Staying at a Disney World resort offers several conveniences in getting you to the theme parks:
- the excellent Disney buses run continuously from your resort to the theme parks and waterparks. They're blissfully cool, and shuttle from one park to another too
- from some Disney World resorts, you can reach the Magic Kingdom by monorail or boat
Walt Disney World is the size of Boston, and you can easily spend fifteen minutes getting from your WDW resort to the park of your choice, using the Disney buses: not very different from the time needed to drive from an off-property hotel if you have a car.
If you don't have a car, staying off-property can be inconvenient. Yes, most hotels have free shuttle buses, but the shuttle schedule may be limited. For example, you probably won't be able to return to your hotel mid-day to give little kids some nap-time or pool-time, which is a very good strategy when visiting a theme park on a hot day.
*photo (c) Teresa Plowright
