Need some logistics help, please

Hi Tara,
We are also staying at OKW and doing the 5K race on Saturday 9th (7.00am at Animal Kingdom).
We often get cabs at a WDW. I find it to be a quick, efficient option and reasonably priced considering it takes the stress out of waiting for Disney transportation and connections.

For your breakfast ADR, you could bus to the MK and then take the monorail or boat to the Poly. I would leave at least an hour before your ADR. If you are early there is plenty to look at at the Poly.

You can't walk from POFQ to OKW. You can walk from SSR but the advice is not to do it at night as the path is not lit. You can get a boat from POFQ/SSR to DTD marketplace and then bus or boat from DTD to OKW. The only problem is that I am not sure that the boats run that late at night.

Good luck for your race. Maybe we will bump into each other at the gurgling suitcase! (Bar at OKW)

I'm in the same boat, I'm staying at AKL. Seemed like a great idea until I just did ToT and now I wish I was at a host hotel, but I'll make it work.

I'm taking a cab home from the party. Not sure how I'm getting there, most likely a cab as well, but I may go to my friend's resort and take the bus w/them. That seems like a lot of work though and cab, although an added expense, would be easier.

The boats won't run at night, so that's not an option. Plus they don't stop from resort to resort (except the PO boats), so not sure that would be an option.

I would however check your bus plans from Epcot with the concierge the day of. The traffic and bus routes are different on race day, so the buses might not run from Epcot to ESPN (do they normally? I didn't notice that as an option, but I might have just missed it). The race buses are MEARS charters, not regular Disney buses.

OH, also, you HAVE to be on the event bus by 8 and in your corral by 9:15. It may be earlier for W&D b/c the field is larger than for ToT, but just use those as rough guidelines for planning purposes. At 9:15 they started moving us to the start, so they're pretty serious about the timelines!!

Hey all,

I tried to post this on a new thread and for some reason it's not showing up, so I'll just hijack this similar thread and try again...

DH and I are leaving for WDW in just 7 short days!! On our arrival day, we are picking up our dear friend Jordan and his BF Greg and taking them out for dinner and for free Disney entertainment. Our tentative plan is to pick them up around 5:30, check-in to Saratoga Springs, grab dinner at (maybe) Bahama Breeze, and head over to the monorail loop culminating in watching Wishes! from the Top of the World Lounge. (We've also considered boating down to POR and doing make our own pasta for dinner and then grabbing a bus to MK so we can get the monorail.) We have access to the perks given by the following memberships: DVC, annual pass, Disney Visa. We will have a rental car. Neither Jordan nor Greg have any type of admission media and neither are on our reservation. So here are my logistical questions related to this plan:

Will we be able to park the rental car in the parking lot of a resort at which we are not staying if we do not have dining reservations? Can I park at the Contemporary or do I have to park at TTC and monorail to where I want to go?

Are we likely to encounter any resistance if we elect to use Disney transportation instead of driving? I believe that transportation is supposed to be only for guests of WDW resort, correct? However, I don't ever remember anyone asking for verification that I was a resort guest prior to boarding a Disney bus or boat.

Crazycatperson had reported last week that the walkway between Saratoga and DTD was closed due to construction but she was unsure of the scope of that construction. Does anyone happen to know the status of this walkway and how long it will likely remain closed?

Thank you all for your help!

Can't answer any other questions. Hubby says do not expect the walkway to be open between Downtown Disney and Saratoga Springs. He didn't actually ask, but he says it doesn't look as if the construction will be finished anytime soon.

Thanks, Jan! Moving my room request now...

Well with the parking, if your staying at SSR you will have the parking pass, so depending on how busy the resort is, you may be able to self park and you may not, won't find that out until you get there. If you valet park , you can definitely park, but it will cost you $15. I wouldn't try and park at the Poly, they are on serious crack down because of the construction, they are limited to parking and will tell you you have to be a resort guest or have dinning reservations.

Thanks, Mark! That was exactly the info I was looking for. I had heard someone mention that Poly beach access during Wishes! may be restricted to Poly guests due to construction. Any intelligence on this situation? We usually like to try to catch Wishes! from the beach at some point during our trip. Not sure if it will be possible this time or not.

Disney transport is free to everyone. They don't ask for verification. Like Mrhubs said, you may able to park at the Contemporary or you may not able to. The worst they can say is no.