I highly recommend staying on Disney Property because it is just so gosh darn convenient. You can just show up for your vacation and enjoy!
Airport Shuttle... Check- Disney's Magical Express
Park transportation... Check- busses,ferries, monorails, oh my
Food... Check- Disney Dining Plan
Crowd control.. Check- hello Extra Magic Hours
But what does it all mean?
Disney's Magical Express-
Disney offers this free shuttle service to resort guests. You simply supply Disney with your flight information. About 45 days before your departure, you will receive tickets and luggage tags in the mail. (this is a good time to go crazy with excitement!!) Before checking your bags at the airport, you attach the luggage tags, sprinkle a little pixie dust, and VOILA a few hours after your arrival in Orlando, the bags appear at your resort. MAGIC. This means that after deboarding the plane, you can head straight to the resort shuttles. No need to waste valuable vacation time playing which black suitcase is mine at the luggage carousel. To get to the Magical Express Desk, make sure you go to the B side of the main terminal. Then, head down to the first floor. Follow the ME signs all the way to the end. No need to wait in line at the desk, since you are such a good planner and have your tickets in hand. Just look for the happy people with giant white Mickey hands. Give them a big high 4, and they'll make sure you find the right line for your resort.
Disney Transportation System-
Disney provides it's resort guests with complementary transportation to all four theme parks, two water parks, as well as Downtown Disney. Buses, ferries, & monorails run about every 15- 30 minutes making it easy to leave the parks in the afternoon when things get hot and crowded. You can get a nice break at your resort swimming in the pool or taking a nap while other people are waiting in line for 180 min to ride Toy Story. Then, you can return to a park later refreshed and ready to go.
Disney Dining Plan-
Disney offers several choices of meal plans that can be included in your Disney package. During the slower seasons, they may even include this in your package for free. FREE.. that's a word that you don't see often in vacation planning. The most popular dining package includes one table service meal, one counter service meal, and one snack per person, for each night of your trip. See the "I'm hungry" tab for more information on the dining plan, and what to eat.
Extra Magic Hours-
These are hours that the parks are open to guest of Disney resorts only. Sometimes a particular park will open an hour early in the morning, and sometimes it will be an extra 3 hours in the evening. This is espicially nice during peak times when Disney will have several different magic hours each day.
