>Drivin’ ’round Disney

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This past summer we drove to Walt Disney World from New Jersey with friends of ours in an RV. It was very cool, we enjoyed an easy drive down, and it was a lot of fun to have a lot of people to talk to and it was nice to be able to get up and stretch your legs without stopping. When we got to the Saratoga Springs Resort, was when it hit me how much our regular activities in Disney were going to be changed. I’ve mentioned in the past that we usually drive down, when we go to Walt Disney World. I don’t mind the drive, but I don’t

like that it takes about 19 hours, but once we get there, I’m glad we drove. Whenever we fly, we always rent a car, and it’s always worth the money, for the same reason that I like having my truck with me and why our normal activities changed this past time down, when we didn’t have any other vehicle, besides the RV. It’s all because of the Unknown Magic of Driving Around Walt Disney World.

Some people don’t enjoy Driving Around Walt Disney World, because it does get a little congested and there are quite a few out of town-ers driving around, which means there are many people on the roads and a bunch of them don’t know where they are going. For those people who don’t like driving around

Disney, I say, “Take the Bus,” it is a relaxing way to travel around Disney without the hassle needing to know your way around and dealing with the traffic. My problem with the buses is that normally, we don’t just go to and from a park. In past articles, I have talked about how we Hotel Hop and enjoy a good game of mini-golf. To be able to do these things using the buses, you need to switch buses at a park or at Downtown Disney. This is a time consuming hassle that losing can create a Magical Experience.

I know some of you are reading this are thinking, how can not taking the bus help me to have a Magical Experience? Well, let’s break it down. Let’s say you want to go to Winter Summerland to play a round of golf. If you are staying at any of the resorts, you have to catch a bus to Blizzard Beach. Busses to Blizzard Beach do not come to the resorts as frequently as the busses to the parks, so you may end up waiting for 20 -30 minutes for a bus to come, then you might make a few stops depending which resort you are at, then you

finally get there and have to walk over to the golf course. It may take you 40-50 minutes to get to Winter Summerland. Then to get back, it may take you almost as much time. This is almost 2 hours of your vacation time taken out to just get over to the mini-golf. This is two hours that you could be using for other fun family activities. So, having a car with you can make a Magical Experience in that when you drive, you can actually go places that you want to when you want to.

At Christmas they dcorate the Golf Courses, You miss this when you’re on the bus.

Other things that can create Magical Experiences are seeing things that you miss when you are rding in the bus and riding the tram cars from the parking lots, to the park entrance. some of the most comical casts members are given the job of tram car people, and after a night in the park, they make it fun to get back to your car.

Some people think that driving around the Walt Disney World Resort would be a crazy thing to do, if you didn’t have to, because of the traffic and not knowing where to go. Driving around really isn’t that bad if you know how to do it.

The first thing you need to know is that there are roadside signs for everything in Walt Disney World. Every area that you want to go to have directional signs for them; every theme park, every water park, every resort, every recreation area and even Downtown Disney are pointed out on signs all over the Disney property. So, if you are leaving your resort to get anywhere that is Disney owned, you just start driving out of the resort, get to the main road and follow the signs.

Another thing you need to know about driving around the Disney Property is that there are back roads that you can use to stay away from the traffic on the main roads. One of these, the road that leads to the Fort Wilderness campground, actually goes all the way out to the main road leading into the Magic Kingdom Resort area. We use this road any time we go to the Contemporary Resort (home to Chef Mickey) or the Polynesian (for ‘Ohana). To get to this back road, you take the road that leads to the Port Orleans Resorts or Old Key West Resort. If you turn away from Fort Wilderness on this road, you actually end up in Downtown Disney. Both of these roads are never busy like the main roads. So, two side roads that lead to the Magic Kingdom Resorts and Downtown Disney can help you to get here and there, without any of the traffic headaches that people think you will run in to.

One other thing you should know about driving around Disney, is that if you bring an automobile to the Resort, they give you a parking pass, which makes it so that you park for free at any of the theme parks. This is a nice little perk that helps out when you are trying to get to a park for the Rope Drop and it is also nice to be able to get to the park before the Extra Magic Hour in the morning, when you want to instead of waiting for a bus, this past trip we waited for a bus for the extra Magic Hour one Morning and ended up missing half of it, because the bus took that long to get us over to the Magic Kingdom. If we had driven, we actually would have been there at the beginning of the extra hour.

