Where are we?

[ILOVEDISNEY]

Have you ever been totally lost on the roads at WDW? It seems we always get lost at least once a trip trying to negotiate the roads in WDW. When we were there in April we left the MK at closing and ended up on the toll road to the airport when we were trying to get to 192. My wife and I can laugh about it now, but it did cost us over $4 in tolls getting back to the Holiday Villas. Anyone else have an amusing tale?

 

[peter11435]

I have never had any trouble with WDW roads, I have always felt they were very well marked with the directional signs all over the place. very few places have as many helpful directional signs as the WDW resort. One simple solution I would suggest though would be to stay on property. No need to navigate the roads, and best of all much better vacation.

 

[ILOVEDISNEY]

I have never had any trouble with WDW roads, I have always felt they were very well marked with the directional signs all over the place. very few places have as many helpful directional signs as the WDW resort. One simple solution I would suggest though would be to stay on property. No need to navigate the roads, and best of all much better vacation.

I'm glad you have never been lost at WDW. :wave: We did stay on property in 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and will be on property in September. This thread is for the directionally challenged. :lol:

P.S. I agree WDW has plenty of signs, but they are not always as helpful as they seem. What does "Exit Next Right" mean when there is a road 100 feet from the sign, but the real road you want is a half mile from the sign? The sign should say, "Exit Next Right*"

*But not the one close to this sign dummy, the next one down!"

 

[tigsmom]

Don't feel too badly. We ended up on some small backroad with warehouses on them. We were trying to get back to the WL from the Boardwalk area. We usually rely on WDW transportation, but sometimes use our own car.

(we also got screwed up on the road out of Orlando International and ended up getting a "lost driver" ticket to hand in when we passed the gate. )

 

[TimeTrip]

I've found that one of the faults in the disney road signs IMO is the "straight ahead" issue. There are several places where the destination will be listed as straight ahead. Then, when you approach the area where you need to go, it suddenly springs a sign saying left or right. They should have "stay left" or "stay right" on the earlier sign. Otherwise I find the signs very helpful.

 

[Chape19714]

I once got lost, but i kew ehere i was, i just missed a turn. We ended up at Animal Kingdom, and were suppossed to be a Fort Willderness. Missed a turn that's all. I find that if you request a property map at Guest Relations or Hotel Check-in, they will give you one, it's sponcered by DVC, and it's the best map of WDW property i have ever seen. I know exactly where thos warehouses are, so i know what you are talking about. That's my only lost story at WDW.

 

[MagicalMonorail]

Don't feel too badly. We ended up on some small backroad with warehouses on them. We were trying to get back to the WL from the Boardwalk area. We usually rely on WDW transportation, but sometimes use our own car.

I know where that street is! We got lost there too. We had no idea where we were at. I wonder what's in those buildings.......

I also noticed 2 roads called Bear Island and Black Lake. Does anyone know where the origins of these names are from? Reason I'm asking is that there is a village in Louisiana called Bear Island which is about 2 miles from a lake called Black Lake.

 

[tigsmom]

I know where that street is! We got lost there too. We had no idea where we were at. I wonder what's in those buildings.......

Glad we weren't the only ones. We usually valet park our car and they always offer directions & a map. (though we have been given many different routes for the same destination)

 

[tigger248]

I haven't been lost in a long time there, but I guess living there for 8 months on the college program helped me learn the area! When I first got down there, though it was a different story. I got really lost on one of my first nights (it was the first time I'd ever driven down there because I was only 19 at the time and wasn't allowed to drive rental cars). I don't even know where I was! I was trying to get from coronado springs to vista way (off SR 535). I went the wrong way on I 4, got lost on some country road in another county, got on some toll road, ended up in Celebration. I was so lost that I just wanted to cry. Every place was closed in Celebration because it was after 10, but one store still had employees cleaning up. I banged on the window until someone came to tell me they were closed and I asked for directions. They were getting ready to leave so they let me follow them and the got me to 192 and signaled when I got to 535. I ended up driving for over an hour to make like a 20-30 minute trip to my apartment.

I also have more than once missed the turn to Animal Kingdom. It's not that I'm getting lost, just missing my turn and I just go to Celebration and turn around to come back.

 

[ILOVEDISNEY]

Seems my wife and I get lost more at night with no landmarks to go by. I was taking a shortcut last April to get to the MK for Spectro and ended up south? of AK in the boondocks by some large warehouse-type buildings that said Disney Cast or something to that effect. Does anyone know what those buildings are?

