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 At the Magic Kingdom,
you park your car in the parking lot, and catch a tram to the Transportation
and Ticket Center (TTC), where you get the monorail or boat to the
Magic Kingdom. Make a note of which section you are parked in.
If you get a bus from
a Disney Resort, you are taken straight to the MK entrance. Therefore
it's better to use the bus service if you're staying at a Disney
Resort, as you avoid the crowds at the TTC.
You can walk from the
Contemporary to the Magic Kingdom. But you cannot walk from the
Grand Floridian to the Magic Kingdom.
There are two separate
monorails running from the Magic Kingdom to the TTC - one stops
at all of the (MK) resorts and the TTC, the other is the express
monorail which goes straight to the TTC. If you're going from the
TTC to the MK, get the express monorail. If you're leaving the MK
for the TTC and there is a long line for the express monorail, it
may be quicker to get the resort monorail if the line isn't as long.
Alternatively, you could
get the ferryboat from the TTC to the MK, although this is a slower
option.
The Disney ferryboat connects
the Magic Kingdom Park to the Transportation and Ticket Centre (adjacent
to Magic Kingdom parking) and departs every 20 to 30 minutes; you
can also take water taxi from Disney's Contemporary Resort, Disney's
Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney's Polynesian Resort, Disney's
Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground and Disney's Wilderness Lodge
to the Magic Kingdom. In addition, you can take a water taxi from
Disney's BoardWalk Resort, Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts,
Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin to Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios.
The resort monorail from
the MK to the TTC stops first at the Contemporary, then the TTC,
then the Polynesian, the Grand Floridian, then the Magic Kingdom.
There is no monorail station
at the Wilderness Lodge.
If you want to get from
MK to Epcot, you will need to get the monorail to the TTC, then
change to the monorail for Epcot.
The monorail doesn't go
to the Disney's Hollywood Studios or the Animal Kingdom.
If you want to transfer
from resort to resort, go via one of the four main parks, or Downtown
Disney. Many resorts don't have direct buses from the TTC, you need
to go across to the Magic Kingdom to get a bus to your resort. Always
check the transport guide to see if there is a bus from the TTC
direct to your resort.
A boat runs from the Yacht
& Beach Club, the Boardwalk, the Swan & Dolphin Resorts,
to Epcot and the Disney's Hollywood Studios. The boat stops in this order
- Boardwalk, Yacht Club, Swan/Dolphin, MGM, Swan/Dolphin, Yacht
Club, Boardwalk, Epcot.
You can walk from the
Yacht & Beach Club, the Boardwalk, the Swan & Dolphin Resorts
to Epcot (through the International Gateway).
You can walk from the
Polynesian to the TTC.
You can walk from the
Polynesian to the Grand Floridian (a nice pleasant walk past the
beaches, and the Wedding Pavilion).
The transportation system
is designed to efficiently transport guests to the park destinations.
When travelling between resort properties, please allow up to 1
hour and 30 minutes to reach your destination. Some conections can
be made more quickly than others.
When travelling during
high volume periods (such as surprise mornings, after parade exits
or park closing), please be prepared for crowded conditions at the
stops and the need to have people stand on the buses.
The normal interval between
buses is approximately 20 minutes. During peak travel times this
interval may be reduced in order to meet capacity needs. (The interval
between Disney's Blizzard Beach buses may be as long as 35 minutes).
Most buses are equipped
with wheelchair lift mechanisms at the rear door. These buses can
be identified by a blue emblem on the front bumper and rear door.
Some resorts share bus
transportation - e.g. Dixie Landings and Port Orleans, the All-Star
Resorts. Be prepared for the bus to make stops at another resort
before reaching your destination.
Transportation begins
approximately 2 hrs before opening time. Transportation continues
until about 2 hrs after the parks close. See the distances
page for approx times between resorts/parks.
Monorails run from
7:00 a.m. until about two hours after Park closing.
If you want to visit
any of the WDW resorts, either to have a meal or just look around,
transport can be a problem. The transport guide tells you to get
to TTC or a park & then get a bus/boat/monorail from
there to the resort. But there are other ways. For example, if you're
at the Wilderness Lodge Resort & you want to get to the Grand
Floridian Resort, you can get the Animal Kingdom bus or the MGM
bus, which will stop at the Grand Floridian enroute. If you want
to go to a resort at night when the parks are closed, you could
either get a bus to the TTC, then to Pleasure Island, then a bus
to the resort, or get a taxi.
The bus from Downtown
Disney Marketplace to the Yacht & Beach Club stops in this order
- Marketplace, Pleasure Island, West Side, Typhoon Lagoon, Swan,
Dolphin, Yacht Club, Beach Club. The journey can take well over
30 minutes. I'm not sure if buses from other resorts to Downtown
stop at Typhoon Lagoon also, but they do make stops at each of the
three Downtown areas.
If you want to get a taxi
on WDW property, just ask at Bell Services at the Disney Resort.
Taxis from one park/resort to another on Disney property cost around
$8-$10 one way trip.
If a Disney resort offers
a boat or monorail service to a paticular park, there may not be
a bus service to that park, e.g. there is a boat from Wilderness
Lodge to Magic Kingdom, but no bus service, so the only direct way
to get there is by boat. The resorts on the monorail don't offer
a bus service to the Magic Kingdom or Epcot.
