Do I need to leave 90 minutes ahead for my 8:20 Crystal Palace reservation?

[wdwluv]

All my reading says to allow 90 minutes travel time when taking buses. (and a friend of mine said she was late for 1900 Park Fare dinner when she didn't give herself 90 minutes!) At that early hour do we still need that much time?...we are staying at POR. (May 15th)

Thanks gang!

[timberho]

As rediculous as that sounds, 90 minutes isn't exactly that far off when you think about it. The early adr busses run about every 30 minutes(I think) so if you somehow missed a bus and had to wait the full time thats 30 minutes. Add in the 20 minute ride to the park, and the 5 minutes it will take you to get up to and through the front gate you're already at 55 minutes.

Add in the time it will take you to get up the the CP after taking a few photos on the way up there you will probably be at the check in 15 minutes early which is usually recommended.

[DVC2004]

Well I will tell you- it took us 90 minutes to get from HS to DTD for a ressie at Ragland Road one evening.
We had to take a bus from there to a resort (because there was no bus direct from HS to DTD), then take another bus to DTD. We had to wait a long time for the first bus, then waited while EVC's where loaded in... then same thing at the resort...then when we got to DTD the buses were backed up and they couldn't let us off, then hoofed it over to West Side. So, while it doesn't normally take that long it certainly can at times.

[PopPhan]

All my reading says to allow 90 minutes travel time when taking buses. (and a friend of mine said she was late for 1900 Park Fare dinner when she didn't give herself 90 minutes!) At that early hour do we still need that much time?...we are staying at POR. (May 15th)

Thanks gang!

You are actually talking about two completely different situations -- From resort-to-resort (POR to GF) you should leave at least 90 minutes, as you will have to go from your resort to a park or DTD to go to the Grand Floridian for 1900 Park Faire. From your resort (POR) to MK for Crystal Palace you only need to take a bus directly to the MK.

I would still suggest at least 60 minutes, as timberho pointed out what happens with early (before park opening) ADRs.

[buzznwoodysmom]

We always allow at least an hour to an hour and a half to get to any ADRs. You just never know what you'll encounter on your way there, and I'd rather be early than running like crazy or being late.

[TheDuckRocks]

From our experiences the early breakfast buses don't start running until a little after 7 AM at POR and they start coming about every 10 to 15 minutes thereafter. We always have ADRs for right at 8 AM and try to time our arrival at the bus stop a couple of minutes before 7. We have never gotten to a character breakfast late no matter which park was our destination.

[wdwluv]

Thanks so much! Sounds like the 7am bus is for us? Is that the very first bus of the morning?

[Kaps]

We always stay POR and allow at least 60 minutes to get to any reservation. We have not been late. 60 minutes should be more than enough

[Pally]

We had 8:00 am reservations for Tusker House at Animal Kingdom. We were staying at POP. This was our first time using the bus system. We were at the bus stop by 7 am. No bus came until 7:50. Bus after bus for other parks but no Animal Kingdom bus. A cast member says they monitor the system and didn't really know why one was not coming. It was frustrating. We were worried about our ADR for 8:00, was it going to be lost?

We finally arrived at about 8:15-8:20. The bus driver actually dropped us off closer to the entry because he knew we were running late. The walk back to Tusker House is a long one.

As it turns out, they took us but the line up was horrendeous. People who had ADR's 9:00 or later were allowed into the park and caused huge backs ups. They were not prioritized though. We were seated pretty promptly once we made it to the reservation desk.

So, expect the worst, and hope for the best. Keep smiling the whole time.

[darthmacho]

I'd play it safe and catch the first possible bus. That's what I plan to do this summer for the exact same thing. I'm guessing 7 as the time for the first bus? That gives you 80 minutes to get there. Our adrs are for 8:10, so we're going to have a little over an hour. Better early than late, right?

[ILoveLegos]

I haven taken the ~ 7 am bus from POR to Crystal Palace for 8:20 am ressies 3 times now. By comming in early, we've gotten the chance to receive a gate greeting from characters from Pinocchio, early pictures of a nearly empty main street, unobstructed pictures of the castle and still checked into the Crystal Palace Podium 15 minutes early. We got seats on the verranda and were pleasantly seated within 5-10 minutes (earlier than our reservation time). It is a must do for us now (even when I drive in from my house 60+ miles away).

I love that walk down main street, everything feels so fresh clean and new - and there a great breakfast to anticipate and Winnie the Pooh too!

[wdwluv]

Thank you soooo much everyone! It sounds like the 7am bus is the best idea!!

(In light of our "short" trip - I think we might investigate renting a car, it might be worth the time savings to spend the bit on a car. If you check back in - maybe you could fill me in on the time it would take to drive instead of the bus?)

[FenwayGirl]

Rather be early, than late

[Renfairwedding]

"You are actually talking about two completely different situations -- From resort-to-resort (POR to GF) you should leave at least 90 minutes, as you will have to go from your resort to a park or DTD to go to the Grand Floridian for 1900 Park Faire. From your resort (POR) to MK for Crystal Palace you only need to take a bus directly to the MK."

OR.... get to any monoral stop like the MK there you can ride to all the delux hotels

[Bellewannabe]

We always rent a car. We feel it saves us a lot of waiting and driving time. Extra expense yes, designated driver some nights yes, but definitely more freedom and more time to be doing fun things.

[RBrooksC]

I agree. Rent a car in Disney. Do NOT rely on their public transportation. You will always be subject to delays, full buses, annoyed people, etc. If you have a car, you may come and go as you please, listen to something on the radio, not have to deal with others.

And you can control when you get to places. I will never travel to Disney without renting a car.

And what is nice, is even if I rent a car, if we stay at the WL we can take the boat to the MK or get to the monorail for one ride to Epoct and back.

Still last time we did the "one ride to Epcot" thing, the monorail was D-E-L-A-Y-E-D. So, it took FOREVER to get back to the WL.

[finaldynasty]

To answer your question, it should only take about 10-12 minutes to drive from POR.

My family likes taking Disney Transportation. It is an adventure for us. We have not driven our car to the park since we began staying on-site two years ago. This is my DKs only time on semi "public" transportation.

We also have had very good conversations with other riders from other countries, which is a thrill for us!

[timberho]

Just throwing this out there as we are going to do it for our trip in June. You can take a cab, which will cost you around 15 bux from what i've been told. We have an ADR at the crystal palace for 8:15 and we will be staying at the POP. We plan to use the buses for this but if I was that worried I would take a cab.

We have a dinner at 5:30 at Ohanas later in the week and we will definitely take a cab to that one since the transportation situation to get over there will be a lot longer going from resort to resort.

[finaldynasty]

To timber- to get to ohana I would recommend taking the bus to MK and walking over to Monorail. Then, take the monorail to the Poly. We have done that in the past and it did not take us long.

[Touchdown]

^I would also add, that you could also take the bus to Epcot and then jump on the monorail to the TTC and from there walk (or transfer to the resort monorail for one stop) to the Polly.

I would just hop on the first MK or Epcot bus that came to my stop.