Disney May Permanently Verify Guests Using Disney Buses From Disney Springs
Free parking hack for theme park guests may be over!
Disney is not going to lose one cent from visitors, and it seems they are closing one of the loopholes for free theme park parking.
If you visit Disney Springs at the Walt Disney World Resort, you can park your car for free. Many guests were doing this and then riding the complimentary Disney buses to hotels and then connecting to park buses to avoid paying for Disney’s $35-$60 parking fees.
During the Easter season, Disney limited bus usage to resort hotel guests only. They were scanning MagicBands or phones to prove riders were registered Disney resort guests or had reservations for dining or activities at those locations.
Not a guest? Then you couldn’t get on the bus.
Disney didn’t like losing money, so they will reportedly be doing this again for the July 4th crowd, according to WDWMagic. It reportedly will become a permanent practice moving forward.
“WDWMAGIC sources, the verification process is expected to resume before the July 4 holiday week and will become a permanent, standard operating practice going forward.”
Guests will only be allowed to board Disney Springs buses if they have one of the following reasons:
An active resort hotel reservation
A confirmed dining reservation at the hotel they are trying to take a bus to.
A confirmed reserved activity at the hotel location.
It doesn’t sound like this is just going to be used at peak crowd times.
Of course, Disney has not made any official announcements about this, and the rumor is coming from “WDWMAGIC sources.” But WDWMAGIC is often correct with proven sources.
Disney needs every penny.
As attendance drops, the only way to hit profit goals is to increase spending from the guests they do have. This means they need to stop free parking hacks to make more money.
It is true the buses get crowded, and guests can’t use them if they are full of those trying to hack free parking.
Disney will push this under the guise of better bus availability for paying guests, but it is likely part of a bigger plan to squeeze more money out of guests who are already paying record-high costs for the Disney vacation.
Got to get every possible cent.
Expect to pay for parking moving forward.