A few weeks ago Disney fans blew up Twitter (not that this is a unique thing these days) when the Express Transportation was announced. At $15 per person for a one day or $24 per person for seven consecutive days, guests have the option to take Disney Transportation directly from park to park.
This option is available for purchase at any of the Guest Relations windows or the load station in each of the parks. I purchased mine in the Guest Relations of Disney’s Hollywood Studios and the process was very quick and smooth. The Express Transportation pass is added right to your park hopper/MagicBand making it very easy to board the bus.
Each park’s Express Transportation pick-up location is backstage, so after you check-in with the Cast Member, you are given an estimate of how long until the bus to the park you want to travel to will arrive. On average, buses pick up every 10 minutes, but each park has its own bus, so if you miss the bus to your park, it could be up to a half hour until the next one arrives. It wasn’t until the second park that I found each park does have a schedule of arrival times, which helps with the planning.
Now for the pros and cons of the Express Transportation.
PROS
- No driving from park to park
- Only one security check (first park you enter)
- Fast Park Hopping
CONS
- Paying for transportation
- LOTS OF BACKSTAGE TIME
The Express Transportation is worth the money if you and your party actually plan on Park Hopping. While talking to some of the Cast Members, they gave the impression that most guests that have used it so far were bloggers, couples, and Cast Members playing in the parks. I have taken countless vacations to Walt Disney World prior to relocating out here and, as great as Park Hopping sounded, I may have done two parks in one day each trip. However, if you are a guest who wants to take the “Four Park Challenge,” this is the way to do it.
The Cast Members from the Guest Relations all the way to the Disney Transportation drivers were great and really made this experience a lot of fun, each time I checked in, they would ask which parks I had done and give tips for whichever park I was heading to next. Really the biggest downside, as I pointed out in the Cons, had to be the amount of backstage time we had. Each pick-up and drop-off location is backstage, so odds are very high some of the “Disney Magic” will be lost in one of the parks. By far the biggest Magic Killer had to be at Disney’s Animal Kingdom when we were walked past a break room for entertainment and seeing one of the dancers in fully costume out drinking coffee and on her phone.
Final Call – Do it if you plan to actually Park Hop and don’t have a lot of time to take a bus from one park to your hotel and on to the other park OR if the parks are busy and you don’t want to have to relocate your car from park to park.