This is a review of Lyft’s “Minnie Van” service and when you should use it.
If you do not have a personal or rental vehicle.
During our latest trip to Disney World, we did not rent a car and instead decided to use bus services, friendship boats and walking to get around. We were staying at the WDW Swan hotel, a “Good Neighbor Hotel” because it is owned by Marriott, but is located right next to Disney properties. It is walking distance to Epcot and Hollywood Studios, so it is a nice option especially for our first two days spent at Epcot. But to access Magic Kingdom, we discovered using Lyft’s Minnie Van service was the best way to get there, given our circumstances.
If you have an early morning reservation at Magic Kingdom.
For the day we reserved to go to Magic Kingdom, we made an 8am breakfast reservation for Crystal Palace. Back in the day, this was a sure fire way to get into the park way before even the Early Entry folks. But this is no longer the case.
On this day, Magic Kingdom was scheduled to open at 9 am. Early entry for the resort and “Good Neighbor Hotel” guests was 8:30am, and our breakfast reservation was 8am.
If your hotel’s bus service will not get you there on time.
The Swan does offer a bus that will take you to and from all of the parks, but the schedule was ambiguous and hotel staff only said they run one hour before park opening, and staff could not confirm if that meant regular opening or early entry. But the primary issue was that the Swan hotel buses are only permitted to drop off people at the TTC (Ticket and Transportation Center, not Magic Kingdom, which would require an additional 20-30 minutes of travel time because it is difficult to time the transportation (monorail or ferry boat) between the TTC and Magic Kingdom entrance.
Another option was to walk over to the Boardwalk Resort, which was next door, and use their buses because Disney resort buses take guests right to Magic Kingdom, but I was not sure if this was allowed, and also did not feel confident about that bus schedule.
I asked our hotel staff, as well as Disney cast members beforehand and no one was able to provide any information I was looking for. So, we decided to wing it.
If you want to be dropped off inside Magic Kingdom (not the TTC).
Our choices for car services were Uber or Lyft or a taxi. We soon discovered that Uber drivers and taxis are only permitted to drop off guests at the TTC, just like the non Disney resort buses. However, Lyft’s “Minnie Van” (those red minivans decorated like Minnie Mouse with big polka dots) was the only car service permitted to take guests right into Magic Kingdom. We uploaded the Lyft App and discovered that if we booked a regular Lyft car, it would cost substantially less, especially since they were offering a special deal. However, booking a regular Lyft car would only take you to the TTC. The Minnie Vans were the only vehicles allowed to take guests right to the Magic Kingdom front gate. The catch is, Lyft charges almost triple the regular Lyft car rate for the Minnie Van service.
If you are willing to pay a premium.
Regardless, around 6:45am, we booked a 7am Minnie Van.
Tip: when booking through the Lyft App, enter your pickup location (ours was the Swan Hotel). It will then ask you to select a designated drop-off. You can scroll the two options: “TTC or Minnie Van.” There is not a “Magic Kingdom” option. “Minnie Van” is the option that will take you directly to the Magic Kingdom main gate.
Once our driver arrived to the Swan Hotel (7:06am), he told us he was not allowed past parking gates until 7:30am, so he said he could either wait, drive around in circles, or he could drop us off at the Contemporary resort and we could make the short walk (few minutes) to the entrance and arrive on time for our 8am breakfast. We agreed to be dropped off at the Contemporary Resort.
The van itself was nothing special except for the cute theming on the outside. Our minivan was fairly dated, but clean, and did offer 2 car seats at no additional cost, though we did not need any. There was room for 6 passengers, though it would be tight. One in the front passenger’s seat, two in the middle bucket seats and a bench seat in the third row.
So, our driver dropped us off at approximately 7:10am at the front of the Contemporary and we made the short walk over, BUT, we were stopped before we neared the entrance at a security post, and they were not allowing anyone to enter. It was now 7:35am.
The couple behind us was stressed because they had a special “Keys to the Kingdom ” reservation that required them to meet their guide at the front entrance at 7:30am. They asked the security officers, but were told they could not pass security until they opened and would not say when that would be. Then, at approximately 7:40am we were allowed to proceed through security to the front gates.
If you want to beat the crowds and enter the parks as early as possible.
We were allowed park entry at 7:45am, with plenty of time to walk to the Crystal Palace and take some pictures with fewer people in the park. However, there were still hundreds of people already there and they had also let everyone else in, even though Early Entry was not technically until 8:30am.
We enjoyed a nice breakfast at Crystal Palace and were still able to get several popular rides in before the long wait times accumulated. We believe most of those people arriving early went straight to Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train.
In conclusion, on this occasion we did think being dropped off by Lyft’s Minnie Van service inside the Magic Kingdom gates was advantageous and saved a lot of time. With there being so many unknowns with the bus services and monorail, it made sense to book the Minnie Van. Next time we would wait and book the ride closer to 7:30am (the drive itself was only 4 minutes) to be dropped off right at the main entrance. We do not recommend using this service if you do not have any time constraints, unless you are only interested in riding in a Disney themed vehicle, and do not mind paying for it. Save the money and order a regular Lyft, Uber or taxi, or just use the bus services provided by the hotels and resorts.