Originally Posted by
ExitRowOrElse
And the monorail will take you from the resorts (i.e. The Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian) to the parks. $99/night for a room at the Hilton vs $300+/night at a comparable Disney accommodation is a no brainer for those of us who are not made of money.
Im not made of money either, but the money I save by staying at a $59 or $69 a night hotel vs a $99 a night hotel just about pays for my rental car.
I also value the 2 hours a day that your plan would cost in transportation to the parks, more than I value the monetary savings.
Using your plan:
Walk to DTD - about 10 Mins
Wait for bus to
Contemporary Grand Floridian - O-20 Mins
Bus ride to
Contemporary Grand Floridian (last monorail stop before MK) -15 Mins
Wait for Resorts monorail - O-15 Mins
Monorail to MK - 5 Mins
- - - - - - - -- -
Total travel time each way - 30 to 65 Mins
Travel time to the other parks will be even longer, by 10-15 Mins, due to longer bus travel times from the closest resort to the destination park.
To be dear, I am NOT advocating staying in a Disney deluxe-level resort. I'm just saying
there are better and cheaper ways to reduce accommodation costs than staying at a DTD hotel without a car.
* Note: for those who don't know, the WDW Monorail runs in a circular loop that stops at the Magic Kingdom park, 3 resorts (out of 22) and the MK parking lot's Transportation and Ticket Center. There is also a second line that runs from the TTC to Epcot with no other stops. All other WDW resorts are connected to the Various parks by bus, or by boat in some cases.