Addicted to Disney
Caz is addicted to anything Disney, Wayne is her husband aka Mr Disney gets dragged along to all the Parks and shows and doesn't like to admit he is a Stitch Fan.
Join us as we share our experiences and thoughts on anything related to Disney from Disney Parks, and Disney Cruises, to Collectables and anything else made by the Mouse.
Addicted to Disney
Episode 3 : Journeys Through Disney's Parks on Buses, Boats, and Beyond
Ever found yourself wondering if Disney transportation is as magical as the parks themselves? Buckle up and join us as we traverse the ins and outs of getting around Disney's enchanting realms, from the bustling bus systems to the soaring heights of the Disney Skyliner. We lay bare our candid experiences across continents, contrasting the somewhat chaotic French bus boarding with the orderly queues in the U.S. Plus, we share a riveting personal tale from the Riviera Resort that might just sway your thoughts on Disney Vacation Club membership.
From the iconic monorail to the extensive boat network, our conversation meanders through the practicalities and peculiarities of Walt Disney World's transport avenues. We relive moments of convenience, sprinkled with a touch of unexpected hiccups, and reveal why opting to absorb the atmosphere on foot can offer its own brand of delight—especially in Disneyland Paris. Beyond the free options, we delve into Disney's 'minivans' and size up the revamped airport transfer services, equipping you with all the tips for a smooth ride into the world of Disney.
Caz and Wayne are Addicted to Disney, a podcast about the ups and downs of Disney trips, from Parts to Cruises we will try it all.
Caz collects Disney Ears, Characters and Loungefly bags. Wayne likes cameras.
and the red button has been pressed, uh-oh.
Wayne:Yes, the red button has been pressed, so you're going to do the intro.
Caz:I can do the intro. Welcome back to Addicted to Disney, the podcast. Mr Disney's come up with another list for me today. Now I don't know what's-.
Wayne:I like my lists.
Caz:Yes, you can't like your lists. So what's on the list today, Mr Disney?
Wayne:Today, ladies and gentlemen, it's all about Disney transport, all ways of getting around Disney parks.
Caz:Okay, that's quite a good one.
Wayne:Okay, the first one on my list is one of my pet hates because it's vaguely public transport and it's buses.
Caz:Yes, Mr Disney doesn't like buses.
Wayne:I don't mind buses. It's the way that people deal with buses, particularly in France.
Caz:France is worse than America. Just to put some context in this, if you're staying at a Disney resort, they have Disney transportation buses that go from the resort to the parks. Now in France, the etiquette, shall we say, for getting on the buses is very much the every man for himself, and I mean every man for himself, and there is no etiquette in France.
Wayne:It is shove you out the way and there is no etiquette really. Yeah, it's basically shove you out the way.
Caz:Whereas in America with the buses, the buses come in and the driver gets there's like wait for everyone to get off the bus and then you will get on and it's nice.
Wayne:It's a little bit more civilized. Do you think it's because they could probably carry guns? I don't think that's the case.
Wayne:I think it is just something about how Disney and general and America runs, if I'm honest, Quite, possibly, yeah, but buses the resort buses in France tend to be a bit of a bun fight, with people with push chairs and just shoving themselves on.
Wayne:The bus is full. They can't be bothered to wait the 15 minutes for the next bus, so they'll just shove themselves plus their five sproggs into a space which only can accommodate one person and then shout at you in various languages when you'd like I'm not moving, I can't move because there's no way to move to where. Yes, the US is a lot more civilized. What they actually do is they tend to stop the bus. People come off. If there's anyone waiting with push chairs, strollers or wheelchairs, they will actually shut the doors, open the side doors, put the ramp down, allow the people to get on, get them sorted out before they allow the rest of the passengers on, and it's very civilized. It's a very nice way to do that and it'd be nice if they did that in Paris, but I don't think for any of the Paris ones.
Wayne:It just wouldn't work, because they just still shove themselves on.
Caz:One of the main differences between America and Paris is in America you actually get to the bus stop and there's a timetable and it shows you animal kingdom Magic Kingdom next bus is due at, whereas in Paris, yes, it's only one bus from each of the main Disney Resorts, but it is just a case of they run every 15 minutes. Guys, there's no panic, I've got to get on that bus. Just take a step back, breathe and wait for the next one.
