Best way to visit resorts without a dining or room reservation?

[Diswizard]

We are coming to just take a look at the Beach Club resort and will only be there for the day. My brother in law is coming with us and this is his first visit ever to a Disney resort/property. We plan to eat lunch at Whispering Canyon. Wondering how to proceed with taking him to see Grand Floridian, Beach Club, ride the gondola to DHS and back and maybe make the round trip on the monorail one time. This would give him a general idea of what Disney World is about. Question is, can we do all that and leave our car at the Wilderness Lodge parking lot after eating lunch at Whispering Canyon? If not, how is it best to go forward with this itinerary? Thanks for the help...

 

[Ross Kratter]

You get 3 hours of parking with a dining reservation, so that would throw a wrench in your gears. I'm not sure how you'd go about this particular plan without paying to park at a park, which would also take you out of your way. (Disney recommends that if you want to try the Skyliner, you park at Hollywood Studios.) Might you have a dining reservation at Beach Club as well? That might help your cause.

 

[MonkAdrianMonk]

Park at Wilderness Lodge. Have dinner.
Then park at the TTC and take the monorail to Grand Floridian.
Then take the monorail back to the TTC, drive to DHS (show the CM your parking receipt to avoid paying twice).
Take the Skyline to Caribbean Beach, switch to the Epcot branch, ride, walk to Beach Club.

 

[Eeyore daily]

I would park at Disney springs before your lunch and just rely on Disney transportations. That way you’re not restricted to time limit parking and won’t have to worry about your car.

 

[Dug720]

Park at Wilderness Lodge. Have dinner.
Then park at the TTC and take the monorail to Grand Floridian.
Then take the monorail back to the TTC, drive to DHS (show the CM your parking receipt to avoid paying twice).
Take the Skyline to Caribbean Beach, switch to the Epcot branch, ride, walk to Beach Club.

Depending on how late dinner is, the monorail may not be running late enough for that. Ditto the Skyliner (if DHS is even open by the time you've done dinner and gone to the Grand if that timing works out). Remember that parks have limited hours now and transportation is usually only going about an hour after close.

 

[OKW Lover]

I'd just take the boat/bus from WL to the MK and then monorail to the GF and Contemporary.

 

[starousse]

Simple bet would be to park at WL, eat and then take the boat to the MK area. From there you can take the monorail to get between the GF, Contemporary and the TTC which will take you to the Epcot area in which you can walk to the Beach Club/HS/Gondolas.

 

[Ross Kratter]

Simple bet would be to park at WL, eat and then take the boat to the MK area. From there you can take the monorail to get between the GF, Contemporary and the TTC which will take you to the Epcot area in which you can walk to the Beach Club/HS/Gondolas.

You only get 3 hours of parking if you're dining at a resort, though, so this isn't really doable.

 

[Best Aunt]

Keep in mind:
a) If the parks close early, Disney transportation stops early
b) If there is a thunderstorm anywhere in the vicinity, the skyliner does not run
c) If you want to get from Wilderness Lodge to Magic Kingdom, you can take a bus rather than the boat (buses run more frequently and the ride is shorter)
d) You have to pay to park at the theme parks unless you are staying at a Disney hotel or have an Annual Pass.
e) Last I heard, the monorail to Epcot had not resumed operating since the COVID closure.

I'm changing your plans. Try this:

Start in the morning. Park at DHS. Ride around on the skyliner.

Get off the skyliner just outside Epcot. Walk over to Beach Club, look around.

Walk over to the Boardwalk, look around, then continue walking to DHS to where you are parked. (If walking won't work, then take the skyliner back to DHS.)

Drive to Grand Floridian. You will need a lunch reservation to park there. Eat lunch, look around.

Ride the monorail over to the Contemporary. Look around. Ride the monorail back to Grand Floridian.

If you really want to give him a sense of what Disney is like, I'd skip Whispering Canyon Cafe. It's a pain in the neck to get to another resort from Wilderness Lodge, the "shenanigans" at the restaurant have been cut back, and the food is okay but not worth making your plans more difficult. If your goal is to show him Disney, Wilderness Lodge is too isolated to work into your plans IMO.

You could eat at Contemporary and ride the monorail to Grand Floridian if you prefer.

 

[Marthasor]

I would park at Disney springs before your lunch and just rely on Disney transportations. That way you’re not restricted to time limit parking and won’t have to worry about your car.

If you don't want to spend money on parking, I would do the above recommendation. Park at DS, bus to WL, boat to CR, monorail around to GF, bus to DHS, skyliner to BC, bus back to DS. If you really want to do roundtrip on the Skyliner from BC, you could take the monorail to MK after GF and take a BC/YC bus from there.

If you would rather drive to WL, I would park at WL, boat to CR and take the monorail from there to GF, boat back to WL from MK, drive to DHS, pay for parking and take the skyliner from there.

