We’re staying at an off-site hotel, and there’s a free shuttle to the parks - but it only goes to/from Epcot (which is the only park we’re NOT planning to go to, of course!), so I’m trying to decide if it’s worth it because it’s free and will save paying for parking or an Uber, or if it’ll eat too much into our touring time. The earliest it leaves the hotel is at 8:10 and is a 15 minute drive to Epcot. So say we get to Epcot about 8:30 - how long would it take/what would we need to do to get from wherever shuttles drop you off at Epcot to the main entrance of Magic Kingdom? Or Hollywood Studios? Or Animal Kingdom? It looks like Magic Kingdom is the furthest away from Epcot, so I’m thinking we’ll be driving that day for sure, but input would be appreciated!
In theory, you’ll wait 15-20 minutes for a bus then take another 20 to get to the next park. In practice, that wait for the bus might be an hour. And I don’t know what time in the morning they start running, but I bet it isn’t until at least a little after rope drop. Most of the buses are probably dedicated to getting people from the hotels to the parks and they probably don’t send buses park-to-park until the morning surge is over. Someone else may tell me I’m wrong, but if I was planning bus routes, I wouldn’t have park-to-park until at least 10.
If you want speed, Uber or drive yourself (for MK, Uber to Contemporary seems to be the absolute fastest).
Once you’re at Epcot you can walk to DHS, or part-walk, part-boat. That’ll take half an hour. At least.
You can take the monorail to MK, but you have to change at the TTC. That’s easily half an hour, too.
Unless your budget is very tight, it would be so much easier to take Lyfts. (I guess it depends how far away your hotel is.)
Oh, except if you’re going to MK, you have to get a Lyft to the Contemporary and then walk. They’re not allowed to drop you off at MK itself.
Don’t forget, going from Epcot to DHS requires a parkhopper because you need to walk through the park to get to the walkway/boats.
Oh, parkhopper required between Hollywood Studios and Epcot?! That’s good to know! That definitely won’t work then, even if it were faster.
You say Lyft isn’t allowed to go right to Magic Kingdom - is Uber? Are either of them allowed to go to Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios?
You can Uber or Lyft or taxi to any park except MK. If you download the Uber app (that’s what I use) you can put in a pickup and drop-off location and get a guesstimate of what it will cost you. It’s good to check at the same time of day you expect to make the trip, as prices can be at a premium at certain times of the day (when bars close, for example).
There are no baby carseats in Uber or Lyft, so if that’s a concern for you … you should probably rent a car instead.
It isn’t that you can’t Uber/Lyft to MK, it’s just that you have to go to the Ticket and Transportation Center, then take the boat or monorail to the park entrance. It is much faster to go to the Contemporary then walk to the entrance.
Thanks for the info! We are renting a car because we’re doing other stuff around Florida while we’re there, but were hoping to save on the parking at Disney if we could. But not at the cost of time, so this is helpful! 