Wayne:And now we're on to the next one, which is probably our favorite, which is the Skyliner.
Caz:Welcome aboard the Disney Skyliner Something like that.
Wayne:Welcome aboard the Disney Skyliner. Yes, the Skyliner is basically Disney's cable car in Florida.
Caz:It's a newest part of transport as well. They've introduced.
Wayne:And it's very nice and it's very civilized and it covers most of the locations.
Caz:It runs from the pop century and art animation which are done by our glass lake, which is at the far, far end of the Disney Resort, and it goes from there to Caribbean Beach Resort, and then in Caribbean they've got a hub where you can then change onto different lines, and one line goes out to Hollywood Studios and the other line goes out to Riviera and Epcot. One thing worth noting, though, about the Skyliner is it runs most of the time. However, if there's lightning in the air or it's high winds, it doesn't run.
Wayne:For obvious reasons, because, but we quite like it. We quite like it. Can I tell the Riviera story?
Caz:You can tell the Riviera story.
Wayne:yes, yes, we were doing from pop-century stroke out of animation hub too, and we went through Riviera. Now Riviera is a DVC resort and it's quite poached and it's very nice and we'll talk about DVC in a later podcast. But at the time we first went on Skyliner, we didn't have any connection with DVC. We didn't have any knowledge of DVC apart from the fact it was expensive. And as we pulled up to Riviera, the doors will always open, even if you're not actually getting off. And the very nice crew member said are you getting off? And I think I turned around and said no, it's too posh. And they just laughed.
Caz:I think the joke was that's where the posh people are.
Wayne:Yes, it was very much. Yes, riviera is where the posh people are, and we just carried on, needless to say, fast forward several months and we became DVC members and, yes, there will be a podcast about DVC and our home resort was Riviera. So yeah we became some of those posh people and it is wonderful, it is very nice. I wouldn't really describe the people who stay there as posh anymore. I think that was just me having a joke.
Caz:But I think that was just a perception of it. But no, the Skyliner is definitely. I'd say it's probably actually one of my favourite transportation methods in.
Wayne:It's not bad. If you don't like heights, I think you might have an issue. If it's a little bit windy, it does sway a little bit.
Caz:Although, if you time it right, you can actually be up on the Skyliner and you can see the fireworks.
Wayne:Yeah, I'd rather just watch them from normal places.
Caz:Yeah, but if you're on your way back, if you're on your way back and you had to leave the parks earlier, you're not going to watch the fireworks. You can still see them from up there, and it is. I like it up there.
Wayne:Yeah, I like Skyliner.
Caz:Although it can sway in the wind, though, and we did have quite good fun with a group of girls that were looking for alligators, weren't they?
Wayne:Yeah, it goes over the swampy bits.
Caz:Yeah, it is good, we like the Skyliner. Yeah, we like the Skyliner.
Wayne:Next we're on to the probably something that Disney is most well known for certainly Disney in Florida and that is the monorail.
Caz:Ooh, monorail. Yeah, we quite like the monorail as well.
Wayne:Please board quickly and safely. Our monorail will be departing momentarily.
Caz:The monorail is probably one of the oldest transportation methods in Disney World. Basically it's a long train that goes on the track around, but there's actually in Walt Disney World there's actually two lines on the monorail. You have the resort loop, so that goes from Grand Fridian, polynesian Magic Kingdom Contemporary, and the Transportation and Ticket Centre. Now, the Transportation and Ticket Centre is actually where the car parks are located for Epcot Magic Kingdom. Because of how the parks are built, there isn't actually a physical parking lot next to them. You have the Transportation and Ticket Centre at Epcot where you can then change onto the line that goes to Epcot. Going into Epcot on the monorail is quite nice because you do do a bit of a loop around Spaceship Hurford, and last year we were using it to look over the paddysides because there was a lot of construction work going on. It's like, oh, what's going on over there today?
Wayne:then she's just being nosy, really.
Caz:I like being nosy.
Wayne:There's nothing more to be nosy.
Caz:But now the monorail is quite good fun and it's reliable. It goes around the resorts.
Wayne:You say it's reliable. It does have a happy breaking down every so often.
Caz:One of the oldest resorts on Walt Disney World property is the Contemporary Resort. Now, this is a strange space, agey-looking, triangular-ish building which is actually quite nice to look at, but the monorail station is actually in the middle of it. So I quite like going on the monorail through the Contemporary, because I just like it. As Mr Disney says, I like being nosy.
