Taking the Sunrail to Disney World
When I first moved to Central Florida, my family and I were living in temporary housing at the Legends at Lake Mary Apartments. Being new to the area, but having been here on vacation, I, a nervous driver, knew that I did not want to drive any distance on I-4. Now I know that thousands of people drive I-4 everyday to commute to work, but the freeway completely shuts down whenever there is an accident, and I happened to be one of the lucky ones to witness what happens, being the first one in the line of two hours worth of traffic behind a traffic accident.
After witnessing that accident, I was validated. However, I really, really wanted to take my kids to Disney World, but no.
I started an in depth search on alternative ways to get to Disney, but I found none. Not even public transportation, or so I thought. I found one obscure article from a reporter trying the Sunrail who had ridden it to tt on I-4!!!!
I considered taking alternate routes, the toll 417, or residential streets, but not knowing the area, I didn't want to take streets and freeways I had never been on.
I searched Google to see if I could learn if anyone had taken the Sunrail to Disney World, but found nothing except one reporter hired to promote the Sunrail who had taken the Sunrail to the Lynx station, and had taken the Lynx to Disney, but he was reporting for the benefit of those who worked for Disney. He wasn't reporting for benefit for families living in Seminole County.
His article was helpful, but how would this be for my children? Would it be too hard to make the connections? Would it be dangerous?
I took many hours and studied the Sunrail schedules, and the Lynx schedules, and made sure this would work for for us in theory, and since my 22 year-old son was home on Christmas break and could help me with the other kids, I decided to sieze the opportunity and take them on a Sunrail to Disney journey.
In order to accomplish this, we woke up at 4:00 a.m. We had to leave Legends to get to the Lake Mary Sunrail state by 5:10. Sunrail recommends that you arrive at the station 20 minutes before your desired train arrives. It took 12 minutes for us to drive from Legends to the station, so that got us there in plenty of time.
The picture below shows my thinking on paper. It shows first, the span of time the Lynx and Sunrail operate. Then it shows my goals for the day, and at the bottom is a table with the proposed schedule. The final report is in the end we were 30 minutes ahead of the proposed schedule. That made for happy mom and happy kids.
The Lake Mary station parking lot is well lit, and I felt completely safe being there that early with my kids. There were about five other passengers waiting to board the train, all medical personnel going to the Medical Village in Orlando.
Our first task was to buy our tickets at the kiosk.
The kiosk is very easy to use. You just answer the questions, use your debit card to pay, and the tickets shoot out at the bottom. For the five us it cost us $18.50 round trip that day. This included one free ride on our Lynx connection. All we had to do was show the bus driver our Sunrail pass, and she let us on.
Once you buy your tickets each person taps on the ticket. When you get off your train at your destination, you tap off.
After buying our tickets we had a ten minute wait. We have now taken the Sunrail twice to Disney and both times we had extra time, so I could safely say that getting to the station ten minutes in advance at th0 at early in the morning is plenty of time. I would do 20 during rush hour, however.
After tapping on our tickets, we waited for the train.
Getting on the train is a little tricky with children. It is important that you are standing waiting for the train behind the yellow line. As soon as the train stops you need to grab them by the hand and get on the train quickly and climb up the stairs to the second floor quickly. I coached my kids beforehand to make sure they didn't dawdle and they listened to everything Mom said. I told them if they didn't hurry the train would leave us behind and if we don't get in our seats quickly, we might get hurt from the train moving because the train only stops for a minute and then it takes off. It's your survival, it won't wait for you to get organized.
At this time in Lake Mary, there are many seats available, and there were plenty of seats both times we went on the Sunrail to Disney. One other blogger said it would be etiquette to leave the tabled seats for passengers that want to drink their coffee and use their laptops, but in my experience it didn't matter which seat you took. There were plenty to go around throughout the entire train ride.
If you are an adult, however, it would be best for you to take the seat that moves forward so you don't get motion sickness.
We took the seats without a table because it made it easier for us to stretch out.
Very important: Make sure you don't loose your Sunrail passes. I collected all of my kids passes and put them in an easily accessible pocket so they wouldn't misplace them. They are needed for the conductor when he comes by, and they are needed for the Lynx connection to save you another $2.00 per bus ticket.
The conductor may or may not come by, so don't think you won't need those passes. One time the conductor came by, and one time he didn't.
Riding on the Sunrail during the Christmas season was amazing. Winter Park goes all out with lighting and the lights are on that early in the morning. Having just moved to Florida, I was impressed with way in which the cities all decorate with lighting for Christmas and Winter Park goes all out. Unfortunately, my camera didn't do the scene enough justice to post a picture, but take my word for it. It's worth the ride just to see the lights at Winter Park.
