I've wanted to stay at the Polynesian since I was a little girl, so I was thrilled when my husband chose to stay there this trip. The added bonus was that we were just a few steps away from Monorail stops to our two favorite parks. I carefully chose a building halfway between the Great Ceremonial House (Monorail to Magic Kingdom) and the Transportation and Ticket Center (Monorail to Epcot). After battling with buses and taxis the last few trips, I was excited about being able to jump on the next passing Monorail.
I would call our transportation issues a comedy of errors, except that nothing is funny when you're running later for dining reservations or late getting into the park on a day with an already tight schedule. I think we were just on a good run of bad luck, because I am sticking to my belief that staying at a Monorail resort is really the way to go.
Here are just a few of our transportation issues (Monorail and non-Monorail related):
1) Our first evening we left Epcot an hour and half before our reservation at Luau Cove at the Polynesian. Somebody had hit one of the pylons in the Epcot parking lot and the whole Monoral system was shut down to check the structural integrity. We had to wait in the bus line with all the other Monorail resort folks and barely made it for dinner.
2) One morning, we arrived at the bus stop to Hollywood Studios an hour and a half before park opening and no buses came by the entire time. We finally arrived at the park 20 minutes after opening which messed up our touring plans for the entire day.
3) The section of the Monorail track between Grand Floridian and Magic Kingdom was a "slow zone" for the entire trip which tripled or quadrupled the amount of time it took for us to get from Polynesian to MK.
4) After leaving MK one day via Monorail, we stopped on a section of track near the Contemporary for nearly an hour making us late for dinner at Epcot. We still don't know what the delay was.
5) Leaving Chef Mickey at the Contemporary on our last night and exhausted after a LONG day at the parks, we went to hop on the Monorail only to find it stopped and not boarding new passengers. Turns out, a passenger on board had become ill and they were waiting for emergency medical crews. My quick-thinking husband ran us downstairs where we grabbed the last cab before the mob of people descended on the taxi line.
What I learned from this trip: There is no such thing as easy transportation. No matter what your mode of transport, you need to factor in a decent amount of time if you are park or resort-hopping. (Also, Disney does a fabulous job of accommodating people who are late for their reservations!)
