By: Merritt Grusecki, a Marvelous Mouse Travels agent
So you’ve decided to stay at a resort onsite at Walt Disney World for easy transportation to and from the parks to your resort—great choice! But now you’re wondering—exactly what are my onsite transportation options? And how do I easily reach each of the theme parks? You can always reach out to your Marvelous Mouse Travels agent to ask what the easiest way is from your specific resort, but read on to get a quick breakdown of the different types of transportation options there are for Disney World resort guests.
Perhaps the most famous form of onsite transportation around Walt Disney World is the monorail. The monorail opened when Disney World itself opened, back in 1971, and has since then become iconic and a must-do ride in and of itself outside of the parks. The monorail resort line connects the Magic Kingdom with three different deluxe resorts: Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Polynesian Resort, and Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort. There is also a stop at the Transportation and Ticket Center where guests can switch monorails to get to Epcot via it’s own monorail line. You can take strollers on the monorail without collapsing them, and can also use the monorail with a wheelchair or mobility scooter, with ramps or elevators available to reach the loading areas. The monorail operates throughout the day beginning 30 minutes before Magic Kingdom park opening and until an hour after Magic Kingdom closing time. The full circuit of the resort line takes between 15-20 minutes, while the ride to Epcot from the Transportation and Ticket Center takes 10-15 minutes.
Another fun and easy way to get between the parks and the resorts is by boat. There are several different boat routes on different waterways around Walt Disney World resort, connecting different resorts to different parks. On the Seven Seas Lagoon in front of the Magic Kingdom, boats go to and from the Magic Kingdom from 5 different resorts: Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Polynesian Resort, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, and Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground. Boats typically depart on 15-30 minute intervals throughout the day during park hours. On Crescent Lake, boats make a circuit between Epcot and Hollywood Studios parks, stopping at Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts, Disney’s Boardwalk Resort, and the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin hotels along the way. These boats depart about every 20 minutes, and the full circuit can take over 30 minutes depending on how many guests are getting on and off at each location. The third boat route through Walt Disney World runs to Disney Springs, a restaurant and shopping complex, from Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside and French Quarter resorts, Disney’s Old Key West Resort, and Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort. These boats typically run on 30 minute intervals, with the boat ride to Disney Springs running about 20 minutes from Port Orleans and Old Key West, and 5 minutes from Saratoga Springs. Note that you will have to fold up your strollers during these boat rides if you have little ones with you! This form of transportation, while fun and relaxing, can take a bit longer than other methods of transport, so be aware of that if you’re running short on time!
The newest form of transportation between onsite resorts and the parks is the Skyliner. The Skyliner opened in 2019 and is a continuous gondola system that connects Epcot and Hollywood Studios to Disney’s Riviera Resort, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, and Disney’s Pop Century Resort. This is a great new way to get to the parks from resorts at several different price points—resorts along the Skyliner include value, moderate, and deluxe options for guests. The Skyliner runs continuously from about an hour before park opening time to 90 minutes after park closing. Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort acts as the hub for the Skyliner, with three lines converging at their station-one from Pop Century and Art of Animation, one to Hollywood Studios, and one that stops at Riviera Resort before continuing on to Epcot. The ride from Caribbean Beach to Hollywood Studios is about 6 minutes, while the ride from Caribbean Beach to Epcot takes about 12 minutes. Going from Pop Century/Art of Animation to the hub at Caribbean Beach is less than a 5 minute ride. The Skyliner is another form of transportation where you won’t have to worry about folding up your stroller—as long as it fits in the gondola! There are also special accessible gondolas for guests in wheelchairs and scooters, with special loading areas to make loading and unloading easier.
For other resorts onsite and to get to parks not accessible by the above methods of transportation, there is an extensive bus system running to the Disney parks from all of the Disney resorts. From each resort, there are convenient bus stops where buses to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs, and even the water parks stop. Each bus starts running an hour before park opening, with buses running at least every 20 minutes throughout the day until park closing. Disney Springs buses run until 12:30am, after which time you will need to find private transportation back to your resort. Larger resorts will have more than one bus stop to make walking to your room more convenient, but note that these multiple stops within the resort will add to your transportation time to the parks. Bus ride times to parks from the different resorts vary, but longer rides can take about a half hour, so leave plenty of time to get to your destination!
For guests planning to have their own vehicle with them during their stay at a Walt Disney World Resort, parking overnight at the onsite resort that you are staying at is complimentary. You also receive complimentary standard parking at the theme parks, if you prefer to drive yourself rather than take the provided public transportation. You may also park at other resorts on property for a few hours if you have a dining reservation at that resort. Driving around Walt Disney World can be confusing for GPS systems, considering how often things change, but signs along the road are plentiful and clearly marked with directions on how to get to the different parks and resorts.
The above options are all completely complimentary with your stay at a Walt Disney World Resort, but what if you are in a hurry to get to a dining reservation after missing the bus? Or if you are looking for easy transportation between resorts that aren’t linked by boat, monorail, or Skyliner and don’t have a vehicle? Ride share services such as Uber and Lyft are easily available at Walt Disney World—in fact, Disney has formed a partnership with the ride share service Lyft. They offer special “Minnie van” vehicles to drive Disney guests around the resort, driven by Disney cast members. Of course, these third party services are not complimentary—pricing varies by distance between pickup and drop-off just like in the rest of the country. But these are good emergency options to know about if you need to get around the Walt Disney World resort in a hurry!
So there you have it—a breakdown of all available transportation to and from the Walt Disney World theme parks to the onsite Walt Disney World resorts. Hopefully this article will help you to not only figure out how to get around, but help you to decide which resort is right for you based on how easy it is to get to your favorite parks from there! Contact your Marvelous Mouse Travels agent today or reach out to Merritt, an agent with Marvelous Mouse Travels or contact Marvelous Mouse Travels to book the perfect onsite resort at Walt Disney World for your family!
