touring monorail resorts

[kelmac284]

We will be headed to World next week and wanted to tour the monorail resorts AND the wilderness lodge. We were going to park at the TTC and get on the monorail and start at the contemporary and the poly and grand. My question is if we want to go to Wilderness lodge last is there a way to get there from the poly by boat or are we better off to get our car and drive over there? I made a dinning ressie at Whispering canyon since it is our last stop.

TIA

 

[Gehrig1B]

My question is if we want to go to Wilderness lodge last is there a way to get there from the poly by boat or are we better off to get our car and drive over there?

I would drive although you could boat transferring at Magic Kingdom - Poly->MK->WL

 

[kelmac284]

I would drive although you could boat transferring at Magic Kingdom - Poly->MK->WL

So there is no direct boat. That is what I thought. I would have to go back to MK and then over to wilderness. Ok I think driving would be the best then. Thanks!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

WL may not permit you to park unless you valet.

 

[kelmac284]

WL may not permit you to park unless you valet.

even if we have dinning reservations?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

even if we have dinning reservations?

If you have a dining booking, you will likely be permitted 3 hours. Depends on capacity.

 

[Her Dotness]

If you have a dining booking, you will likely be permitted 3 hours. Depends on capacity.

And, you’re unlikely to be allowed into the resort until 15-20 minutes before your ADR time.

Valet parking works as long as you don’t mind paying for it. That’s probably your best option since you’ve a day when you valet park. Also, if going to another resort with valet parking during that time, you aren’t charged again.

You could go from WL on the boat to MK, then CR, TTC, Poly and GF by monorail.

After GF, next stop is MK where you’d catch the WL boat again.

 

[disney-inspired]

To avoid having to move the car, I would do the monorail from one of the resorts to MK and then bus over to WL as it would be faster than boat.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

To avoid having to move the car, I would do the monorail from one of the resorts to MK and then bus over to WL as it would be faster than boat.

Boat, however, is far nicer.

 

[turbotime]

So can you resort hop without having dinner reservations?

 

[CarolynFH]

So can you resort hop without having dinner reservations?

Yes, as long as you use Disney transportation to get there. For instance, park at TTC and catch the monorail or park at DHS and take the Skyliner/Friendship boat/walkway to the resorts.

 

[DSLRuser]

If you have a dining booking, you will likely be permitted 3 hours. Depends on capacity.

please stop spoutting this nonsense. There is no 3 hour permission slip that is given out for dining reservations. The security guard checks for your ADR and send you on your way. They don't scold you and tell you to be gone in 3 hours.

Disney does not tow away cars parked longer than 3 hours. The parking police on this board are over the top obsessed with what other people do.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

Here is our recent experience. We always drive and in the past we always drove our vehicle to a resort, usually GF and then take the rail to CR and Poly to shop, see their displays and grab a snack. It's been a few years since our last trip and we finally went during turkey week, just over a week ago, and after reading all the "you can't just park at resorts" posts we were planning on taking the skyliner to Epcot and then the rail to MK resorts. On our off day we drove to DS and then when done, I decided to just head over to GF. Hey the worse they can do is say no you cannot park here We told the guard that we were there to shop and look around and he asked if we were staying at a WDW resort and when we said yes, he asked to scan my MB and then let us in. We did the same thing at BW.

 

[DL1WDW2]

Security at Gate probably is aware of the Parking availability .
Therefore, you might be allowed to park or could be turned away.

 

[georgina]

Yes, I have also found it is not an absolute hard and fast rule about being turned away, for parking or dropoff. I Ubered to the GF in August before MNSSHP. I did have an ADR at GFC, but was NOT asked about it at the gate. The guard simply asked the Uber driver for his ID. I had a similar experience not long ago with being dropped off at the Beach Club with no ADR. There are many who will say 'you can't do that, they won't let you', but as long as you are OK being turned away it never hurts to ask.

