Disney transportation - breakdown of info?

[liljam]

Does anyone have information about the transportation throughout the parks? It's been years since I've been there and I don't recall taking anything but the monorail.

Basically, I have read that CSR has buses to all the parks, but I want to do the monorail too. What I'm looking for is a breakdown of ALL the ways to get to each park from each park and each resort but I can't find the info.
Does the monorail have direct links from MK to EPCOT to MGM to AK for example. I know the MR won't go to my hotel but maybe a short stroll would get me to a part of the resort that did take the MR. Ugh, sorry, I'm just trying to figure how it's all set up now and of course back in the day, as a child, I wasn't concerned with HOW we got to the parks lol! Thanks in advance.

[Jiminy Cricket]

Welcome to the boards!!!

The transportation at WDW has not changed per se, but there has been upgrades to the bus areas at the MK. The monorail still only goes to EPCOT from the MK besides around and around to the Ticket & Transportion Center. The resort monorail goes to the Contemporary, Grand Floridian, and the Polynesian. Parking is now $10 for cars!!!

[Jiminy Cricket]

Whether you're taking in the sights from an air-conditioned motor coach, soaring high in the sky aboard our world-famous monorail, or embarking on a relaxing "cruise" via water taxi, delight in door-to-door service that delivers you from your Resort hotel to all Theme Park gates and throughout Walt Disney World® Resort.

Even better, enjoy the convenient flexibility of continuous transport times throughout the day, so you can travel when it's best for you, based on your family's ever-changing needs, and experience the magic at a more relaxed pace.

Here's how it works:

1. Stop by one of the many convenient pick-up points throughout Walt Disney World® Resort and, usually within minutes, your ride will arrive ready to transport you throughout the Resort.
2. Enjoy travel within Walt Disney World® Resort from one hour prior to Theme Park opening up to one hour after Park closing. And for our late-night Downtown Disney® Guests, motor coaches operate until three in the morning.
3. Enjoy the variety! The various pick-up points throughout Walt Disney World® Resort offer different modes of transportation — motor coach, monorail and water launch — giving you and your family the opportunity to see the Resort in a unique way.

For more information within Walt Disney World® Resort, visit our Transportation FAQ.

Don't miss out! To take advantage of complimentary transportation throughout Walt Disney World® Resort — and to make the most of your Disney dream vacation — be sure to stay at a select Walt Disney World® Resort hotel.

[liljam]

Thanks for the info. So basically, I can hop from EPCOT to MK or take a bus to one of the other resorts for my monorail rides? I know it sounds crazy but I just love the monorail and my husband doesn't even know what it is lol! It's the highway in the sky! It's beyond me how he could have been to WDW and NOT rode the MR!

[disneydame2004]

Doesn't sound crazy at all to me - it's not a complete trip without a ride on the monorail!

Easiest way is to take the bus from your resort to the Magic Kingdom. It will drop you off at the front of the park. Don't go through the entrance gates - go straight along the lagoon and up the ramp to the monorail platform. Then you can take a loop around . If you choose the resort monorail platform, it will stop at the Contemporary, Ticket & Transportation Center, Polynesian Resort, and the Grand Floridian before returning to MK. If you choose the express platform, it will go through the resorts without stopping anywhere except the T&TC and MK.

At the T&TC, you can change to a monorail that will take you over to Epcot. If you're park hopping, this is a nice way to do it. Or you can just stay on board and it will bring you back to the T&TC.

It's not easy to take a bus from a resort to another resort - there are no direct buses from CSR to a monorail resort. You'd have to go to a theme park, water park, or Downtown Disney and change to that resort's bus to get there.

[CleveRocks]

Does anyone have information about the transportation throughout the parks? It's been years since I've been there and I don't recall taking anything but the monorail.

Basically, I have read that CSR has buses to all the parks, but I want to do the monorail too. What I'm looking for is a breakdown of ALL the ways to get to each park from each park and each resort but I can't find the info.
Does the monorail have direct links from MK to EPCOT to MGM to AK for example. I know the MR won't go to my hotel but maybe a short stroll would get me to a part of the resort that did take the MR. Ugh, sorry, I'm just trying to figure how it's all set up now and of course back in the day, as a child, I wasn't concerned with HOW we got to the parks lol! Thanks in advance.