 

[tigger248]

Seems my wife and I get lost more at night with no landmarks to go by. I was taking a shortcut last April to get to the MK for Spectro and ended up south? of AK in the boondocks by some large warehouse-type buildings that said Disney Cast or something to that effect. Does anyone know what those buildings are?

I think some of those buildings are used for storage of some seasonal type things. I know the ones behind the Magic Kingdom consist of a transportation building that houses the monorails and trains and I think they also do some bus servicing back there also. They also have a building that houses some of the christmas decorations. I'm sure there are also merchandise storage warehouses in some locations also.

 

[peter11435]

Those are recreation buildings for cast members, you may also have noticed a small softball field next to it. I beleive there is another one north of POR off of Vista Way.

 

[Figment1986]

I have never got lost in WDW... mainly because i never drove in WDW...

I probably will never get lost in WDW. And if i do i will just discover something new....

 

[KaliSplash]

We usually do pretty well on site. Although with some of the signs, they sometimes seem to alternate what they tell you. Magic Kingdom this way, then next sign is for Magic Kingdom resorts. Then next sign says Magic Kingdom again. You have to pay close attention.

But last year, right after Christmas were visiting relatives in Cocoa Beach and headed over to Gaylord hotel to see huge ice show. Got there just fine. But in attempting to get back on Osceola and then Greenway, ended up on Disney property not once, but twice. Apparently problem was I could not remember whether I wanted to go north or south on Greenway. (the road, of course, actually goes AROUND the southern half of Orlando and both seem to terminate around I-4, so are you going north on the Tampa side or going north on the Daytona side? It took me two tries to figure it out.

 

[ILOVEDISNEY]

Those are recreation buildings for cast members, you may also have noticed a small softball field next to it. I beleive there is another one north of POR off of Vista Way.

Thanx for the info about the buildings. Saw no softball field it was pitch black outside. It was strange, one minute we are by AK parking lot and the next we are going down some dark two-lane road. There was a WDW Security van at the intersection as we turned left, but the person waved us thru. I think there was an accident or something going on as there were several people walking about in the dark next to a rather beat up Olds.

 

[TimeTrip]

Oooh, I forgot to complain about one of the worst abuses of traffic routing ever by Disney. Approaching Disney from the north on I-4, the signs for Magic Kingdom advise you to drive all the way down to 192, then back up World Drive. That adds about 5 miles onto the trip versus if you just went on the epcot exit and then followed the signs. Then the same for leaving MK. In order to go to I-4 from MK, Disney would have you drive all the way back to 192, rather than pass by epcot to get to I-4 east. Lame.

 

[cm1988]

Thanx for the info about the buildings. Saw no softball field it was pitch black outside. It was strange, one minute we are by AK parking lot and the next we are going down some dark two-lane road. There was a WDW Security van at the intersection as we turned left, but the person waved us thru. I think there was an accident or something going on as there were several people walking about in the dark next to a rather beat up Olds.

Sounds like you were on Sherbeth Road, which runs from the traffic light near Animal Kingdom Lodge, down to Route 192.

Years ago, this was a very remote part of WDW. Disney University actually had a class for new Management Cast where a bus dropped them off on a dirt road off Sherbeth, and the new Managers followed hand-drawn maps and negotiated various obstacles, as team-building exercises.

Now there are timeshares, a YMCA daycare facility and much more along this well-travelled but narrow and winding road.

 

[barnum42]

Going from Downtown Disney to one of the parks (I forget which one) involved turning right off the main road there was then a turn left sign very shortly after the right turn which I missed. I got suspicious when I hit one of the hotels so just pulled a quick U.

Heading to 192 from Sandford along the 417 when I hit the exit there was a T junction with no indication of the right way to turn. I guessed wrong, but it was easy to fix with a quick U.

 

[Lauriebar]

We never get lost in WDW, it's leaving to go home that gets us every time.

For some reason, as we are leaving Disney property and heading towards the Florida Turnpike the signs confuse us and we end up yelling at each other about which way to go!! I believe we have done this every single time, you would think we would learn!!:hammer:

 

[WDWScottieBoy]

I have never been lost in WDW but I have never driven either. I can get around the place pretty well by looking at the signs before the bus driver turns. My girlfriend, on the other hand, is one of those direction-illiterate. You tell her to turn right and she goes left, so she was VERY confused while we were in WDW driving around....on the bus!