Car or Bus Christmas Week?

[Spindrift]

We will be staying at AoA from Dec 23 to Dec 27. We know it will be very crowded and are planning for it. What we don't know is will it be better to take the bus or drive our car when going to the parks?

Also we have dinner at the Contemporary one night, can we drive our car there and then go to the MK after dinner?

[faline]

I could be the wrong person to ask about this but we typically use Disney transportation 99% of the time.

During your time frame, you want want to use Disney transportation. If parks begin to close to capacity, it is more likely that busses carrying registered guests will be allowed through much more easily than cars who may be carrying off-site guests that will be shut out first.

Also, during very busy times, the Contemporary may close all its parking to everyone except guests. I have occasionally seen signs up at that location stating this. Even if allowed to park there for your meal, you will be provided with parking for no more than 3 hours. It is not meant to be a lot for folks visiting parks and longer term parking may prevent guests staying there from being able to locate a place to park.

[epceddie]

That's a tough call. We always rent a car when we visit WDW for the freedom and flexibility it gives us. We took a couple of buses last week and everything worked out well, but I wouldn't want to have to rely on Disney transportation during a very crowded time like the week of Christmas.
Restricted parking does go into effect at the monorail resorts on very busy days. We had a 6:30 reservation for O'hana at the Polynesian this past Friday and we were only allowed to park there because we had a confirmed reservation. They turned away a couple of cars ahead of us. The lot was very full, but we got lucky and were able to snag a spot when we went up one of the rows and a car was leaving. That was after driving around for about 10 minutes. We were very happy to find that spot and we had a great dinner at O'hana. The grilled meats and shrimp were excellent and the servers couldn't have been nicer. We ended up turning down more food than we ate and the banana bread pudding with the ice cream was one of the best deserts we've ever had at WDW.

[MargaretMessler]

I usually drive 75% of the time when I'm there, but I would be inclined to say the buses would be a better option during busier times. I generally travel during value/regular season.

As for your Contemporary/dinner/MK scenario, why not park at the TTC, monorail to the CR then walk over to MK after dinner, then monorail back to your car after you're done?

I'm guessing they're a lot more strict about the non guest parking at peak times, ESPECIALLY at the CR since you can walk to MK.

[Jeff]

We have been during that time frame many years in a row; my rule is drive to AK and Downtown, bus everywhere else.