News Disney Springs Bus Service to Resorts Now Requires Reservation Verification

[Br0ckford]

Much ado about nothing. I'm a local AP and doesn't bother me one bit. Too busy for me anyway, and this ends like April 5th or something. Before I moved here and would visit, I'd have appreciated it, so no biggie....

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

A post from Reddit - a guest parked at Polynesian with a breakfast reservation at O’hana and then took the bus to Disney springs and they couldn’t get back to Polynesian to get to the car. So they had to go to Saratoga, bus to MK and then over to Poly.

Cmon… that’s just silly.

Meh, you’re not supposed to park at poly for a breakfast reservation and then leave your car there all day while you do other stuff. This is why parking at the poly as a guest can be problematic at times. I have zero sympathy for this person.

 

[lentesta]

This came through on my Instagram feed yesterday. It suggests that to avoid taking an Uber from MCO to your Disney resort, you take the $2 Lynx bus to Disney Springs and get on your resort bus there.

I'm guessing this is contributing to the recent change, though I'm not sure what "active" in "active reservation" means. Like, do you have to be checked in to board the bus? Also, is the ban in reverse?

In any event, this seems like rage farming more than actual travel advice.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Pity the global megacorporation that has exponentially raised prices over the last two decades and might lose out on parking fees.

It’s very funny to see a thread full of people trying to refute the fact that Disney has made it much, much harder to resort hop over the last decade by outlining “simple” multipart plans those with an intimate knowledge of the WDW transportation network could use to bypass the current restrictions, thus reinforcing the statement that Disney has made resort hopping much, much harder.

This situation also highlights how terrible Disney Springs transportation is and how much it declined. The area once had multiple bus stops and an internal water taxi network. After a massive expansion, it now has one woefully inadequate bus station and no internal water taxis.

Frankly, if I was paying to stay at a Disney resort and went to the trouble of visiting their shopping center only to be greeted with, “papers please,” when attempting to get back to my room I’d be incandescent with rage.

And if you’re looking at a crowded Grand Floridian lobby and making yourself angry by imaging which guests are just there for the cupcakes, you need to reexamine your attitude. And by the way, unless you’re staying concierge, you’re a guest in the main Floridian building too. You’ve got your own lobby, and it ain’t crowded.

 

[osian]

This came through on my Instagram feed yesterday. It suggests that to avoid taking an Uber from MCO to your Disney resort, you take the $2 Lynx bus to Disney Springs and get on your resort bus there.

I'm guessing this is contributing to the recent change, though I'm not sure what "active" in "active reservation" means. Like, do you have to be checked in to board the bus? Also, is the ban in reverse?

In any event, this seems like rage farming more than actual travel advice.

View attachment 914206

The problem with this is that you can't take luggage on a Disney bus.

 

[Tha Realest]

Frankly, if I was paying to stay at a Disney resort and went to the trouble of visiting their shopping center only to be greeted with, “papers please,” when attempting to get back to my room I’d be incandescent with rage.

I don’t necessarily disagree with your post, but this would be an irrational and emotionally disproportionate response. I’ve been asked for my name and reservation (hotel or dining) at the security gate at multiple resorts (MK and EPCOT and otherwise) and I don’t start frothing at the mouth with the “Don’t you know who I *am*?” act.

 

[Touchdown]

DS has always had terrible bus service, it’s why I never go there when at WDW. The bus is the least frequent and it takes me over an hour to commute to and then another hour to commute back. I wish they would do this check all the time, if it meant better service.

Then again if I was king I would set up a monorail/light rail system with multiple loops for MK (expanded to include WL, FW,) Epcot/DHS with the Crescent Lake Resorts, AK (Coronado, ESPN, All Stars, BB, AKL) and DS (OKW, Carribean, TL, Pop, Animation, SS) with a fast connector that only goes to the theme parks and DS. I would put a gate at DS entrance and exit and make anyone who is not an AP, resort guest, or scanned first at the exit gate pay to board (that would conveniently be the exact same cost as parking per person.)

 

[bmr1591]

This came through on my Instagram feed yesterday. It suggests that to avoid taking an Uber from MCO to your Disney resort, you take the $2 Lynx bus to Disney Springs and get on your resort bus there.

I'm guessing this is contributing to the recent change, though I'm not sure what "active" in "active reservation" means. Like, do you have to be checked in to board the bus? Also, is the ban in reverse?

In any event, this seems like rage farming more than actual travel advice.

View attachment 914206

I’ve done this before. It’s not really a hack. It takes an hour to get to Disney Springs and you can only do it if you have a backpack. They won’t let luggage on the resort bus (or at least they aren’t supposed to).

 

[LSLS]

Maybe I get it for a busy week? Though I'm still not sure I totally get it. Are the amount of people parking at Springs and bussing to a resort to then bus to a park really that great? I'd think the majority who do it are going to that resort to eat or shop, not park hop.

 

[WorldExplorer]

Meh, you’re not supposed to park at poly for a breakfast reservation and then leave your car there all day while you do other stuff. This is why parking at the poly as a guest can be problematic at times. I have zero sympathy for this person.

