Disney's Beach Club Resort

Epcot Area Resorts Include:

• Disney’s Boardwalk Resort & Boardwalk Villas
• Disney’s Beach Club Resort & Beach Club Villas
• Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
• Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin

These resorts here are located around the beautiful Crescent Lake and make for an exciting tourist area.  Easy water transportation and covenant walking paths connect all of the Epcot area hotels offering easy access to both Epcot and Disney Hollywood Studios.

Epcot resort hotels do not offer direct access to the front gate of Epcot.  Instead, because of their close proximity, guests are directed to the “back entrance” of Epcot at the International Gateway located between the United Kingdom and France pavilions.   The International Gateway entrance provides the full services of the front park entrance including, park exit, ticket windows, locker rentals, wheelchair (no ECVs), stroller rentals, and a gift shop.  Complimentary bus service is provided between the Epcot Area resorts and other Disney theme parks such as the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.

All Epcot area resorts provide deluxe accommodations and full services for their guests.  Dining options on Crescent Lake are plentiful and it’s just a short walk or boat ride to explore the options available at all of the resorts or to World Showcase.  Amongst the Epcot area resorts you’ll find Character Meals, Sports Bars, Signature Dining, Dancing, Romantic Settings, Full Service Spas and fun Boat Rentals.  Some of their large guest rooms can accommodate five people with relative ease, however you will have to note that you need a room with a daybed at the time you make your reservation.

This great hub of activity is a wonderful place to check-in for people who want to make the most of every moment.  Next time you make a reservation for a wonderful Orlando Vacation, be sure to consider the deluxe resorts of the Epcot Area to indulge you in your travel needs.

Do you have a favorite Epoct Area Resort?  Leave us a comment and let us know what your favorite thing about this great area!

The Sassagoula River Cruise is a great way to travel to Downtown Disney from select resort hotels.

No matter if you’ve booked room only or if you’ve got a package deal for your Walt Disney World Resort vacation; if you’re staying at Port Orleans, Old Key West, or Saratoga Springs Resorts, you have a unique treat in your transportation to Downtown Disney.   The complimentary ferry service on the Walt Disney World waterways offer a fun alternative mode of transportation to buses.   These relaxing and often beautiful journeys by boat can offer great way to spend some time on a non-park day as you travel to the shopping and entertainment center of Downtown Disney.

Port Orleans:

The Sassagoula River Cruise is a gentle 2 ½ mile journey from Port Orleans to Downtown Disney down the Disney created river, and takes about 20 minutes one way.  The service begins at 10am daily and runs about every 20 minutes until 4:30pm when more boats are added to the route and it then runs every 10 minutes until 11pm.  This route is marked with Yellow Flags and departs from the Downtown Disney Marketplace dock (left-hand queue line).

Saratoga Springs Resort:

Hourly service is provided from 11:00am thru 4:00pm, and at 4:00PM a second boat is added and service becomes available every half hour. Blue Flags mark the Saratoga Springs Service that departs from Downtown Disney Marketplace dock (right-hand queue line).  This includes the Tree house villas dock.

Old Key West Resort:

Green Flagged boats can be found departing from Pleasure Island dock.  The last boat leaves Old Key West at 11:00pm and then leaves Downtown Disney for it’s final trip at 11:30pm.

Downtown Disney Internal Water-Shuttle: There is also a local water shuttle at Downtown Disney (with red flags and signs) that operates and will take you from the Marketplace dock to the other end of the complex at the West Side dock.

All Walt Disney World boat service operates subject to local water and weather conditions.  Service may temporarily cease operating if lightning storms are forecast or water levels are too high.  Operational times were current at the time of publication, but may change and fluctuate to accommodate seasonal crowd changes.

Thanks so much to Andy Buckingham for his beautiful creative commons picture of the river boat.

Without your own car, you’ll have four ways of getting around Disney World:

1) Disney Bus Transportation. The bus system will be your primary mode of transport. The Disney World bus system is essentially a hub-and-spoke — with each theme park, water park and Downtown Disney acting as a hub, and each resort as a spoke. From the hubs, buses to each Disney resort are available. Let’s say you’re traveling from your resort to another resort for dinner. Be sure to add extra time for your travel since it will take you two trips — one to a park or Downtown Disney, and another to the other resort.