There are only 3 resorts on the monorail (Contemporary, Polynesian, Grand Floridian), and only 2 parks served by the monorail (Magic Kingdom and Epcot). Pretty much everything else you need the Disney Transport buses for, plus a few boats scattered around here and there.

You really can't walk anywhere from CSR. Disney did not set up their roadways for pedestrians, and most attempts at walking along the roads would be dangerous.

I totally understand your passion for the monorail, but let me urge you to NOT center ALL of your basic transportation around the monorail, as doing so will add HOURS to your transportation time.

CSR is served ONLY by buses, period. If you're going to use Disney Transport (and not a taxi or rental car), your only link between CSR and the rest of the Disney world ( ) will be the Disney Transport buses. For Animal Kingdom and MGM, you really have no other way to do it. For MK and Epcot, yes, you COULD take the bus to one and then take the monorail from one to the other, but it will be an incredibly inefficient way to do so. Please allow me to explain ....

Let's say you want to go from CSR to MK. One option is to take a bus directly from CSR to MK. You'll have to wait for a bus, and then poof, you're at MK. Another option is wait for a bus to Epcot, then walk to the monorail station, then wait for the monorail, then ride to TTC, then get off the monorail and walk around to the other monorail platform, then wait for that monorail and ride it to MK. In this scenario, you are waiting for 3 separate rides -- it's the waiting that usually takes longer than the riding, so I hope you can see that waiting 3 times will be MUCH slower than waiting only once.

Boats ....

• There are FriendShip boats that connect Epcot and MGM and stop at the "Epcot area" resorts in-between.

• There is a boat from MK to Polynesian and Grand Floridian.

• There is a boat from MK to Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness.

• There is a boat from Contemporary to Wilderness Lodge.

• There is a boat from Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter to Downtown Disney.

• There is a boat from Old Key West to DTD.

• There is a boat from Saratoga Springs Resort to DTD.

Walking. You can safely walk...

• from Contemporary to MK.

• from Epcot area resorts to both Epcot and MGM.

• from SSR to DTD.

• from one sister resort to another (e.g., POR to POFQ, among the 3 All-Stars)

No buses from one resort to another. To do it by bus, you have to use one of the parks or DTD as a transportation hub. Take a bus from your resort to a park or DTD, get off the bus there, then get on a bus there that is bound for the resort you want to go to.

The bus system is VERY easy to follow. There are no schedules or timetables. Every bus is clearly marked with an LED display on the front and sides.

CSR has 4 bus stops within the resort (one at each block of rooms and one at the main building). You go to the stop most convenient for you. You stay there and wait for a bus that is marked for the destination you want. So if you want to go to MGM and the first bus that stops says "Epcot," don't get on that bus! Just wait for the MGM bus. Once you get on it, it may make other stops within CSR, but after that it will go directly to MGM and only MGM.

If you're at a park or DTD and heading home, you walk to the bus area and look for the sign with your resort name on it. Wait at that bus stop, and eventually a bus going to CSR (and only CSR) will pick you up.

Buses are scheduled to run every 15-20 minutes. That is, the system is set up that if, for example, you want to go to Epcot but you just missed the Epcot bus, you shouldn't have to wait more than 20 minutes for the next bus.

The bus system is really just that simple. It's not like a city bus system where you have to know route numbers or schedules or anything.

[JQuatt21]

[quote
No buses from one resort to another. To do it by bus, you have to use one of the parks or DTD as a transportation hub. Take a bus from your resort to a park or DTD, get off the bus there, then get on a bus there that is bound for the resort you want to go to.

.[/quote]


Are there any buses that run from the Wilderness Lodge to the TTC and vice versa???

[Chrissy&Tayen]

liljam

i see your from WV where abouts???

i'm near huntington

[CleveRocks]

Are there any buses that run from the Wilderness Lodge to the TTC and vice versa???

No. There are no buses that run between any resort and the TTC.

[JQuatt21]

No. There are no buses that run between any resort and the TTC.

Thanks for the quick answer CLEVEROCKS....

One more question to all the people out there.... best way from Wilderness Lodge to...

Wilderness Lodge to Epcot?


I ask this question because I heard the busses are sometimes slow... would it be better for us to take the boat to either contemp or magic kingdom and connect via monorail to EPCOT?

I look forward to your response...

[CleveRocks]

Thanks for the quick answer CLEVEROCKS....

One more question to all the people out there.... best way from Wilderness Lodge to...

