How to Use the Walt Disney World Bus Transportation System to Get From Your Hotel to the Parks.

Because Disneyland is my "home park," 2021 was my first visit to Walt Disney World in Florida since I was 14 years old. I did as much research as I could on-line about how to get from our hotel to the different parks but I was still a little anxious about it when I left. So I thought I would post a few pictures of the "in's and out's" of using the Walt Disney World Bus Transportation System. It was an extremely convenient and easy system to figure out, even for me!

 

We like to get to the parks as early as possible - usually getting to Disneyland about 45 minutes before the park opens. I knew I'd be at the mercy of the buses at Walt Disney World, so I wanted to make sure I got on the earliest bus. I was told that the first bus leaves about an hour before the park opens. The virst Park we were visiting was Animal Kingdom and when we got to the bus loading area an hour before Animal Kingdom opened, we found that the first bus had already left. But another bus was there in only a few more minutes. So if you want to make sure to catch the very first bus, I recommend getting to the loading area about an hour and 15 minutes before the park opens.

This is a look at the Loading Area. We stayed at the All-Star Movies Resort where it was located out in-front of the hotel. 

Each park (and Disney Springs) has it's own sign, queue, and bus pick-up area. Just find the sign of the park you want to go to and get in line! 

There are different styles of busses, some with seats facing forward and some, like this one, with seats against the wall. This was from our second day, heading to Epcot.

Depending on what resort you're staying in, the drive can take from 5 minutes to 20 minutes. The good news is that you get to bypass all the traffic!

Here's a look at the bus drop-off area at Epcot. From here, it's a moderately long walk to the entrance.

But it's easy to find if you just follow all the people headed in the same direction...

...or the many signs that point the way.

Finding the way back to your resort at the end of the day is also a pretty easy process.

The parks will have signes indicating the direction where each method of transportation can be located. This was the sign outside of Epcot.

For bus transportation, they then have this board that will tell you which "gate" to go to, to get to your resort hotel. Again, this is the board at Epcot.

Here's a look at the board at the Magic Kingdom. If you can read the small writing in this picture, you can see that the bus for our resort, the All-Star Movies, leaves out of gate 20... 

...so we found gate 20 and got in line to wait for our bus. How long you'll have to wait for your bus depends on when the last bus left. We never waited more than about 15 minutes for ours.

      

Here's another look at the bus loading area at Magic Kingdom. 

This is the Bus Directory at Disney Springs, the shopping area. When we were ready to get back to our hotel, the All-Star Movies Resort, we looked at the board and saw that our bus was leaving out of gate 18...

                              

...so we made our way to gate 18 and our bus was already there.

                              

                                        

This is the bus loading area at Animal Kingdom where the "gates" are found. In this picture, you can see that gate 14 is going to Disney's Saratoga Springs. The only drawback is that when we were there, you couldn't go from one of the parks to the Disney Springs shopping area. So we took this bus to Saratoga Springs since it is a pretty short walk from Saratoga Springs to Disney Springs. Hopefully Disney will start providing buses to go directly from the parks to Disney Springs in the near future.

Here's another look at the bus loading area at Animal Kingdom. These loading areas are huge! There are typically about 30 gates at each one, meaning that there is room for 30 busses to park to load up guests.

This is the bus loading area at Hollywood studios. The only slight drawback to the bus transportation is that it is a pretty long walk to get to certain gates so, if it's raining...

...you're going to get soaked!

Walt Disney World's Magical Express

I decided to document our experience using Disney's Magical Express in June of 2021. Eventhough Disney is unfortunately doing away with this service starting in 2022, I thought this post would be good for any last minute 2021 travelers looking for more information on how the service works and also serve as a nice nostalgic write-up after the Magical Express is gone.

