Planning our Disney Trip: Transportation

Planning for Disney is just as much fun for us as going to Disney (well, maybe not as much, but you get the idea). We take into account the following things:

– Crowd Calendar
– Dining
– Accommodations
– Fast Passes
– Transportation

One of the things I like the most about Walt Disney World compared to Disneyland is the transportation. Walt Disney World has complementary transportation all around their grounds – and the airport.

If you’re staying in a Disney hotel all you have to do is call Disney to give them your flight information at least 30 days in advance, the will send you special yellow tags with Mickey’s on them for your bags and after you check them in your home airport the next time you see them will be in your room! It’s pretty amazing.

Once you get to the Orlando airport (without having to stop at baggage claim), all you do is find Disney’s red carpet. It’s even better now with the Magic Band! Make sure to wear it once you land, that way you go straight to the red carpet, scan your Magic Band and you’re set. That’s your ticket to the bus (Disney’s Magical Express). Oh, and this service is free just by staying at a Disney resort!

Buses have different lines at the airport depending on your resort and they leave every few minutes. The buses have A/C and show a special presentation about Disney, the resorts and your future experience there. The video almost lasts as long as the ride. The rest of the time, the driver may share trivia with you. This doesn’t always happen, but it’s fun when it does.

Once at WDW Resort you have three ways of complimentary transportation (not counting the future gondolas that they announced in July 2017):

1. Buses: Buses pick up resort guests pretty often. All you need to do is go to the closest bus pick-up location, make sure your bus has the right destination displayed and you’re good to go. Buses also have A/C which is pretty cool! Depending on your resort and the number of stop you are for that bus depends on how full the bus will be, but it’s usually not that bad. Besides, if the bus gets full Disney probably knows about it already and usually another bus will get to your stop in a few minutes. Buses take you from the resorts to the parks, and some take you from park to park. This includes the waterparks! Stress free, isn’t it?

2. Monorail: The Monorail at Disneyworld is a ride, but at WDW it’s a way of moving around the resort. There are basically two different types of monorails, the ones that take you from some specific resorts to Magic Kingdom and the one that takes you from Magic Kingdom to Epcot and back. Monorails are faster than buses, but you can’t get everywhere riding them. They’re still pretty cool.

3. Boats: There are boats that move you from one place to another in several places. The most popular boat (ferry) is the one that crosses the Seven Seas Lagoon from the parking lot to the entrance of Magic Kingdom. If you get there by the resort bus you don’t have to worry about crossing any body of water. Neat, uh? Then there is a boat that goes from Hollywood Studios to Epcot and back, stopping in the area hotels. We used it once and it was the first time we entered Epcot through its back door. It was priceless, at least to us. Almost like another ride. We wanted to stay at the Boardwalk after this experience, but our dates were full. Bummer! Finally, there’s the boat that moves in the Disney Springs area. It goes from Disney Spring to the Port Orleans resorts. We love this one, and we love Port Orleans French Quarter, although we have stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and it’s not bad.

We really love to be able to disconnect from real world driving and just let Disney takes us wherever we want to go. To us, it’s magical!

cheers!