There are four main types of transportation at Walt Disney World: bus, monorail, skyliner, and boat. All of these modes of transportation are free. You do not need to be staying at a Walt Disney World Resort or even have a ticket for Walt Disney World. You can hop on and off any of theses modes of transportation for free.
The bus is the mode of transportation that is available everywhere. Want to go from Magic Kingdom to Epcot? You can take the bus. Want to go from your hotel to Animal Kingdom? You can take a bus. Want to go to Disney Springs to do some shopping? You can take a bus. I don’t think there are any two locations in Walt Disney World where you cannot take a bus from one location to another. The busses run on their own schedule, but you usually do not have to wait more than 15 minutes for a bus to take you from one location to another. If you are wondering where the bus picks up or drops off, you can ask a cast member at the location where you are. For instance, if you are staying at All Star Movies Resort and looking to take a bus from the resort to Magic Kingdom, ask a cast member at the resort for the bus stop location and they will let you know. The buses are super cute. They have wraps on them with the different Disney characters. We have seen Goofy, Pluto, Chip, Dale, Minnie, Mickey, etc. My kids love to spot the different characters on the buses. There are US charge ports on the buses. This way you can easily charge your phone on your way to or from the park.
The monorail connects the deluxe monorail resorts (Contemporary Resort, Grand Floridian Resort, and Polynesian Village Resort) to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. If you are staying at a monorail resort, you can take the monorail from your resort to Magic Kingdom and/or Epcot. If you are not staying at one of these resorts, you can take the monorail from Magic Kingdom to Epcot or Epcot to Magic Kingdom. You can also take the monorail from Magic Kingdom or Epcot and just visit the monorail resorts. The monorail also connects the Ticket and Transportation Center (the parking lot where you will park your car for Magic Kingdom if you are driving to Magic Kingdom) to Magic Kingdom. The monorail is really cool. It looks like a typical subway train. From the monorail, you can see Cinderella’s castle and all the monorail resorts. The monorail actually drives through the Contemporary Resort where you can see Chef Mickey’s (one of the character meal restaurants at Walt Disney World).
The skyliner is my children’s favorite way to get around the park. The skyliner connects the skyliner resorts (Riviera Resort, Caribbean Beach Resort, Art of Animation Resort, and Pop Century Resort) to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. If you are staying at a skyliner resort, you can take the skyliner from your resort to Epcot and/or Disney’s Hollywood Studios. If you are not staying at one of these resorts, you can take the skyliner from Epcot to Diney’s Hollywood Studios or Disney’s Hollywood Studios to Epcot. You can also take the skyliner from Epcot or Disney’s Hollywood Studios and just visit the skyliner resorts. Though BoardWalk Villas, Beach Club Villas, and Yacht Club Resort do not show up on the map, they are so close to Epcot that you can easily walk to Epcot and hop on the skyliner. My kids love the skyliner. It is a gondola-style mode of transportation. You get your own gondola and it flies you through the air to the next location. A map of the skyliner is located below. Many of the gondolas have a theme that covers the exterior of the gondola. We recently went on one with a Tory Story theme. The outside was covered with Rex, Jessie, Slinky, Buzz, and Woody. The skyliner is a pretty quick mode of transportation. The only thing to note about the skyliner is that it will not operate in bad weather. So, if there is bad weather, you will need to take another mode of transportation- likely the bus.
Last, but not least, are the boats. There are a few different boats that act as transportation within Walt Disney World. There is the boat that connects Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground, Grand Floridian Resort, Polynesian Resort, and Fort Wilderness Resort to Magic Kingdom. There is also a boat that connects BoardWalk Villas, Beach Club Villas, Yacht Club Resort, and the Swan and Dolphin hotels to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Lastly, there is a boat that connects Old Key West Resort, Saratoga Springs Resort, Port Orleans-Riverside, and Port Orleans-French Quarter to Disney Springs- the Walt Disney World shopping center. The boat is also a pretty quick mode of transportation. Again, it will not operate in bad weather. So, if there is bad weather, you will need to take another mode of transportation- likely the bus.
Please note that you cannot park at one of the resorts and take the transportation from that resort to another location unless you are staying at the resort or have dining reservations at the resort. So, if you want to take the skyliner somewhere, you will need to park at your resort or at one of the parking lots for one of the theme parks and take the transportation from there.
There are paid transportation services at Disney World. You can take an uber or Lyft, like anywhere else. MinnieVans are another popular mode of transportation in Walt Disney World. They are operated by Lyft, so they work in the same way, but they are driven by cast members who work for Disney. They have the extra perk of dropping their patrons off where the busses drop off, which is usually much closer than the parking areas. The Minnie Vans do cost a pretty penny. Here is the website if you want to learn more: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/minnie-van-service/ .