Guide to Disney World Transportation

Walt Disney World spans 43 square miles that include four Theme Parks, two Water Parks, Disney Springs, and more than 30 Resort Hotels!

This makes it the perfect vacation destination, but it surely isn’t all walkable. If you’re a long time visitor, transportation is easy for you and you’ve likely got favorite routes to get where you’re going. Anyone who is visiting for the first time or folks who haven’t been in years may see transportation as a challenge.

In this post we will cover:

• Every major transportation method in Disney World
• What’s included & how each method works
• Accessibility for strollers, wheelchairs, and ECVs

The Monorail

The monorail opened in 1971 by serving just the Polynesian and Contemporary Resorts. Now, there are 3 monorail lines that stop at 6 locations!

The Resort Monorail stops at:

• The Magic Kingdom
• Disney’s Contemporary
• Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
• Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC)

This is why the “Monorail Resorts” cost considerably more than some other resorts in the deluxe tier. Being able to hop on the monorail for a short ride from your resort is a wonderful perk when you’ve spent a long day in the Magic Kingdom or EPCOT.

The Express Monorail provides a loop between the TTC and the Magic Kingdom.

The EPCOT Monorail originates at the TTC and runs the loop from the TTC to EPCOT and back again.

• Opens 30 minutes prior to EPCOT opening
• Runs until 120 minutes (2 hours) after EPCOT closes

The monorail is free for everyone to ride and you will not need to show your tickets or MagicBands to board.

Accessibility: 

• Strollers, even double strollers, do not need to be folded to board the monorail. Children may remain in their strollers for the entire trip.
• Guests in wheelchairs  and ECVs may also remain in their mobility device during loading and unloading. A Cast Member on both end of the trip will assist with any necessary ramps.

Ferryboats

Boats traverse Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake all day! The largest vessels you’ll see are the ferryboats. The fleet of Ferryboats that move guests to and from the TTC to the Magic Kingdom and back are often the only form of transportation running during Early Entry. The ferry launch is to the far left once you’ve passed through TTC security. This is another form of free transportation and you won’t need to show a ticket or MagicBand to board.

Accessibility: Everyone boards the ferry via the large ramp, so strollers, wheelchairs, and ECVs easily roll on and off without issue.

Resort Water Taxis and FriendShip Boats

The following resorts have smaller boat (water taxi) access to and from the Magic Kingdom:

• Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground
  • The Magic Kingdom water taxi launch is located in the Settlement Trading post area. If you don’t have access to a golf cart, take an internal bus to the Settlement area. This is also where you’ll find Trail’s End Restaurant and the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue.
• Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
• Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
• Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
• Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge will join this list when it opens in 2027

Water Taxis Between Resorts 

• Disney’s Contemporary Resort
• Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground
• Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
• Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge will join this list when it opens in 2027

FriendShip Boats transport these resort guests to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios and back:

• Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
• Disney’s Beach Club Villas
• Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
• Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel
• Walt Disney World Swan Hotel

Guests of the following resorts may travel on the Sassagoula River Cruise to and from Disney Springs:

• Disney’s Old Key West Resort
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
• Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside
• Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter

Accessibility: Strollers, ECVs, and wheelchairs are welcome on the smaller boats. Strollers must be folded and stowed out of the aisle. Wheelchairs and ECVs have limited reserved space on each boat and boarding will require the assistance of a Cast Member.

Bus and boat transportation from Disney Springs has come under new restrictions. You can read all about those changes here. 

Disney Skyliner

The Skyliner is the newest form of Disney transportation. Many of the gondolas are themed with favorite Disney pals and each one holds up to 10 guests.

The Skyliner connects a few Disney resorts with EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. 

• Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
• Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort (the main Skyliner hub)
• Disney’s Pop Century Resort
• Disney’s Riviera Resort

Guests of the resorts below can walk to the EPCOT Skyliner station:

• Disney’s BoardWalk Resort
• Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
• Disney’s Beach Club Resort

Accessibility: The Skyliner is fully accessible for strollers, wheelchairs, and ECVs. There are accessible gondolas that come to a complete stop for folks with wheels to board safely. Single strollers will be able to board the Skyliner with children seated, but double strollers will need to be folded.

