We visited Disney World for about one week in January 2022, which was a few months after the COVID booster was available. Our trip was during Disney World’s 50th Anniversary celebration, so the decoration, merchandise, and events all revolved around that theme. Here’s some info about our experience and helpful tips for your next trip.
How to Get to Disney World
We flew Southwest Airlines using points. Although we no longer had a companion pass, we had accumulated a lot of points pre-pandemic that needed to be used, so our flights ended up being paid all in points. We redeemed our Southwest points for a round trip flight in the first week of January 2022.
How to Get Around Disney World
Airport Transportation
Disney used to offer free shuttle service that picks you up from the airport but they discontinued that service a few months before our trip. If you want to reserve transportation, it’ll have to be with another private company that’s not affiliated with Disney.
Instead of making a reservation ahead of time, we decided to use Uber after landing in Orlando. We waited about 20 – 30 minutes at Orlando International Airport (MCO) before an Uber driver picked us up. It was impossible to find an Uber/Lyft driver with a car seat, and with all of the families getting off the planes at the same time as us, it was also difficult getting a van or an SUV.
If you need a car seat and/or want to travel together in one car rather than splitting up in two Uber/Lyft cars, then you might want to consider reserving a shuttle or other form of transportation ahead of time.
Theme Park Transportation
If you’re staying at one of Disney’s resorts located on its property, they provide free transportation between their resorts and the four theme parks (Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom Park).
Free bus shuttle service should be available at all Disney resorts, but you might want to check and confirm that yourself.
Disney also provides a free monorail system that is excellent, and we highly recommend it. It’s quick, clean, and has A/C. It’s a great way to get around Disney World Resort, which is a huge area. The monorail system has three separate lines that travel throughout the resort area.
The Resort Monorail stops at the following locations where you can get on and off:
- Magic Kingdom
- Contemporary Resort
- Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- Polynesian Village Resort
- Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC)
The EPCOT Monorail and the Express Monorail both start at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC). They have express round-trip service to EPCOT and Magic Kingdom.
The monorail system is supposed to start operating 30 minutes before the earliest opening time of the parks, and stop running one hour after the last closing time of the parks. Make sure you check the current schedule directly from Disney’s website because the schedule could have changed since the time of this writing.
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