but I don't think it starts running until 3:00 PM. You could hop the bus to AKL and then bus it from there and there is also the option of going to PORS or FQ and taking the boat.

 

[ABQ]

Yeah, this right? http://www.wdwmagic.com/transportat...-kingdom-and-downtown-disney-to-be-tested.htm

 

[lazyboy97o]

Traffic looked to be an absolutely nightmare at the start of the month around Downtown Disney. Bumper-to-bumper gridlock down the road type nightmare. They had a lane blocked off to serve as a bus only lane for Disney Transport. As somebody who often drives myself, I have never been so glad that I opted for the bus.

 

[Rob562]

If you drive to Downtown Disney, minimize your headaches and just turn in at the first traffic light on the West Side and park around behind Cirque. You can walk or take the water taxi from there.

-Rob

 

[DManRightHere]

We drive down to The World and use our car to get around. In the past this has always worked out best for us and offers us some freedom. This trip, coming first week of December, we have ADRs for T-Rex at 4:00. We have FP+ selections at Animal Kingdom that day with our last one being a return time of 12:00-1:00 for Dinosaur (see what I did there? lol). Our plan was to leave AK after Dinosaur and head to Downtown and spend the rest of the afternoon/evening there.

It dawned on me that they are doing a ton of work in the parking areas of Downtown but I'm not sure what all that will mean as far as true difficulty parking. It seems to be changing pretty frequently and from what I read here it's more than just lot changes but also traffic flow. Beyond that though I'm not sure what to expect.

Assuming we get on Dinosaur closer to the 12:00 side of that and arrive over at Downtown around 1:00-2:00 I am thinking the parking situation won't be that bad but it got me to wondering, is there a bus that heads to Downtown from Animal Kingdom? Further... with AK being a park with an early closing time, if we took said bus and then needed to get back to the AK lot to get our vehicle around say 10:00pm, would we be able to or would bus service to AK no longer be running?

I'm leaning toward driving based on the fact that it'll be mid-day on a Thursday that we'll be getting there but wanted to get your thoughts. Thanks in advance folks!

If there is a bus from AK to DD why not just take the busses for the day and not worry about the car? You may save a lot of walking. I wouldn't think of bussing somewhere and bussing back just to get the car. I would go all car or all bus (I actually prefer bus).

 

[ExtinctJenn]

There currently is (or at least was) but I don't think it starts running until 3:00 PM. You could hop the bus to AKL and then bus it from there and there is also the option of going to PORS or FQ and taking the boat.

How late does the bus in reverse run (from AK to Downtown) though?

If there is a bus from AK to DD why not just take the busses for the day and not worry about the car? You may save a lot of walking. I wouldn't think of bussing somewhere and bussing back just to get the car. I would go all car or all bus (I actually prefer bus).

The short version of that answer is that we don't want to take the bus into AK that morning. There's a much longer version but we will be driving in that day so really it's either take the bus to Downtown from AK (and then back if that's even possible) or hope not to run into a mess driving into and parking Downtown. I am really hoping that since we'd be arriving on a Thursday mid-day it wouldn't be bad but the responses thus far don't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. LOL

 

[Master Yoda]

How late does the bus in reverse run (from AK to Downtown) though?

1:00 AM last time I looked.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

1:00 AM last time I looked.

Woops I meant from Downtown to AK sorry!

 

[Master Yoda]

Woops I meant from Downtown to AK sorry!

Still 1:00 AM. It starts making the rounds at 3:00 PM and continues until 1:00 AM.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

Still 1:00 AM. It starts making the rounds at 3:00 PM and continues until 1:00 AM.

That is excellent news! My biggest concern was because AK closes so early that busses FROM Downtown wouldn't run to AK after say 8:00/9:00ish. I'll of course check when we get there but that makes me feel a little better about potentially grabbing the bus from AK to head over there vs. chancing fighting with parking.

I'd still love some insight (if anyone has it) on how traffic may be on a Thursday around 1:00-2:00pm. If it's going to be practically non-existent because of the odd timing then as I said, we'll drive. We're planning to do the majority of our shopping that afternoon and it'd be nice to run our bags to the car before heading to Disney Quest after dinner.

 

[KTaylor]

If you are driving in that day could you make your first stop at DTD and then take a ferry or bus to the first resort you see a bus for and get on a AK bus from the resort, that way when you go back to DTD for dinner your car would already be there and probably in a really good spot.