The Magical Express Bus service a complementary service offered by Disney to guests staying at a Disney World Resort Hotel. It is really a win-win situation for both Disney and their Guests. First, it's a win for Disney because it assusres that guests will be more or less "stuck" on their property, forcing them to eat meals and purchase more merchandise there. It's a win for guests because if you don't need to go anywhere off property, you are provided with free, convenient transportation to and from Orlando International Airport to the Walt Disney World Resort. So why are they doing away with the service? I'll discuss that at the end of this post. But first, here is a pictoral look at our experience with the Magical Express:

The Orlando International Airport has 3 levels. We arrived on the "B" side (there are two identical sides - A and B) and took the tram to the large open food court area that separates the two sides. The Baggage Claim is located on the second floor, so we took the escalator down. 

Once we got our bags, we headed down to the lowest level to find Ground Transportation, where the Magical Express is located. It is important to note here that the Magical Express is only found on the "B" side of the airport. So, for instance, if you arrived on the "A" side, you would need to go down the escalator on the "A" side to the baggage claim and then return up to the main level where you would then do down to ground transportation on the "B" side.

Once on the Ground Transportaion (3rd) level, we followed the signs to Disney's Magical Express.

Signs were easy to follow. It was a relatively long walk down a mostly empty hallway.

Almost there...

A Disney Cast Member was waiting to check our itenerary. Disney mailed us a Magical Express Confirmation letter prior to us leaving on vacation.

There are different lanes for each bus, depending on what Disney Resort you are going to.

We were directed to lane 7 because that was the bus number for the All-Star Movies Resort (our final destiantion).

We stopped here and waited about 5 minutes for a Cast Member to direct us to our bus.

There were quite a fleet of buses for both the Magical Express and the Disney CruiseLine.

We were given assigned seats. We had rows 8, 10, 12 and 14 which were on the right side of the bus.

We were required to wear masks on the bus because of Disney's Covid precautions. The back of the bus was full...

...but the front of the bus was empty. We waited on the bus for about 10 minutes before we left.

I absolutely loved the bus ride. It was about 30 minutes long and was especially exciting when we got to the Resort and saw all the signs.

We were brought right to the main entrance of our resort where our luggage was off loaded. Once we found all of our luggage, we went to the lobby to check in. 

On the day we left, because we had an afternoon flight, after checking out of our room we left our bags with the bell services so we could go to Disney Springs for a couple of hours. We came back about 30 minutes before our bus was scheduled to leave for the airport (we received a notice on our door the day before we left with the time our bus left) and the staff brought our bags back. 

I really love the Magical Express service and I have to wonder why Disney would get rid of such a popular program. Surely they have to realize that by taking this service away, guests will now have an option to eat, sleep, and travel elsewhere. I imagine they are banking on another company - Mears possibly - picking up where Magical Express left off. Of course, Mears will have to charge for the service if they do take over the service. So Disney will save a ton of money by not offering this service and hope that they won't lose too much because of a new service being offered. From Fastpass to Magical Express, Disney seems to be eliminating value-added services to their guests and, in the case of Fastpass, replacing them with pay-for-play program. I hope they will get back to their roots by creating a more magical experience fot their guests rather than primarily worrying about cost saving measures.  

Summer 2021 Disneyland Trip Report

 

Our family trip to Disneyland this year was only three days instead of 4 or 5 like it normally is. We decided to go to Walt Disney World in Florida earlier in the summer because of the extra Covid restrictions in California so we didn't think we needed as many days at Disneyland this year. We also normally get park hopper tickets (where normally you can visit both Disneyland and California Adventure in the same day without restirctions) but this year we decided to just do one park a day since there were limitations on the park hopping hours. Here is a look at our trip in pictures:

DAY 1: DISNEYLAND

We love getting to Disneyland at least a half hour before it opens. Currently Disney lets guests through the gates 15 minutes prior to opening. Once through you can make your way down Main Street in the direction you want to go to start your day. The Rope Drop happens right at park opening which is when you are allowed further into the park and on to the attractions. Disneyland is always less crowded for the first two or so hours after opening so, in my opinion, the early morning is the best time to be there.

Here's a look at the crowd gathered on Main Street just before the rope drop.

Our first ride every year is Peter Pan. I'm not sure how that came about but it is one of my favorite attractions despite the ever-present long line. 

Even my teenagers don't put up too much of a fight to go on Peter Pan...

