Driving down

[cmshelton1979]

I am going to be driving down on my next trip. It will more than likely be at the end of July or August....

If you drive down and stay on Disney property, do you take the buses or do you drive your car? I really like just hopping on a bus and not having to drive. We will have our infant son with us this time and lugging his stroller on and off a bus wont be the most fun in the world.....

[Jeff]

We do both. No mater where we stay we.....
We never take the bus to Downtown Disney.
Usually drive to AK.

Depending on our hotel location:
Sometimes drive to the Studios.

Rarely drive to MK no mater where we are staying.

[cmshelton1979]

We do both. No mater where we stay we.....
We never take the bus to Downtown Disney.
Usually drive to AK.

Depending on our hotel location:
Sometimes drive to the Studios.

Rarely drive to MK no mater where we are staying.

Kind of what I was telling her last night.....We have stayed at POP/WL/CSR and it seemed to take forever getting to DTD.

I just dont want to battle with traffic at night trying to get out of a park...We are driving for a couple reasons.....one it will be cheaper than 750.00 for us to drive down, but also we are going to Universal for two days and dont want to have to get a rental.....

[Rekenna]

We drove on our last trip-after having flown in the past with no car and all busses.

I am a big fan of the busses, I think the whole system is very organized and conveinent-I doubt anywhere else in the whole entire world has a bus system such as this.

However, as I said, we drove down last time and never once took a bus and it was awesome! We could go anywhere, when we wanted, no waiting, we could stop at McDonalds (right outside the All Star Values). We could go to mini golf, without having to worry about how many times to switch busses. We went to Downtown Disney with no hassle. It was great. The only place I could see it being difficult (as far as lugging the stroller around) is if you have to park way out at the TTC to ride the monorail to MK or Epcot and have to ride a tram to get to the monorail.

We went in October, not very crowded, we were early birds this trip and had no issues with parking. I will say my Sister went with us and she has difficulty walking (arthritic knees-both) so she has a permanent handicap sticker so we parked in the handicap parking at the TTC-this was still quite a walk for her, but she did okay.

So if you can drive to the parks drive, we have little people and there is nothing worse than at the end of the day at MK, after you have been there all day, and everyone is leaving at the same time, and everyone is trying to get on the busses at the same time. You are holding a sleeping child and lugging a stroller around-it stinks. Go with the car! Remember as long as you are staying on property the parking is free.

Have fun!

[Spaceship Tigger]

We always drive down and have found that if we drive our own vehicle to the parks that we can beat the busses pretty much everywhere. Doing this at the MK is debateable but the kids like the ride around the loop on the monorail anyway. Waiting for the busses with small children and lugging the strollers on and off wasn't worth it for us.

[cmshelton1979]

I guess for me I really dont mind doing the busses and such....I like to be submerged into the full Disney experience. I enjoy meeting and talking to people waiting for the bus or being on the bus. I like the fact that I don't have to drive and I can doze off....

My wife on the other hand, she isn't crazy about the waits...we discussed this last night and I think we are leaning towards this......if we are only going to do 1 park and stay there the whole day....we'll do the buses....if we are going to a park then a resort for dinner......we'll probably end up driving

[gerald72]

I drive down every time I go. And I park the car the whole time and let Disney transportation take me where I want to go.
Also, it's buses- the s isn't doubled.

[1goofydad]

We prefer to drive. There are at least 5 of us, so unless we get a great price on airline tickets, it will be driving for us for now on. Next trip we are trying the auto train though. It is great having a car @ WDW. last trip our timing was horrible for the buses and we did a lot of hoping around that required multiple bus transfers--not fun.The only place I don't like driving to is the magic kingdom. I love taking the bus to right outside the gate

[droopy d.]

We always rent a car so we can be in control of where and when we go. I keep think about not renting but I like the control.

[d_m_n_n]

We have always had a vehicle at WDW, whether our own or a rental. The first trips, we drove everywhere. Then in 2007 DSs wanted to ride the bus (it was a novelty to them) and we did. After that the only place we drive is to DTD.

I don't know what it was on our trip in December, if they are offering more busses or we were just lucky, but it felt like we were hitting the transportation lottery!!! We never had to wait more than 5 minutes for a bus or boat ANYWHERE!!! I am definitely a fan of Disney Transportation now!!!

