Resort Hopping

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wdwfanatic17

Member
okay, say i had half an afternoon to kill, BUT i didn't want to go to the parks, and insead would like to look at the various resorts i haven't stayed at, but would like to (AKL, WL, GF, Poly, Y&B, and Boardwalk). How would i go about doing this?

Would they let me just park at one hotel, say Poly, and go and see GF and WL while im there?

Or would it be easier to just drive to each indiviudal resort?

Or just park at DTD and take the bus? (hold on...that could take a while)

Im going have time to kill, so i thought i would check out the resorts o see which one we will use on our next vacation.


Thanks :wave:
 
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MouseMadness

Well-Known Member
The whole parking thing is somewhat sticky, but it seems the resorts you mentioned are easily accessed by WDW transportation. :) You could just hop a bus to a monorail resort and take the monorail to them, and WL is easily accessed by boat from the MK. I'd suggest doing this on a day when the MK is being visited anyway, if that fits into your plan. As for Boardwalk and Y&B, aren't those within walking distance from Epcot? Shouldn't be too tough. :wave:
 
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AkiraRaptor

AkiraRaptor

Meega, nala kwishta!
You may also have some difficulty parking at some of those resorts if you don't have a dinning reservation or some other reason being there other than "just looking". Poly is notorious for that.

If you are going to try to do so many at one, I'd follow MouseMadness suggestion as well. Use Disney's bus transportation system to get around. Make your exchanges at the nearest park.
 
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SewIn2Disney

SewIn2Disney

Well-Known Member
You don't have to take a bus everywhere. I'd say start at the TTC, walk to the Poly, look around, then walk to the GF. (It's a really nice walk along the water). From the GF, take a ferry to MK, switch to the ferry to the WL. After the WL, take a bus to MGM, and from there, there is a boat that takes you to the Boardwalk. Walk around the Boardwalk, and to the Y&B. Take a bus from the Y&B to AK, and head to the AK Lodge from there. I think that covers all your resorts.....and it's not too much time on a bus. The boats are nice and relaxing. Have a fun half a day! (Although, I think that could take a whole day...)
 
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kengels

kengels

New Member
Hotel Hopping

Pay $6.00 for valet at the first deluxe resort you stop at (plus tip of course). Then you don't pay for it again at the other resorts as long as you go on the same day, just tip the valet guy. We stayed at AK and used the valet service, had dinner at California Grill, then ice cream at the Boardwalk, then returned to AK. All I paid was the tip with the valet slip hanging from the mirror.
 
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DisKid

DisKid

Active Member
Resort Hopping in half a day

When my family last went down during this past summer, this is all that we did. We only stayed for a few days, but it was enough. We stayed at the AKL and here is my suggestions from experience:

1. Use the Disney World transportation because there is security at all hotels and they probably won't let you in if all you want to do is look around... if you have dinner reservations that's different. We had dinner reservations for the Polynesian and Contemporary and there was no problem. Other than that, we took either the monorail, bus, or boat...and for not having any tickets for the parks the monorail rides were a cheap form of entertainment :D (Disney World geek I guess:lol: )

2. Depending on how many resorts you want to hop to, a half a day isn't really a reasonable amount of time. We took three days to do this (along with shopping at Downtown Disney.). A half a day would be rushed. If you want an enjoyable time, take more time (make it a little trip by itself even!).
 
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figmentmom

figmentmom

Well-Known Member
I would also follow Mouse Madness' excellent advice ( :wave: ); that will be the most efficient way to see those particular resorts. If you want to check out a resort that's further away from the parks - say, the Caribbean Beach - you can take a Disney bus from Downtown Disney, but don't plan on it being a short trip. It's fun, though. Our last trip, we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and loved it, but took an afternoon to ride the bus over to the CBR just to walk around and soak up the atmosphere.
 
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wdwfanatic17

Member
Original Poster
Thaks for all the great advice..... i wasn't planning on seeing all of them, but WL, GF, and AKL for sure.

Come to find out we now have a PS for Jiko's that night, so AKL will obviously be the last thing.....maybe park there and take a bus to MK, take a boat to WL, go back to MK, and take the bus back to AKL in time for our PS.

