Which is stupid
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This
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The word on Reddit is that âinfluencersâ were telling their followers to park at DS to bypass the parking fees. Maybe it was that many people. I donât know how many of the talking heads on Tik Tok were spouting that advice or how many followers they may have led down a primrose path.
Just wanted to add an anecdote to the confusion. In April 2022, my sister and I were visiting my son, who at that time was in the Disney College Program. We were staying at the All Star Movies. I wanted to go to Primo Piatto, so we jumped in the rental car and drove to the Riviera⌠where we were denied entry to the resort because we werenât staying there and didnât have an ADR. We drove away; I made a mobile order for Primo Piatto, and when we got back to the guard shack, we showed my phone to security. They let us in so we could get our salads and sandwiches. We enjoyed it. But that seemed like a way that could put people off resort-hopping.
Itâs my understanding that Disney security always has the option to turn people away according to whim. So I just try to be prepared to pivot. I try. I donât always succeed.
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Can you imagine doing that before a long park day and then again at the end of a long park day?
Maybe I am overthinking this, but if you were the kind of person that is trying to save $35 on parking, you are probably going to try to maximize your park day ticket, as well.
I donât think the system would work for rope drop, but would somebody correct me if Iâm wrong? Exactly how early does this option work? And after closing, that is a tremendous effort to go back to your car.
In theory, you could park at the water parks, then take a bus to a resort, and then take another bus to a park⌠But what is the win?
And to be transparent - I am the cheapest person on this board. And I have used many hacks. Throwaway reservations. Two sets of magic bands. Etc.
this is not a win.
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Yes. I dealt with this on our Nov trip.
I had been warned on the forum though.
We wanted to eat at Wilderness Lodge table service on the water but no ADRs. I canât remember name. We could not park there. The attendant was nice, but he couldnât let us.
We parked at MK, took boats to WL. We made the effort bc we had time and we wanted to. But itâs a deterrent.
Then as mentioned above for Saana we parked at AK and took the bus. And we were staying at Sports 5-n and CSR 5-n.
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IIRC, DS buses wouldnât start picking people up until around 10 am.
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Yeah. Iâm pretty sure this is the kind of thing people would only do once
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Besides not wanting people to park at DS for free park parking (which I admit has to be a VERY small subset of people) I am sure they also just donât want extra traffic at the resorts. For the same reason they no longer let you park at a resort for no reason. I think they do get complaints from actual guests at resorts that their lobbies are over crowded with non-resort guests and itâs harder for them to enjoy the amenities.
They should somehow warn you at the resort though, I suppose. I do feel bad for the person who got âstrandedâ at DS with their car at the Poly. But if your car is at the Poly, why wouldnât you just drive to DS?
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This is the only reason that actually makes sense. And going forward they actually could (and should) promote that all the amenities within the resorts are available to WDW guests only.
They donât need to make resort QS an option for non-WDW guests. But as yet they have been.
Promotion of new policy takes time.
WDW magic reporting it isnât quite the same as WDW sharing it.
Perhaps this is a trial period and we could see that verbiage roll out. 
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I am actually concerned that this could potentially be a way to save money. If influencers are telling viewers to park at Disney Springs and to take the free bus, and Disney is seeing an increase in riders, they may need to run additional buses? I know for my school district, each bus was over 100k per 180 days (6 hour runs).
I am reminded that Josh made his mark by increasing revenue. This is not an increase, but it could save money and there is a new head of Parks and Experiences.
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Maybe when they took the bus they had had a couple of lapu lapu and were being responsible.
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True! My other thought was that whatever let you park at the Poly in the first place should allow you back in, right?
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This would be my thoughtâŚbut this is assuming that when the tap-pads that I assume they will be giving CMs to check this look at not just upcoming ADRs, but also earlier ADRs.
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I didnât think about that, but you could be right. Or, at least, it could be a piece of the puzzle. Maybe. Iâm left wondering if the number of people doing this actually leads to issues like this. I just think about the times (limited, admittedly) when we are at DS and then go back to the busesâŚthere is barely anyone actually waiting at any of the bus depot locations. Maybe other times of the day this wouldnât be the case.
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This also feels like a limited use case because Iâm not sure thereâs any world in which you can eat an an ADR at a resort AND go to DS and back in under 3 hours. I know the 3 hours isnât enforced at the resort side, but I can see them saying you would need to move your car to DS. I understand the drinking situation but I guess I donât see them owing off-site guests more than 3 hours of parking at a resort during a busy time of year.
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I think the most likely person to take advantage of this âloopholeâ would be a local with an AP who is going to the parks for the evening.
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APs, do not get free parking?!
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They do. Totally forgot about that.
Ok so maybe itâs locals with day tickets / event tickets? 
Or guests staying at the near by hotels and resorts who donât want to use their resort shuttles.
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Clearly âfree parkingâ at DS has been a big enough issue over the course of history that they did already stop the DS to/from park buses many years ago. This was 100% a case of âthey ruined it for the rest of us.â I would love to go to DS from a park or back to a park after going to DS.
With the crowds Iâve seen at DS I donât think they are reducing demand for DS at all!
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