Please do not think I am against using the Disney Buses, I have written about them in the past and I think they are a great perk for staying on property. Disney also has a very cool thing that can help you when you fly into the

Orlando airport for your vacation. It is called the Magical Express. What the Magical Express does is get you and your luggage to your Resort form the airport free of charge. Both the Buses and the Magical Express are wonderful, but since we don’t really plan our days out in advance, having our own vehicle with us makes it easier for us to have more Magical Experiences, because we can be as unstructured as we want to be.

So, now you know, for the Magical Experience of being able to go where you want when you want, when in Disney World, take your own car. Finding the back roads and following the signs can get you around without trouble or traffic. So, take the car and enjoy the Unknown Magic of Driving around Disney.

>Drivin’ ’round Disney

>

This past summer we drove to Walt Disney World from New Jersey with friends of ours in an RV. It was very cool, we enjoyed an easy drive down, and it was a lot of fun to have a lot of people to talk to and it was nice to be able to get up and stretch your legs without stopping. When we got to the Saratoga Springs Resort, was when it hit me how much our regular activities in Disney were going to be changed. I’ve mentioned in the past that we usually drive down, when we go to Walt Disney World. I don’t mind the drive, but I don’t like that it takes about 19 hours, but once we get there, I’m glad we drove. Whenever we fly, we always rent a car, and it’s always worth the money, for the same reason that I like having my truck with me and why our normal activities changed this past time down, when we didn’t have any other vehicle, besides the RV. It’s all because of the Unknown Magic of Driving Around Walt Disney World.

Some people don’t enjoy Driving Around Walt Disney World, because it does get a little congested and there are quite a few out of town-ers driving around, which means there are many people on the roads and a bunch of them don’t know where they are going. For those people who don’t like driving around Disney, I say, “Take the Bus,” it is a relaxing way to travel around Disney without the hassle needing to know your way around and dealing with the traffic. My problem with the buses is that normally, we don’t just go to and from a park. In past articles, I have talked about how we Hotel Hop and enjoy a good game of mini-golf. To be able to do these things using the buses, you need to switch buses at a park or at Downtown Disney. This is a time consuming hassle that losing can create a Magical Experience.

I know some of you are reading this are thinking, how can not taking the bus help me to have a Magical Experience? Well, let’s break it down. Let’s say you want to go to Winter Summerland to play a round of golf. If you are staying at any of the resorts, you have to catch a bus to Blizzard Beach. Busses to Blizzard Beach do not come to the resorts as frequently as the busses to the parks, so you may end up waiting for 20 -30 minutes for a bus to come, then you might make a few stops depending which resort you are at, then you finally get there and have to walk over to the golf course. It may take you 40-50 minutes to get to Winter Summerland. Then to get back, it may take you almost as much time. This is almost 2 hours of your vacation time taken out to just get over to the mini-golf. This is two hours that you could be using for other fun family activities. So, having a car with you can make a Magical Experience in that when you drive, you can actually go places that you want to when you want to.

At Christmas they dcorate the Golf Courses,  You miss this when you’re on the bus.

Other things that can create Magical Experiences are seeing things that you miss when you are rding in the bus and riding the tram cars from the parking lots, to the park entrance. some of the most comical casts members are given the job of tram car people, and after a night in the park, they make it fun to get back to your car.

Some people think that driving around the Walt Disney World Resort would be a crazy thing to do, if you didn’t have to, because of the traffic and not knowing where to go. Driving around really isn’t that bad if you know how to do it.

The first thing you need to know is that there are roadside signs for everything in Walt Disney World. Every area that you want to go to have directional signs for them; every theme park, every water park, every resort, every recreation area and even Downtown Disney are pointed out on signs all over the Disney property. So, if you are leaving your resort to get anywhere that is Disney owned, you just start driving out of the resort, get to the main road and follow the signs.

Another thing you need to know about driving around the Disney Property is that there are back roads that you can use to stay away from the traffic on the main roads. One of these, the road that leads to the Fort Wilderness campground, actually goes all the way out to the main road leading into the Magic Kingdom Resort area. We use this road any time we go to the Contemporary Resort (home to Chef Mickey) or the Polynesian (for ‘Ohana). To get to this back road, you take the road that leads to the Port Orleans Resorts or Old Key West Resort. If you turn away from Fort Wilderness on this road, you actually end up in Downtown Disney. Both of these roads are never busy like the main roads. So, two side roads that lead to the Magic Kingdom Resorts and Downtown Disney can help you to get here and there, without any of the traffic headaches that people think you will run in to.