There is a direct bus
linking Epcot to the Magic Kingdom to Animal Kingdom, but you must
get a boat to MGM. There is a direct bus linking MK to AK &
MGM.
This was told to me by
a WDW bus driver - if you're going to a park, it's straightforward
and you can follow the route shown in the transportation guide,
but if you're going from resort to resort, always ask a bus driver
for the quickest route, as there's usually an easier way, depending
on the time of day.
Some WDW Resorts are now
giving three-hour parking passes to guests who aren't staying at
that resort, but who are parking there. This is to prevent people
parking there to avoid paying parking fees at the parks.
See the
transportation guide (you can get a hard copy of this guide
when you check-in at WDW)
There are now 3 routes
and the ferryboat that run on Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake. The
different color routes relate to the color of the flag on the bow
of the boat. The 3 different colors are -
Gold -- services the Grand Floridian and Polynesian. The route goes
in a counter clockwise direction, so starting from MK, the route
goes MK, GF, PO and returns to MK. This route runs with park hours
and starts 1/2 hour before the park opens and until about an hour
after it closes. (1/2 before surprise mornings as well). The wait
to get a boat is usually no more than 10 min. An entire cycle is
about 20 min.
Blue -- this is the route that runs on Bay Lake. The route services
Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge and Ft Wilderness. Usually two boats
on this route unless there are boat problems and one goes clockwise
and the other goes counter clockwise. A complete cycle takes about
20 min, but with the boats going both directions, unless they both
just pulled away from your dock, you won't have more than a 10 min
wait.
Red/Green route -- This route was previously two separate routes
(the red and the green) It now is a combined route for the Wilderness
Lodge and Ft Wilderness to and from MK. There are 3 motor cruisers
(capacity 120) on this route. (Previously, two went to FW and one
went to WL.) The morning and early afternoon, the route is MK, FW,
WL. After 3pm, it switches direction and goes MK, WL, FW. These
also start about a 1/2 hour before parking opening.
The ferryboats run from
the MK parking lot to MK. The lines do back up from time to time,
but they hold 600 passengers and during opening and closing times,
all 3 boats are running, which translates into moving about 1800
people every 20 minutes. The time to pick the monorail over the
ferryboat would be from about noon-3pm (approximately). That is
when there is only one boat running and the wait can be up to 20
min for the boat to return if it has just left. Strollers and wheelchairs
roll right onto the boat. It is recommened that regular wheelchairs
with low foot pads go down in reverse and up in forward, but slowly.
When leaving the Magic
Kingdom from the turnstiles, when you look at the water, you have
the GOLD dock (GF/Poly) on the far right (at the foot of the monorail
station). The RED/GREEN dock is the middle one (has a two-tiered
canopy and sticks out into the water and is often mistook to be
the ferryboat dock to the parking lot) The ferryboat dock is the
one at the far left towards the Disney buses to the resorts. There
is no BLUE dock at MK as that route does not leave Bay Lake.
"If you are planning
to stay in one of the All Star resorts, it will be harder to get
transportation to the parks at peak times of the day if you are
staying at the Movies or Music resorts. There are many times when
an empty bus fills at the All Star Sports and can only fit a few
people from the other All Star resorts."
"For all the Brits(and
any body else for that matter) that arrive at Disney and don't hire
a car and are staying on the resort... If you ask a cast member
on how to get to Sea World, Universal etc they will always tell
you that you will have to take a taxi or the mears shuttle. You
can get around much cheaper than that by going to the Ticket and
Transportation Centre (TTC)where the mono rail starts from and picking
up the bus. Disney cast members will never tell you about this service
and even deny it exsists as they have an agreement with the taxi
and Mears companies to recommend guests to them. This bus will also
enable you to pick up the I-Ride Trolley bus." Vanda
"Resort Guests:
*Buses: Most if not all resorts offer complimentary bus transportation
to and from the respective hotels. USE THEM!!!!!!
*Monorails: The monorail system is a great transportation device.
If you want a nice leasurly ride to the MK and EPCOT then the way
to go is the monorail.
*Boats: MK- you're better off taking this to get to your car. Taking
the Monorail to the Transportation and Ticket Center is a waste
of time, especially if you have small children that are starting
to get fussy. EPCOT- At the International Gateway you can hop on
a boat that will take you to MGM-Studios."
"If you are taking
and disney bus please read the signs.If you sit in a seat
look up and read the sign above that seat it may be for the handicaped
or elderly guests.If one of those guests get on the bus you may
need to move from that seat and move to a different one.If the bus
is crowded you can hold on to the hand rails above the aisle or
you can wait for the next bus and get a seat.Please fold your strollers
before getting on the bus.Please try to keep the aisles clear from
bags.
Also if you get on the bus and there are no more seats and you have
to stand please move all the way to the back of the bus to make
room for all of our guests.Also we ask that you don't stand in the
door way of the bus because you may get injured.We also ask that
if you are in the front of the bus that you stand behind the line
on the floor.If the driver is announcing the resort make sure you
are listening so you do not miss your resort.I hope this has been
a help to you and your family." Shane 10/03
"Walking from handicapped
parking at the Magic Kingdom is difficult, because no shuttle service
runs there. Park at the far end of the handicapped parking and then
walk about 20 yards away from the T&TC into the regular parking
to catch a shuttle that will take you directly to the T&TC"
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