Use This Transportation Hack When You’re Staying at a Skyliner Resort and Visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Imagine, it’s your Hollywood Studios morning and you slept later than planned. It wouldn’t be a big deal but you have a character breakfast scheduled at Hollywood and Vine, and you don’t want to pay a cancellation fee if you miss it. So everyone’s up, dressed, and out the door in record time. You’re staying in The Little Mermaid section of Disney’s Art of Animation and you head straight to the Skyliner. Unfortunately, the line is so long that it stretches nearly all the way to the end of the Cars section.
Wow, even though the line is moving, it’s going to take a while. You look at the time and realize there’s no way you’re going to get there in less than 30 minutes. It happens. So if you’re okay with being late, rest assured, you can join the line and explain to the restaurant why you’re late. They will work you back into the schedule. But if you’re about to have to re-plan your entire day, including changing already planned Lightning Lane times, it might be worth a few extra dollars to take a paid car service like Uber, Lyft, or a taxi.
The good news is that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is literally right around the corner. From the time a car picks you up, it shouldn’t be anymore than a realistic 10-15 minutes to the ride/share drop-off area. The drop-off is immediately next to the park’s bus stop and the Skyliner station. You couldn’t get dropped off any closer to the entrance if you tried. Here is a (not-to-scale) infographic that I created to give you an idea of how close the four resorts are to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
As you can see from above, for Art of Animation, Pop Century, and Caribbean Beach, all you have to do is take the interior resort road to Victory Way. Once you reach Victory Way, you’ll take a left and then take the next right into Disney’s Hollywood Studios. (You might notice that I included the park’s separate bus entrance on the infographic. Note that these resort’s do not offer bus service to Disney’s Hollywood Studios unless the Skyliner is down.)
For Disney’s Riviera Resort, you’ll take a left on Buena Vista Drive at the resort’s entrance. Then, you’ll almost immediately get in the left turning lane and turn at the next light onto Victory Way. Hollywood Studios will be on the right after you pass the other resorts.
Alternative Option: If you take a Minnie Van, the car service will likely use the bus entrance and drop you off at the end of the first bus stop. You’ll be a little further down from the car service drop-off point.
Alternative Option: If you have a car, you can just drive to the park. As long as you’re staying at a Disney Resort Hotel, parking is complimentary. You’ll just have to show your reservation in the My Disney Experience app, your MagicBand, etc. at the parking gate. You’ll then have to walk or take the tram to the park’s entrance.
Potential Hangups: You could run into a line of guests waiting to park. If this is a concern, a Minnie Van would be the safer bet (albeit more expensive) because they use the separate bus entrance and don’t have to deal with guest traffic at their gate.
What Resorts Gal Would Do: In the situation above, I would drive my car automatically. I wouldn’t have taken the time to check the line for the Skyliner. I would have walked out of the room and headed straight to our car, which would be parked near our room.
Here’s an idea of how close each resort is with exact directions between them. You can check the price of a car service in the app of your choice. You’ll need to use the Lyft app for Disney’s Minnie Van service.
Disney’s Art of Animation to the Parking Lot Gate at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Less than 1 mile
Most of mileage is from the resort’s interior road to Victory Way. Once you reach Victory Way, you take a left. You then take the next right into the entrance of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. You’ll only encounter one traffic light when you exit the resort.
Disney’s Pop Century Resort to the Parking Lot Gate at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Less than 1.5 miles
Pop Century is a tad further. The resort entrance comes out immediately next to Art of Animation. Again, most of the mileage is the resort’s interior road. You’ll encounter one traffic light when you exit the resort and turn left onto Victory Way.
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort to the Parking Lot Gate at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Less than 1.7 miles
Caribbean Beach is a little further down. Your average mileage inside the resort will vary slightly, depending on your room’s location. Caribbean Beach is a significant resort that’s spread out in villages.
Disney’s Riviera Resort to the Parking Lot Gate at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Less than 2 miles
Aside from the extra turn, this resort will also be a straight shot to Hollywood Studios. Florida traffic lights are long, so it might take an extra few minutes with the ones you’ll encounter.
Final Thoughts
I hope you found this transportation hack helpful if you run into a similar situation. We drive to the parks often and park at Disney’s Hollywood Studios more than any other park. In writing our previous article, the Skyliner versus the Monorail Resorts, it occurred to me that most guests staying on the Skyliner probably don’t realize how truly close they are to Hollywood Studios entrance. So I thought it would be good to follow-up with this example. For more on transportation at Disney World, you might enjoy the following:
- The Three Ways to Park-Hop Between Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot
- The Pros and Cons of Staying at a Disney Resort with Multiple Bus Stops
- How to Get to Disney’s BoardWalk from Everywhere on Disney Property
- An Overview of the Transportation and Ticket Center at Disney World
You might also like a free PDF Pocket Transportation Guide for the resort of your choice.
In the Comments
Did you know how close these resorts were to Disney’s Hollywood Studios? Would you use this hack if you needed to get to the park or back to the resort quickly? Let us know in the comments below.