Wayne:She likes looking in all the bedrooms.
Caz:You can't actually see 8.3 into the bedrooms, but but you can see down to Chef Mickey's, you can look down into the.
Wayne:Atrium the.
Caz:Atrium Nice. At the Atrium the atrium. Okay, I'll get into my head one day when it's called.
Wayne:Okay, next on my little list.
Caz:Zeeboots, ah, zeeboots.
Wayne:And there's a few boats in Disney.
Caz:There's actually quite a bit of water in Disney World.
Wayne:That's generally because it was built in Florida on the Florida Everglades, which are strangely enough quite swampy.
Caz:But, yeah, now Disney World do have a really good boat transportation network as well. They have what they call the friendship boats. Now they run from Epcot and Hollywood Studios to Port Orleans, I believe it is, and you go through past the boardwalk, which is quite nice, and then you've also got the little bus ferries that go from Port Orleans and Saratoga Springs to Disney Springs, which we've done, which was quite good fun. And again, some of the older resorts that are on Bay Lake, as it's called, have a ferry service. So if you don't want to get on the monorail and you don't want to walk because some of these resorts are walkable and you don't want to get on a bus, you can actually get a ferry across the lake from wilderness loss and ground fluidion to Magic Kingdom, which are really lovely big boats that almost like a paddle boat, but they're not a paddle boat. They're quite nice to watch and they're always lit up at night as well, and if you time it right, you can actually go across Bay Lake whilst the water pageant's going on.
Wayne:Now, you mentioned walking. Now, whilst we're on the subject of walking, we have a little story about walking, don't we?
Caz:I say nothing.
Wayne:Disneyland Paris. Now, we've been doing Disneyland Paris for a while now and we tend to stay in one of probably three on-site hotels the Marvel Hotel, which is well within walking distance, and also Sequoia Lodge, which again is is within walking distance. It's just around the lake, and if we're in a hurry when it comes to booking, we tend to book for the Santa Fe. Up to very recently, if we were in the Santa Fe, we would always use the resort buses because there was this impression the Santa Fe was miles and miles away. And then, accidentally, one day we decided to actually walk a little bit, because it was a nice day, and discovered that the Santa Fe is actually just behind the Sequoia, like six minute walk behind the Sequoia.
Caz:It's literally under the road and it's there.
Wayne:Yeah, basically it's under the road and down the back and then you're in front of the Sequoia and then walk to the main parks.
Caz:And opposite the Santa Fe, you've also got the Cheyenne as well, but we've never stayed there.
Wayne:Exactly so walking sometimes walking is is actually easy because you don't have to wait for something and when you see a big queue of people you just sit there going. Oh no, it's the buses and I'm going to get on the fifth bus. So walking is one. It's quite healthy as well, although some of the venues and some of the locations don't think I'd like to walk from pop century or art of animation, because it's probably two hours to get into a park and that's quite a big chunk of time. So be aware of where the parks are and if you're from the UK and looking at the US, don't forget the US is a very, very big country and the distance from Disney World to Disneyland is about a two day drive.
Wayne:It's not in the same county, it's way over the other side of the country and it's a long way.
Caz:And also bear in mind that you could get the hold of Disneyland Paris into the area covered by the Magic Kingdom and the traditional hotels in Disney World. So and also Disney, because Disney World is so spread out as well, unlike Disneyland Paris, where to get from park to park which a lot of people like to do, called park up in you just come out, one park, 10 minute walk and you're in the next park. But in America you do have to use transport.
Wayne:Now, up to this point, all the transport we have mentioned has got one thing in common. Can you guess what it is?
Caz:Disney parks.
Wayne:No, it's all free.
Caz:Yeah, that is true, it is free.
Wayne:Everything we've mentioned up to this point is free. There is no charge to use Disney transport. However, the next things we're going to talk about, you do have to pay for. The first thing is the one that Kaz is desperate for me to mention, and that is the infamous minivans. So do you want to explain what a minivan is?
Caz:A minivan is basically a lovely, comfortable, air conditioned car which has got red with white spots, so it looks like mini mouse, hence why it's called a minivan and it's so comfy and they're actually driven by Disney crew.
