We are going in October to WDW and staying “Off Property” at Lake Buena Vista Palace (I know…but it’s almost free because of my husband’s hilton points) and I was wondering if anyone has any information on the transportation for that hotel? I know it is separate from Disney Transportation, but I’m trying to get a sense of how early we will need to get up, how late does it run, would it just be better to uber it, can we take dis tran between parks and resorts even though we are staying off property.
I do not know the specifics of the shuttle for that hotel, but you should definitely just look into renting a car. It will likely be MUCH more convenient. Between the car and parking you could probably keep the cost under $300 for a week.
You can definitely take the Disney transportation between parks without being a resort guest!
For much less than 300 I could take uber, Uber estimates are around 15 dollars each way, and we will be there 6 days so for about 180 I can have “door to door” service by someone who has driven these roads before. I look forward to vacations because I don’t have to drive!
I would like to take the free transportation if at all possible because I’d rather spend the money on something cool
From experience staying at the then Downtown Disney Hilton, the shuttle ran once an hour. The good news was you knew pretty well when it would show, but the bad news is that if you missed it, it was a very long wait for the next one. Some of the shuttle drop off points were literally in the middle of a parking lot as well so it was a terrible spot to wait on the shuttle. No experience with your exact hotel, but my guess is it will be similar bus service. It will get you there and back, but you probably won’t be happy with it.
It might be worth learning the bus schedule and then using Uber when it doesn’t fit your needs. The other thing to check is if you can find a real deal on a rental car - we rented once via Hot Wire for ~$50 for the week since there are a plethora of rental cars in Orlando and off-season they just sit there so you can find great deals. Our deal was in January several years ago, but it may be worth checking the price if you can stomach driving. 'Course you’d have to pay for parking since you’re offsite which likely makes Uber a better deal and less hassle…
Yeah, that may be the way to go then. I will budget for Uber and see if we ever get lucky with the shuttle.
Can I take Dis Transportation to another resort as well as between parks. We are spending the day in AK then having dinner in Ohana then heading to MK, I can take the bus from AK to Ohana then the Monorail to MK.
I’ve never seen DIS transportation check anything beyond Magical Express. So you should be able to freely use DIS buses to get between parks and DIS hotels with no issues. After all they want to make it easy for you to spend $ with them so they’ll be happy to shuttle you to dinner…
For planning purposes, it may be worth a call to the hotel to ask about how often the buses run. Checking their web page they just indicate they have them, but no word on the frequency.
Yeah i’ve found that the website is kinda useless. I am not impressed with the hotel so far, but we are using points for the hotel room so we are only paying taxes and resort fees for 7 nights in a King suite with view of Epcot Fireworks. Thankfully we don’t plan on spending too much time in the hotel room as this is my first visit in 18 years and my husband’s First EVER!
We know we can’t see everything, but darnit we are going to give it a shot!!
Just a FYI, that we’ve stayed there. Probably about 5 years ago before it was owned by Hilton. No experience with the shuttle because we had a car, but found the hotel to be pretty nice. It was convenient to Disney Springs area. You can just walk there and not have to worry about parking. Views are very nice from the hotel. Pool was nice and a good size. I think despite non-disney you’ll find it pretty nice.
That’s good. I figured it had to be pretty ok being that it’s a Hilton property and my husband stays in Hilton’s 200 nights a year and they are all pretty good for him. I know it probably won’t have all the “Disney magic” but I’m ok with that. I am happy about the disney spring proximity, there are gluten free cupcakes there and I’m gluten free, so it works perfectly. Also we will have friends staying at sarasota springs while we are there and that’s not far either from what i’ve looked at. I want to spend time in the parks, and not in traffic if i can help it!
I’m updating this incase anyone else had the same questions.
We came prepared to use uber, but we didn’t at all. The transportation at these hotels is pretty good. It does only come every 30 minutes, and it’s 3 hotels and 2 parks per bus. So It stops at the Best Western, the Lake Buena Vista and the Palace, and goes to either AK and HS or EC and MK. We never faced a bus that was packed, only once did either of us have to stand. We sometimes caught the first bus of the day, (They start running 1 hour prior). So If AK opened at 9am, we got the 8:25 bus. We did get to Rope Drop doing this 2 days! My biggest complaint is honestly that They are far out of the parks, Especially MK. You get the Bus at the TTC, not at MK so you ride the bus to the TTC then take the Monorail. If we took uber we would face the same problem… so eh. This made me envious of the on site people at the end of a long day…
Also at Buena Vista Palace, you can walk to Disney Springs SO easily, and also walk over to Saratoga Springs and get Dis Tran there. You get on/off at Congress area. Saratoga Springs has several bus stops, so make sure you remember congress area. The shortest route is to follow the road, but if you have kids I’d recommend the longer walking trail to avoid playing frogger. My husband and I are adventurous so walking on a road and crossing a street wasn’t an issue.
This hotel now has some awesome pools! Overall we loved the hotel, no it’s not Disney… but if you are looking off property, this really is a nice choice!
