Which Disney resort is closest to Magic Kingdom?
Disney's Contemporary Resort is the closest resort to Magic Kingdom. It's a 12-minute walk to the gates on its own paved path, and the monorail runs right through the building. Bay Lake Tower shares that path, and the Grand Floridian is next at 17 minutes on foot. No other resort has a walking path to the park.
Eleven of the 32 Disney resorts get you to Magic Kingdom without a bus, more than any other park. Six sit on the monorail loop: the Contemporary, Bay Lake Tower, the Grand Floridian and its villas, and the Polynesian and its villas. All six score a full 10 out of 10 for getting to Magic Kingdom. Five more arrive by boat: Wilderness Lodge, Boulder Ridge, Copper Creek, and both the cabins and the campsites at Fort Wilderness, all scoring 7. Want the shortest trip of all? From the Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower you can just walk: 12 minutes on a paved path, which beats waiting for anything.
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Your ages, budget and parks re-rank all 32. Free, about a minute.Disney resorts near Magic Kingdom: every one that gets there without a bus
| Resort | How you get there | Walk to the gate | Score | Nightly, on average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bay Lake Tower at Contemporary Resort · Deluxe | Monorail | 12 min | 10 / 10 | $870 |
| Contemporary Resort · Deluxe | Monorail | 12 min | 10 / 10 | $663 |
| Grand Floridian Resort & Spa · Deluxe | Monorail | 17 min | 10 / 10 | $878 |
| Polynesian Village Resort · Deluxe | Monorail | 31 min | 10 / 10 | $872 |
| Polynesian Villas & Bungalows · Deluxe | Monorail | 31 min | 10 / 10 | $761 |
| The Villas at Grand Floridian Resort & Spa · Deluxe | Monorail | 17 min | 10 / 10 | $852 |
| Boulder Ridge Villas at Wilderness Lodge · Deluxe | Boat | – | 7 / 10 | $689 |
| Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Wilderness Lodge · Deluxe | Boat | – | 7 / 10 | $599 |
| Lakeshore Lodge · Deluxe | Boat | – | 7 / 10 | $687 |
| The Cabins at Fort Wilderness Resort · Deluxe | Boat | – | 7 / 10 | $521 |
| The Campsites at Fort Wilderness Resort · Campground | Boat | – | 7 / 10 | $124 |
| Wilderness Lodge · Deluxe | Boat | – | 7 / 10 | $607 |
Everything not on this list gets to Magic Kingdom by bus and scores 4 or lower. That's most of the Value and Moderate resorts, and it's the biggest reason a cheap room near Magic Kingdom can cost you an hour a day.
The three picks, and who each suits
The Contemporary, if you want the shortest trip on property
| Scored category | This resort | Average of all 32 |
|---|---|---|
| Getting to Magic Kingdom | 10 / 10 | – |
| Pools | 7 / 10 | 7.0 |
| Splash pads and slides | 6 / 10 | 7.6 |
| Things to do on site | 7.5 / 10 | 7.1 |
| Suits toddlers | 6 / 10 | 7.5 |
| Suits adults | 5 / 10 | 5.4 |
The Polynesian, if the resort is part of the fun
| Scored category | This resort | Average of all 32 |
|---|---|---|
| Getting to Magic Kingdom | 10 / 10 | – |
| Pools | 9 / 10 | 7.0 |
| Splash pads and slides | 10 / 10 | 7.6 |
| Things to do on site | 6 / 10 | 7.1 |
| Suits toddlers | 8 / 10 | 7.5 |
| Suits adults | 6 / 10 | 5.4 |
The Fort Wilderness campsites, the cheap way to skip the bus
| Scored category | This resort | Average of all 32 |
|---|---|---|
| Getting to Magic Kingdom | 7 / 10 | – |
| Pools | 6 / 10 | 7.0 |
| Splash pads and slides | 5 / 10 | 7.6 |
| Things to do on site | 10 / 10 | 7.1 |
| Suits toddlers | 7 / 10 | 7.5 |
| Suits adults | 6 / 10 | 5.4 |
How the Resortings score works
Every resort is scored out of ten on how it reaches each park, using the fastest route Disney actually runs: a walk, the monorail, the Skyliner, a boat or a bus. The number is the route, not the distance on a map, because a resort a mile away on a bus is further in practice than one two miles away on a monorail. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no booking commissions.
What the walk is really like
The Contemporary path runs from the north end of the building around Bay Lake to the bag check, and it's flat, paved and lit. It's 10 minutes at an adult pace, closer to 15 with a four-year-old who stops to look at the boats. Coming back after the fireworks, it beats the monorail easily, because the monorail line after the park closes is the worst line of the day.
The Grand Floridian has its own walkway too, built after the monorail resorts, and it takes 17 minutes. It gets less attention than the Contemporary path because the Grand Floridian is also one monorail stop away, so most guests never try it.
The boats from Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness are the nicest ride to any park on property, and the least reliable. They stop for weather, they run on a schedule, and the last one back leaves earlier than you'd think. Lovely on a calm evening, a problem at 9pm in August.
Your family will rank these differently
Ages, budget, room size and which parks you are doing all change the order. Resortings scores all 32 resorts against what your family actually needs, and tells you when not to spend the money.
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Common questions
Which Disney resorts can you walk to Magic Kingdom from?
Two: the Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower, which share the same path and take 12 minutes on foot. The Grand Floridian has a walkway too, at 17 minutes. Nothing else on property is walkable to Magic Kingdom, and the Polynesian isn't either, even though it's on the same monorail loop.
What is the closest Disney resort to Magic Kingdom?
The Contemporary. It's the only resort the monorail runs through, and it's the shortest walk, 12 minutes. Bay Lake Tower sits on the same site, a few minutes further along the same path.
What is the cheapest Disney resort near Magic Kingdom?
The Fort Wilderness campsites, at about $124 a night with a boat to the gates. If you want a room instead of a campsite, the cheapest way to skip the bus is Wilderness Lodge at about $607, which is still Deluxe pricing. No Value or Moderate resort gets to Magic Kingdom without a bus.
Do you need a monorail resort for Magic Kingdom?
No. The monorail resorts score 10 and the boat resorts score 7, and the real-time difference is much smaller than the price difference, which runs to hundreds of dollars a night. What you're really paying for is the afternoon break: if you'll head back to the room midday with a little one, the monorail earns its money. If you'll stay in the park until close, it mostly doesn't.
Is the monorail faster than walking from the Contemporary?
Usually not. The walk is always 12 minutes. The monorail is 3 minutes of travel plus however long you wait, and after the park closes that wait can run past twenty minutes. The monorail wins in heavy rain or when you're carrying a sleeping child, and loses the rest of the time.
What are the Magic Kingdom area resorts?
Eleven resorts get to Magic Kingdom without a bus, more than any other park. Six are on the monorail loop: Disney’s Contemporary Resort and Bay Lake Tower, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and its villas, and Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort and its villas. Three of those are also walkable: the Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower in 12 minutes and the Grand Floridian in 17.