I was excited to try the newly re-made Snow White's Enchanted Wish. When I heard it was being changed, I was excited because it was a little too dark and scary for it's target audience - younger kids. Disney did a really good job with it! The ending flowed much better as well. 

Staying in Fantasyland, we headed over to Casey Jr Circus Train.

Although I prefer sitting on the front facing train cars, Judi loves sitting in the cages, so here we are...

I love the views from Casey Jr.

In line at Alice in Wonderland...the kids have no problem keeping themselves entertained.

Off we go, following the White Rabbit's foot prints.

Part of what makes Alice in Wonderland so unique is this section of raised outdoor track. 

Next it was off to New Orleans Square and Pirates of the Caribbean. This is one of our family's favorites!

I'm getting more used to the Jack Sparrow animatronics everywhere on the attraction, but I wish my kids could have seen it before he was added and before all the other changes were made to it.

Staying in New Orleans Square, we went to Haunted Mansion next. I think it's funny how Haunted Mansion has become one of Judi's (my 7 year old) favorites. 

Off to Critter Country and SPLASH MOUNTAIN!!!!

                             

Every year Liz makes everyone shirts with their favorite character on them. This year we all decided to do Splash Mounain characters as a way to protest Disney replacing this attraction and because for years, this has been our family's favorite ride. 

This was Judi's first time on Splash Mountain at Disneyland. She went on Disney World's version earlier this summer.

As we head up the first hill, Judi doesn't look so sure about what's coming next! She still doesn't care for the big final drop.

But after the final drop, knowing there are no more drops, she can smile! 

Since Winnie the Pooh is on the way back to the rest of the attractions, we usually go on it after Splash Mountain.

Next, it was on to the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes. I love being able to paddle a canoe around the Rivers of America.

I think the Canoes are one of the more underrated attractions. The kids always have fun on this one.

I always love to see nostalgic areas of the park, so when I get a chance to take a picture of the old Mine Train railroad tracks, I take it!

Off to Adventureland and Tarzan's Treehouse. We all agree that the Swiss Family Treehouse in Walt Disney World is much better than the Tarzan theme. 

Just a short walk away is one of my all-time favorites, the Jungle Cruise! This year our skippers weren't as good as normal but I wonder how much of that is due to the changes that were made, removing the head hunters and replacing them with monkeys. As my 12 year old said after seeing the changes for the first time, "they removed all the funny parts and replaced them with monkeys."

I was glad to see Marc Davis' lost safari scene made it relatively unscathed...

...except for swapping out the race of the guys on the bottom to make it less racist?

Here's a look at some of the new additions...

The new butterfly joke the skippers used didn't really work for me. It was so forgettable, I can't remember what it was now...

The jokes here where Trader Sam used to be were also bland and forgettable. Definitely not as good as Trader Sam,  "the head salesman of the jungle."

We headed to Tomorrowland next and went on Star Tours, which I didn't get any pictures of. I loved to see the Disneyland band out playing! As a side note, they are playing on the site of the old Carousel of Progress building...I sure wish they'd bring back America Sings or the Carousel of Progress. It just seems like a better use of space than a display area. 

We took a stroll over to Snow White's Grotto. I have fond memories and fun picures with my mom in this area when I was a child.

Mr Toad's Wild Ride was my favorite as a kid. I'm not sure why because it's one of the louder attractions and I typically have never liked loud things...but I always make sure to go on it at least once a trip for nostalgia. 

We then headed back to our hotel, the Del Sol, for lunch and naps. But on the way, I stopped at the Opera House to check out the displays inside.

Disney currently has a display on the History of the Haunted Mansion.

I'm so glad that Disney keeps this on display at the entry. 

Meanwhile, back at the motel, Liz got lunch started for the kids.

We love pin trading so on our way to our next rides, we stopped at the Castle store on Main Street to trade. Here they were doing the mystery pin trade where you don't know what pin you're getting (I don't care for this as much).

Next we made our way to Small World...

...followed by some more pin trading at the Small World shop - once again the mystery pin trading.

While the more adventurous headed for more thrilling rides, others headed for Dumbo.

I joined the adventurous for a brief second to go on the Matterhorn...

