When you visit most large theme parks, you typically have to pay for parking. Most of us probably don’t think it’s fair that on top of paying $100+ to play for the day, you have to pay to park your car, but it is what it is.
At Walt Disney World (WDW), you can self-park at the theme parks for free if you’re staying at one of the Disney-owned resort hotels on property. Guests with annual passes are also allowed to self-park at Disney for free. But if you’re staying off-site, or are local, and have a day ticket, you’re expected to pay. Current prices are:
- Standard parking: car or motorcycle – $35 per day
- Preferred parking: car or motorcycle – $50, $55 or $60 per day (pricing is seasonal)
- Oversized Vehicle Parking: Shuttle, Limo, Camper Trailer, RV, Bus or Tractor Trailer – $40 per day
There’s been a hack to circumvent paying for parking, and that was to park at Disney’s shopping and dining district, Disney Springs (if you’re old school, the area used to be Pleasure Island, the West Side and the Marketplace. Before that, it was the Disney Village Marketplace). Disney Springs has free parking garages, as well as free bus and boat service to and from the resort’s 30+ hotels, and each hotel has bus service to and from the resort’s four theme parks, two water parks, and other destinations.
So a day guest could conceivably park at Disney Springs, take a bus or boat to one of the hotels, and then take another bus to the park of your choice (or walk. There are some hotels that are within walking distance to Magic Kingdom or Epcot). When you were ready to go home, you would just reverse the process.
Personally, I never thought the whole “park at Disney Springs” system made sense. Sure, you’d save on parking charges, but between waiting for two separate modes of transportation, on top of the actual rides, you’d be wasting a good two to three hours per day on transportation alone.
But apparently a lot of people did think it was a good idea. Enough of them that, earlier this week, WDW announced that as of June 28th, anyone who tries to take a WDW bus or boat from Disney Springs to any of the hotels will have to show proof that they’re currently staying at a Disney-owned hotel, or that they have dining or recreation reservation at the resort that they’re visiting.
So if you were at Disney Springs and were taking a bus to the Contemporary Resort Hotel, you would have to show either your room key or MagicBand to show proof that you were staying at an on-site hotel. Or you would have to show your upcoming meal reservation at California Grill, Chef Mickey’s, Steakhouse 71, etc. Otherwise you won’t be allowed onto the bus, for fear that you might be trying to get to Magic Kingdom and not pay for parking.
Our take on this
Disney hasn’t officially said why they’re changing this rule, although everything points to “forcing” day guests to pay to the parks.
That being said, they’re really just stealing from Peter to pay Paul. There are day guests who go to WDW because they enjoy wandering around the resorts. And while they’re at it, perhaps they’ll grab a snack at the Boardwalk Resort Hotel, a quick service meal at Port Orleans Resort Hotel, or multiple drinks at Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto, Disney’s Tiki bar at the Polynesian Resort Hotel.
It’s not as if the resort hotels will allow people to park there; many won’t (I’ve tried to go to Trader Sam’s and the guard at the gate has told me to park somewhere else. Disney Springs had been an option, but now it won’t be). Many locals would park at Disney Springs and then “resort hop” (read: go from hotel to hotel) during the holiday season (and again, buy holiday “stuff” – decorations, snacks, etc.); that won’t be an option anymore.
So the money they might get from people willing to pay to park at the parks would be evened out by the merchandise, food and drink those who won’t go anymore, won’t buy.
Will this stop people from trying to avoid paying for parking?
Probably not.
If there’s one thing Disney fans are good at, it’s finding workarounds. Give them a rule and someone will eventually figure out a way around it. Give them a fee and they’ll spend hours on Facebook groups trying to figure out how not to pay it.
The bigger question is whether Disney is solving a problem or creating a new one.
Yes, some guests were almost certainly using Disney Springs as a free parking lot before heading to the parks. But plenty of others were using Disney Springs exactly as Disney intended—as a starting point for shopping, dining, and exploring the resort hotels.
Those guests weren’t trying to save $35 on parking. They were spending money elsewhere on property.
Time will tell whether the additional parking revenue offsets any loss in restaurant, bar, merchandise, and resort-hopping traffic. But for now, one thing is certain: a Disney World transportation strategy that has existed for years is about to become a lot harder to pull off.
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