One other thing you should know about driving around Disney, is that if you bring an automobile to the Resort, they give you a parking pass, which makes it so that you park for free at any of the theme parks. This is a nice little perk that helps out when you are trying to get to a park for the Rope Drop and it is also nice to be able to get to the park before the Extra Magic Hour in the morning, when you want to instead of waiting for a bus, this past trip we waited for a bus for the extra Magic Hour one Morning and ended up missing half of it, because the bus took that long to get us over to the Magic Kingdom. If we had driven, we  actually would have been there at the beginning of the extra hour.

Please do not think I am against using the Disney Buses, I have written about them in the past and I think they are a great perk for staying on property. Disney also has a very cool thing that can help you when you fly into the Orlando airport for your vacation. It is called the Magical Express. What the Magical Express does is get you and your luggage to your Resort form the airport free of charge. Both the Buses and the Magical Express are wonderful, but since we don’t really plan our days out in advance, having our own vehicle with us makes it easier for us to have more Magical Experiences, because we can be as unstructured as we want to be.

So, now you know, for the Magical Experience of being able to go where you want when you want, when in Disney World, take your own car. Finding the back roads and following the signs can get you around without trouble or traffic. So, take the car and enjoy the Unknown Magic of Driving around Disney.

>Floating Magic

>

If you stay in Walt Disney World, the easiest way to get around is Disney Transportation. Most people consider this the Buses that run between everywhere and anywhere in Walt Disney World. There is more to Disney Transportation than the bus. We have already discussed the Monorail, in the Highway in the Sky post. But, there is another Unknown Magic when it comes to transportation. These are the Boats.

The Boats run in Walt Disney World just as the Buses do. They run from Resort to Park or to Downtown Disney on a regular schedule, for this schedule, you should ask at the front desk in your resort, if it is one of the resorts where the boats dock. The Boats run from Downtown Disney to the Old Key West Resort, and to the Port Orleans Resort. There are also boats running from Downtown Disney to the Saratoga Springs Resort. Then there are Boats that run from the Epcot Resorts (Boardwalk, Beach Club, Yacht Club, and The Dolphin and the Swan) to both Epcot and Disney Hollywood Studios. From the Magic Kingdom, you can take a Boat to Fort Wilderness Campground, The Wilderness Lodge, Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian Resorts and the Ticket and Transportation Center.

So, there are many chances for a Boat ride in Walt Disney World. For first time and even some second or third time Disney visitors, this might not seem like a big deal. The thing is the Boats around Walt Disney World are probably the most relaxed mode of transportation. They also usually have fewer passengers than the monorails or the buses (of course this does not include at the end of the day coming from the Magic Kingdom). The Boat ride to the Magic Kingdom is a very relaxed ride, however it is

 also very exciting to come around the dock and see the monorail and the front gates. The Ride to Disney Hollywood Studios and Epcot are different. Relaxing yes, but when you dock, you don’t see any part of the park. It is as if you have taken a shuttle Boat from one place to another on a small island and it is all very calm and peaceful.

The Boats themselves are very special also. There are different kinds of boats. There are Ferries, Water Launches, and Friend-ships. The Ferries run between the Ticket and transportation Center and the Magic Kingdom, The Water Launches run from the Magic Kingdom to the Magic Kingdom Resorts and Fort Wilderness and the Wilderness Lodge. These Water Launches are open boats that carry approximately 35 people. They give you a very soothing ride as you get to hear the water and sounds of nature as you are riding along.

The Friendship Launches in the Epcot Area are enclosed, but you can sit outside on the back of the boat, which is very nice in cooler weather. Taking the Friendship Launches is something you might want to do on a hot day, because they are air conditioned, although sometimes, you don’t think they are. Other times, you might

 want to walk instead of taking the Friendships, because the walking trip to the Epcot Resorts can be quicker than the boat itself.

The boats offer a Magical Experience, because on the buses and also on the Monorails, sometimes they are so crowded, that you can’t sit and talk to your family and review the day or plan for what’s next. On the boats, most of the time, there is a calm peaceful feeling (if not exhausted at the end of the night). This gives you time to talk with your family and decide what to do next or even to talk to the kids about what they enjoyed during the day. It gives you a quality time on top of travel time.

So,now you know, the next time you want to get around in Walt Disney World, decide on a mode of transportation that will give you relaxing Magical Experience, take the Boat.