Bo's Vacation Tutorial for Disney Noobz - Part 1: Getting There is Half the Fun!

Hello everyone! We made it to Walt Disney World!

 

For some strange reason the Handlers insisted I travel in this special safety suit.

Ah, that's better.

 I'm currently reporting to you from the humidity capital of the lower 48 states, Orlando, to give you Part 1 of my advice for clueless Disney vacationers.  This post is all about transportation. 

There are, generally, two ways to get to Disney from afar: (1) you can drive yourself or (2) you can fly into Orlando international airport.  There are some instances where driving makes a lot of sense, but the Handlers live in the great white north, so they decided to fly.  If you're staying on Disney property, you can arrange for transportation to your hotel via Disney's Magical Express at no additional cost.

The folks at the Magical Express can even pick up your checked luggage for you and deliver it to your room; which is a great benefit if you've got a bunch of bags you don't want to lug around. For example:

Oh I'm sorry, that's not what the Handlers packed for this trip!  That's the pile of luggage sent to the grandhandler's house with The Nuisance.*

Once you're safely on property, you'll need to get around between the entertainment areas and your hotel.  If you drove or rented a car, you can always drive yourself.  Many people feel that it's ultimately a faster means of getting around, and parking fees are waived for Disney resort guests.  However, this holds true for all of the Disney parks except the Magic Kingdom.  This is because the parking lot is nowhere near the park!!! Just keep that in mind.

Disney has a number of means for shuttling it's "guests" about:

Boats

 

The boats run between some resorts and some of the parks, and it's good to know which ones go where.

 

Magic Kingdom - Boats run between the Magic Kingdom and the Contemporary, Polynesian, Grand Floridian, WIlderness Lodge, and Fort Wilderness campground.  You can also take a boat to and from the Transportation and Ticket Center (which is where you'll end up if you drive yourself).

 

Epcot/Disney Hollywood Studios - Boats run between Epcot and Disney Hollywood Studios parks and, as an added bonus, make stops at the Swan, Dolphin, Beach Club, Yacht Club and Boardwalk resorts.  Please note that these boats depart Epcot outside of the "International Gateway", and not the front of the park.

 

Downtown Disney - Boats run between several docks at Downtown Disney and between the Port Orleans and Saratoga Springs resorts.

 

Trams



 

 

 

See, driving yourself.  Disney parking lots are BIG.

 



Monorails

 

[THE HANDLERS HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO CAPTURE THE ELUSIVE MONORAIL]

 

Monorails are so much fun many people classify them as a ride and not a form of transportation.  There are two monorail routes.  One goes between the Magic Kingdom and the Contemporary, Polynesian and Grand Floridian resorts.  There's also a monorail to Epcot, which has no hotels on it's route.  Both monorails stop at the Transportation and Ticket Center, allowing for transfers.

 

And the all but ubiquitous, Disney resort bus.

 



Resort buses are the main form of transport around the parks and Disney hotels.  They're generally pretty reliable, and it's fairly rare you need to wait more than 15 minutes for one to arrive.  They're air conditioned and well marked.  The two pictured above are going to Disney's Animal Kingdom (which can only be accessed by bus or non-Disney transportation).

Now, a long time ago, somewhat untrustworthy people figured out they could game the system by utilizing the free Disney resort busses to avoid parking fees.  So, Disney put in a lot of preventative measures to stop this:  There are no busses that go between parks (except water parks that share a bus route with another park).  There are no busses that go between a park and Downtown Disney.  There are no busses that go between Disney hotels.  This can create some problems if, for instance, you are at a park and want to go to Downtown Disney.  How do you get there?  Well, first you have to travel from the park you're in to a hotel (it need not be the one you're staying at) via bus, boat, monorail or what have you.  Then you need to wait for a bus to Downtown Disney and pick that up.  What about if you want to travel between two hotels?  You need to take the bus from the first hotel to a park (or Downtown Disney) and pick up a new bus to the hotel of your choice.

Make sense?  Good, because I'm not going through it again.  And if it's too complicated for you, there's always to old fashioned way.

*Picture does not actually show all of the luggage sent with The Nuisance.  Yes, there was more...