Need help with transportation

We are staying at Poly in late Nov and plan one day at HS. We have early dinner reservation at Trail’s End at 4:30 then will go back back to HS for Fantasmic! and Tower of Terror. Will be returning to Poly late that evening. Any suggestions for best method of transportation for this day will be greatly appreciated! Will have our own car - Drive? Drive to HS only then bus to Fort Wilderness and back to HS? What about parking? Thank you in advance for your help!

Why not boat to FW, bus to HS, walk to Epcot and monorail back to Poly.

Or, drive to HS, park and bus back and forth to FW.

Is Trail’s End near the bus stop or is it like HDDR and close to the boat?

Wow, that’s a tough one - I don’t think I would have planned Trails End for dinner in the middle of a DHS day because of the amount of travel time required. If I was doing this I would either drive or take the bus from the Poly to DHS, take the bus to either the CR or MK, and then take to boat to FW. Then reverse the process for the rest of the day. I’ve never driven to FW, so I’m not sure if driving to Trails End would be the easier option.

Sorry to be a downer, but I would plan supper somewhere else that day. If you were to ask, “Which is the single most inconvenient restaurant at which to eat from HS?” the answer is probably Trail’s End.

Trail’s End is next door to HDDR. You cannot drive and park right at it. You will either need to take a boat from MK (or the Contemporary or Wilderness Lodge) or park at the front of FW and take the internal bus system to the restaurant. I ate there recently because I was staying at FW. The food is average. Nothing particularly memorable about the experience.

Thanks for the info. Cannot get any other reservations on that day, but will keep trying. Guess we will drive to HS and bus back and forth to FW. Any idea how long to allow for bus to FW? I really appreciate your thoughts.

Allow an hour for buses and be pleasantly surprised if the time is shorter. Think of bus time as time to nap and recharge.

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I would just plan to eat a CS meal at HS. Maybe something like ABC Commissary would be okay, let you sit down inside. Actually, a resort break for lunch from a day at HS sounds more likely to me, I find there’s not that much to do at HS, and we were really killing time to last until a dinner reservation at Sci Fi.

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Thank you! Yes, that’s why we were leaving - not that much to do at HS and just wanted to go back for Fantasmic! In fact, we are rethinking that as well and may get our Tower of Terror reservation changed to before dinner and not return. I just wish we had better dinner reservations on this day, but that’s okay. We were able to snag O’Hana’s, Chef Mickey’s and Via Napoli so overall we are happy with our ADR’s.

Did you try Trattoria or Captain’s Grill? Both of them are a nice walk or boat ride from HS. They are both one credit choices as well.

Thank you! I just tried both - no luck! But I will keep trying. Since we have a car, do you think we should just try to drive to both places? What about parking near Trail’s End?

The parking near at FW is nowhere near Trails End. You need to take the internal bus from parking- that is why everyone is so concerned about time. Are you on the DP and need to use the credit?

If you wanted to leave the park and kill some time, I would go over to the Boardwalk area. Even if you don’t have an ADR, there are several places that you should be able to eat with little to no wait.

I second the Boardwalk area. The ESPN club there isn’t bad (especially if you are a sports fan) and there isn’t usually a wait early… they don’t take reservations. My 9 year old son greatly preferred ESPN to Trail’s End. The Boardwalk also has street performers to watch and a bakery for dessert! We always stay at FW… the internal bus system there takes forever…(we take bikes to avoid it) and if you take your car to FW you will need to take the internal bus system to Trail’s End. There is NO parking down at the Trail’s End area. The only parking is at the entrance to FW … as far away from Trail’s End as you can get. I would NOT attempt to walk it either.

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No not on Dining Plan. Think we will go to Boardwalk area. Have never been there so we will give it a try. Thanks everyone!

Go to Crew’s Cup! There are booths and great food!

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If you stroll over to Boardwalk/YC/BC Area, wander past Captain’s Grill. I think they almost always have walk-up seating since they’re at a big convention hotel with no QS and many people who need to eat but who wouldn’t think to make ADRs. Also, Swalphin restaurants will have availability too, and they’re the first boat stop from HS.

You all have all been so helpful! Thank you SO much!