As a side note here, we actually got on Rise of the Resistance about this time also. It was quite an ordeal to get a "Boarding Group" to get on. Because of it's enormous popularity, "boarding groups," or advanced reservations, are required to get on. Knowing the process from doing it a month earlier at Walt Disney World, didn't help us get a boarding group here. In fact, we used the same method but when we tried to get a boarding group, we were told that they were all full and that we needed to try again at noon. So we tried again at noon and were given a "stand-by" boarding group, meaning that we probably wouldn't get on, but might if there weren't many break-downs on the attraction throughout the day. Our group was 264, I believe. We ended up being notified that we could get on about 8:30pm. Because of our excitement of being notified that we could get on and because we didn't want to miss it, I didn't get any pictures of the ride here, but I did get a POV video of Rise of the Resistance. You can also read about the process of obtaining a boarding group here. I was able to get some pictures of in on our third day which you can see further down in the trip report.

...and then went on rides more my speed with Judi and Liz. Here we went on Pinocchio.

We also did Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters...

...and then stopped for a few pictures on the way out...

DAY 2: CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE

On day 2, we went to California Adventure. Our first attraction was Soarin' Around the World.

They loaded us into the center row and never put anyone in the side rows...not sure why.

Just like Rise of the Resistance, we also needed a Boarding Group for the new Web Slingers attraction. Even though our boarding group was still a couple of hours away, we decided to checkout the new land... 

Here's a look at one of the new buildings with a quinjet on it. As of now, the balcony is used for characters such as Loki, Captain America, and others to make appearances. But in the future, this is rumored to be the entrance to a Black Panther E-ticket attraction. 

This is Dr. Strange's Ancient Sanctum where periodically he comes and does a show. Unfortunately we missed the show. 

Here are a couple more pictures of the new Avenger's Campus:

While it was fun to see the new "land," I think I prefer the area as it was before when it was A Bug's Land. There were more attractions, particularly for younger kids (even if those attractions were just your basic off the shelf carnival attractions). Maybe that will change as more attractions are added to Avenger's Campus, but replacing 4 or 5 small attractions with one average video game style attraction, when there are already 2 others like it doesn't make sense to me. The overall theme of A Bug's Land was also much superior to Avenger's Campus. While Avenger's Campus isn't horrible, it just seems like a lot more open, hot concrete whereas A Bug's Land immersed you into what the life of a bug was probably like.  

Up next, we headed to Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters.

We also went on Radiator Springs Racers (Judi doesn't care for how fast it goes so she is crunched down on my lap in the picture).

Then it was off to Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.

After Cars Land, we headed for Ariel's Undersea Adventure.

One of all our kid's favorite rides is Grizzly River Run so we headed there next.

While the more daring headed for Guardians of the Galaxy...

...Judi and I spotted some chipmunks in the forest.

Then we all met up at the Sorcerer's Workshop.

Judi is like the Queen of Hearts?!? Gulp...

The Sorcerer's Workshop has a lot of educational displays on how animation works.

Our boarding group was called for Webslingers so we headed that way. But before we got there, Shelby noticed one of her favorite Marvel characters - Spiderman - out chatting and taking pictures with people.

But I think the reason she likes Spiderman is because of Tom Holland! 

This is a part of the Webslingers pre-show where Peter Parker explains what has gone wrong and how we can help.

Here's a look at the loading area and the ride vehicles. 

The attraction is just another 3-D shooting attraction which makes, what, three now - Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story Mania, and now this? Honestly, I was extremely underwhelmed with this new attraction. Disney hit a home run with Rise of the Resistance, but their new secondary attractions like Smugglers Run and now Webslingers have both been strikeouts.

After Webslingers, we stayed in Avenger's Campus and had lunch at Pym Test Kitchen. Mobile ordering was required which I'm not a fan of. Basically, you have to download the app to order food or you can't eat. While generally I love to plan ahead, when it comes to eating, I'd rather be able to just order and pick up my food like I used to. Hopefully this was just some sort of Covid precaution.

                             

 Another problem was seating. There was less seating here than I've ever seen at a restaurant. We had to take our food to the old Hyperion Theater outside waiting area where tables were set up.