Disney Buses

It’s nearly impossible to spend time at Disney World and not take a Disney bus or two. A few things to know about this method of transportation:

• Disney buses are the only buses that drop guests directly at the Magic Kingdom. Other buses and shuttles drop guests at the TTC where guests will need to transfer to a monorail or ferryboat to the Magic Kingdom. Disney buses dropping guests at the Magic Kingdom for Early Entry offer the best chance at a true rope drop position unless you manage to be on the first monorail drop of the day in the car closest to the stairs.
• Disney buses connect to resorts, parks, water parks, and Disney Springs. They do not connect resorts to other resorts. So, if you’re staying at Pop Century and you have dinner reservations at Citricos at the Grand Floridian, you won’t be able to take a bus directly to your destination. Instead, you can:
  • Take a ride share, including Minnie Van
  • Hop the first bus headed to a theme park, disembark, and board a bus to the Grand Floridian
  • Take the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios and head to the Grand Floridian bus stop
  • Take the Skyliner to EPCOT, take the Canada path, snag an Ottawa Apple, walk to the front of the park, board the monorail to the Magic Kingdom, then take a water taxi to the Grand Floridian. Don’t do this one unless you’re going to time the trip and send us the data. Please. Scroll alllll the way down for more unrealistic, unreasonable, and wildly time consuming travel advice from our team.
• Accessibility: Disney buses are fully accessible for strollers, wheelchairs, and ECVs. All strollers must be folded before boarding. ECV and wheelchair passengers should move to the marked loading areas so bus drivers can load them first. Bus Cast Members will lower the bus, let out the ramp, assist with board, and secure all ECVs before boarding other passengers. Guests traveling with the person in the ECV will board with them.

Check out our YouTube video in the link below to learn more about Disney transportation including how to get around when you’re staying at the Swan, Dolphin, Swan Reserve, or Shades of Green.

We asked our team for some Pop Century to Grand Floridian travel advice. Here are the best* answers:

David says: “First, I’ll be sneaky (disregarding any “Cast Members only” signs) and walk on Cayman Way from Pop Century over to Caribbean Beach. Then I take an internal bus from Trinidad over to Barbados, where I walk to the Skyliner. Skyliner to EPCOT. From there, I hop on a Friendship Boat to Hollywood Studios, where I transfer to a bus to Fort Wilderness. At Fort Wilderness I take the internal bus to get to the boat to Magic Kingdom. Then I walk up the ramp and take the express monorail to the TTC, from which I walk to the Polynesian and then take the boat to Grand Floridian. Or, I’d need to walk or take the resort monorail for the last step.”

• Expected travel time: 320 minutes
• Likelihood of arrest or WDW trespass: 100%
• Our recommendation: Find another way

John’s plan: Start at Pop Skyliner to Riviera, walk to Caribbean Beach Skyliner, Skyliner to EPCOT, walk to Dolphin, water taxi to Hollywood Studios, bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge, bus to Animal Kingdom, bus to Wilderness Lodge, water taxi to Fort Wilderness, water taxi to Contemporary, walk to Magic Kingdom, Monorail to the Polynesian, water taxi to Magic Kingdom, walk to the Grand Floridian.

• Expected travel time: 7 business days
• Likelihood of arrest or WDW trespass: 0%
• Likelihood of divorce if your partner is with you: not 0%

Finally, our Len says: Pop Century Skyliner to Caribbean Beach Resort, Caribbean Beach Skyliner to Hollywood Studios, Studios water taxi to the Swan, bus from the Swan to the TTC, Monorail from the TTC to EPCOT, EPCOT bus to Fort Wilderness, internal bus to Pioneer Hall, boat to the Magic Kingdom, resort monorail to the Polynesian, walk to the Grand Floridian from the Polynesian.

• Expected travel time: It depends on how many snack breaks we take along the way. No less than 4 hours.
• Likelihood of us making Len do this exact path for the data and the plot: 100%

*Don’t do any of these. Thank you for reading this far.