I guess I come down on the side of Disney on this issue. They tested this and must have measured the results and saw things that encouraged them to implement it permanently. Remember it takes more labor on Disney’s part to enforce this so they had to see a significant benefit, IMO.
I can think of very few reasonable scenarios where someone with a legitimate purpose would be impacted (I sure there are some) but in almost all cases those inconveniences can be overcome with a ride share service.
I think the major benefits to Disney and their Guests are:
reduction of freeloaders using resort pools as a free water park day (I think this is one of the biggest reasons). Guests have been complaining about this for years. Disney had to crack down on Day Guest parking many years ago because of this problem.
Reduction of the above will result in a better experience for resort guests at the pools, reduce load on the bus system benefitting resort guests, free up parking for Disney Springs shoppers.
I can only think the problem was more significant than some think otherwise Disney would not have bothered.
I feel like this problem could be solved if resorts put bands on resort guests like they do for hard ticket events and then police it militantly like they do at the hard ticket events.
So it won’t be free parking at DS but ‘freeloaders’ could pay $35 to park at say HS and still go to any resort to use the pool all day for free. It would still be cheaper than a water park day.
So @len posted on WDWMagic , and I think it was also mentioned on The Dish, that since the restrictions have come in, typically 20% of guests in line at DS have been turned away (from “sources”).
And when TP had people out counting on Wed afternoon, they had it at 25%.
That’s a lot higher than I was thinking, and I suspect I’m not alone in that.
Someone I know pointed out that many could just be those staying offsite who have always just got a taxi / rideshare to DS rather than to a park because it’s easier, less busy etc.
Maybe Disney need to start telling guests with tickets about the new policy in advance. Even a message on the MDE ticket page - most people would double check their tickets cleats before setting off for a trip.
Wow! Well, color me surprised. I take back what I said before then, because I never imagined that the numbers would be that high!
Having said that, is there a raw number to that 25%? Because it could sound high, unless the total number of folks was still quite low (suggesting the more surprising indication that not as many resort guests bother going to DS).
There was a report on chat on Sunday that the walking path to SS was being checked later in the day/night. The check was not there earlier. This was at the same time that the TTC and MK walking paths were being checked to Poly/GF. It seems like Disney added extra steps to limit the beaches/fireworks viewing areas.
You could reach out to Disney about that info but I expect they will just correct that info to align with the other posted Disney Springs transportation info.
The other day in one of my feeds, there was a video of an Orlando resident talking about packing up her kids, driving to DS and then talking the busses to the resort to use the playgrounds. This would never have come to my mind to do and is one of the reasons that this is happening and a perfect example of entitled people ruining things.
One of the reasons that I keep hearing about why the policy was put into place was because of overcrowding of busses. Instead of shutting it down like they have why not limit it at peak times and seasons? I would fully understand them limiting it during peak seasons and holidays and at peak times of the day, but limiting it on a random Wednesday in the middle of February does not make sense.
They need a warning on their tickets that say only park-to-park transportation is permitted.
Perhaps when boarding the bus TO Disney Springs guests should be warned they can’t come back unless they have a resort stay.
I believe Blog Mickey suggested that resorts should post that warning since it is not a park issue (no park transport to Disney Springs) only a resort issue.
It wouldn’t surprise me. I saw a TikTok mom a few months back talking about having her child’s birthday party at one of the resort pools. I don’t remember which resort it was, but clearly this has turned into a thing and it (and other behavior like it) has drawn Disney’s attention.
I expect Disney sees 20-25% of non resort guests riding their DS transportation and calculate how much extra they are paying for this. Transportation is expensive.