Wayne:So these are official vehicles, official Disney vehicles. You actually end up with a cast member driving them, so you get one the benefit of someone who actually knows how to drive around the area but equally, you get some information about what's going on and some of the back story out as to where you're driving or where you're driving from, because these are employed cast members. The bad news is they are probably three times the price of a lift and you actually do need to use the lift app to book them, so they're not something that suddenly pops up and you can have it.
Caz:For those in the UK who are listening all I've never heard of lift. Lift is the equivalent of Uber.
Wayne:Well, it's another company. I wouldn't say it's the equivalent, because there is Uber in the US and you can book them on your app. You actually choose a specific type of vehicle, which is a minivan.
Caz:And also I think it is nice about minivan If you're staying in a resort where you've got multiple buildings now not all the results in Florida are all in the same building. A lot of them are modular buildings the minivan will actually drop you off or pick you up from your building, rather than the hotel reception.
Wayne:Yeah, because the minivans are actually official. They also get a proper pickup point in the parks as opposed to having to sort of stuck it on the main road somewhere where a lift vehicle or an Uber or just normal taxi would all have to go Minivans they're more of a treat, although if you've got a large family they tend to be quite large, so they'll carry more than standard 2.4 children and they normally have car seats and things like that. So if you're interested in having a look at them, that you need the lift app to actually book them. But I'd recommend them. I wouldn't use them every day.
Caz:And they have Disney cartoons on as well.
Wayne:Yes, they have played Disney cartoons on as well. So the next thing on paid transport is going to be airport transfers. So one of the big things you're going to have is most of us fly into the US, into Orlando international, and we're going to need some way to get from Orlando to the resort hotels and there's a couple of options here, one of which is Mears. I believe these used to be called Disney Express.
Caz:It used to be called Disney Express, which used to be included as part of your Disney package.
Wayne:However, it isn't any more. You have to pay for it, and it's not cheap either. It's what? 70 dollars or something.
Wayne:Thirty six dollars each yeah 70 dollars and basically it's a it's a coach. The disadvantages of it is you could be on that coach for two hours because it'll go to multiple resorts and I've almost guaranteed that your luck will be that the resort that you're at will be the last one it goes to. The benefit is it's quite simple to book it and you just chuck your luggage on and then you sit in the coach for two hours and they take you to your resort. The other option you have is to go to some form of private hire, and we used a company called Gear Fusion, which was basically a taxi service. We'd looked on various Facebook groups for Disney and a number of people mentioned Gear Fusion and we picked them and they were a little bit more expensive. However, one they turned up straight outside the airport and they were texting us about five times.
Caz:Even actually tried to phone me whilst we were on final approach. Yeah, that was quite funny.
Wayne:Sorry, we're trying to land the plane here, can we? Yeah, we didn't, sorry, we had our phone on airplay on the east.
Caz:Well, it's because it was on WhatsApp.
Wayne:Okay, even worse. Yeah, they basically met us outside the airport and then took us straight to our resort, which was great because we didn't have to sit in the coach for two hours going to 500 other resorts just straight to ours, and it was a little bit more expensive than it is, but we used them again coming back and we would certainly use them again. So highly recommended Gear Fusion Very good service.
Caz:One thing worth noting, though, when you are flying into Orlando International, is you have the A side and the B side. Now, a lot of the transfer private hire ones like Gear Fusion would go by what your airline is. So we actually went on the B side, because that's where we had gone out previously for Miis Connect. However, because we fly Virgin and Virgin actually are based on the A side of the Orlando International we had to then wait for our driver to come round.
Wayne:You didn't tell me that bit.
Caz:I don't tell you everything.
Wayne:Typical, isn't it? So yeah, make sure the driver knows where you're actually landing if you're going to go private high. But Gear Fusion great service, recommend them.
Caz:And also at Orlando. You've got numbers at the pickup point. So they'll say to you tell me what number pickup point I work at 26. Okay, just wait by the 26 sign and we'll come and get you.
Wayne:Yeah, it was quite busy, but good service. Next one we're going to talk about are cruise transfers.
Caz:We like these.
Wayne:Now cruise transfers are for those of us who have stayed at a Disney resort and are then going on a Disney cruise, generally from Canaveral. I'm assuming they do them from Fort.
Caz:Lauderdale as well. That's not Port Lauderdale. The Disney Disney bus transfers, cruise transfers run from Orlando International to the Hyatt Hotel in Orlando or Disney Resorts.