The PYM Test Kitchen is based off of Ant Man, where things can be shrunk and enlarged. The food was cleverly presented and tasted about average. 

After lunch we headed for Pixar Pier.

We decided to go on Toy Story Midway Mania. Believe it or not, this was actually my first time on it in California Adventure (my very first time was earlier in the summer at Walt Disney World).

After Toy Story Mania, Shelby enjoyed an ice cream...

...and Judi and I headed over to Jessie's Critter Carousel.

Then we headed over to the Incredicoaster observation area to watch the more adventurous brave the Incredicoaster.

After Incredicoaster, some people went to Silly Symphony Swings...

...while others tried out Inside Out: Emotional Whirlwind for the first time.

Next it was off to Jumpin' Jellyfish.

Since Lizi was feeling a little sick the first time we went on Ariel's Undersea Adventure and didn't go with us, we decided to do it again.

Since we were in a very picturesque area, we decided to take a group picture with our friends, the Dollins.

There were a couple of requests to go on Radiator Springs Racers again so we headed back to Cars Land.

Liz, Shelby, and Trey prepare to race!

We then went to try something I had never done before - the Animation Academy. Here an instructor teaches you how to draw different characters every half hour. 

When we were there, we were taught how to draw Stitch.

The finished product!

The kids really wanted to do Grizzly River Run again but I wasn't thrilled about getting soaked right before the sun went down. I decided to go anyway and, as luck would have it, my friend, Eric, found these rain ponchos on top of the garbage can right before we got on. Problem solved!

We then headed over to Monsters, Inc.

Judi had been asking all day to go to the Pixar Pal-a-round and I love it too, especially at night, when the park is all lit up. Here are a few pictures of California Adventure after dark.

DAY 3: DISNEYLAND JULY 17, 2021 - DISNEYLAND'S 66th BIRTHDAY!

We were excited to go to Disneyland on their birthday. We got there a little earlier than normal because we anticipated that it would be a little busier than normal and because we figured that Disney might do something special to celebrate their birthday as well. We were wrong about Disney doing anything to celebrate their birthday, unfortunately, but we were glad to get there early. A cook had come out to entertain guests while we waited for the rope drop.

Here's a look at the sea of people behind us...

We first went to try out the new Snow White's Enchanted Wish again. I really like the changes to this attraction.

Judi and I then went to a couple more of the Fantasyland "dark rides" while the older kids headed for more teen-specific rides. Up first for us, Mr Toad...

...and Alice in Wonderland. As much as Disney has been focusing on more thrill type attractions or video game type attraction, I would argue that they should be focusing their future on more rides like the original Fantasyland dark rides. They are what set Disneyland apart from all of it's competitors - the re-telling of a beloved classic through an attraction.

We all met back up at the Jungle Cruise.

I then headed back over to Splash Mountain with the older kids...

...while Liz and Judi took the Disneyland Railroad over to Mickey's Toon Town to do some exploring.

We then headed for Tomorrowland and to Autopia. 

Staying in Tomorrowland, we next went to Star Tours, another of our favorites.

We left Tomorrowland and headed over to Fantasyland, stopping by the wishing well in Snow White's Grotto.

Then we went on Storybook Land Canal Boats which is one of my favorites. This was also said to be one of Walt Disney's favorite areas of the park because of all the intricate details.

On our way over to ride Small World again, we noticed one of Judi's favorite characters! Mary Poppins!

Always looking for that perfect shot...

Our next attraction was the Haunted Mansion, and what a treat we got! The line was long and the stretching room elevator was the choke point so they were allowing people to bypass the elevator by going through a backstage area. This is a picture of that hallway.

This attraction has quickly become one of Judi's favorites!

We then headed over to Winnie the Pooh since there's never a line to get on it.

While we were on Winnie the Pooh, we received a notification that our boarding group had been called for Rise of the Resistance so we hurried over to Galaxy's Edge.

A cast member scanned all of our boarding passes before letting us continue on through the queue.

There are so many awesome details that Star Wars geeks, like me, appreciate.