2) The Monorail. If you’re staying at a Monorail resort (the Contemporary Resort, the Grand Floridian Resort, and the Polynesian Resort) you’ll be able to get to both the Magic Kingdom and Epcot using only the Monorail system. It’s also just plain fun to ride around in!

3) Disney boats and ferries. There’s a lot of lakes at Disney World. So, boats and ferries are available in several places, like the Magic Kingdom and Epcot resort areas. For instance, you can take a boat from Wilderness Lodge to the Magic Kingdom, or you can take a boat from the International Gateway at Epcot to Hollywood Studios, with stops at resorts along the way.

4) A cab. If all else fails, there’s always cabs available. Cabs can work well in a pinch if you’re trying to get somewhere quickly, or get stuck somewhere late at night.

Read more about Disney World transportation in our Transportation To and In Disney World guide.

There are two monorails at the Magic Kingdom. One goes from the Transportation and Ticket Center to the Magic Kingdom. The other goes through several resorts as well as the TTC. In fact, both of the monorails actually go through Disney’s Contemporary Resort. From the TTC, you can also ride a monorail to Epcot and back. This is a much longer trip, but once you’re there you actually circle the park and get amazing views before you disembark.

Unfortunately, cost has been prohibitive in the expansion of the monorail system. Disney’s newer parks, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom are not serviced by the monorail system and there is currently no plans for them to be. Nevertheless, the monorail can provide a fun and convenient way to get around in Walt Disney World resort.

For more information about Transportation in Disney World check out our Free Guide to Disney World! The guide covers getting around and just about everything else you could want to know about.

Photo Credit: Express Monorail

Wilderness Lodge Transport to Magic Kingdom

1. How to get to Orlando
2. How to get to your Hotel
3. How to get around WDW

Let’s take them one at a time:

HOW TO GET TO ORLANDO
There are plenty of options available to you for your trip to Orlando–many different roads lead to Disney World! The biggest considerations here are timing and cost.

Car
If you’re lucky enough to be within what you consider driving distance, congrats! Driving to Walt Disney World gives you access to a car throughout your stay, which we find to be very useful. A car in Disney World is a great time-saver when staying on-property, and is virtually a must if you’re staying off-property (i.e. outside of the complimentary Disney World transporatation system) or are planning to visit other Orlando and Florida attractions while on your vacation.

Driving is a good choice if your home base is near by, or if you’re planning on making your Disney World trip into a larger “road trip,” visiting other attractions along the way. If cost is a consideration in your decision, use the AAA Fuel Cost Calculator to determine whether driving is the best option for you.

Autotrain
Amtrak connections can get you to Orlando from just about anywhere, but the autotrain is a fun experience to take if you can!

The train runs from Lorton, VA, to Sanford, FL (close to Orlando), and you have the option to bring your car to Orlando as cargo, so you’ll have that convenience when you’re vacationing.

Cost on the autotrain is high–about $250 per adult for a ticket, and car cargo prices beginning at $380+. You’d be hard-pressed to find flights that are more expensive, so the autotrain should be reserved for folks who can’t fly, larger families, or train-lovers who see this as an experience in itself!

Airplane
There are always good deals to the Orlando International Airport. Some of our favorite sites, like kayak.com gathers flight information and prices from hundreds of sites on the internet to give you a composite view of the availability. Other great spots for low-cost flights are Travelzoo and, for last minute trips, LastMinute.com.

Airlines that we always find are inexpensive to Orlando? Southwest and Airtran.

HOW TO GET TO YOUR HOTEL
This section is most important for those choosing air travel. If you’ve driven or taken the autotrain, you already have your car!

There are several options for airport transfer:

Rental Car
We’re big fans of the rental car, because we like the ease of having a car on property. We find getting around Disney World to be very easy by car, and it gives us the flexibility to make choices and plans more spontaneously as Disney Transportation often takes some planning and time budgeting.

