Has anyone heard of or used Express Transportation to and from the parks? I have never heard of this, but it sounds worth it.
Thoughts??
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Has anyone heard of or used Express Transportation to and from the parks? I have never heard of this, but it sounds worth it.
Thoughts??
I might do it because the price is actually pretty reasonable. If I had limited time, like only a few days, I would try it.
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It's fairly new. Haven't tried it yet, but when we did a VIP tour last month, I saw several of the pick up spots. There's one behind Expedition Everest in AK and the one in DHS is near RnR, so they're not super convenient locations. If I was a Park Hopper, I'd do it.
We used the express transportation service from AK to EPCOT. It saved us time and was really cool to see the backstage areas. It sounds a little silly but my one son was thrilled to see where they grow the porta-bushes (the movable bushes that block paths or construction areas). It was great not having to go through security and already be in the park. Especially on short trips the time savings would be worth it in my opinion.
Best thing about the inter park transfer is that you skip going through security at each park.
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I used it in early January. Me and my sister booked a last minute 4 day trip to celebrate my birthday. I believe it was $25 each to use for our entire trip. The buses run on a certain schedule like MK, AK might run on the 20s so 10:20, 10:40, etc. You check in at least 5 minutes before that time at a special Express Transportation stand. The ET stands are located in different locations throughout the parks. For example, at AK it's by Kilimanjaro Safari, at MK it's behind Buzz Lightyear, etc. You tell the CM which park you'd like to go to, and they escort you backstage to the respective bus. Personally, me and my sister found this to be incredibly efficient and more than worth the $25 since we had 4 days.
Main benefits/highlights:
-You get to see backstage!!! They prohibit picture taking, but just seeing it is INCREDIBLE :D
-More personal time with CM. Sounds weird, but these days I find the CM to guest interaction not as spectacular as it used to be back in the 90s-early 2000s. The CM that escorts you to the bus is very friendly and refreshing to talk to. The bus drivers even sparked a few conversations with us and pointed out certain things.
-You drive alternative routes. Since the bus is going backstage, you are also being driven different routes. We got to see cool things like where Disney grows landscape stuff like trees for the parks and the backside of The Wonders of Life Pavilion!! On one trip from AK to MK, the driver went an alternative route to get us there faster. About 15 minutes from park to park.
-Most obvious benefit: HUGE time-saver! Given we had 4 days, we weren't going to do everything. However, we managed to do 4 parks in one day using ET! Can't remember exactly what we did, but I know we went to a park super early to do a mainstream ride (Space Mountain let's say in MK), then used the bus service to get to our FP+ in AK for Everest on time.
-You only go through park security once. If you intend on park-hopping, you only have to go through security at the first park, then are driven right to the next one at the ET backstage drop-off location.
-Very empty. There was only 1 bus ride where we shared it with 3 other people. Otherwise, the buses were all empty to ourselves. This means you won't have to worry about standing on buses and you'll have plenty of legroom :cool:
Overall thoughts: Was worth every penny. It might not be worth it if you have plenty of time on your Disney vacation like 1-2 weeks worth. Because honestly my family is very frugal, and we only pay for things like these out of necessity. In our case, it was necessary and worth the money. In your case it may not be. Feel free to message me for more questions and details.
Hope this helped! :thumbsup: