Free Disney Parking as well
On our recent visit to Celebration we tried something new and discovered free transportation and free parking care of Disney.
We were staying 20 minutes maximum away from Walt Disney World and after a committee meeting agreed that we weren’t going to go to the parks due to the extortionate pricing. To purchase tickets we literally have to purchase either a 7 or 14 day ticket. The 7 day ticket being more expensive than the 14 day ticket. Go figure! Americans have way more choices.
If you are not staying at a Walt Disney Resort hotel then any visit to a Disney theme park is now $35 per day. If you are staying at any of the Disney Resort Hotels or Lodges then there will be complimentary parking at the accommodation and any of the theme parks but you still have to purchase park tickets.
Walt Disney World covers approximately 25,00o acres which is almost twice as big as the city of Manchester in the UK.
The only free parking (without any meal reservations) is at Disney Springs. There are 3 multi-story parking garages but I would recommend an early arrival to be sure of a space.
From Disney Springs transportation centre you board Disney Transport buses to the parks and resorts completely complimentary.
There are plenty of Disney team members to direct you to the correct bus for your destination. The signposting is very clear with a list of possible destinations and the bus stop number next to it.
Our original plan was to go to Disney’s Boardwalk next to the edge of Epcot early afternoon and stay to see the Epcot fireworks. This evolved into discovering Walt Disney World and using as many different modes of transport that we could.
Transportation from Disney Springs starts at 10:00 daily so we were hot to trot after parking in the Orange Car Garage. We used the destination board to locate our bus stop to Disney’s World Art of Animation Resort. The driver greeted us warmly and he allowed us to board whilst he waited for the magic hour of his allotted timetable. There is plenty of space for both sitting and standing passengers as well as fold up seating to allow wheelchair users to easily park up. No surprise that the bus was pristine. Throughout the journey the Disney recorded speaker system kept the travellers informed if there were sights to see.
We exited the bus and entered the resort of Disney’s Art of Animation whose accommodations are themed with ‘Finding Nemo’, ‘Cars’ and the Lion King. It was so well presented and the pool areas were amazingly landscaped. Across the lake was Disney’s Pop Century Resort with each of the accommodation blocks representing different decades and the pop culture they represented.
Both resorts are connected by Disney’s Skyliner and it’s gondola system. This is a reasonably recent transport addition to Walt Disney World and opened in September 2019. Each gondola is themed either by a character or film from the Disney catalogue. Each station is clearly signposted and if the rider is required to change to a different line to get to their destination. No surprise that the queues were moving quickly and any gondolas that were needed for passengers with special needs were diverted behind the other gondolas and then seamlessly fed back into line for lift off towards their destination station.
We were heading to Disney’s Boardwalk and the arrival station was at the entrance to Epcot at the World Showcase area. You could clearly see the French pavilion and the Eiffel Tower. It is so comfortable wandering around and you are always never too far away from large and clean washrooms and water fountains. We could have walked to the Boardwalk area but jumped onto the boat service. Departure times are clearly visible and we only had a couple of minutes to wait.
Disney’s Boardwalk Resort is located around Crescent Lake and there are plenty of food and shopping opportunities actually this goes without saying I guess. Everything was Disney priced i.e expensive. From there we boarded a bus to the Magic Kingdom entrance to get on the iconic monorail to the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. There are 12 trains travelling along three lines in mark VI monorails. Different lines are defined by colours so there isn’t any chance of being on the wrong one.
We decided to disembark at the Contemporary Resort as we had passed through on endless occasions but never actually visited it. In its day when WDW opened in 1971 this vision of transportation within a building must have blown people’s minds but I think that what was a vision of the future is almost a vision of the past. It was busy in the lobby and there were many stores to wander around and you can see the pool area which was overlooking the Bay Lake.
There were security measures in place on arrival and departure and getting down to the lobby was via very narrow escalators which seemed very dated in that environment.
Our last stop was to Grand Floridian Resort & Spa on the monorail which stops at Disney’s Polynesian Resort along the way. The monorail station at Floridian is up a few levels so when you walk into the hotel you cannot be impressed at the lobby and vast atrium in front of you. The staff are all dressed in green Victorian era costumes being in tandem of the theme of the resort. It was all very impressive.
Our final journey was by bus back to Disney Springs and the whole experience of transport and resort hopping took five hours. All for free and so much to discover we felt we had experienced the magic without the rides. Take water bottles to keep refilling and sun protection. We had a very hot day with no humidity because of the season.
USA Road Trips by Max 