Length of trip from airport to hotel

[afurkin]

We are trying to plan dinner reservations for our arrival date. How long does it usually take once you land to leave the airport and reach your hotel. We are staying at AKL Kidani.

 

[NYwdwfan]

I remember it as about a half hour to 45 minutes - depending on how many stops your bus makes (we stayed at Poly one year and it went to WL and Contemporary before our stop).

 

[wdwmagic]

We are trying to plan dinner reservations for our arrival date. How long does it usually take once you land to leave the airport and reach your hotel. We are staying at AKL Kidani.

Are you driving, or town car, taxi or bus?

 

[Testtrack321]

We are trying to plan dinner reservations for our arrival date. How long does it usually take once you land to leave the airport and reach your hotel. We are staying at AKL Kidani.

That's A LOT of variables. Could you be more specific?

Optimal situation? You arrive on a small flight to a gate near the monorail. As you arrive the monorail arrives. You didn't check in any bags so no need to wait there. You take a taxi with no waiting for one. On the way to the hotel you don't hit any traffic. That time, I'd say an hour.

Worst? You arrive on a massive flight where you wait to disembark to a gate far away from the monorail. As you arrive you have to wait for a few monorails due to the size of the flights coming in. You checked bags and have to wait, and god forbid, any bags get lost. You take Magical Express and wait for the bus to leave. As you leave you hit traffic and have several stops before finally dropping you off at your hotel. For that I'd expect around two hours.

If you want to drop your bags and eat plan for 2 hours. If you want to shower, unpack, or what not, plan for more.

 

[afurkin]

We are taking the Maigcal Express and flying on Jet Blue

 

[NYwdwfan]

I assumed DME and when I saw the other responses I realized you never stated that initially - strange (and self absorbed, I supposed) I figured that someone else must be doing what I do...

I typically don't schedule any ADRs for at least an hour and a half after my flight lands and that has typically been enough time. Of course there are always surprises...!

 

[Testtrack321]

We are taking the Maigcal Express and flying on Jet Blue

I would say 2 hours should be fine, forgot that Magical Express has the whole bag pick up thing.

Anyone else agree?

 

[mickeysshoes]

It will also depend on what time of year your traveling and where you are making ADR..within your resort you should be ok with 2 hours but if going somewhere else on property i would leave at least 3 hours. I hate feleing rushed!!! But that is just me. Have a great trip!!

 

[Plowboy]

I would say 2 hours should be fine, forgot that Magical Express has the whole bag pick up thing.

Anyone else agree?

I'd say 2 hrs should be fairly safe, although anything can happen. On our most recent trip we waited for about 20-30 minutes at the head of our DME line just to board the bus. Once we got going we hit Pop in about 25 minutes.

 

[Yanks07]

ME can be tricky. 9 times out of 10 its 1-1.5 hrs from unborarding and waiting in lines to resort, but that 1 in 10 can be 3 hrs. which happenned to us only once with a 2+hr wait in the ME line. Again this was one time out of our 12 times using the service. Avg for us is about 1hr 10 mins. Hope it works out.

 

[NedFlanders]

I would say 2 hours should be fine, forgot that Magical Express has the whole bag pick up thing.

Anyone else agree?

You never know with the ME... we used it once and it was probably 3 hours from plane exit to hotel check-in... don't know what was happening but when we got down to the ME area it looked like everyone and his brother had decided to vacation there... So I would say don't make a reservation for a place you absolutely don't want to miss, because there is a chance you might miss it.

 

[tampabrad]

It is about 30-40minutes in a car, direct, without traffic. Add in waiting for DME and I would say to give yourselves at least 1.5-2 hours just to be safe. You really don't want to stress out on your first day of vacation.

 

[keylimesqueeze]

We are trying to plan dinner reservations for our arrival date. How long does it usually take once you land to leave the airport and reach your hotel. We are staying at AKL Kidani.

Depends on what time of day you arrive...there are slower and busier times of the day. To play it safe, I would give yourselves at least 2 hours minimum. Have a great time!

 

[RonAnnArbor]

The first thing I do on every trip to WDW is to schedule an ADR at Raglan Road in Downtown Disney after I arrive...and I always use Magical Express and stay at POFQ...that is pretty much the routine. That being said -- 2 hours isn't always enough for that type of reservation.

Time from airport to resort - 45-60 minutes...BUT, if a bus before you just left, add another 20-30 minutes on top of that. So it can take as long as an hour and a half depending on arrival time/bus departure schedule.

Add check-in time at your resort. This can take from 5 minutes to half hour depending on how many people are all arriving at the same time and the resort you are staying at. Use advance online check-in to cut down your time.

Then add the time to go drop off your carry-ons at your room. Depending on the resort and your room location it can be 15-30 minutes until you get back to your shuttle bus or in the case of POFQ and some of the other resorts, your boat.

Adding 15-30 minutes for your bus/boat....you could easily take 2.5 hours until you finally arrive at your dining destination.

I always leave myself 3 hours between time of flight arrival and my ADR. If everything ends off off-schedule, you will have just enough time to get there. If things run like clockwork, you will have an extra hour to hang out near your restaurant, relax, and have a drink. I spend the extra time (if any) wandering around DD and checking out what's new and interesting, and before you know it, it's ADR time!