Pick a park. See who is closest.
Five gates, twenty addresses, and a ranking that reshuffles completely each time you switch parks.
Pick a park. See who is closest.
Door-to-gate planning windows including waits, taken from our own resort guides. Disney publishes no journey times, so these are ours — and the ranking changes completely depending on which gate you pick, which is the whole point.
Times include the walk to the stop, the wait and the ride, and assume normal operating conditions. Boats and the Skyliner suspend for lightning and high wind, with buses standing in — so every water or cable route above has a bus behind it on the day it matters. Resorts sharing a bus route are listed together.
Every resort in this transport ranking, as text
- Contemporary → Magic Kingdom
- Its own path, own checkpoint · 8–12 min
- Grand Floridian → Magic Kingdom
- Monorail, or a lagoon-side walk · 10–20 min
- Polynesian Village → Magic Kingdom
- Monorail from the front overhang · 12–22 min
- Wilderness Lodge → Magic Kingdom
- Boat across Bay Lake · 20–30 min
- Fort Wilderness → Magic Kingdom
- Boat from the Settlement dock · 20–35 min
- Port Orleans French Quarter → Magic Kingdom
- Bus · 25–40 min
- Beach Club / Yacht Club → Magic Kingdom
- Bus · 25–40 min
- BoardWalk Inn → Magic Kingdom
- Bus · 25–40 min
- Riviera → Magic Kingdom
- Bus — the cable points the wrong way · 25–40 min
- Pop Century → Magic Kingdom
- Dedicated bus · 25–40 min
- Art of Animation → Magic Kingdom
- Bus · 25–40 min
- All-Star Resorts → Magic Kingdom
- Bus — the trio’s longest run · 25–45 min
- Caribbean Beach → Magic Kingdom
- Bus · 30–45 min
- Coronado Springs → Magic Kingdom
- Bus — its longest run · 30–45 min
- Port Orleans Riverside → Magic Kingdom
- Bus, four internal stops first · 30–45 min
- Animal Kingdom Lodge → Magic Kingdom
- Bus — the property’s widest gap · 30–45 min
- Magic Kingdom overview
- Magic Kingdom is the park where the address matters most , because the gap between best and worst is roughly half an hour each way. The monorail row and the Contemporary’s private path are the only genuinely short options, and after fireworks the Contemporary’s walk beats the monorail queue outright. At the other end, Animal Kingdom Lodge is the longest resort-to-park run on the whole property — a fine hotel, badly matched to a Magic Kingdom week.
- Beach Club → EPCOT
- Walk to the International Gateway · 5–7 min
- BoardWalk Inn → EPCOT
- Walk along the promenade · 5–10 min
- Yacht Club → EPCOT
- Walk to the International Gateway · 7–9 min
- Riviera → EPCOT
- Skyliner, straight through · 12–20 min
- Caribbean Beach → EPCOT
- Skyliner from the hub · 15–25 min
- Wilderness Lodge → EPCOT
- Bus · 20–30 min
- Coronado Springs → EPCOT
- Bus · 25–35 min
- Polynesian Village → EPCOT
- Direct EPCOT monorail, no transfer · 25–35 min
- Animal Kingdom Lodge → EPCOT
- Bus · 25–35 min
- Port Orleans French Quarter → EPCOT
- Bus · 25–35 min
- Port Orleans Riverside → EPCOT
- Bus · 25–40 min
- All-Star Resorts → EPCOT
- Bus · 25–40 min
- Pop Century → EPCOT
- Skyliner, one change at the hub · 25–40 min
- Art of Animation → EPCOT
- Skyliner, one change at the hub · 25–45 min
- Grand Floridian → EPCOT
- Monorail with a change at the TTC · 30–45 min
- Contemporary → EPCOT
- Monorail with a change at the TTC · 30–45 min
- Fort Wilderness → EPCOT
- Internal loop, then a bus · 35–50 min
- EPCOT overview
- Crescent Lake is the sharpest geography on the property. Three resorts walk to EPCOT in under ten minutes, and no amount of monorail makes up the difference — note that the Grand Floridian and the Contemporary, the two most expensive Magic Kingdom addresses, are near the bottom of this list because their famous connection needs a change at the Transportation and Ticket Center. The Polynesian is the exception: it reaches both monorail parks without a transfer, and it is the only resort that does.
