WDW Transportation System

When you book a trip or check-in at the Walt Disney World Resort, you will always hear "complimentary use of the Walt Disney Transportation System" or something along those lines. The first question has to be: what does that mean?

Well, Disney has a veritable plethora of transportation vehicles all the way from the Disney coach that brings you from the Greater Orlando International Airport, to use its full title, to one of the little jeepneys that putt-putts up and down Main Street U.S.A. Some of the vehicles are purely for entertainment as part of a park's ride structure and we will ignore those options and concentrate on the vehicles that are used purely for transportation on a commercial footing and only for transport internally in the resort.

You will find boats, monorails and buses as the main staples of the transportation offerings.

BOATS:

Disney has more boats registered to it than most countries have in their navy.

These vary from the elegant yacht-like, blue-hulled launches that cruise across the Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake between the Magic Kingdom and the Polynesian Resort, the Grand Floridian Resort, the Wilderness Lodge Resort, the Fort Wilderness Campgrounds and the Contemporary Resort. These launches are entirely free-floating and cruise along at about 5 knots. They are open canopy with side-shields that can roll down if the weather is very inclement. These are not wheelchair accessible unless you can walk on board with a folding wheelchair.

You will also find the larger yellow and white-hulled launches that operate exclusively between the Magic Kingdom and the Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness Campgrounds. They are almost fully-enclosed vessels except for the foc'sle deck (that's the front to the non-naval minded) which is open to the elements and a great place to sit and feel the breeze in the hotter months. These are wheelchair accessible as long as the water level allows a flat transition from dock to deck or you can walk aboard with a folding wheelchair.

Moving across the Seven Seas Lagoon from the Transportation & Ticket Center to the Magic Kingdom are three double-deck passenger ferries which operate the service that gets you from the Magic Kingdom car park to the Magic Kingdom. These larger boats are fully wheelchair and scooter accessible and are unaffected by lake-level variations as the docks are on dolphins which allow them to transition up and down with the water level. These vessels are so stable that many wonderful pictures can be taken with no hint of vibration or other movement.

There are also large, flat-bottomed ferries that operate in and around Epcot and the Disney Hollywood Studios. These boats are also wheelchair and scooter accessible and all docks are able to move up and down with the lake level.

The final group are canopied pontoon boats that operate on the Sassagoula River between Downtown Disney, Saratoga Springs, Old Key West, Port Orleans -- French Quarter and Port Orleans -- Riverside. These units are wheelchair accessible and all operate to dolphins that go up and down with the water level.

MONORAILS:

The highway in the sky. There are three Mark VI monorail loops. The EXPRESS monorail operates anti- or counter-clockwise from the TTC, to the MK and back passing through, but not stopping at, the resort hotels. The HOTELS or RESORTS monorail operates clockwise from the TTC-Poly-GF-MK-Cont and back to the TTC. The EPCOT monorail operates on an elongated clockwise loop from the TTC to Epcot and back. All monorails are wheelchair and scooter accessible but the number of spots is restricted to one of the compartments in the middle of the train. CMs will assist loading and unloading by placing a metal ramp between the platform and the train.

The monorails reach speeds of up to 40 mph and are color-coded to allow the monorail pilots to recognize them. In the busier times monorails can and do get added to the roster as well as get cycled out for maintenance -- they come on at the spur between the Contemporary and the MK which leads to the monorail maintenance area.

BUSES:

Disney has a bus fleet larger than some cities. They operate between the parks, the hotels and DTD. The MK park and DTD have become the primary bus hubs replacing the TTC. Almost all the buses are wheelchair and scooter accessible through a hydraulic ramp at the middle entrance to the bus.

You are probably now asking "what about the bus that I came in from the airport on?" Good question. That, however, is a Mears coach that is operated on behalf of Disney.

Last Updated: May 16, 2009