Getting to Chef Mickey's

What is the best way to get to Chef Mickey’s from POR? I made more than one reservation at Chef Mickey’s to try and determine the best time to go and will cancel the one we don’t need. Should we go the morning we are leaving? If so, we will have anywhere from a 6-8 hour drive following that breakfast depending on Atlanta traffic and weather! Or, should we go the first night we arrive after (hopefully) spending a few hours at Epcot? I figured from Epcot we could take the monorail to transportation and then a monorail to Chef Mickeys. Then going back to POR we take the monorail to transportation and then bus back to POR? Or would it just be easier to drive there on the morning that we leave? Is there free parking at Contemporary if we choose the driving option?

If you’re going to have a car, I would just drive there, in both cases.

If I’m misunderstanding, the most efficient use of Disney Transport would be to take a bus to MK and walk to Contemporary - it is under 10 minutes and a nice walk on a nice day. Then walk back to the bus and take bus back to POR.

I would probably decide based on if you would rather start your vacation by “saying hello to Mickey”? Or end it with a final meal with Mickey?

If leaving after, I would just drive to the Contemporary and depart from there. I don’t see a reason to return to POR unless you had another activity planned. With an ADR you should be able to park at the Contemporary for free. If you decided not to drive for some reason, bus to MK and walk to Contemporary is likely the fastest method.

If dining on arrival day, the monorail swap is likely the best way from Epcot. For returning, you could also walk to the MK (or monorail there) and grab a POR bus. I’m not sure you can get a bus to resorts from the TTC. You could also monorail back to Epcot and hop a bus there if you wanted, although I’d expect that to take longer.

That is correct. Buses from the MK area to resorts would be boarded at the MK bus depot.

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For reference, the monorail from TTC to Epcot takes about 10 minutes. The resort loop can take up to 20 minutes once on board. Add time to transfer at TTC. You’ll need to plan 45 minutes minimum to get from Epcot to Contemporary by monorail.

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Okay. I think we will just keep the Chef Mickey’s for the morning we leave. That way we are still doing something “Disney” on that morning since we won’t be going to the parks that day. And, it makes sense to just get everything packed in the van, drive to Contemporary, and leave for home from there! And, I just made and ADR for Garden Grill at Epcot on the night we arrive so we are starting with a Disney meal too! This will also avoid the FP for FEA or Soarin’ dilemma since we can reserve a FP for Soarin’ the day we arrive and then use FP for FEA on a different day at Epcot during our week’s stay…

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That is perfect! Way less rigmarole with transportation on both days. I like the plan!

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It sounds like you’re probably already set on plans, but when we went we did Chef Mickey’s on arrival day and the only reason I chose to dine at the Contemporary is for my kids to experience riding the Monorail into the Contemporary. To do this we had to go a little bit out of our way to get on a monorail (we came from DHS) but the bus we took from DHS to Poly was quick to arrive, left quickly with only us on it & took us straight to the Poly where we boarded the monorail. It was a beautiful ride with the views of the Seven Seas Lagoon & the monorail resorts & getting off at the Contemporary was just as cool for the kids as I hoped it would be. Just to offer a different perspective.

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Thanks! I would like to work in a monorail ride during our week there, and I think we will have time on a couple of other days to do so. Even if it is from MK to the resorts around there and then back to MK. I think on our first night there trying to do Epcot for a couple of hours and then Chef Mickey’s after driving several hours will be too much. But thanks for the suggestion! :slight_smile:

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Very wise & totally get it! I know I planned way too much on our arrival day, ie any plans at all after midday break when we had arrived at 5am to MCO were a bad idea, so I totally get a low-key arrival day!