ALso, will they let you use the buses if you dont have a resort id or ticket? I remember staying at the Contemporary in 1999, and when we got on the bus for AK, we had to show our resort key.


Thanks so much for the advice!
 
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figmentmom

figmentmom

Well-Known Member
wdwfanatic17 said:
Thaks for all the great advice..... i wasn't planning on seeing all of them, but WL, GF, and AKL for sure.

Come to find out we now have a PS for Jiko's that night, so AKL will obviously be the last thing.....maybe park there and take a bus to MK, take a boat to WL, go back to MK, and take the bus back to AKL in time for our PS.

ALso, will they let you use the buses if you dont have a resort id or ticket? I remember staying at the Contemporary in 1999, and when we got on the bus for AK, we had to show our resort key.


Thanks so much for the advice!
Click to expand...

I've never been asked to show a park ticket or room key, but I've always had them available in case anyone asked. I suspect the buses that service the monorail resorts are a bit more picky just because more guests tend to use those buses...where's Invero? He could answer this one for us!
 
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wdwswan&dolphin

New Member
This is interesting to note:
If you're staying at a Disney resort hotel that does not have a particular recreational activity such as tennis, badminton, lawn bowling, shuffleboard, croquet, or boat rentals, you can use those facilities at a resort that does. Of course, you are limited to using the swimming pool complex at your own resort hotel.
 
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MKCP 1985

MKCP 1985

Well-Known Member
Just last week, during the off-season, we stayed at an All-Stars resort but planned meals at the Poly and the Contemporary. Getting into the parking lot at the Poly was a breeze, but it was the end of the day and the parks were closed or closing. Maybe that is why it was so easy.

A couple days later, we went for breakfast at the Contemporary and the polite security officer at the entrance made a big point to let us know we couldn't park there all day, and gave us a 3 hour parking pass. I'm guessing that during peak season, they might have a problem with parking spaces if people park in their lot and take the monorail to the parks.
 
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DisneyJill

DisneyJill

Well-Known Member
MKCP 1985 said:
Just last week, during the off-season, we stayed at an All-Stars resort but planned meals at the Poly and the Contemporary. Getting into the parking lot at the Poly was a breeze, but it was the end of the day and the parks were closed or closing. Maybe that is why it was so easy.

A couple days later, we went for breakfast at the Contemporary and the polite security officer at the entrance made a big point to let us know we couldn't park there all day, and gave us a 3 hour parking pass. I'm guessing that during peak season, they might have a problem with parking spaces if people park in their lot and take the monorail to the parks.
Click to expand...


There's also a boat from the Contemporary to WL, if you wanted to take the monorail to the Contemporary and switch to a boat there.

They always gave me those 3 hour parking passes when I parked at Poly to "eat dinner at Kona." They never towed anyone from the Contemporary parking lot when I worked there, so I never really worried about the 3 hour thing. :lookaroun
 
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MKCP 1985

MKCP 1985

Well-Known Member
DisneyJill said:
They always gave me those 3 hour parking passes when I parked at Poly to "eat dinner at Kona." They never towed anyone from the Contemporary parking lot when I worked there, so I never really worried about the 3 hour thing. :lookaroun
Click to expand...

:lookaroun That's good to know.
 
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SpenceMan01

SpenceMan01

Well-Known Member
We did this (kind of) for the first time on out trip last month. While waiting for the Hoop Dee Doo Revue at Fort Wilderness, we decided to hop a boat over to Wilderness Lodge to check it out. Then we came back and browsed around the Triple Circle D ranch and sat in rocking chairs on the porch and relxed. It was soo nice.

A question about the geyser @ WL. The signs say that it erupts hourly and we assumed that ment on the hour, but when we got there it didn't do anything. Just kinda smoked a little bit. We were there for 20 minutes before we gave up. Do they not do it on Sunday or what??
 
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shoppingnut

shoppingnut

Active Member
As mentioned, if you valet your car at one hotel and move to others with valet you do not have to pay the $6 again. By using the valeting, they will not give you such a hard time to get into the Poly & Contemp. When we want to go to other hotels to check them out, all we do is tell them we are going in to do a little shopping and they let us right through.
 
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