Disney A to Z (Buses and Boats)

One of the things that you need to take into account when traveling to Disney World is transportation.  For us we never rent a car because we know that we can rely on the Disney transportation system.  Now I know that staying on the property is not an option for everyone, while it is the most Magical place on Earth it certainly is not the cheapest. Although there are reasonable resorts on the property that give you access to some things you might not have thought about like discounted tickets and exclusive park access.

More on those in a later post.

Unfortunately the stroller needs to be folded on the bus

One thing we like to know about the hotel we are staying at is the transportation options to the various parks.  If we are staying near Epcot we know that we are going to have to take a bus to get to the Magic Kingdom. If we stay near the Magic Kingdom we can either walk, take a boat, or ride the monorail.  But then we will have to take a bus to get to Epcot. Each has their advantages.  If you are a family of four with two strollers taking a bus late at night with two sleeping kids is not always the best option.  It's one of the reasons we don't stay at a resort like Animal Kingdom Lodge where the bus is the only option. If you have to fold up your strollers, it's not very easy to carry everything, especially if one of those is one of those oversized double strollers that we had.  If you can just roll onto a monorail or boat it makes it much easier.

The transportation system works great.  

They fall asleep at the wrong time

It might not seem like it at the end of the night when the kids are having a meltdown, everyone has one so don't worry that your kid is screaming that they don't want to leave, but the buses are pretty efficient.  The lines can get long when you are leaving the park, so take that into account when you are making a mad dash after the fireworks.  You don't need to worry though, you will eventually get back to your hotel where the kids will be sleeping and you can crash.

Life is better on a boat

We like taking the boats when possible. Vacation feels better when you are riding a boat.  We seem to always stay at either Beach Club Resort or The Boardwalk. They are connected to Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot by a boat. The Dolphin and The Swan are also nearby so if you don't feel like making the quick walk to any of them feel free to use the boat. You can also take boats from places like Port Orleans or Old Key West to Downtown Disney or from Wilderness Lodge to the Magic Kingdom.  I would be tempted to just ride the boats all day if my kids didn't want me to go to the parks with them.

The transportation system might sound confusing but it is always easy to find.  Whether you are leaving your hotel to get to the parks or leaving the parks to get back to your hotel, you can be sure that you will get there.  No one that I know of has ever been stranded on the side of the road without a way to get back to where they were going. 

Of course you could just rent a car and drive to the parking lot of the park or to the transportation center. That would make traveling that much easier for you, but I will tell you in a future post why you might not want to do that.  

Too bad you can't take one of these

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Disney A to Z (Age)

It's a question I hear a lot, "What is the right age to take my kids to Disney." I never know how to answer that because we started taking both of our kids at around four months old. It worked for us, because WE wanted to be there. Is that selfish of us? Maybe, but there really isn't much you can't do at Disney with a four moth old. They can go on a lot of the rides, except obviously rides like Space Mountain, and even then if YOU want to go on that ride you certainly can by yourself.

A four month old might be a bit extreme, I know. The only reason why you would take them there, aside from wanting to go yourself, is to get some pictures with the characters. Perhaps it makes a cute Christmas card.

But as they get older, that's where the real fun starts.

Once my kids were able to walk and actually interact with the characters Disney became a whole new place. I can vividly remember going there when Tyler was around 18 months old, he was a huge fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so he knew all of the characters like they were his best friends. We went to a character greeting in Epcot and the boy was sprinting between Mickey and Minnie and the gang, he was in heaven. Is this something that he will remember? Absolutely not, but it is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

I know a lot of people that won't take their kids to Disney until they can fully understand and remember everything. I can certainly understand that, but at EVERY age there is something new. Whether its new rides, or new attractions that appeal to them, every time that we have gone it seems like Disney has changed. The boys aren't so much into the characters anymore like they used to be, but there are new rides that they can go on. Space Mountain is now something that Tyler can ride on and is very much looking forward to in the fall.

There might be certain windows that you have to take into account.  Are your kids going to be too old to want to see all the characters, or are they going to be too young to go on all the rides and remember everything.  For us the characters were such a huge part of our lives, I would be devastated if we went later in our kids lives that they didn't enjoy that at ll.

So as far as age is concerned, it is completely up to you. We were never worried that the kids wouldn't remember anything because when it came down to it, we did. So much of the joy of going to Disney as a parent is seeing your kids reactions to things. Over the years I have seen my kids go from those excited little babies meeting characters for the first time, to excited little boys going on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for the first time.

Was four months old a little early? Maybe for some people, but I'm glad that we did it.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Disney A to Z

We've been to Disney a lot. It's been well documented here. Some of my most popular posts have been Disney related. I by no means consider myself an expert about Disney (I couldn't tell the difference between all of the Princesses if you asked me) but I have been there enough to offer my two cents.

Everyone has an opinion about Disney, about where to stay, when to go, how old the kids should be, all the way to which line to be in on certain rides. I can offer you my experiences and you can take from it what you want. For the entire month of August, and who knows it could run into September or October as well depending on how often my kids let me write, I am going to break Disney down from A to Z.

Let me be clear from the start though, I will not be able to get to everything that you need to know. It's good to know what you are getting into when planning a trip to Disney, but you don't want to over plan it. So some things I will leave for you to discover on your own. That's part of the fun right?

My oldest claims to have been to Disney 20 times.  That includes Disney World, Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris.  You get the idea he is spoiled.  We have found ways to make Disney less expensive than it needs to be.  There are obviously ways that you can do Disney on a budget but I am going tell you some that you might not have thought of.  We obviously go to Disney a lot, so what works for us might not necessarily work for someone who can only afford to go once in their lifetime.  Disney is obviously NOT cheap, but there are ways to make it work.

That being said, if you are making the commitment to go to Disney, why not do it right? That's why I am here to help. Hopefully I can offer you some answers to questions that you might have and give you some tips based on my experiences.  Tune in in the next month and hopefully I can get this project done.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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