Welcome to the first stop aboard Magical Blogorail Red. Enjoy the ride as we share with you the different modes of Disney transportation.
Today Ridge represents Growing Up Disney on the Magical Blogorail.
When traveling to Disney I have become a convert of driving my car around property rather than taking the provided transportation. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the Disney buses, ferries, and Monorail; on the contrary, I still use them when it suits my needs. However, there have been just so many more reasons why I have needed my car while on property on my recent trips. I haven’t been touring the parks as a regular vacationer, oh no, I have called them “working trips” since they make it to this blog. And I have needed my car to meet up with all the excellent Disney community members I have met and look forward to seeing again in October.
When traveling to the parks or simply navigating around the property, in general in my opinion, taking my car is just a faster proposition than waiting for Disney transportation, but what does driving my car allow me to do that I can’t do taking a bus? Well in simple terms, I am young and mobile and speed is something that I find important especially for not having to plan on leaving my accommodations too early and spend the extra few minutes it would take to plan my egress to the parks. The only park that doesn’t allow for easy walking from the parking lot is the Magic Kingdom. When I make my way to MK when driving, depending on where I have the opportunity to park in proximity to the TTC, I try and walk because the wait for the trams is usually pretty good in the morning. So I hoof it as often as I can so that I have a few minutes to get my plans together and make the decision on whether I am going to use the monorail or the ferry to get over to MK.
The other parks: Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom have large parking lots but not so large that I don’t find them easy to navigate especially with the help on my iPhone, drop a pin and the car is right there on the map waiting for me to return.
The WDW property is easy to navigate as well. When I first started driving to the world I found it daunting because there are so many roads and turns. I was over whelmed. What I have learned is the layout is expertly designed to make getting to all guest areas a snap. There are ample road signs and plenty of arrows to point you in the right directions. Only a few times have I made a tactical error and made a wrong turn. It happens, and sometimes you see something cool. Like on my last trip. I turned into a back entrance to HS and went through an open gate onto the backstage area behind Tower of Terror. It was interesting to see how the places that aren’t meant to be seen look like the back of any old building. For “cool” part, there was an old taxi cab I think used to be somewhere on the Streets of America.
The parking at most of the resorts is also pretty easy to maneuver. Once you get to the security gate state your purpose and they will tell you where you can park. I don’t remember ever having any problems getting in anywhere to eat or park. Security is generally pretty helpful to get you where you want and need to go.
Driving around Walt Disney World is a real time saver for me and is a necessity if you are staying off property as I have also done recently to save a little bit of money. Now staying off property also means unless you have an Annual Pass you are going to be paying for parking and at 14 bucks a pop. Doing that is not something I recommend. I do have an AP and a Tables in Wonderland card, so at resorts that I will be dining, I can receive free valet parking. It’s a nice perk. There are so many extra things to see and do at WDW. Without a vehicle they are not impossible but require more time and planning to make happen.
Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is WDW Backstage.
Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:
1st Stop ~ Growing Up Disney (you are here)
2nd Stop ~ WDW Backstage
3rd Stop ~ A Disney Mom’s Thoughts
4th Stop ~ My Dreams of Disney
Final Stop ~ A World View
Great post! We always drive to Disney World and since we've stayed off property, we always use our car. On our next trip, we will be staying on property for the first time, but will probably use our car most of the time because we like having it available in case we need to get somewhere in a hurry. Also, having a toddler, it's more about comfort and familiarity for him!
ReplyDeleteBitten by the Disney Bug
Being from the NW, we obviously can't drive to WDW. :) However, I remember when I was on the Disney College Program, my roomie had a car and we drove everywhere on property. It was a great thing to have to get around easily in the parks and not be on any bus schedules. It is wonderful for ADR's getting to and from.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, and we rent a car every visit to the World. Except for getting to the Magic Kingdom from our on-site resort (which should always be by bus), we travel to so many resorts and sometimes off site, I can't imagine not having a car during the trip.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with you Ridge! We always drive to all parks with the exception of Magic Kingdom. So easy to get around especially if you have a GPS!
ReplyDeleteWe rent a car (too long of a ride from NH to WDW with three little ones) and we find having them such a convenience. Even better, if one of the kids falls asleep in the stroller, we can just leave them in the stroller from the park all the way to the car and move them once into their car seat.
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