How does parking work for visiting other resorts? Several years ago, hubby and I took a bus to Boardwalk for a few hours and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’d thought about taking my parents for a few hours one night of our trip if we have some extra time. Hubby and I have since decided we prefer driving most places on site instead of Disney transportation, but I’m not sure how that works now that they’ve changed parking rules and added fees. Are you still allowed to park at another resort for a couple hours without dining reservations?
Depends on how busy it is, which resort and the CM manning the gate.
Generally not at all at the Boardwalk, unlikely at the BC/YC and monorail resorts.
But at a quiet time you may get lucky. I wouldn’t bank on it though. They want you to use Disney transport.
The terms are very clear that free parking is allowed at resorts for ‘day guests’:
Day Guests
Complimentary standard self-parking is available while enjoying select dining, shopping, entertainment, and recreation experiences at Disney Resort hotels.
However as Nicky says, if it’s really busy they may turn you away, but I’ve only read of this being the case at peak times such as food and wine festival.
If you want to get in without the hassle of trying to convince a CM on the gate you’re allowed the easy option is a ‘bump and run’ dining reservation. Just make a reservation for about an hour ahead of when you’re due to be there for one person at a resort restaurant. You can get in by them seeing you have an ADR or scanning your magic band, and then while you can’t cancel that reservation because it’s within a day of it’s use, as long as it is at least 30 minutes before the actual time, you can modify it to a future date and THEN cancel it.
Note this might currently be something Disney are stopping as the Modify button has been taken out of the iPhone app this week. But you can still do it by logging into the mobile website.
Or, worst case scenario don’t cancel it and see the $10 you get charged as a reasonable parking fee compared to the $25 you’d have to pay at a park car park which you’d then have to walk from.
Even with an ADR at busy times you may get a ticket to put in your window saying you have only three hours in the resort car park, but that sounds like enough for your plans.