5 /5 Chris Nunez: My wife and I visited this plaza for the New River Cafe and the water trolley. This is the starting point for both the free water trolley (small yellow water taxi) and the water taxi (much larger yellow water taxi). We took the free water taxi that circles around every 20-40 minutes (this can be much longer if one of the two draw bridges block the river coming back). We unfortunately made the mistake of getting off at Stop 5 on the other side of the Riverwalk thinking it would be an easy walk around but were wrong. Unless you plan to backtrack across the bridge to Esplanade Park (Stop 4), youll have to walk a fair distance around to reconnect with the Riverwalk at Stop 6. Theres honestly nothing to see between Stops 5-8 besides the historic Downtowner at Stop 7, as the rest is just a lot of residential and court buildings. We highly suggest not even bothering to go to Stop 8 at Smoker Park because it doesnt actually connect to Stop 1. If its a busy day, youll have to hope the trolley isnt full when it steps off from Stop 1 to get across the river, or bite the bullet and walk back 21 minutes. The captain was nice enough to carry us straight back from Stop 8 to Laura Ward Plaza since there were only a few people on the boat, but you might have to get off at Stop 2 if its busy. Save yourself time by either getting off at Esplanade Park and walking the Riverwalk back to Stop 1 or getting off at Stop 6 or 7 and doubling back across the bridge at S Andrews Ave.