This is the pre-show room with an animatronic BB-8...

...and a special guest appearance by a holographic Rey.

Even Poe Dameron was a part of our "mission."

Once given our mission, we were directed to a shuttle - the blue and grey vehicle in the background.

Everyone on board!

Our shuttle was ambushed by the First Order and they captured us in their tractor beam and took us to...

...a Star Destroyer!

This scene was absolutely unbelievable!

We were led to a hallway and told to line up and prepare for interrogation.

Then we were led to the interrogation room where we were interrogated by General Hux and Kylo Ren.

The rebels broke us out of the interrogation room...

...and loaded us into transports to try to make our escape. These trackless ride vehicles are pretty cool!

Our escape route led us past massive, actual size AT-AT's...

...and then to the bridge where we were spotted by Kylo Ren!

Just as we thought we had made our escape, Kylo's lightsaber penetrated the ceiling! This really neat special effect wasn't working when we first went on the attraction in June at Walt Disney World.

We escaped Kylo, but then wound up witnessing large laser canons firing on the Rebel fleet.

We were finally loaded onto an escape pod where we were jettisoned into space. (Spoiler alert - this is the last thing you see before you free fall about 10 feet or so. It's a very mild version of Tower of Terror).

We made it back to Batuu all in one piece!

Rise of the Resistance is an amazing experience! From the story-telling, to the animaronics, to the sheer size of many of the sets, Disney hit this one out of the park!

After Rise of the Resistance, we decided to head back to the hotel for lunch and naps. We saw this character "cavalcade" on Main Street as we exited the park. This is the way Disney is doing parades now as part of their new Covid (and the cynic in me says cost-cutting) procedures.

Lunch is served!

When we got back to Disneyland, Liz and the older kids went to the Matterhorn...

While Judi and I headed back to Jungle Cruise so I could listen to my favorite skipper jokes again. I just love their "dad jokes."

"We're now entering the elephant bathing pool. But feel free to take pictures, folks - they all have their trunks on."

"Awwww...look at that pride of lions protecting that sleeping zebra. He looks dead tired!"

"We're now entering man-eating piranha territory so please keep your hands inside the boat. Women and children, don't worry, these are man-eating piranha."

Next, we met back up and went to the Tiki Room. This is usually the last attraction we visit before we leave but since we were already in the area, we decided to go on it early.

The Tiki Room was one of my mom's favorite attractions. When I was about the same age as my kids, I would fight my mom on going - for some reason I didn't like it. I'm so glad that my kids like it and ask me to go on it now.

We split up again and Liz and the older kids went to Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain...

...while Judi and I went to Casey Jr, Alice in Wonderland, and Winnie the Pooh.

We met back up at Pirates of the Caribbean. I miss Disney's glory days when their Imagineers were so creative (or given the resources by Disney to be that creative) that movies were made based off of the attractions and not the other way around.

When we got off of Pirates, we were welcomed by the amazing Disneyland fireworks!

On our last night, Disneyland closed at 10:00pm so we rushed over to see if we could make it on Peter Pan before it closed. Disneyland has a great policy that even though they close at 10:00pm, if you are in line at a ride before 10:00, you can still go on that ride. I like going on Peter Pan just before the park closes because the line is rarely under 30 minutes long anytime of the day so I figure it gives me an extra 30 minutes in the park. We got to the line at 9:55pm, just in time! But Shelby, Trey, and Lizi decided at the last minute that they wanted to try to go on Space Mountain one last time. I didn't think there was any chance they'd make it, but I told them they could try if they wanted to. They rushed over through Tomorrowland to it's far side and made it to Space Mountain just in time! Judi and I got off of Peter Pan at 10:40pm and the older kids were still waiting in line! In fact, they didn't get off Space Mountain until a few minutes after 11:00pm! 

While we waited for Shelby, Trey, and Lizi, I took a few pictures of empty spots around the park...

The kids finally met up with us on Main Street and Liz, Lizi, and Judi found a nice lady to trade pins with, while Shelby and Trey rested their tired legs. After 3 days at the happiest place on earth, it was time to call it a day.