Recommendation for first night transportation

[Mr Mindcrime]

Good morning all - I'm looking for recommendations for our first night on our next trip. We have a couple of new things for us this trip and I want to get the logistics as perfect as I can.

We are staying, for the first time, at the Hilton Lake Buena Vista at Disney Springs. Our flight lands at SFB at 6pm and we'll pick up a rental car.

For the first time ever, we have purchased annual passes, so those will have to be activated (if I've done my research correctly, we'll proceed directly to Guest Services to do this).

We plan to spend our first evening (Wed May 22) at the Magic Kingdom to take advantage of EMH till midnight..

Questions:
1) Assuming we went directly to hotel to check in, would you then take hotel shuttle to MK, or drive and park at TTC and take Monorail, or Uber to Contemporary and walk over to MK? We want to get into the park as quickly as we can and enjoy 3 hours or so.
2) Would you go straight from airport to MK and thus park at TTC? Then check into to hotel afterwards.
3) Would it be quicker to activate annual passes at Disney Springs then make our way to MK?

Thanks for any advice.
Roger

 

[Kingoglow]

I would drive to the hotel and check in/drop off bags and then change into park clothes.
I would drive to TTC and pay for parking (keep your receipt) and then head to MK.
Once past security, goto guest services and activate your APs and ask if you could be reimbursed for the parking fee that you paid (AP holders park for free).
Then enjoy your vacation.

 

[Master Yoda]

You are most likely going to need to check in to use EMH, so I don't think going straight to the park will be an option.

I would drive to the TTC and activate your APs there.

While I have not used Hilton's shuttle, if it is like the other non-Disney resort shuttles then is will be adequate at best. Most resort shuttle run much less frequently than the Disney busses (typically every hour vs every 20 minutes). Some do not even go to all of the parks.

 

[allidog1]

I would not use the Hilton shuttle. Last time I used it I waited forever. Getting dropped off was ok (not the greatest but I didn’t think about walking to Disney Springs to catch a bus) but I ended up calling the hotel because I waited over and hour past the scheduled time to get picked up to go back to the hotel.

 

[Janir]

Good morning all - I'm looking for recommendations for our first night on our next trip. We have a couple of new things for us this trip and I want to get the logistics as perfect as I can.

We are staying, for the first time, at the Hilton Lake Buena Vista at Disney Springs. Our flight lands at SFB at 6pm and we'll pick up a rental car.

For the first time ever, we have purchased annual passes, so those will have to be activated (if I've done my research correctly, we'll proceed directly to Guest Services to do this).

We plan to spend our first evening (Wed May 22) at the Magic Kingdom to take advantage of EMH till midnight..

Questions:
1) Assuming we went directly to hotel to check in, would you then take hotel shuttle to MK, or drive and park at TTC and take Monorail, or Uber to Contemporary and walk over to MK? We want to get into the park as quickly as we can and enjoy 3 hours or so.
2) Would you go straight from airport to MK and thus park at TTC? Then check into to hotel afterwards.
3) Would it be quicker to activate annual passes at Disney Springs then make our way to MK?

Thanks for any advice.
Roger

I'd use MDE to do an online checkin, and just go straight to the park since you will have the rental car. Might as well go to the TTC and park normally. Unless you can get some ADR at Contemporary then park there, then walk over to MK. Chef Mickey's is a pretty easy dining pickup last minute. Since you will have your checkin done, you can go straight to your room once your done at MK.

 

[JohnD]

Good morning all - I'm looking for recommendations for our first night on our next trip. We have a couple of new things for us this trip and I want to get the logistics as perfect as I can.

We are staying, for the first time, at the Hilton Lake Buena Vista at Disney Springs. Our flight lands at SFB at 6pm and we'll pick up a rental car.

For the first time ever, we have purchased annual passes, so those will have to be activated (if I've done my research correctly, we'll proceed directly to Guest Services to do this).

We plan to spend our first evening (Wed May 22) at the Magic Kingdom to take advantage of EMH till midnight..

Questions:
1) Assuming we went directly to hotel to check in, would you then take hotel shuttle to MK, or drive and park at TTC and take Monorail, or Uber to Contemporary and walk over to MK? We want to get into the park as quickly as we can and enjoy 3 hours or so.
2) Would you go straight from airport to MK and thus park at TTC? Then check into to hotel afterwards.
3) Would it be quicker to activate annual passes at Disney Springs then make our way to MK?

Thanks for any advice.
Roger

Questions:
1) Assuming we went directly to hotel to check in, would you then take hotel shuttle to MK, or drive and park at TTC and take Monorail, or Uber to Contemporary and walk over to MK? We want to get into the park as quickly as we can and enjoy 3 hours or so.
Drive. As you'll have APs, parking will be free.

2) Would you go straight from airport to MK and thus park at TTC? Then check into to hotel afterwards.
No. Speaking for myself, after a flight, I would rather check-in and get cleaned up first. You'll be much more refreshed and clean before hopping into the rental and driving to the TTC and ultimately running around MK.

3) Would it be quicker to activate annual passes at Disney Springs then make our way to MK?
Either activate them at TTC or Guest Relations window in front of MK.

 

[Mr Mindcrime]

Thank you everyone for your responses. This was VERY helpful!!! The next two weeks ...... will move way too slowly ....