We will be heading to Disney the week after Thanksgiving. We have breakfast reservations at 8:40 at Be Our Guest, are planning on spending the morning in MK and then head to Epcot for lunch and the candlelight processional. We will be getting to at least one park via rental car from our airbnb. I wanted to know is it more efficient to just park at both parks or should we park at Epcot in the morning and take the monorail to and from MK?
I vote for driving to the TTC (the parking for MK), and stay parked there all day. From the TTC, you can monorail or ferry to the MK. Leaving the MK, you can monorail/ferry back to TTC and switch to the EP monorail. At the end of the day, leave EP and monorail to TTC and your car. You only drive once.
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Either way, you would have to take the monorail/ferry to/from MK. But if you want to drive over to Epcot, you have to take the tram back to your parking spot and drive over, park, and then walk in to Epcot. But the monorail from TTC to Epcot is about 8 minutes (well, plus waiting time).
On the other hand, when the end of the day comes at Epcot, you end up just having to walk to your car and leave…whereas with the monorail, you still have to tram back to your spot in the MK lot.
I guess, it probably all balances out. I think I’d likely favor driving to the Epcot lot so that at the end of the day, when you are worn out and most tired, you don’t have to then do the monorail/tram dance.
Leaving the car at Epcot and relying on the monorail being up and running to get you to an 8:40 BOG ADR seems unwise to me. The other options of park at TTC & monorail or drive to each seem much better to avoid being late for your ADR. I think it depends on if you value the monorail as a “ride” or not. I’d likely lean TTC and monorail to & fro, but depending on when your day ends at Epcot, it can be a long wait for a crowded monorail. If your Candlelight Processional is early enough that you’ll be leaving well before the Epcot nighttime show, you should be fine…
One thing to consider is how early the EP monorail starts running that day. (I’m not sure of its hours.) OP has PPO breakfast at BOG, and could enter MK as early as 7:45 for their breakfast.
Otherwise, @ryan1, you do have a valid point about a shorter trip to the car at the end of the day.
We actually took the monorail in a loop from Epcot, to TTC, and back during our last trip just to do it with our youngest son. What I learned? The Epcot monorail trip is really boring compared to the MK one. The one and only exception is the brief period when the monorail actually circles around FutureWorld.
But it’s still the monorail! In general, I agree that the only visually exciting part of the ride is the loop around Epcot. But we often feel odd if we don’t ride the monorail at least once on a visit, so being able to check the monorail box at least once is kind of a must, or at least a nice to have, for us…
Oh, I agree. I love riding the monorail…only meant that the one to/from Epcot is boring. The one around the lake to/from MK is exciting. Not only shorter, but so much to look at, including passing through the Contemporary, etc.
Thanks for the feedback everyone!