They were giving out parking slips at the security booth that said what meal you were there for and that you had a time window last month.

We got given one that said breakfast when our reservation was in an hour at lunch and asked if we needed to talk to someone about that. The front desk said they weren't very strict about it and they wouldn't worry.

Much ado about nothing. I'm a local AP and doesn't bother me one bit. Too busy for me anyway, and this ends like April 5th or something. Before I moved here and would visit, I'd have appreciated it, so no biggie....

Well yeah, you've got free parking. It shouldn't bother anyone that gets free parking because Springs is objectively the worst way to get anywhere. It's much better to park at Magic Kingdom for monorail resorts, Studios for skyliner resorts, or your preference between Studios or AK to use the bus depot there with either a shorter walk than Springs or at least a tram. Mix and match to avoid whatever novelty transportation you don't enjoy.

I wouldn't even use Springs to get to Saratoga.

No Springs bus service only sucks for people who don't have a choice.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Oh this old gag again?

Pathetic that this is how they scrounge for Pennies

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Maybe I get it for a busy week? Though I'm still not sure I totally get it. Are the amount of people parking at Springs and bussing to a resort to then bus to a park really that great? I'd think the majority who do it are going to that resort to eat or shop, not park hop.

It’s almost zero…bad look for a place that charges excessive prices to look so cheap and pencil pushing

 

[phillip9698]

Maybe I get it for a busy week? Though I'm still not sure I totally get it. Are the amount of people parking at Springs and bussing to a resort to then bus to a park really that great? I'd think the majority who do it are going to that resort to eat or shop, not park hop.

Reddit right now is full of people complaining that they can't just park at DS and then spend a day resort hopping to look at lobbies.


Hey I'm not a customer but during the most busy time of the year I'd love to further bog down your transportation system for the people who are customers. Won't you please accommodate me.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Reddit right now is full of people complaining that they can't just park at DS and then spend a day resort hopping to look at lobbies.

That’s actually not something that should ever be discouraged…it would still generate revenue they would not otherwise have

And the parking lockdown and valet fees killed what was a 30 years practice they had always encouraged prior.

This is inventing a square wheel…fixing a “problem” that doesn’t really exist and loookng crass/cheap in the process

 

[phillip9698]

That’s actually not something that should ever be discouraged…it would still generate revenue they would not otherwise have

And the parking lockdown and valet fees killed what was a 30 years practice they was always encouraged prior.

This is inventing a square wheel…fixing a “problem” that doesn’t really exist and loookng crass/cheap in the process

At a certain point a business would be willing to forgo a cupcake sale if that cupcake impacted the visit of the guests who are paying for the full experience.

If revenue is revenue then why not sell a dining only Epcot pass for people to come in and visit WS and the festival booths but not get on any rides. That's "revenue they wouldn't have otherwise" right? Oh because that would overcrowd the park and make the visit miserable for the people who paid to come in and experience everything.

Paying customers should always be given priority when a system is stressed.

 

[Ayla]

The pearl clutching around this is insane. It's been done for years, it happens when its busy, and yeah, shock horror, if you're staying on site you're given priority on the free transport to your own damn resort vs someone who's tried parking at springs for free to avoid paying to park at the parks. It is not a big deal.

Honestly they should be doing this more often if anything.

In my close to 50 trips over 20 years, I have stayed off-site twice. As you can see, the vast majority of my trips have been onsite as a Disney resort guest, at all three resort levels.

I still think it is a bad look and transportation should be for everyone.

 

[Br0ckford]

Well yeah, you've got free parking. It shouldn't bother anyone that gets free parking because Springs is objectively the worst way to get anywhere. It's much better to park at Magic Kingdom for monorail resorts, Studios for skyliner resorts, or your preference between Studios or AK to use the bus depot there with either a shorter walk than Springs or at least a tram. Mix and match to avoid whatever novelty transportation you don't enjoy.

I wouldn't even use Springs to get to Saratoga.

No Springs bus service only sucks for people who don't have a choice.

We do a lot of resort hopping on black out dates. Free parking at the parks doesn't help us. Technically they will let you park if you get a cool gate person but we still don't.

 

[HauntedPirate]

TDO: "We love locals without APs! Come to the WDW Resort, park at Disney Springs, and spend some money while resort-hopping on our free bus system!"

Also TDO: "We hate locals during the holiday seasons. Stop trying to park for free and resort hop, you miserable freeloaders..."

 

[WorldExplorer]

We do a lot of resort hopping on black out dates. Free parking at the parks doesn't help us. Technically they will let you park if you get a cool gate person but we still don't.

I didn't know they blocked the parking on block out days, too! Wow. Sorry if I seemed snarky.

 

[Doberge]

Oh this old gag again?

Pathetic that this is how they scrounge for Pennies

That’s actually not something that should ever be discouraged…it would still generate revenue they would not otherwise have

And the parking lockdown and valet fees killed what was a 30 years practice they had always encouraged prior.

This is inventing a square wheel…fixing a “problem” that doesn’t really exist and loookng crass/cheap in the process

So is Disney scrounging for pennies or turning away revenue?