first off, parking at downtown disney is free. it's $10 for cars at the parks. because disney wants your money, if you park ay DTD, you will have to take a disney bus to a resort, and then transfer to a park bus at the resort. same for the way back. bus to resort, and then a bus to DTD. it's that way mainly because Disney wants your $10, but also because "on paper" Disney transportation is for resort guests only. Remember when you got a transportation pass when you checked in and had to show it to use the busses. i remember it back in 89- 92 when i went. And even today you can see on the signs at DTD and Blizzard beach. "please present proper identification"(your room key). now, i said on paper, because we don't make you show anything to go to the resort. But why would disney transportatio be for resort guests only? It's because the resorts pay for it. Yep, while the parks pay for the monorail and ferryboats, the busses are chartered by the resorts. $2 per room per day. And just like off site hotels charte busses to come every hour or so, Disney resorts charter us to come every 20 min. Some, like Saratoga, pay more to have a bus every 15 min. (yes, i know that we have park to park, and TTC runs that dont go to a resort, but theres a loophole in everything). so thats why you cant go from resort to resort without a stop at a park. Disney busses are actually Disney charter busses, chartered by the Disney hotels. and since, the resorts (and our resort guests) are paying for it, "officially" the busses are for resort guests only. Disney wants you to drive your car or take a taxi if your not in one of their hotels (again, with the exception of the park to park or TTC busses). if your hotels vharte bus drops you off at TTC, disney wants you to get to the parks, but if you're not STAYING in one of their hotels, they want you to drive yourself. But like i said, we don't really follow that too much, but thats the "official" stance. Unofficially, we bus drivers don't ask, and don't care either way.
