Do you still need a dining reservation to park at the resorts?

Wendy Corduroy

Wendy Corduroy

New Member
Original Poster
If I am interested in visiting any of the resorts, am I required to have an onsite dining reservation in order to park in their lot? (I am not staying on Disney property.)

Last year, I was told this was the case. However, I would like to visit a few of the lounges and maybe just stroll around. I'd rather not commit to a table service meal if I don't have to.

Thanks
 
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DisneyFanatic12

Well-Known Member
Wendy Corduroy said:
If I am interested in visiting any of the resorts, am I required to have an onsite dining reservation in order to park in their lot? (I am not staying on Disney property.)

Last year, I was told this was the case. However, I would like to visit a few of the lounges and maybe just stroll around. I'd rather not commit to a table service meal if I don't have to.

Thanks
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Disney likes to change up their resort parking policies throughout the year. As of right now, Fort Wilderness won’t allow day guests from October 26th to November 2nd. It really just depends on the time of year, but if not traveling when busy, you very rarely will need a reservation to park at the resorts (as long as you plan at on shopping or dining while there, they’ll almost always let you in). Granted, I almost never park at resorts when not staying at one, so perhaps someone else knows of a more concrete rule. In my experience, if there is plenty of parking, they’ll let you in.
 
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drizgirl

Well-Known Member
DisneyFanatic12 said:
Disney likes to change up their resort parking policies throughout the year. As of right now, Fort Wilderness won’t allow day guests from October 26th to November 2nd. It really just depends on the time of year, but if not traveling when busy, you very rarely will need a reservation to park at the resorts (as long as you plan at on shopping or dining while there, they’ll almost always let you in). Granted, I almost never park at resorts when not staying at one, so perhaps someone else knows of a more concrete rule. In my experience, if there is plenty of parking, they’ll let you in.
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There isn't a concrete rule. Sometimes they let people in. Most times they don't. You won't know until you get there and ask.
 
NelleBelle

NelleBelle

Well-Known Member
I think the exception to this is parking at the Poly, GF, and especially the CR—you definitely need an ADR. As of late, you’ll likely need one for BC/YC and BWI. Basically anywhere you can park and walk into the parks. I think other resorts might be less strict but again, depends on how busy/time of year. You could always park at DS and take a resort bus or transportation from one of the parks if you’ve parked there already.
 
KDM31091

KDM31091

Well-Known Member
You need a dining reservation in most cases, particularly for the monorail resorts and/or Beach Club/Boardwalk/etc. As long as they charge for park parking, they will not relax this rule much, because obviously people would just park at the walkable resorts and walk to MK, Epcot, etc. For the non-park adjacent resorts, they probably are a little more lenient, depending on crowd levels. Your best bet to avoid any potential drama or hassle is to park at DS (free no matter what) and then take the busses to whichever resort you want.
 
MickeyLuv'r

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
I agree the non-park adjacent resorts, and hotels NOT on the Skyliner line are your best bets. If you are going while Skyliner is down, then you'll probably be okay.

You can also pay for valet parking. If you pay once, your fee is valid for the whole day.

I would also venture to say your odds also go up if you ask to visit say mid-day when the hotels are quiet. People who show up to a monorail resort in the morning, just before MK opens, tend to be turned away. Likewise, if you try to park there just before the Halloween party starts, that sort of thing. (At a time when it appears you are trying to bypass the regular parking lot)
 
Wendy Corduroy

Wendy Corduroy

New Member
Original Poster
Just wanted to give an update: I went to AKL with a dinner reservation on two separate occasions, as well as Destino Tower, informed the person working at the booth, and they did not need proof nor did they check us in. They simply asked to see driver ID, after stating we had a reservation, and then we were on our way. Though I didn't actually test it out, I didn't leave feeling that we would've been turned away had we chosen to eat at the bar/lounge instead.
 
NelleBelle

NelleBelle

Well-Known Member
My guess is that the resorts that you can walk into the parks will be more strict. When dining at the Poly, they’ve asked for our ADR# or scanned a MB.
 
tpoly88

tpoly88

Well-Known Member
KDM31091 said:
You need a dining reservation in most cases, particularly for the monorail resorts and/or Beach Club/Boardwalk/etc. As long as they charge for park parking, they will not relax this rule much, because obviously people would just park at the walkable resorts and walk to MK, Epcot, etc. For the non-park adjacent resorts, they probably are a little more lenient, depending on crowd levels. Your best bet to avoid any potential drama or hassle is to park at DS (free no matter what) and then take the busses to whichever resort you want.
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The work around for this is ride share, they let you be dropped off without a ADR. We do this to go to trader sams for a drink. you can also get dropped off at the TTC and take the monorail and for the boardwalk get dropped at the Swan/dolphin and just walk next door. the parking issue became a problem
 
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drizgirl

Well-Known Member
tpoly88 said:
The work around for this is ride share, they let you be dropped off without a ADR. We do this to go to trader sams for a drink. you can also get dropped off at the TTC and take the monorail and for the boardwalk get dropped at the Swan/dolphin and just walk next door. the parking issue became a problem
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Not sure about the others, but the Contemporary won't even let ride shares in most of the time.
 
krissybear2003

krissybear2003

Member
Wendy Corduroy said:
If I am interested in visiting any of the resorts, am I required to have an onsite dining reservation in order to park in their lot? (I am not staying on Disney property.)

Last year, I was told this was the case. However, I would like to visit a few of the lounges and maybe just stroll around. I'd rather not commit to a table service meal if I don't have to.

Thanks
Click to expand...
We are here now… you can get to other resorts pretty easy. We had walked over to Beach Club from Epcot. You can take the skyline tar from Epcot to the skyline resorts as well. You can also take the monorail to the Grand Floridian and Polynesian. You may also take buses to the other resorts all the buses leave from the parks to the resorts. We did this while it was raining. We are staying on site and did have reservations in different hotels but also used the Disney transportation to get to other hotels
 

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