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Test of Transportation From Disney’s Animal Kingdom to Downtown Disney

Rikki Niblett
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©Rikki Niblett
©Rikki Niblett

As part of a limited time test, from now until October 31, guests will be able to take Disney bus transportation directly from Disney’s Animal Kingdom to the Downtown Disney area.

The service is scheduled to run from 3:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m. nightly. Guests will be dropped off at the Downtown Disney Westside bus station, near Cirque du Soleil.

If guests have parked their car at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, return service to the park will be available.

It will be interesting to see if this test turns into anything more permanent.

 

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Rikki Niblett

I am a co-host of the Be Our Guest Podcast and do lots of other fun Disney stuff all around the interwebs! You can follow me on Twitter or Instagram at @RikkiNibs or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/rikkinibs

8 thoughts on “Test of Transportation From Disney’s Animal Kingdom to Downtown Disney”

  • Glad to hear this. I think it’s pretty common for AK guests to head to DD after their day. We did this 2 weeks ago and there were a lot of us who traveled to AKL and then tried to get to DD, waiting more than 30 mins for a bus. Looking forward to using this next summer, if it’s still there.

  • I am happy to hear this. Our one and only DTD night will be after our AK day. I was dreading having to go to a resort to grab a bus (with 2 little ones in tow). We were just going to cab it.

    • Have you ever taken a cab with kids at WDW before? I have two small ones that still needs car seats so I assumed a cab was not an option; how did it work out for you?

      • Yes. In the real world, I would never have my kids without their car seats. But we have been in a few cab situations where we have just had to buckle them in. Last year, ours were 2 & 5- so this year we will also have to take a cab at least twice for early ADR’s. It isn’t ideal, but I guess no different than DME.

  • Based on the hours it’s available it looks like AK is being used as remote parking for Downtown Disney.

    We just saw a movie at AMC and parked on the far side of Cirque (and lucky to find a spot at that!).

    I’m actually surprised that it’s not an “outparcel” of EPCOT parking servicing Downtown Disney based on proximity and speed for buses to get back and forth – maybe this will happen after Food & Wine.

  • Didn’t there used to be bus service to the parks from Downtown Disney, and wasn’t this stopped because people were using it to avoid the parks parking charge?

    If so, why would Disney allow this? My completely wild guess–once the parking is finished at Downtown Disney, they will start charging for parking.

    • My guess is it not a big risk since AK closes between 5-7, and it might be more of a way to get AK guests to spend money at DTD. It also might help parking at DTD while the changes are being made there since I assume a lot of people finish their AK day at DTD. So it leaves cars at AK and more space at DTD.

      • Tina…I’m thinking you are correct. I’m thinking it’s partly due to the construction that’s happening at Downtown Disney and the many issues that they are seeing over there in relation to that.

        In addition, I do think it’s because Animal Kingdom closes so early, so if anyone DID actually want to take the transportation from there to AK, right now, with the park closing so early, they would only have a couple of hours max to take advantage of the park, which wouldn’t benefit many in the long run. They would almost spend more time on the bus than in the park.

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