Disney World transportation — how to get between the parks, and what parking costs

What is free, and when does it run?

Disney runs five free ways to get around: buses, the monorail, boats, the Disney Skyliner gondolas and paved walking paths. The one you pay for is the Minnie Van, a Disney-driven car booked and paid for through the Lyft app.

On Disney's own transportation page, resort transportation starts 45 minutes before a theme park opens and runs up to an hour after it closes. Buses from Disney Springs run until 11pm. Each system then keeps its own hours:

The ferry hours are Resorts Gal's; the rest are Disney's. On EPCOT Extended Evening Hours nights the Skyliner closes an hour after the park, and only its EPCOT–Riviera leg runs. The hub at Caribbean Beach and the lines to Hollywood Studios, Pop Century and Art of Animation do not.

How often does a bus come? Disney publishes no bus timetable: buses run a loop and go straight back out.

Two planning sites that ride them put the gap at about every 20 minutes, and both say to expect it to vary: shorter when it is quiet, longer when a park lets out.¹⁸¹³ So allow the full 20 minutes on top of the ride itself, and more after fireworks.

How do you get from one park to another?

Only two pairs of parks are joined by anything other than a bus.

Magic Kingdom to EPCOT. Take the Express monorail or the ferry from Magic Kingdom to the TTC, then the EPCOT monorail. Resorts Gal, updated in April 2026, says you stay inside the secure area the whole way, so there is no second security check. At the TTC you can cross the platform between monorails.

It times the EPCOT monorail to the TTC at 11 minutes.

EPCOT to Hollywood Studios. Three ways, all from EPCOT's back entrance, the International Gateway. The Skyliner goes via Riviera to the Caribbean Beach hub, where you change to the Hollywood Studios line. The FriendShip boats stop at the BoardWalk, the Yacht and Beach Club and the Swan and Dolphin.

The walk is 1.1 miles along the BoardWalk and the waterway, about 25 minutes at a steady pace, and Resorts Gal notes it is almost entirely in the sun.

To and from Magic Kingdom by bus, the sources disagree. Disney Food Blog's 2023 park-hopping guide says buses from Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom go to the TTC, leaving a monorail or ferry for the last leg. Theme Park Compass, updated in July 2026, says the bus from Animal Kingdom drops at Magic Kingdom's front gates and skips the TTC.

Disney's own advice is to use "Get Directions" in the My Disney Experience app, which shows the route for that day.

How long does a park hop take?

Disney does not publish door-to-door times, and we have not timed these routes ourselves yet. The published figures:

• EPCOT monorail to the TTC: 11 minutes, according to Resorts Gal.
• TTC ferry to Magic Kingdom: about 15 minutes to board, cross and dock, also from Resorts Gal. Ferries leave about every 10 minutes when both boats are running.
• EPCOT to Hollywood Studios on foot: about 25 minutes for 1.1 miles.
• Any park to any other: the rule of thumb is to allow at least an hour.¹²

Resorts Gal suggests a quicker way from EPCOT to Magic Kingdom than the monorail. Walk 8 minutes from the International Gateway to the Beach Club, then take its Magic Kingdom bus, about 15 minutes, for roughly 23 minutes in all. The same trick works from a resort: the bus skips the TTC and drops at Magic Kingdom itself.¹²

What does it cost to park at a Disney park?

One parking fee covers all four theme parks for the whole day, according to Disney's parking page:

• Standard, car or motorcycle — $35
• Preferred, car or motorcycle — $50, $55 or $60, by season
• Oversized vehicles (RV, trailer, bus) — $40

Guests at Disney Resort hotels park free at the theme parks, as do some Annual Passholders. They can pay the $15 to $25 difference for preferred parking. Overnight self-parking at the Disney Resort hotels themselves is also free.

Parking at the water parks and at Disney Springs costs nothing.

Disney warns that paying does not guarantee a space if you leave and come back, or if you drive on to another park, because parking is limited. At Disney Springs it asks you to arrive an hour early for a dining reservation, and up to two hours early at holidays.

How do you get from the parking lot to the park?

By tram or on foot. Disney says courtesy trams have returned to all four theme parks, running from each car park to the main entrance and back.

Magic Kingdom is the exception to "main entrance". Its car park is at the Transportation and Ticket Center, on the far side of the Seven Seas Lagoon, and the tram takes you there. You go through security at the TTC, then take the Express monorail or the ferry across to the park. Resorts Gal says the monorail is usually quicker.

Trams run every five to ten minutes. Allow for the extra leg: the ferry alone is about 15 minutes.

The TTC has been under refurbishment since August 2025, and as of May 2026 construction walls were still moving around the ticket booths, with no end date from Disney.¹⁵

How do you get from the airport?

Disney's free airport coach, Magical Express, ended in January 2022.

The shared coach that replaced it is Mears Connect, and its own price list has three fares, because the trip from the airport carries a $1.60 airport fee that the trip back does not: $17.60 from the airport to your resort, $16.00 back, $33.60 round trip for ages 10 and up, and $14.30, $13.00 and $27.30 for ages 3 to 9. Under-3s ride free.

A 3% fuel surcharge is added at checkout on the fare before the airport fee, so a round trip for two adults comes to about $69. Mears Express is $250 round trip for up to four people; it is still a shared coach, but your hotel is the first stop.

We got this wrong twice, and the second time was a correction. On 21 September 2026 this page announced that $17.60 and $33.60 were wrong and replaced them with $16. They were right: $16 is only the fare back to the airport, and the difference is the airport fee on Mears's own price list, which we had read without its first line.

Checked against that list again on 22 September 2026.

The other choices are car hire, rideshare, and the Minnie Van.

Our Orlando airport to Disney World guide compares every option side by side, from the $2 bus to a town car.

What is a Minnie Van, and who can use one?

A Minnie Van is a polka-dotted car driven by a Disney cast member, ordered and paid for in the Lyft app. It is not included in any package. On Disney's page each van seats up to six and carries two child car seats.

The fare is quoted in the app and depends on distance.

Any guest can book an Accessible Minnie Van, which takes up to seven people and two mobility devices, with guests able to stay in their wheelchairs. You do not have to need the accessibility features to book one.

What has changed, and what closes?

• Disney Springs to a resort now needs a reason. Since 28 June 2026, the buses and Sassagoula River Cruise boats from Disney Springs to the resorts carry only resort guests or people with a dining or experience reservation there. One planning site read it as closing a free-parking loophole.¹⁴ Disney's page says you may be asked for a room key or reservation, and can board up to two hours before the booking.
• The Skyliner closes from 24 to 30 January 2027 for refurbishment, with buses in its place, according to Disney.
• No luggage and no alcohol on Disney buses or boats, and strollers must be folded. Disney treats medical strollers as wheelchairs.

Who should not rely on Disney transportation?

Anyone staying off site: Disney's buses serve its own hotels, so the choice is driving, at $35 a day to park, or a rideshare. Anyone planning a tight park hop into or out of Magic Kingdom, where every route except the Beach Club bus involves the TTC.

And anyone relying on the Skyliner on a summer afternoon, when lightning pauses are common; our Skyliner guide covers those.