What Is The Best Disney World Transportation Option For Large Groups?
Looking for the best transportation options for large groups?
This depends on what you mean by a large group.
If you have a group larger than what could fit in a 12 passenger van, you can still take advantage of all of Disney’s free transportation options.
You might get split up if it’s busy though since each mode of transportation accommodates a different amount of people at a time.
It you have a large group, like the size of a charter bus, then you can still take Disney’s free transportation options, but it might be easier to just hire the charter bus so that you’re not inconveniencing all of the other guests.
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Best Disney World Transportation For Large Groups
Let’s break down the pros and cons of larger groups on each mode of transportation that Disney World provides for free, plus some paid transportation options, and just driving yourself around.
1. Monorail
Each monorail car can comfortably fit about 15 adults (standing and sitting) if there are no strollers or wheelchairs.
For the first hour of park opening and for an hour after the parks close, the lines will be the longest, and every monorail car will be completely full.
With that in mind, depending on the size of your group, you may have to split up into smaller groups to all get onto the same monorail.
If you have to split up into different monorails, they run continuously, so the next group shouldn’t be more than 10 minutes behind the first group.
The rest of the day the monorail isn’t usually very busy, so you’ll have no problem taking a large group onto the monorail.
If you’re taking a large group to Magic Kingdom, the charter bus would have to park at the Transportation and Ticket Center anyway, and then your group would have to take either the monorail or ferry the rest of the way to Magic Kingdom.
A benefit of the monorail is that it accommodates strollers, wheelchairs, and ECVs without having to transfer out or fold them up.
2. Ferry
Speaking of the ferry, this is probably the best transportation option for large groups.
The ferry only runs between Magic Kingdom and the Transportation and Ticket Center though, so this transportation method is only helpful in this one instance.
I believe each ferry can fit up to 600 people, so you don’t usually need to worry about your group having to split up.
If the group does have to split up, then it will likely be faster for the rest of the group to take the monorail to catch up.
The ferry runs every 20 minutes or so across the lake, while the monorails run continuously around the loop.
Rope drop and park closing are again the only times that the ferry will get completely full.
The rest of the day there should be no problems getting a large group on the ferry.
A benefit of the ferry is that if you have strollers, wheelchairs, or ECVs, no one has to transfer out or fold anything up.
It’s completely accessible for everybody.
3. Bus
While most of the buses can accommodate anywhere from 50-70 guests, if you have a group that large, please do not fill up an entire bus every time you go somewhere.
A group that size should really hire their own charter bus or split up into smaller groups.
With the buses, something to keep in mind is that strollers need to be folded up before you get on the bus, unless it is being used as a wheelchair.
Wheelchairs and ECVs can be accommodated, but only a maximum of 3 per bus.
This will take up a handful of spots on the bus, so the more accommodations that are made, the less number of people the bus will be able to accommodate overall.
What’s great about the buses though are that they go everywhere.
Every resort has buses that go to every theme park, water park, and Disney Springs, so they’re very convenient.
These will also be busiest at park opening and park closing, and fairly empty the whole rest of the day.
4. Boats
Disney World has a couple different types of boats.
There is one type of boat in particular, referred to as water launches and water taxis that are really small and can’t accommodate any wheelchairs, strollers, or ECVs.
These boats go around the Magic Kingdom area resorts and I do not recommend these for large groups.
They take about 20 minutes for each trip, so if your group has to take multiple boats it’ll be really time consuming.
I think these only fit about 20-30 people max.
Now there’s also another kind of boat Disney World uses called Cruisers and these fit a bit more people.
I’ve heard the capacity is around 32-37 people.
The Cruisers are also able to accommodate wheelchairs and ECVs without having to transfer out of them.
These boats can be found in the Magic Kingdom resort area, the Epcot resort area, and the Disney Springs resort area.
Just like with all the other modes of transportation, the lines are longest at park opening and park closing, with not too much of a wait throughout the rest of the day.
5. Skyliner
The Skyliner is actually a pretty good option for larger groups.
Your group will be split up for sure because each gondola can only hold like 6 people max.
But, because this is a continuously running system, there is no wait at all when splitting up your group.
They will be literally just a few steps behind you.