 

[happily single]

Jumping in to share my experience in August. We were staying at SSR, but love Captain Cook’s for breakfast. We drove there one morning, guard let us in to park to eat at CP. after breakfast we hopped on the monorail and did some siteseeing at the other resorts. All told we were parked at Poly for more than 3 hours and our car was untouched.

on our last day my older son wanted to experience the gondolas so we tried to park at CBR and were turned away. We then tried AoA and were also turned away. We ultimately parked at DS, took a bus to CBR, rode the gondola to AoA, had breakfast and took the bus back to DS

 

[kelmac284]

Just got back and this is how it went down. We were staying at a timeshare on 192 and AKL was the closest. So we drove there first and we WERE turned away. I told him what we wanted to do but he said no. So we just drove to the TTC and we monorailed over to MK and got on a bus to Yacht and Beach Club. We did Yacht Club, Beach Club and friendship over to Boardwalk. When we were done with those 3 we took the friendship to Hollywood Studios and then a bus to AKL. We toured it and by then my daughter was off work and she WAS able to tell the guard that she was picking us up and he let her in. Now she is a cm so not sure if that helped showing her Blue ID or what. I will say that the guard told us we were welcome to tour AKL if we came by bus or any other way than our own car. I'm assuming it is more of a deluxe resort thing. We drove back to the TTC and parked and did the monorail resorts with my daughter and then we left and got our cars and drove to Wilderness Lodge. Told them we had ressies at Whispering canyon and no issues. My my is handicapped and we were able to valet for free. Daughter just self parked and no issues. Later in the week I wanted to see Port Orleans as I had never been there and we just drove up told the guard we were there to get beneigts which was true and parked no problem.

 

[CarolynFH]

Just got back and this is how it went down. We were staying at a timeshare on 192 and AKL was the closest. So we drove there first and we WERE turned away. I told him what we wanted to do but he said no. So we just drove to the TTC and we monorailed over to MK and got on a bus to Yacht and Beach Club. We did Yacht Club, Beach Club and friendship over to Boardwalk. When we were done with those 3 we took the friendship to Hollywood Studios and then a bus to AKL. We toured it and by then my daughter was off work and she WAS able to tell the guard that she was picking us up and he let her in. Now she is a cm so not sure if that helped showing her Blue ID or what. I will say that the guard told us we were welcome to tour AKL if we came by bus or any other way than our own car. I'm assuming it is more of a deluxe resort thing. We drove back to the TTC and parked and did the monorail resorts with my daughter and then we left and got our cars and drove to Wilderness Lodge. Told them we had ressies at Whispering canyon and no issues. My my is handicapped and we were able to valet for free. Daughter just self parked and no issues. Later in the week I wanted to see Port Orleans as I had never been there and we just drove up told the guard we were there to get beneigts which was true and parked no problem.

Thanks for the follow up!

IMHO, it’s not just a deluxe resort issue, it’s a near-park issue (people want to park free at AKL and ride the bus to AK) and also a transportation issue (people are turned away from Pop, AoA and CBR because of Skyliner access). PO only has buses to the parks, so not as desirable for park access.

 

[_19disnA]

There are several recent threads about parking and most all of them have a similar discussion. I agree the issue relates to Disney hotels near one of the parks. They have gotten wise to those trying to avoid paying to park by parking for free at a nearby hotel and then walking to the park. Some times of year are busier then others, so just because someone else was able to park without an ADR doesn't mean that will work for you. They also closed the loophole relating to mobile ordering since some tried to game the system that way as well. IF you park and get towed, I seriously doubt Disney will care if you tell them someone on an online message board told you that doesn't happen.

 

[kelmac284]

I completely get that people ruin it for the rest of us by cheating BUT I feel like, esp since the all mighty dollar seems to be the only thing that matters, that they could have like a shopping pass. Like give people 1 or 2 hours on a pass and then if you are still there after that time you get towed. I know that logistically that could be an issue but I know a LOT of people like to go to other resorts to shop, eat or look around. I mean we always stay offsite but we have seriously wanted to check out other resorts to see if we would like to stay there. It seems like they could figure out a compromise. I hate that the few ruin it for the many. The people that cheat and try and park etc ruin it for those of us that legitimately just want to go and check it out.