Another option, if you don't want to pay for parking is to park at WL, boat to CR, do the monorail loop, boat back to WL and consider making a reservation at B&C for later in the day and maybe just get some dessert? They have amazing sundaes. That way you can park at BC.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

@Marthasor - FYI, just a small note on your “boat to CR” suggestion, the WL/FW/CR boat is not running at the moment, so they’d need to boat from WL to MK and get on the monorail there (or they could bus from WL to MK). Maybe that’s what you meant, just wanted to clarify.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Simple bet would be to park at WL, eat and then take the boat to the MK area. From there you can take the monorail to get between the GF, Contemporary and the TTC which will take you to the Epcot area in which you can walk to the Beach Club/HS/Gondolas.

Are you suggesting OP take a monorail from the TTC to the Epcot area? If so, I don't think OP can get to the resorts without park tickets to Epcot. The monorail lets out at the front entrance, and BW/BC are out back past the IG. OP could get a bus from MK to any of the other resorts or DHS, but I don't think the TTC is going to be helpful.

 

[kwdw]

1) If you don't want to pay for parking, park at DS and use Disney transportation. Note, this CAN give a bad first impression of Disney because their transportation can take so long!

2) If you want to make a great impression, drive between "some" of your stops OR consider Uber/Lyft.

3) Not sure WHY WL is so high on your list in the tour for him. Is it your favorite resort? I think you could see more of Disney without that stop. You could easily dine at one of the monorail resorts and visit the other two. Then - either (1) drive to DS and bus to a skyliner resort and use skyliner to see some park entrances/resort areas - or (2) pay to park at DHS to access skyliner.

I think you are hearing a bit of "why lunch at WL?" because despite the WL being gorgeous to see, it doesn't fit well into an easy touring plan to give someone an overview of WDW.

 

[Dug720]

Are you suggesting OP take a monorail from the TTC to the Epcot area? If so, I don't think OP can get to the resorts without park tickets to Epcot. The monorail lets out at the front entrance, and BW/BC are out back past the IG. OP could get a bus from MK to any of the other resorts or DHS, but I don't think the TTC is going to be helpful.

And the Epcot monorail is not even running right now.

 

[Marthasor]

@Marthasor - FYI, just a small note on your “boat to CR” suggestion, the WL/FW/CR boat is not running at the moment, so they’d need to boat from WL to MK and get on the monorail there (or they could bus from WL to MK). Maybe that’s what you meant, just wanted to clarify.

I did NOT know that! Thank you for the clarification!

 

[Diswizard]

You get 3 hours of parking with a dining reservation, so that would throw a wrench in your gears. I'm not sure how you'd go about this particular plan without paying to park at a park, which would also take you out of your way. (Disney recommends that if you want to try the Skyliner, you park at Hollywood Studios.) Might you have a dining reservation at Beach Club as well? That might help your cause.

Thanks for the reply. No res at Beach Club for now. We are DVC owners. Will we still have to pay to park at DHS if we choose to do that?

 

[Diswizard]

If you don't want to spend money on parking, I would do the above recommendation. Park at DS, bus to WL, boat to CR, monorail around to GF, bus to DHS, skyliner to BC, bus back to DS. If you really want to do roundtrip on the Skyliner from BC, you could take the monorail to MK after GF and take a BC/YC bus from there.

If you would rather drive to WL, I would park at WL, boat to CR and take the monorail from there to GF, boat back to WL from MK, drive to DHS, pay for parking and take the skyliner from there.

Another option, if you don't want to pay for parking is to park at WL, boat to CR, do the monorail loop, boat back to WL and consider making a reservation at B&C for later in the day and maybe just get some dessert? They have amazing sundaes. That way you can park at BC.

Hey! I like that idea of getting a sundae at B&C. I'll check to see if they have a time that works for us. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Diswizard]

Depending on how late dinner is, the monorail may not be running late enough for that. Ditto the Skyliner (if DHS is even open by the time you've done dinner and gone to the Grand if that timing works out). Remember that parks have limited hours now and transportation is usually only going about an hour after close.

We have a lunch res for 1:30, so no problem there. Thanks for the heads up, though.

 

[Ross Kratter]

Thanks for the reply. No res at Beach Club for now. We are DVC owners. Will we still have to pay to park at DHS if we choose to do that?

Yes, you will have to pay to park at DHS.

 

[DL1WDW2]

We are coming to just take a look at the Beach Club resort and will only be there for the day. My brother in law is coming with us and this is his first visit ever to a Disney resort/property. We plan to eat lunch at Whispering Canyon. Wondering how to proceed with taking him to see Grand Floridian, Beach Club, ride the gondola to DHS and back and maybe make the round trip on the monorail one time. This would give him a general idea of what Disney World is about. Question is, can we do all that and leave our car at the Wilderness Lodge parking lot after eating lunch at Whispering Canyon? If not, how is it best to go forward with this itinerary? Thanks for the help...

I think you will need a reservation at Whispering Canyon and security gate will verify. Your title states you won’t have Resort or dining reservations . Currently All Disney is “ Capacity Mandate” That means limited amenities everywhere and Disney is having long lines just to handle their guest dining And transport needs . Everything you want to accomplish will require a lot and does not sound very enjoyable for your day even if weather is perfect.
Good luck