The Skyliner is limited in where all it goes though.
It runs between Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and a few resorts in that area.
Another limitation it has is that it cannot run if there’s lightning or strong winds, so it’s not the most reliable transportation option.
6. Hired Transportation
Like I mentioned at the beginning, if your group is large enough to fill a charter bus, you probably should just hire a charter bus to take your group around, unless you’re fine with splitting up.
Other than Magic Kingdom, all the charter buses can drop off your group directly at the theme park entrance, so it’s pretty convenient.
You can also take rideshare services like Uber or Lyft if you don’t have your own vehicle, but it would be pretty pricey to get a large group around because you would need multiple vehicles each time.
7. Personal Transportation
You also have the option of just driving your own group around.
We used to go to Disney World as a family every summer and we would bring my cousins with us, for a group size of 10 people.
We had a 12 passenger van, so a lot of the time we would just drive to the parks for rope drop each morning.
If anyone wanted to leave at any other time they were able to take Disney’s free transportation options to get around, so it worked for everybody.
This way we didn’t have to worry about having to split up our group and missing rope drop.
Where To Stay At Disney World
If at all possible, it is always best to stay at a Disney Resort Hotel.
These come with a bunch of additional perks and immerse you more in the Disney experience.
As a second choice, there are also a ton of partner hotels that are on Disney property, but aren’t owned by Disney.
For example, there’s all the hotels in the “Disney Springs Resort Area” along Hotel Plaza Boulevard and the Bonnet Creek Resort Area hotels.
Additionally, there is the Swan & Dolphin, Shades of Green, and the Four Seasons that are all on Disney property.
If none of those are available or are out of your price range, then I recommend local timeshare resorts.
They are available to non-timeshare owners just like a regular hotel would be, but they usually have more amenities like full kitchens, extra bedrooms, and more.
I’ve reviewed a ton of my favorites on another blog of mine called Timeshares, Resorts, and More.
These are some of the resorts I recommend checking out:
Aqua Sol
Aqua Sol is the furthest away.
It’s on the far side of Animal Kingdom, but it has it’s own mini water park and mini golf and a ton of other resort amenities.
The 2 bedrooms are recently renovated and absolutely beautiful and so spacious.
For the rooms themselves, this is my first choice.
Cypress Pointe
Cypress Pointe is just 5 minutes outside of Disney Springs and it’s my favorite place to stay when I can’t stay on property.
It’s one of the cheapest of the resorts and they have a really nice volcano pool and cafe.
I won a drawing for a free pool cabana for a day and made the absolute most of it!
Grande Villas
Grande Villas is actually right across the street from Cypress Pointe.
These two resorts actually share their amenities and guest access points with each other since they are both owned by Hilton Grand Vacations.
I enjoyed the pool deck area of Grande Villas because all of the amenities and entertainment were centrally located.
It’s usually pricier than Cypress Pointe, but the rooms are nicer.
Grand Beach
Grand Beach is on the south east end of Disney, closer to places like Wide World of Sports and Art of Animation, but still easily accessible to Disney Springs.
This resort looks like the Grand Floridian, so you might have seen it before when driving around Orlando.
The rooms are definitely a little dated, but the jacuzzi tub in the room is really nice and so is the pool.
It was one of the quieter resorts I’ve stayed in too.
Mystic Dunes
The last one I want to mention is a good compromise between all the resorts.
It’s usually pretty cheap, but not the absolute cheapest.
It’s about 15 minutes from just about any of the Disney theme parks, so it’s really convenient.
The resort is closer to more residential type areas and is really spacious.
There’s a golf course and it has more of a vacation resort feel than all of the others.
We’ve stayed here several times and it’s also the most convenient for us to visit family.
The Wrap-Up: What Is The Best Disney World Transportation Option For Large Groups?
Ultimately, it depends on the size of group, where you’re trying to go, and when you’re trying to move around the parks.
Most transportation options can accommodate groups of just about any size, except for those small boats I mentioned.
If your group is large enough to fill a whole bus, please take your own transportation or hire your own transportation so that you’re not inconveniencing everybody else.
But your typical large family group of 10-15 people can take any mode of transportation with no issues.
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