[disneyboundagain]

We always have a car, either our own or a rental. The Disney transportation just takes waayyy too long. We like to go where we want, when we want, including outside the park for groceries or a meal or two. With the crowds you will see at the end of July, early August, wait until you see how long the waits are for the busses and Monorail.

[cmshelton1979]

We always have a car, either our own or a rental. The Disney transportation just takes waayyy too long. We like to go where we want, when we want, including outside the park for groceries or a meal or two. With the crowds you will see at the end of July, early August, wait until you see how long the waits are for the busses and Monorail.

I was there for my Honeymoon in August 2 years ago, I don't remember the transportation being bad at WL....we did end up staying 1 night at CSR and we had to wait forever for a bus to DTD there...

[kathiep]

We always drive. Waiting in line with 2 kids after a long day at the parks never appealed to us. It was so much easier to pop the stroller in the car, put the kids in their own, familiar seats and take off. Many afternoons DH & I drove around and took in the Disney sites while the little ones dozed. I also have to admit I was never crazy about the idea of putting my kids on the busses without car seats. Seems like there have been a lot of bus accidents lately and I just don't like the thought of them not being fully restrained.

[diz_girl]

Here is the problem with the buses and it's not because of lugging strollers on or off them. On our last trip (Dec 08), the bus from WL to EPCOT was standing room only and there was a large man standing in front of me who was texting and not holding on to a railing. Well, on the first turn the bus took he lost his balance and landed on the woman sitting next to me. I was glad that my mother was holding my DS on the other side of the aisle, even thought the man didn't land on me. But would you want some oblivious person squashing your kid because they're not paying attention to what is going on around them?

From your signature, it looks like you're staying at the Poly, so you have the monorail to go to MK and EPCOT, which will probably be the two parks where you will be at most. You might want to drive to AK. Not sure about DHS (almost wrote MGM), but you could take the boat from EPCOT. However, if you want to go first thing in the morning, then it's probably better to drive.

When we stayed at the Poly, we took the monorail or the bus, but we didn't have any children with us at the time. With the buses, it's more than just the lugging of the stroller on/off the bus, it's the possibility of standing room only that is the bigger problem, in addition to a possible long wait even before you get on the bus.

Good luck and have a great time!

[MizMissy]

We take the buses, but I also prefer to drive. My problem with the public transporation - whether it be buses, monorail or boats - is that I get motion sickness. Being enclosed (re: trapped) and the start/stop/swaying motion of the transportation is not good - add extra crowded and I'm ready to push small children and old ladies (not really, but close ) out of the way to quickly exit at the next stop. Even my precious babies will try to comfort me when they see me getting a little green around the gills...
So, with MK, I am sort of stuck, but with the others, unless it is early morning and I know we aren't staying in the same park until closing, I prefer to drive.
Oh and as to MK - I think we are staying at Contemporary next trip ... part of my reasoning being the walk to MK!

[wildernesslady]

Since you're thinking of staying at the Poly, definitely monorail to MK. I would probably drive to everything else with an infant. It is alot easier to put the stroller in your car vs. the bus. Definitely drive to other resorts if you are going to them. Have a great time.

[elmjimmlm]

We love to just leave the car in the parking lot and not see it until we leave...We have had to drive a few times and we didn't like it...I love leaving it up to Disney to do the driving for us...No worries...

[Bubbie Girl]

We have driven many times and after almost 2 days of being in the van we are more than happy to park it and let Disney do our driving. The time always seems to go by to fast anyway and we are back in the van for the sad 2 day ride back home

[kemps@wdw]

We never even see our car til we're ready to leave. All WDW transportation is designed to accomodate strollers. Would recommend a foldable stroller, though. Much easier to navigate.

[joonyer]

We always drive to WDW and rarely use our car once we are there. We like the convenience of being to arrive right at the turnstiles on the buses, and not having to remember where we parked, etc. It is especially better to use the buses at MK where the parking lot is a long way from the turnstiles. But we sometimes drive to AK when we have an early breakfast there and usuallly drive to the water parks and DTD.