- Caribbean Beach → Hollywood Studios
- Skyliner, direct from the hub · 12–22 min
- BoardWalk Inn → Hollywood Studios
- Walk the canal path, flat and lit · 15–20 min
- Beach Club → Hollywood Studios
- Friendship boat · 15–25 min
- Yacht Club → Hollywood Studios
- Friendship boat · 15–25 min
- Coronado Springs → Hollywood Studios
- Bus · 20–30 min
- Wilderness Lodge → Hollywood Studios
- Bus · 20–30 min
- Grand Floridian → Hollywood Studios
- Bus · 20–35 min
- Polynesian Village → Hollywood Studios
- Bus · 20–35 min
- Contemporary → Hollywood Studios
- Bus · 20–35 min
- Port Orleans French Quarter → Hollywood Studios
- Bus · 20–35 min
- All-Star Resorts → Hollywood Studios
- Bus · 20–35 min
- Riviera → Hollywood Studios
- Skyliner, one change at the hub · 20–35 min
- Animal Kingdom Lodge → Hollywood Studios
- Bus · 25–35 min
- Fort Wilderness → Hollywood Studios
- Drive — the honest answer here · 25–35 min
- Pop Century → Hollywood Studios
- Skyliner, one change at the hub · 25–40 min
- Port Orleans Riverside → Hollywood Studios
- Bus · 25–40 min
- Art of Animation → Hollywood Studios
- Skyliner, one change at the hub · 25–45 min
- Hollywood Studios overview
- This is the list that should change somebody’s booking. Caribbean Beach — a Moderate — reaches Hollywood Studios faster than every Deluxe on the property except the ones that walk, because the Skyliner runs direct from its hub with no change. If the Studios are a real part of your week, that single fact is worth more than a tier upgrade, and it costs considerably less.
- Animal Kingdom Lodge → Animal Kingdom
- Bus — the shortest run it has · 15–25 min
- Coronado Springs → Animal Kingdom
- Bus — the tier’s quickest park run · 15–25 min
- All-Star Resorts → Animal Kingdom
- Bus · 15–30 min
- Riviera → Animal Kingdom
- Bus · 20–35 min
- Beach Club / Yacht Club → Animal Kingdom
- Bus · 25–35 min
- BoardWalk Inn → Animal Kingdom
- Bus · 25–35 min
- Grand Floridian → Animal Kingdom
- Bus · 25–40 min
- Polynesian Village → Animal Kingdom
- Bus · 25–40 min
- Contemporary → Animal Kingdom
- Bus · 25–40 min
- Wilderness Lodge → Animal Kingdom
- Bus — its longest of the four · 25–40 min
- Caribbean Beach → Animal Kingdom
- Bus · 25–40 min
- Port Orleans French Quarter → Animal Kingdom
- Bus · 25–40 min
- Port Orleans Riverside → Animal Kingdom
- Bus · 25–40 min
- Pop Century → Animal Kingdom
- Dedicated bus · 25–40 min
- Art of Animation → Animal Kingdom
- Bus · 25–40 min
- Fort Wilderness → Animal Kingdom
- Internal loop, then a bus · 40–55 min
- Animal Kingdom overview
- Animal Kingdom flattens the map. Every route is a bus and the spread is narrow, so this is the one park where the address barely matters — which is worth knowing, because it means an Animal-Kingdom-heavy week frees you to choose a resort on everything else. The three at the top are simply the ones nearest the south-west corner.
- Port Orleans French Quarter → Disney Springs
- Boat — the Sassagoula River Cruise · ~20 min
- Port Orleans Riverside → Disney Springs
- Boat — the Sassagoula River Cruise · ~20 min
- Riviera → Disney Springs
- Drive, free covered garages · 10–20 min
- Caribbean Beach → Disney Springs
- Drive · 10–20 min
- Pop Century → Disney Springs
- Drive · 10–20 min
- Art of Animation → Disney Springs
- Drive · 10–20 min
- Coronado Springs → Disney Springs
- Drive · 15–25 min
- Grand Floridian → Disney Springs
- Drive · 20–30 min
- Polynesian Village → Disney Springs
- Drive · 20–30 min
- Contemporary → Disney Springs
- Drive · 20–30 min
- Wilderness Lodge → Disney Springs
- Drive · 20–30 min
- Beach Club / Yacht Club → Disney Springs
- Drive · 20–30 min
- BoardWalk Inn → Disney Springs
- Drive · 20–30 min
- Animal Kingdom Lodge → Disney Springs
- Drive · 20–30 min
- All-Star Resorts → Disney Springs
- Bus · 20–40 min
- Disney Springs overview
- Disney Springs is where the bus network is at its weakest and the boat is at its best. The two Port Orleans resorts have the Sassagoula River Cruise, which is the most pleasant twenty minutes in Disney transport and reason enough on its own to book that side of the property if evenings at the Springs are part of the plan. For everyone else, the parking garages are free and covered, and driving beats the bus almost everywhere.
The five that walk
Walking to a park changes a Disney day more than any other transport decision, and only five addresses offer it.
Three resorts, two parks
- Beach Club — EPCOT in 5–7 minutes. The shortest resort-to-park walk at Walt Disney World, through the International Gateway.
- Yacht Club — EPCOT in 7–9. Next door, a couple of minutes behind, and it shares Stormalong Bay.
- BoardWalk Inn — EPCOT in 5–10 and Hollywood Studios in 15–20. The only resort on the property that walks to two parks, along a flat lit canal path.
