When families travel to Disneyland in Anaheim, they may choose from a variety of public and private transportation options between hotels in the area and the Disney parks. In Florida, the Walt Disney World Resort features a variety of transportation options from buses to monorails and even boats. This week we asked our Parenting Panel: When you travel to the Disney theme parks, do you rely on the transportation services or rent a car? What do you do if you travel to another attraction?
Mary Kraemer is an avid Disney fan and a co-owner at EscapadeAdventures, who loves to travel with her husband and children to Disney destinations as often as possible. Mary writes:
When I’m booking clients on a vacation at the Disneyland Resort, I generally try to book clients at hotels within an easy walk of the park entrance. I like to do this because of the added convenience of a walking-distance hotel. At the end of the evening, the last thing you want to do is wait in yet another line to cram onto a shuttle bus…or maybe the third or fourth one that comes by your stop because there are so many others ahead of you. The inconvenience is exponentially magnified if you have small children who are often asleep when you leave the park; to ride the Anaheim Resort Transit, you must take the sleeping beauty out of their stroller and fold it up…and really, none of that is fun or magical.
Quite often, my clients want to visit some other area attractions, so I usually suggest getting a rental car when they want to venture away from Disneyland (either for the day or to continue their vacation elsewhere), and pick up their car at the Alamo rental counter in Downtown Disney. One of my usual itineraries is for clients to fly into LAX, visit Disneyland for a few days, then rent a car and venture south to Legoland and San Diego, and then return the car at SAN when they fly home.
For the Walt Disney World Resort (WDW), many people love Magical Express and the onsite bus transporation system between the resort hotels and the theme parks. Vacation means not having to drive to many folks. But what about going somewhere else, such as the enticing Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal? You can buy tickets that include shuttle service between WDW hotels and Universal. Or, if you are venturing out to Kennedy Space Center or the beach, WDW has an incredibly convenient rental car option at the Car Care Center.
With a rental car arranged for pick up at the onsite Car Care Center, Alamo will come to your WDW resort hotel and pick you up so you can get your car (and they will bring you back when you return the car, too). It’s extremely convenient if you are taking a day trip away from WDW. It’s also really convenient if you are staying at WDW and then want to head to Port Canaveral for a cruise; simply book the car to drop at Cape Canaveral and do a little shopping (sunscreen or alcohol) to take onboard with you.
Depending on the WDW resort hotel, I will often recommend a rental car for faster transit times. Some of the large resorts, such as Caribbean Beach or Coronado Springs, have an internal resort bus loop, which feels like it adds considerable time to the transit to the theme parks. It’s really a personal choice for folks (my choice is a rental car, unless I’m staying on the monorail loop), and it’s not a one-size-fits-all answer. But there are ways to make a short-term rental work nicely for your needs!
MousePlanet columnist Chris Barry, his wife, Diane, Samantha (15), and twins Casey and Alex (12), live on Long Island and are all major Disney and Walt Disney World fans. Chris writes:
The question of whether or not to surrender myself to Disney transportation has always been a no-brainer. My answer, from the very first Walt Disney World trip, has always been, “Enthusiastically and unwaveringly yes!”
So, let’s get this straight. You’re going to pick me up from the airport in deluxe motor coaches. You’re going to bring my luggage to my resort for me. I don’t have to see it, or touch it once I leave New York. Once I’m on the nice cushy, air-conditioned coach bus, I get to watch a short film that prepares me for my visit and gets me in the Disney mood. Once we get to my resort, I still don’t have to deal with my luggage? Someone will bring it up to my room for me? And I don’t have to pay any extra for this?
Once I’m on your property, you’ll get me wherever I need to get in your massive resort, twice the size of Manhattan. The busses will be clean and crisply air-conditioned in the hot Orlando swelter. I could take a ferryboat. I could take a super cool monorail. They run early. They run late. They run on a fairly regular basis. I can get dropped off closer to the Magic Kingdom than I can if I drive my own car. I can enjoy the Grand Marnier Slush in France or a frosty Oktoberfest in Germany or some sake in Japan in World Showcase and then be driven home safely from Epcot? And this doesn’t cost me anything extra either?
I’m not sure why anyone would ever opt for anything other than Disney transportation. This is just my opinion. I know people feel strongly otherwise, but I guess I just don’t understand them. The last thing I want to do when I enter Walt Disney World is drive, find parking spots, load kids into the car, unload kids from the car, go to a gas station, buy gas and anything else associated with what I normally have to do in my car when I’m at home. I don’t read the paper when I’m down there. I don’t watch the news. I turn it all off and I’m so thankful that Disney enables me to do so. One way they make it easy for me to escape is by offering a truly remarkable transportation system.
When I’m in the Disney bubble, I don’t want to leave. If I’m going to do any other Orlando-area things – and it’s been extremely rare that I have that desire – I do them before I get to Disney. We stayed at Universal for a few days and loved it, but then went to Walt Disney World and checked out of the real world for the rest of the week. My boys were begging to stay at the Nickelodeon Suites once, so I did that with them for two nights and then checked into a resort at Walt Disney World – and stayed there. We took cabs from the airport to Universal and also to Nickelodeon, and then cabs to Disney each time and, let me tell you, I missed Magical Express.
