New Traffic Patterns at Disney World

Next time you’re driving at Walt Disney World, look out for new traffic patterns, including two new roundabouts.

First, a definition: a roundabout is sometimes called a traffic circle. The road leads into a circle with a series of exits leading to different directions.

Floridian Way Roundabouts

Road construction in this area has been going on for so many years that I often have to think about what it looked like before.

Floridian Way runs roughly north-south connecting World Drive at it’s southern end and Reams Road on it’s north. Heading north on this road, you’ll pass between the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian, and that’s the first roundabout; then continue north towards Reams Road, and there is another. This one is farther from where most visitors will be, affecting more cast members and locals.

Buena Vista and Western Way

The second traffic change is the intersection of Buena Vista and Western Way, just outside Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, between Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.

If you’re headed west on Buena Vista Drive (coming from the Coronado Springs/Disney Springs side) and need to turn left onto Western Way to reach the Flamingo Crossings area, that turn used to have a protected continuous turn lane in the left-hand lane, with the left-hand lane turning on a light. Now all lanes must turn on a light.

Heading north into Buena Vista Drive from Western Way, both lanes can now turn left, with a small right-hand turn added at the end. This creates three left-turn-only lanes onto Buena Vista. Previously, the left-hand lane would back up; hopefully, this eases that bottleneck.

Finally, when you’re heading east on Western Way from Buena Vista (from Animal Kingdom or McDonald’s), two lanes are now left-turn-only lanes onto Western Way. This roadway used to take 15 minutes just to travel less than a mile, hopefully this will be easier and safer.

Will these changes affect your vacation? Are you comfortable driving in a roundabout?