- All three take the Friendship boat to the Studios as the wet-weather alternative, and all three bus to Magic Kingdom, which is this corner’s one weak run.
Two resorts, one park
- Contemporary — Magic Kingdom in 8–12. Its own dedicated path with a security checkpoint of its own, and after fireworks it beats the monorail queue outright.
- Grand Floridian — Magic Kingdom in 12–18. A shared paved path of roughly seven-tenths of a mile beside the lagoon.
- Both also have monorail platforms, though only the Contemporary has the beam running through the building itself — the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian board from platforms under a front overhang.
- Neither walks anywhere else, and both are near the bottom of the EPCOT ranking.
A walk is the only Disney transport with no waiting in it. A fifteen-minute bus and a fifteen-minute walk are not the same fifteen minutes, because the bus is really five minutes of standing, a ride, and a queue at the other end — and at park close it is considerably worse. The walking resorts are also the only ones where an afternoon break costs what it says on the tin, which for anyone travelling with small children is the single most useful thing on this page.
What the rankings actually show
Three patterns come out of the five lists, and each one has cost somebody money.
The tier badge does not predict the journey. Caribbean Beach, a Moderate, reaches Hollywood Studios faster than every Deluxe on the property except the three that walk there — because the Skyliner runs direct from its hub with no change. Meanwhile the Grand Floridian and the Contemporary, the two most expensive Magic Kingdom addresses, sit near the bottom of the EPCOT list, because their famous monorail needs a change at the Transportation and Ticket Center. Paying more buys you a better hotel; it does not reliably buy you a shorter journey.
Magic Kingdom is the park where the address matters most, and Animal Kingdom is where it matters least. The Magic Kingdom spread runs from eight minutes to forty-five — more than half an hour each way, twice a day, compounding across a week. Animal Kingdom is a bus from everywhere with a narrow spread, which is genuinely useful to know: an Animal-Kingdom-heavy week frees you to choose your resort on theming, price or pool instead.
Every water and cable route has a bus behind it. Boats are the first thing suspended when lightning is in range, and in an Orlando summer that is a routine afternoon rather than a rare one; the Skyliner goes down for wind as well. If a boat or a gondola is the reason you are booking a particular resort, look at what happens when it stops — and be honest about whether you would still be happy at that rate.
Straight answers
What travellers actually ask once they realise the resort is a transport decision.
Which Disney resort has the best transport overall?
There isn't one, and that's the finding. The BoardWalk Inn walks to two parks and buses to the other two; the Contemporary is eight minutes from Magic Kingdom and thirty to forty-five from EPCOT; Caribbean Beach beats nearly every Deluxe to Hollywood Studios and is bus-only to Magic Kingdom. Every address on this property is excellent for some parks and ordinary for others, which is why choosing the resort before choosing the parks is the most common expensive mistake at Walt Disney World.
Is a Moderate resort ever faster than a Deluxe?
Yes, and Hollywood Studios is the clearest case. Caribbean Beach reaches it in twelve to twenty-two minutes on the Skyliner, direct from its own hub with no change — faster than every Deluxe except the three that walk from Crescent Lake, and faster than the monorail resorts by a wide margin. If the Studios are a real part of your week, that is worth more than a tier upgrade and costs considerably less.
How reliable are the boats and the Skyliner?
Both are lovely and both stop. Boats are the first thing suspended when lightning is in range, which in an Orlando summer afternoon is routine rather than rare, and the Skyliner suspends for lightning and high wind. Buses stand in when they do, so treat every water or cable route as having a bus behind it — and if a boat or gondola is the reason you are booking a particular resort, make sure the bus alternative is one you can live with.
Which resorts walk to a park?
Five. Beach Club reaches EPCOT's International Gateway in five to seven minutes, the shortest resort-to-park walk on the property; the Yacht Club next door takes seven to nine. BoardWalk Inn is the only resort that walks to two parks — EPCOT in five to ten and Hollywood Studios in fifteen to twenty along a flat lit canal path. On the Magic Kingdom side, the Contemporary has its own dedicated path with a security checkpoint of its own at eight to twelve minutes, and the Grand Floridian a shared lagoon-side path at twelve to eighteen.
Why don't you just quote Disney's own journey times?
Because Disney doesn't publish any. Every figure on this page is our own planning window, measured door to gate and including the walk to the stop, the wait and the ride — which is the number that actually shapes a day, rather than the ride time alone. Treat them as planning figures rather than guarantees, and add a margin at park close, when every resort's return queue is at its worst.
Ask us to match the address to the week
Tell us which parks, on which days.
We will work out which resorts genuinely shorten your week rather than just sounding closer, and whether the tier you were considering is buying you anything on the routes you will actually use.
Seabound Journeys is an independent travel advisory, unaffiliated with Disney. Answers come from this guide and are checked against current information before booking.
Pick the parks first. The right resort falls out of the answer, and it is often not the expensive one.
Ask about Disney resorts