How to get to the parks
 

I will be staying on international drive and have no idea how I would get to any of the Disney parks and water parks from there. Is there a bus you can catch from the I drive direct to these parks or how does this disney transportation system I've heard of work? Are there buses from there that take you to every park? Thank you

Disney Transport only operates on Disney property.
On I Drive there is the Lynx Bus or Uber and Lyft, or normal taxis, and sometimes hotels on IDrive lay on their own buses normally at a cost

Quick google suggest you catch the Lynx 50 bus from Sea Harbour Drive near Seaworld which stops at Disney Springs and then at the Disney Transportation and Ticket centre where Disney's own buses/monorail/boats etc will take you to the parks.

https://www.golynx.com/plan-trip/rou...entry_id=5557#

We used Uber/Lyft for everything! If you have the app on your phone and use google maps to plot your route you will see a little icon of a person hailing a cab. Click on that and it’ll give an estimate. I used this to budget for transport costs.
There are tips and tricks on here about where to go to to avoid the transportation centre as it gets packed. We used to get the monorail at park close to Contemporary (much smaller queue for resort monorail than Ticket and Transportation centre) then get Uber from there for example

If you are just visiting Disney or mostly Disney it might be worth you moving your booking to Lake Buena Vista area - Uber from there to the parks is $6 or $7.

Staying on Idrive without a car means hours and hours of transportation at the end of your stay

you could catch a bus to disney springs or TTC (Magic Kingdom) ... just note it runs every 30 minutes at best, and once every hour the rest of the time.
you will be dropped off at a stop where it will require between 20 and 40 minutes to get to a park (wait time and drive time) and that's on top of the ride on the public transportation bus (lynx)

same on the way back

so basically you can forget about early park arrivals, and about nightly show

definitely get uber, or rent a car which is the way to go when you stay on idrive

hotel shuttles are sometimes provided on idrive. They are a pain. They often only run a couple of times a day, require reservation each day, and will drop you off at a location requiring you to transfer onto disney buses, effectively kissing nightly shows goodbye

Unfortunately theres not much I can do about that. I couldnt afford to stay at disney and in all honesty preferred the option of staying on I drive. I'm not too fussed about the fireworks and am happy to just leave the hotel early and do some planning with bus times etc. With all the walking we will be doing the bus rides will probably be a nice rest for my children. We may get an uber every now and then depending on the prices too.

waiting forever for buses, standing up, without any shade at Lynx stops, that are often very close to the passing cars
Standing up on the bus most of the time ... (and pushchair folded if they still use one)

I'm sure you will make the best of it. It's just not my view of a nice rest after a long day at the parks.

but, well, I understand priorities
just consider uber. A lynx ticket will come at $2 each way per person. depending on how many in your party, getting a uber will be hundreds of times more comfortable, fast, and not necessarily a budget breaker.

just think about it.

Thanks for your concern. Unfortunately everyone has different budgets. Some higher than others! Obviously if I can afford an uber that will definitely be the plan but I guess we will have to wait and see. I'm sure we will have an amazing holiday regardless.

I'm sure you will.