Rental car discounts are plentiful in Orlando, and many rental car agencies are located right at the airport–no shuttle busses necessary. Our favorite site for rental car discounts in Orlando is, once again, Mousesavers.com’s rental car discounts page. It’s kept up to date, which is extremely important when discounts have specific deadlines and timelines.

We’ve had very good luck at Orlando International Airport with rental car companies National, Budget, Alamo, and Avis. National offers its Emerald Aisle perk (don’t stop at the rental car desk, just book online, pick your car, and go!) for free.

The most accessible rental car locations within Disney World are at the Car Care Center (Alamo and National), located next to the Magic Kingdom (Car Care Center Drive (407) 824-3470); and at the Dolphin Hotel, near Epcot (1500 Epcot Resort Boulevard (407) 934-4000). These are useful if you don’t want to book a car for your whole stay, but need to use one for a day trip or a conference. Shuttle service is available to and from the Car Care Center location–just book at least an hour in advance.

Disney’s Magical Express
If you’re staying at a Disney World hotel, Disney’s Magical Express Airport Transfer Service might be the perfect option for you! It’s a free service (that’s right; I said free!) offered by Disney World that transports you and your luggage, via coach bus, to your hotel from Orlando MCO airport. The greatest part is, you check your luggage in your departure city and it ends up in your hotel room later that day; you don’t even have to collect it at the airport! Also, the bus schedules to pick you up at your hotel about 3 hours prior to your flight home.

The pros to this service are that it’s free, and that you don’t have to deal with getting your luggage from the airport to your hotel room. The cons are that you occasionally must wait for the bus to depart the airport, and you might have to wait while the bus makes several stops before arriving at your hotel. Also, your luggage often doesn’t arrive until several hours after you do, so you need to bring any necessities in your carry-on bag.

Limo, Town Car, Shuttle, or Taxi
The final option for getting from the airport to your hotel is the “pay-your-way” option. There are many limousine and town car services operating in Orlando and specializing in airport transfers. There are also always taxis waiting for fares outside of the airport. And your hotel might have an airport shuttle that you can book. Additionally, Mears Transportation offers busses to and from Orlando International Airport (these are the same people with whom Disney contracts to provide Magical Express Transportation).

These options can be pricy–taxis will cost over $75, one way, with tip; town cars are around $130 plus tip round trip; and limos go up from there. Mears busses are the least expensive at $33 round trip per person (again, the service is free–via Disney’s Magical Express–if you’re staying at a Disney resort hotel). Some other companies I’ve personally used are Tiffany Towncars and Quicksilver Tours.

HOW TO GET AROUND WALT DISNEY WORLD
Finally, you need to determine how you’ll traverse the 42+ square miles that make up Walt Disney World Resort Property.

Using Disney Transportation vs. Renting a Car
Disney offers complimentary resort transportation throughout the Disney World resort to any Disney World resort guest or ticket-holder. Transportation is via busses, boats, and monorail, and runs to and from all hotels, restaurants, theme parks, and Disney destinations like Downtown Disney and Disney’s Boardwalk.

The web of options is wide and covers everything you might need. However, getting from here to there could take one or two bus, monorail, or boat transfers, which means you need to budget about one to two hours for travel time each time you move throughout the property. When you’re on a short vacation and have limited time, or if you have little ones who need to get back to the hotel for a nap before a melt-down, this type of wait might be unacceptable.

I have traveled to Disney World both with and without a rental car and have found that renting a car offers me much more flexibility on my vacation. However, if you’re on a budget trip, sticking with Disney transportation is a more than satisfactory way to get around property. In fact, we find it really fun and interesting to meet other Disney fans on busses, chat with the knowledgeable captains on Disney transport boats, and ride the monorail around the resort loop just for fun!

Whether you choose to rent a car or not, the transportation wizard put together by Our Laughing Place travel is a great resource. Simply choose your starting point and destination, and the wizard will show you your Disney Transportation route choices along with estimated travel times. It’s a truly great resource!

Also, if you’re still stuck, here’s an article debating the merits of renting a car vs. using Disney Transportation from All Ears Net.

Hopefully this has helped you come to conclusions on another few of those critical decisions involved in planning a Disney trip. For a quick-reference, here’s Disney World’s Transportation FAQ page.