I had two big worries about making a connection with a Lynx bus to get to Disney, and neither of these worries came to fruition either of the two times we tested this out. First, I was worried that someone would be dying to go to the bathroom by the time we got to the station, you know how mornings are. I was worried we wouldn't be able to find a place before we got to Disney World. Second, I was worried we would have trouble making our connection.
I am very happy to say that when the Sunrail arrived, the Lynx bus number 50, which is the bus that drops you off at the Disney Ticket and Transportation Center in front of the Magic Kingdom Monorail, is visable and waiting from the Sunrail drop off. I was overjoyed that I didn't have to explore the Lynx stationg with my kids "in tow" to find the bus. It was waiting there right across the street, as if we had ordered it to be so.
Just a important note here: when your station is called as coming up on the Sunrail to disembark you need to be getting your things together and immediately prepared to get off!
Also, the Lynx station is a very nice, well lit bus station with bathrooms. Fortunately, we never needed to use them, but our bus driver did. There may or may not be time to use the bathroom before making the Lynx 50 connection, but if you miss it, there's another bus coming just 15 minutes afterward.
Just a reminder, for this connection, you don't need to post fare, you just show your Sunrail Pass.
Experience has shown us that when traveling with kids to Disney, it is best to sit in the back of the bus. The clientele for the Lynx 50 are mostly employees of Disney and surrounding hotels. This group of people, we found, to be a very somber and tired crowd of people. They weren't mean or rude or threatening, but if you are an empathetic person, you might not feel right rubbing it in that you have the time and money to spend a weekday at Disney World.
I felt very uncomfortable having them look at our Magic Bands on our wrists. They were going to another long day of work, and we were going for a day of fun, and I assure you, we were the only ones on the bus going on a day out for fun.
They knew why we were on the bus, and I felt more comfortable being discreet in the back. I will say, however, we saw more bugs in the back of the bus, and the seats were hot to sit on. In the winter, that's a good thing. It wouldn't be in the summer.
Below is a picture of a stop at the Disney Springs Transportation center (formerly known as the Downtown Disney Transportation Center). The Lynx bus shown here is the Lynx 300 and it is an express commuter bus that goes from Lynx to Disney Springs. Taking this bus rather than the 50 would be ideal because it doesn't make any stops along the way, except it drops you off at Disney Springs at 7:30 a.m. and nothing opens until 8:30 a.m., so you are left to wander around Disney Springs for an hour with no open shops.
In addition, you have to take another bus to one of the resort hotels and catch one of their busses to get to the parks. As far as I know and have experienced, there are no busses that go from Disney Springs to any of the parks.
The way the scheduling works there is no time benefit in the long run, plus you are committed to only one time to catch that bus to go home, making the schedule very inflexible. I had the opportunity to consider taking this bus very seriously, and decided against it after all of the analysis.
On our first day riding the Lynx 50 to the Magic Kingdom, I was pretty nervous about the possibility that I had missed something in the planning, but such was not the case. I was so relieved to see this sign....
Here's another picture of the Lynx 50 as it dropped us off. "50 Magic Kingdom" has such a nice ring to it.
The Lynx 50 dropped us off at the Disney Ticket and Transportation Center at 8:00 a.m. Our goal was to get there by 8:15 which is really the ideal time to arrive no matter how you are getting there. On the day these pictures were taken, which was our second trial run of taking the Sunrail to Lynx to Disney, we were heading to Epcot. We only had to walk a few yards to meet the bus going to Epcot that day. The monorails don't typically run until later in the morning. If you get to the parks that early, you are usually bussing it, especially if it's foggy.
And here we are waiting for our bus to Epcot which took 5 minutes, and here is my teenager looking like he is not amused, but in reality he's bursting inside with excitement.
Now one thing the other Sunrail to Disney bloggers haven't told you is how to get home.
Let me just say, when you get to Disney this early in the morning, no matter how crowded the parks are supposed to be that day, you can get all of your good rides done, especially at Epcot before 10:30. a.m. The first time we went to Magic Kingdom on a moderately crowded day and we were emotionally and physically finished with the park by 3:30 p.m.
The second time we wen't to Epcot and we were emotionally finised by 1:30 p.m. That's because the "early bird gets the worm." We had had a wonderful time, and had definitely worn ourselves out. Hmmmmm, I suppose getting up at 4:00 a.m. had something to do with it. Hey, but when you are that tired, you don't feel bad about missing the parades and fireworks.
Because we had to take the Sunrail back to Lake Mary, it was imperative that we get on a bus early enough to make sure we had a connection to the Sunrail to get back to Lake Mary so we wouldn't have to call Dad to come down to Lake Buena Vista and pick us up.