Wayne:And we were staying at Disney Resort.
Caz:It was pretty worthwhile doing. What happens is day or two before you're due to embark on your cruise. You'll get either a letter if your stone resort left in your room, or you'll get an email and it have on it. We're looking forward to working with you on board. Please meet. Please make sure your bags are ready Now. Your bags have to be ready at 7am in the morning Because one thing they do do is you put your cruise tags on your suitcases, bill services to take your suitcases away and the next time you see your suitcases, providing nothing has gone wrong, you hope it's been on the actual cruise ship.
Wayne:Give you one little tip put air tags into your suitcases, and that way you can track where they are.
Caz:We did get a little bit worried, didn't we?
Wayne:No, it would. Just air tags sometimes take a while to update, but the fact that we saw that they were moving was quite a nice thing to see. The nice thing about official Disney transport to cruises. You can, of course, get a lift, get a private taxi. There's probably public buses that do the same route.
Wayne:The difference is when you do a cruise, you have something called a pat time and if you're a cruiser you'll know exactly what pat time is, and I guess at some point in time Cas will do a podcast on cruising and talk about pat times. But basically, pat time is port arrival time. Now you get allocated to port arrival time and you are expected to turn up at your port arrival time. If you get there early and early means something like 15 minutes they'll turn you away. So if you drive there, you need to make sure you get there on time.
Wayne:However, if you're in official Disney transport, so one of the buses, then the pat time is irrelevant because you'll get on board the ship as soon as the bus arrives. More importantly, if there's any delays and bear in mind when we landed we landed on the day that there was an aircraft actually landed on one of the freeways and shut it down for two hours. If you're in a private transport and it's blocked and you missed the cruise, tough, nobody's going to do anything to help you. However, if you're in a Disney officially approved bus the Disney transfers then they will wait for the buses to turn up, which is a nice little piece of mind, not thinking, oh no, we're going to be late, we're going to lose our cruise. The other nice thing is the buses actually do have some rather interesting cartoons and they have a toilet on board as well. Anyway, two more forms of transport that we haven't mentioned. Can you guess what they are?
Caz:Nope, go on.
Wayne:I'll give you a clue they don't go anywhere.
Caz:Nope, still bland.
Wayne:One of these, the people mover, that classic Disney go around and see a few things but it doesn't actually go anywhere because it comes back. And the other one is the choo choos which again go around the outside of the parks and just go around in circles. And there's one in Florida, is there one in California?
Caz:Yeah, there is obviously that's the original.
Wayne:Florida, there's a and of course there's also Paris.
Caz:And Paris and Tokyo and Hong Kong. They've all got the train. And the reason they have the steam train is because Walt had a love of steam trains.
Wayne:And they're quite fun and they don't really go anywhere and every time we do Paris it's like oh look, there's a station. Oh, that station's closed. So you end up sort of going to one station, around, around around and then come back to the other station. But it is good fun, although we did have the shock when we did the US one, so that the Florida one you go to the Paris and it's all stand behind the barrier, everything's locked down and the doors open. You're allowed on, the doors close and they go and check everything. You get onto the Florida ones and they're open-sided. So you're just waiting for the little children to jump out because there's nothing to stop them. I think it was a little chain or something across.
Caz:We have also missed another form of transport.
Wayne:What.
Caz:The tram's on Castaway Key. That is Disney Transport.
Wayne:Okay, technically it's Disney Transport. Saratoga Springs had golf buggies. Yep, but only if you play golf. Anyway, I think that's about the end of the podcast.
Caz:I think that's about the end of the podcast. So yeah, so that's Disney Transport, although we didn't cover airport transports from Disneyland Paris.
Wayne:We'll do that in another one.
Caz:Yep, we're going to do a whole podcast about getting to Disneyland, paris anyway, so yeah, because we've got a bit of adventure coming up to going to Disneyland Paris.
Wayne:Something we haven't done before is coming up soon, but that will be a future podcast. So thank you for listening. Don't forget. You can follow us on the various podcast-y things. Click the links. You know how podcasts work, so it's goodbye for me.
Caz:And it's goodbye for me. And if you want to also see some adventures, go to our YouTube.
Wayne:Yep Addicted to Disney on YouTube is there. So thanks for listening and goodbye, bye.
