Eating quick service at a resort your not staying at

[Star3]

Are you able to eat at the quick service restaurants in resorts your not staying at? I'd like to check out a few resorts and thought this would be an easy way to do so. I've heard stories of people only being able to visit some of the luxury resorts if they have a table reservation.

 

[mom2rtk]

No problem at all. Parking there is a separate question though.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Contemporary and Polynesian might be tough to park there. But if you are staying at WDW, you can park at the TTC and take the monorail around.

 

[B-Ride]

We have visited resorts just to have a look at them so you should have to problem visiting for lunch. Helps if you are a guest at another Disney resort.

 

[wdwrule]

Are you able to eat at the quick service restaurants in resorts your not staying at? I'd like to check out a few resorts and thought this would be an easy way to do so. I've heard stories of people only being able to visit some of the luxury resorts if they have a table reservation.

Yes and we do often, especially when we’re at MK or Epcot... we take the monorail or boat depending on which resort we’re headed to from the parks. More so from MK since Epcot has a great variety of QS but still nice to visit and change of scenery.

 

[DrunkJam]

Yep, no problem, we did it lots, it's nice to change things up. You can refill your mug at any resort too, which can be fun if somewhere has a flavour your resort does not have.

 

[only hope]

Anyone can visit any resort. You don’t have to spend money to do so. However, the resorts that have monorail, boat, and/or skyway transportation to the parks typically restrict parking. Often you must have an adr and there’s a time limit. For these resorts, if you don’t have an adr, you need to leave the car at the park.

 

[Mazz519]

We used to do this a lot when my kids were small....things have changed and its not so easy to park at all the resorts now.

 

[loves to dive]

We do it all the time but use WDW transportation when we do.

 

[Disneypro1]

Yep. Just drive there and park. Or use Disney transport.

 

[Disneypro1]

Anyone can visit any resort. You don’t have to spend money to do so. However, the resorts that have monorail, boat, and/or skyway transportation to the parks typically restrict parking. Often you must have an adr and there’s a time limit. For these resorts, if you don’t have an adr, you need to leave the car at the park.

Not true. You can always park at these resorts and explore or eat. We do it all the time. You can 100% park your car say at the Poly and spend time there. We do.
If we drive to Disney. We always visit the Contemporary. Non issue.
Now getting to the parks. We always use Disney transport. But for exploring. The car. The skyliner has changed that though. It’s really neat to use when we can.

 

[Allison]

only being able to visit some of the luxury resorts if they have a table reservation.

You have misinterpreted. What you are talking about is being able to park a vehicle there.

 

[Jobelle]

I'm interested in this conversation. On our arrival day (staying off site and renting a car) we are hoping to go to Captain Cooks at Poly for dinner and then maybe wander the resort some and, if my young kids are up for it, stay to watch fireworks from the beach. This thread seems to have some conflicting info re parking. I was under the impression that you could park at any resort for daytime use but would usually have a time limit. But is that not the case for Poly? We'd rather not pay for parking at TTC on a non-park day.

 

[Disneypro1]

You can park at any resort to visit. Period. We do it at the Poly and Contemporary and quite a lot. No issues. We have also used Disney Transport from Disney Springs or The Monorail. Most often though we don’t drive. But when we do, we always visit the monorail resorts. We just park the car and do whatever. If you are not going to the parks. There is zero reason to use the TTA. Just drive to that resort. Or if you are at Disney Springs. Use Disney Transport to any resort.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Sometimes people are allowed to park without an ADR, sometimes they are not. No way to reliably know. It’s fairly recent that people have been turned away even if they were legitimately wanting to dine somewhere without ADRs.

The reports I’ve read where people have been turned away have been at all 3 monorail resorts, I believe.

 

[StayAwake]

I'm interested in this conversation. On our arrival day (staying off site and renting a car) we are hoping to go to Captain Cooks at Poly for dinner and then maybe wander the resort some and, if my young kids are up for it, stay to watch fireworks from the beach. This thread seems to have some conflicting info re parking. I was under the impression that you could park at any resort for daytime use but would usually have a time limit. But is that not the case for Poly? We'd rather not pay for parking at TTC on a non-park day.

Here's my experiences from January 2020

Friday January 10th
Arrived at Poly around 2 pm or a little after. There was a sign as I pulled into the guard house that said "Parking for resort guests & dining reservations only" or something close to that. Guard asked how they could help me. I said "I'm here to have lunch with my sister." Showed my ID and guard let me through to park. Didn't ask which restaurant I was going to, even though we were planning to meet at Captain Cook's and so I didn't have an ADR to show her.

I didn't receive a time check or any type of limitation on how long I could park there, although we only stayed for about an hour.

Saturday January 11th
Arrived at Wilderness Lodge around 10:45 am. Guard asked how they could help. We said, "we're here to have lunch". Showed my ID and guard let me through to park. We did have an ADR, but the guard didn't ask where we were eating. We didn't receive a time check or any type of limitation on how long we could park there.

After lunch, we decided to take the boat over to Magic Kingdom for a while. Stayed at Magic Kingdom until around 3 pm when my boarding group for ROTR was called. Took the boat back and picked up the car around 3:30 pm. No issues or problems. I did pay for parking at Hollywood Studios, so Disney got their parking money from me for the day.

If there had been different guards, would we have had a different experience? Possibly. Worst thing that can happen is you get redirected to park at TTC, so it's worth trying, in my opinion.

 

[Jobelle]

Sometimes people are allowed to park without an ADR, sometimes they are not. No way to reliably know. It’s fairly recent that people have been turned away even if they were legitimately wanting to dine somewhere without ADRs.

The reports I’ve read where people have been turned away have been at all 3 monorail resorts, I believe.

Okay. Thanks, so generally we would be fine to plan an evening at the poly and would be allowed to park there. But there's a chance that we'd be denied parking and there is no way to know for sure in advance.

I guess we'll just have a backup plan then.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Okay. Thanks, so generally we would be fine to plan an evening at the poly and would be allowed to park there. But there's a chance that we'd be denied parking and there is no way to know for sure in advance.

I guess we'll just have a backup plan then.

Yeah, no harm in trying, IMO! Worst case if you’re really set on your plans you can pay to park at the TTC if they turn you away.

 

[Ds4angels]

We had planned to go to the Chip and Dale Campfire at Fort Wilderness, we were turned away as they were only letting people who had a reservation for HDDR that night. So be ready that they may turn you away if their lot is full.

 

[Tryxie]

We were turned away from the Contemporary with no ADR. We even asked if we could pull over to make an ADR at the Wave and we were told no.