Would someone be willing to offer advice on figuring out transportation to and from parks for our February 2020 trip? I don’t mind paying extra for Minnie vans when appropriate as the 65/64 yr old couple and 33/32 yr old couple would be splitting the cost. I’d like to balance cost and convenience since we will have a 5 and 2 yr old riding.
Lodging: Grand Floridian Villas
Party: 4 adults and 2 kids (65, 64, 33, 32, 5, 3)
Monday 2/3 (MK day) -Current MK Park Hours: 9AM - 8PM -Breakfast: Chef Mickey’s at 7:55 AM -Dinner: 1900 Park Fare at 6:20 PM
Q: What is the best way to get to our ADR by 7:55 AM?
Q: From what I’ve read, resort monorail starts running 30 min before MK opens (8:30 AM). Is that correct?
Tuesday 2/4 (AK day) -Current AK Park Hours: 9AM-8PM -Breakfast: Snacks at hotel/room -Dinner: GF Cafe at 6:05 PM
Q: What is the best way to get to AK by around 8-8:15 AM?
Wednesday 2/5 (HS day) -Current HS Park Hours: 9AM-8PM -Breakfast: Snacks at hotel/room -Dinner: The Wave (Contemporary) at 6:00 PM
Q: What is the best way to get to HS by around 8-8:15 AM?
Thursday 2/6 (MK day) -Current MK Park Hours: 9AM-8PM (extra magic hours starts at 7:45 AM)* -Breakfast: Be our Guest at 8:15 AM (reservation made prior to knowledge of EMH) -Dinner: O’hanas (Poly) at 6:05 PM
Q: What is the best way to get to our ADR by 8:15 AM?
Friday 2/7 (EP day) -Current EP Park Hours: 9AM-9PM -Breakfast: Akershus at 8:10 AM -Dinner: TBD
Q: What is the best way to get to our ADR by 8:10 AM?
I don’t have all the answers, but here are some thoughts:
2/4: I would use the Minnie Van for the Chef Mickey’s reservation.
2/5: Honestly, bus is probably the fastest transport to AK. We used Lyft one morning and it seemed like the buses used a different entrance while we sat in traffic just outside the gate.
I’ve found early breakfast at a resort I wasn’t staying at is a great use of Lyft/Uber (or Minnie Van if the group was larger).
I haven’t used a Minnie Van since last October, but allow time for them to get to you for pick-up. We ended up running a little later than planned one morning because I waited for the whole party to join before requesting pickup and it took a fairly long time (we were at WL).
I’m really bad at catching buses at the “right” time and have often ended up waiting or giving up and using Lyft. I would just recommend getting to the stop 1 hr prior to when you want to arrive at the park… Giving yourself more time is better, but it can be tricky to get a larger group all ready to go.
I suspect the boat is your best bet, but I honestly don’t know what time they start running as I’ve never stayed there before.
With regards to a Minnie Van, it will be a tight squeeze with the 6 of you. 3 adults in the backseat, 2 car seats in the middle, and 1 person up front.
Our system when we were there last year was Minnie Vans for PPO reservations, buses for when we wanted to be there by park opening. The Minnie Vans were so convenient but also quite expensive, and we found the early buses were half empty.
I would check on the monorail before shelling out for Minnie vans. The resort loop opens much earlier than the express. It is the way everyone gets to early breakfasts in the MK area.
So, it is possible that we could use the resort monorail to get to Chef Mickey’s on 2/3 at 7:55 AM and Be our Guest on 2/6 at 8:20 AM?
I agree busses on 2/4 to AK and 2/5 to HS make the most sense. I would likely take Minnie Van to Akershus at EP on 2/7 since we could always ride buses or express to resort monorail back to GF.