Wilderness Lodge to Epcot?


I ask this question because I heard the busses are sometimes slow... would it be better for us to take the boat to either contemp or magic kingdom and connect via monorail to EPCOT?

I look forward to your response...

No matter how slow the bus might be from WL to Epcot (and I wouldn't trust that bit of info, anyway), it will be quicker than the alternate route you suggest. Here's why ....

With Disney Transport, the big time killer is waiting for transportation. The more times you have to wait, the longer is will take you to get from A to B.

The bus from WL to Epcot (and back) is direct. You wait for that one bus, and then you go to Epcot.

The routes you suggest would involve three separate waits, rather than only one: a wait to get onto the boat; another wait to get onto the monorail; and yet another wait for the other monorail (the monorail doesn't go directly from MK to Epcot -- after boarding at MK, it stops at Contemporary and then at the next stop, TTC, Epcot-bound passengers must exit the monorail and go around to another platform to catch a monorail to Epcot.

Waiting those three separate times can't possibly be quicker than waiting for one bus, even a supposedly slow bus, unless there are freak ocurrences such as road closure or mechanical breakdown.

I hope this helps!

[PrncsAurora]

Does anyone know where we can find a map that shows all the transportation from park to park to downtown to resort? We are going camando style and will probably switch parks at least once on one of the days we will be there...

For example, what transportation is available from Port Orleans FQ to AK? From AK to MK? and so on...is this something that's even available?!

[CleveRocks]

Does anyone know where we can find a map that shows all the transportation from park to park to downtown to resort? We are going camando style and will probably switch parks at least once on one of the days we will be there...

For example, what transportation is available from Port Orleans FQ to AK? From AK to MK? and so on...is this something that's even available?!

There really is no centralized map of Disney Transport routes. I'll try to break it down for you.

If you are staying at POFQ, the only 2 modes of Disney Transport are bus and boat. The boat will ONLY take you to POR and to Downtown Disney. These boats don't run during electrical storms; there is also a bus from POFQ to DTD.

Otherwise, everything from POFQ is by bus. There is a bus that goes to Magic Kingdom, a bus that goes to Epcot, etc.

Between the 4 theme parks ....

From Magic Kingdom to:

• Epcot, monorail or ferry to Transportation & Ticket Center, then monorail to Epcot.

• MGM, monorail or ferry to TTC, then bus to MGM.

• Animal Kingdom, monorail or ferry to TTC, then bus to AK.

Also, if you really wanted, you could walk to Contemporary, and then take a bus to MGM or AK (but since Contemporary shares buses with Polynesian and Grand Floridian, this could possibly take a lot of time unnecessarily).

From Epcot to:

• MGM, bus. OR, you could take a FriendShip boat between the 2 parks, but this is slower than the bus. You could also walk (20-30 minutes).

• AK, bus.

From MGM to AK, bus.


Boat transportation overall ....

• from POR/POFQ to DTD

• from Saratoga Springs Resort to DTD

• from Old Key West to DTD

• from MK to Wilderness Lodge to Fort Wilderness to MK

• from MK to Grand Floridian to Polynesian to MK

• from Wilderness Lodge to Contemporary

• FriendShip boats between MGM and Epcot, stopping at Swan/Dolphin and the Boardwalk area resorts

Monorails overall ....

Resort loop: MK to Contemporary to TTC to Poly to GF to MK
Express Monorail: TTC to MK and back
Epcot loop: TTC to Epcot and back


Buses overall ....

There are buses from each WDW resort to each theme park, water park and DTD, EXCEPT those that are otherwise served by boat or monorail or are obvious walking distance. From any resort, a MK bus goes only to MK -- it's not like one single bus goes from a resort and then stops at all the theme parks.


From one resort to another ....

It can take a long time. With very few exceptions (as noted above), you can't get from one resort to another. To get from one resort to another, you have to get to one of the theme parks or DTD, and then use that as a transportation hub. For example, let's say you are staying at POFQ but have dinner reservations at a restaurant in Wilderness Lodge. You'd take a bus to MK and from MK take a bus or boat to WL. And so on for any other resort-to-resort combination. Sometimes, a taxi works best!

Please post back with any questions. I loved my stay at POFQ, and I can clue you in on any transportation questions from there in particular.

[PrncsAurora]

Thanks so much!! This will really help out.

Any special things not to miss or eat at POFQ?