Both times, I felt it was most prudent to get on the Lynx 50 before 5:30 p.m.. Both times that I tested this out, we got back to Lake Mary by 8:00 p.m. and home by 8:15 p.m..
What you miss by doing this is all of the parades and fireworks. We were too tired to enjoy them anyway having got in 15 attractions in one day.
So here's how we plan our schedule to get home:
4:00 p.m. Leave whatever you are doing in the park, (ride, show, etc.) and get to the lockers/stroller/wheelchair place to take care of any business that you have there.
4:15 p.m. get to the Monorail platform.
4:30 p.m. board the Monorail and ride the Monorail to the DTTC (this is padded for the journey form Epcot)
5:05 p.m. board the Lynx 50
6:40 p.m. board the Sunrail (time may vary our train was 20 minutes late due to mechanical issues)
8:00 p.m. arrive at the Lake Mary Sunrail station
These times are generalized, based on my faulty memory, so make sure to check the schedules.
Since moving to Central Florida, and being an annual passholder, I have been back and forth to Disney many times of the course of the past three months. I have gone on the 417 toll all of the way to Osceola Parkway, a pleasant ride, except for the occassional driver that thinks it's cool to cut you off. I have taken the 429 from Apopka, my preferred route, but right now I'm living in Lake County, and we have taken the Sunrail.
Locals have jabbed us for the time wasted on the Sunrail to Lynx to Disney route, but I have to say, door to door there is very little difference. We left at 5:15 a.m. and got to Disney by 8:00 a.m. taking the public transportation, and we left at 7:10 a.m. and got to by Disney 9:10 a.m. taking the 429. The Sunrail takes 2 hours and 45 minutes and the other option takes two hours.
What's 45 minutes? On the Sunrail, you don't have to do the driving, or the parking, and you get to sit and enjoy the company you are traveling with. Plus, you don't have to deal with traffic, or trying to find your way around the Disney resort, which I have learned from personal experience is nerve wracking the first few times you drive around there because you are navigating around many equally confused drivers. For nervous driver's like myself, a relaxed ride in where someone else does the driving is worth the 45 minutes, especially if you are forced to take I-4.
Now let's look at cost....
For a family of five it had cost us $18.50 for the Sunrail, and $10.00 for the Lynx. That's a total of $28.50.
The cost for Disney Parking is $22.00. Of course, annual pass holders don't have this cost.
When we take the toll roads our cost around $16.00. Add that to parking and you are paying $38.00. Plus, add your gas.
If you take I-4, it costs about $12 in gas round trip and add that parking and you have $34.00, plus, wear and tear on your nerves and possibly your vehicle if you get in an accident (higher chance on I-4). My husband has driven the 91 freeway in Southern California for many years. This is supposed to be the highest traffic freeway in the country. The I-4 is the only freeway his has purposely gotten off of and taken another route because he couldn't hang with it.
So, for a family of 5, taking the Sunrail is not a bad deal.
What you have to mentally prepare for is that you have to be patient with the bus stops, knowing those bus stops are adding 45 minutes to your drive, and that your schedule is tied to the Sunrail schedule. Outside of that, it's a pretty stressfree way to go once you have learned the system.
Hopefully, this blog post helps those living in Volusia and Seminole counties to know the system better so they can see if they want to try getting to Disney this way.
If you homeschool, like my family does, this method of getting to Disney is very educational. My kids learned the following skills:
1. Map reading,
2. Time planning and management
3. Budgeting
4. How to read train and bus schedules
5. How to use public transportation (This is extremely valuable). My college students had to learn how to use public transportation when they left home.
6. That the world doesn't revolve around them, and that there are people in this world that work 12 hours days, get up and start their day exhausted, and go home exhausted.
7. How to accept and appreciate people of other races, that they are just like them, having feelings, families, hopes, and dreams. You learn a lot about your fellow passengers on the bus ride.
8. How to extract familiar words by listening to people speak French and Spanish (we had many people from the Carribean Islands on our busses)
10. How to preserve a cell phone battery. You do not want your phone to go out when you are relying on public transporation.
I certainly hope this is helpful. Typically, I like the freedom of getting into my own car and going, and I'm not really into tax payers having to fund public transportation projects, but the Sunrail is here, and since it is here, I think people should be using it, not just to commute but learn about the system, go and see other communities, and enjoy time together as a family. Since citizens of Florida have committed to the creation and running of the Sunrail, I think they should use it and keep that ridership up to make the investment worth it. Going to Disney World is a good way to do that. It would be great if there were away to get from the Lynx to Disney without all of the stop in between.