I have no interest in leaving the property, driving under those arches to go to the supermarket or outlet shopping or to Outback Steakhouse or to Target or anything else that resembles the real world. Once I’m there – I’m there and I’m completely satisfied with letting Disney take me there and get me around while I’m there. It’s all part of the experience for us and I wouldn’t have it any other way. And it’s free! Once again – it’s a no-brainer for my family and me.
Lisa is a married, stay-at-home mom of Joey (5) and Matthew (2). She has been a Disneyland annual passholder since 2002, and has made several trips to Walt Disney World, as well. Lisa writes:
We have been to Walt Disney World several times over the years, and three of our trips have included kids. On all three of those trips, we opted to use the transportation system that Disney provides to its guests.
One of the biggest reasons why we decided not to rent a car (aside from cost) is having to fly with a car seat. Since all of our travel on the ground once we arrived in Orlando was going to be by Disney bus, we didn’t need to worry about bringing any car seats with us to the airports or on the planes. It is bad enough to fly with kids and all of the stuff they require, we didn’t want to add the hassle of the bulky car seats to the chaos (this is especially true if you have a connecting flight!). On the buses, I felt they were safe enough without them.
The buses are not always the most convenient with their schedules, and it might take some planning in advance if you are traveling from one place to another if there is no direct bus. We tried to get from Typhoon Lagoon to Downtown Disney (which are literally across the street from each other) and had to go via Saratoga Springs, and it took over an hour. Or if you need to go from a hotel to another hotel (say, for a reservation at a restaurant), you have to go to a theme park and change buses. Even with this need for extra consideration at times, the buses are still a great way to travel throughout the resort. Plus, my boys thought it was so cool to ride buses for a week!
One thing to consider to make your traveling on the buses easier with your kids is which stroller to bring. Make sure it is easy to fold up and carry onto a (sometimes) crowded bus. We used a drawstring backpack to carry everything we put under the stroller so it was easy to pull out quickly and carry on while we folded the stroller.
Overall, I enjoyed the bus system in WDW, and highly recommend using it, especially if you are staying on property for your whole trip.
Chris Salata, also known as GusMan, is a Disney-inspired author and photographer, and loves to help people get the most out of their Disney vacation. Chris writes:
I think one of the most debated questions when it comes to Disney trip planning revolves around using Disney transportation or a rental car. I will admit right off the bat that I am a very big fan of using Disney transportation almost exclusively while on property. However, this opinion was not formed by chance. Instead, I did my own research on the topic and the results favor letting someone else do the driving.
To be fair though, your mileage may vary. (Pun intended.)
For our family of four, we tend to stay on property once we arrive, which pretty much negates the need for personal transportation. Even when we arrived by plane, we would tend to use a car service rather than a rental before Disney's Magical Express was offered. We simply determined that using the buses, boats, and Monorails to be simple and reliable enough to take care of our transportation needs.
For the past number of years, we drove down and had our car on hand. Our stance is pretty much the same. The car sits in the parking lot while we let someone else do the driving. Rarely does the car leave the resort, and when it does, it is to go somewhere outside of the Disney Transportation routes.
For fun, over the past several years, we decided to see if there was any real advantage to having a car to drive to the parks. My family and I would race each other to see who would get from point A to point B faster and then notate some of the contributing factors as to how the experience worked. In the vast majority of the experiences we logged, the difference between Disney Transportation and using a car was less than 10 minutes. Sure there were times where either mode was faster than each other, and there were times where the gap was a bit longer. The law of averages showed us that at least for our specific family and needs, the difference was not large enough to not use Disney Transportation.
We did find these specific scenarios to be consistent for our family:
- When going to the Magic Kingdom, driving will most likely be your slowest option since you have to take a boat or Monorail from the Transportation and Ticket Center. It just adds time.
- Getting from one resort to another can be more difficult and take more time. However, if you plan your park days and your resort visits correctly, the difference in time and effort will be minimal.
- If you plan your day with transportation in mind, allowing at least an hour to get from place to place, you will find yourself arriving with time to spare.
- At least for the time being, taking a bus to Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World is your best bet, especially since there is a lot of construction.
- If you need a car for the day, renting one on site can be a very cost-effective alternative to a cab or car service and provide a lot of flexibility for the money spent.
Keep in mind, I am not suggesting that guests will not experience issues with using Disney transportation or that it suits everyone's specific needs. What I am suggesting is that while this is still a very debatable topic, I think that every family needs to experiment for themselves. This really is a case where one solution does not fit all guests. Once you find what works best for you, stick with it, but consider reevaluating your transportation options over a period of time. After all, needs and wants can and do change over time.
It's your turn—keep the discussion flowing!
Visit the Parenting in the Parks forum on our MousePad discussion board, and share your opinions about this topic or many others, or send your suggestions via e-mail. Reader-submitted tips might be used in a future article, and you might be selected to participate in an upcoming panel discussion!
