Is it bad if I do this (disney transportation)

[vin1215]

Hi I am making what is probably my 15th disney trip ( and im only 21 so i have many more to go) anyways I cannot afford to stay onsite this time and was wondering if the idea I have is a bad one. In stead of driving to each theme park I was going to just park at POR and use the disney transportation system. I was thinking this because I do multiple parks in one day and their transportation is the easiest. However would I be frowned upon to do this? I usually always stay on-site however for some reason my week (march 3-6) is a "peak" instead of value which i thought was weird because it is not spring break and it is a monday thru thursday.

 

[pamjb]

Why park at POR? I am not even sure if you can do that, as they check ID when you enter resort property.
However, what you can do is park at ANY of the Parks or the Ticket Transportation Center (parking for MK) and use Disney transportation. Disney transportation is for ANY guest of their theme parks, not just resort guests.

 

[maxiesmom]

If you are not staying at a Disney resort, and ask to park at one, they will give you a parking pass that is good for 3 hours only. After that, they may tow you car. Day parking at the resorts is only for guests of that resort. Otherwise, everyone would park at the resorts, and the people paying to stay at the Disney resorts would have no place left to park.

 

[Allison]

Yes, it is frowned upon. Disney knows people want to do this to avoid paying the parking fees at the parks and the parking is intended for the resort guests and those having a reason to visit the resort. Offsite guests are not allowed to use resort parking as theme park parking.

There is transportation between parks so you shouldn't have a problem parking at one park and getting to other parks from there.

 

[luna99]

you could probably park at downtown disney though and take the buses... not that I'm suggesting it

 

[dlnsmmy1]

Just a preface...I am not flaming you, however. The point is those of us who decide to stay on property and pay the extra do so partly for the perks, one of which is the resort transportation. The buses get crowded enough with resort guests. If one offsite guest does it why couldn't everyone, then it would be impossible for those of us paying for this perk to get on the buses. Check the hotel you are staying at, alot of offsite hotels offer some sort of shuttle, if not park at one of the parks and then use the park to park buses or monorail system to get around. just my 2 cents.

 

[allie_to_you]

You definitely won't be allowed to even if you wanted to and with the risk of them towing your car if your caught, it's not worth it. It's easier to just pay the $11.00 a day and park in the parks.

 

[LilGMom]

If you are staying at an Orlando hotel close to WDW they often offer free shuttles to the theme parks (not sure which one or if it is just to TTC) so you might want to check into that. Otherwise I'd say pony up the $11 to park because sometimes looking for a space at a resort near the hospitality section (especially during a peak time), for a actual resort guest to use, can be difficult.

 

[Matt'sMom]

you could probably park at downtown disney though and take the buses... not that I'm suggesting it

Not a good idea!

There are no buses from DTD that go directly to any of the WDW parks. This is because the DTD parking area is intended for the use of those wishing to visit and shop at DTD! It is not a free parking lot for the use of day guests to the theme parks. It can be difficult enough to find parking spaces in the DTD lots at times, for those of us who wish to shop--can you imagine how bad it would be if the lots were filled by 'theme park day guests' who are not shopping/visiting at DTD??? They have parking lots at the TTC and theme parks for that purpose.

If you are staying in the immediate area, your best bet is probably to take your resort shuttle onto WDW property, then use Disney buses/transportation to hop from park to park. Or, drive to one of the WDW lots & pay for parking (just budget for that as part of the daily expenses involved with choosing to stay off site). Either way, you are entitled to use WDW transportation once you are on property.

 

[MickeyNicki]

When we stayed at CBR back in 94 all WDW buses made the riders show their resort room key before they boarded.

 

[Sugardimples]

Drive.

 

[ntsammy5]

When we stayed at CBR back in 94 all WDW buses made the riders show their resort room key before they boarded.

I can't remember the last time that happened; certainly not in the last 10 years!

 

[Allison]

you could probably park at downtown disney though and take the buses... not that I'm suggesting it

Exactly why there are no longer buses between Downtown Disney and the parks.

 

[slug]

I may be missing something here. If you're planning on doing multiple parks in one day, couldn't you just park at the TTC, go into the MK and then take a bus directly to the other park you want to hop to?

It seems like you'd have to do just as much work if you were parking at POR. In other words, I don't see how you're saving any time by parking at POR - it would actually take you more time to park there than to just park at the TTC. Doesn't seem like the savings on the parking fee is worth the hassle.

If you were saying you'd park at the BW and walk to epcot and monorail over to the MK that at least would seem to make more logistical sense (but be equally wrong).

Also, as a side note, the days you are going are peak but there are some good AP discounts for the ASMO (I thought you might be an AP holder since you've been so many times). I just booked the exact same dates and had no problem.

 

[spiceycat]

Exactly why there are no longer buses between Downtown Disney and the parks.

that stopped a couple of years ago.

was told - that one of the offsite resort start having their bus only stop at DTD not the parks. and telling their guest to take the WDW transportation.

well then other resorts & hotels started to do this.

it was either cancel the parks or get a bunch more WDW buses to go to DTD.

disney went with canceling the DTD to parks bus.

the DTD bus now only goes to WDW resorts not the parks.

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Okay, if you stayed at the Pop Century the difference between peak rates and value season is $37 per night. As you have learned above it is not recomended, wise, or ethical (no flames here, dont worry just pointing it out) to try to bypass paying for Disney parking so you are gonna have to fork over $11 per day to park if you stay offsite. But if you stayed at a value resort, think about it you are paying only $37 extra not only for parking if you do wish to drive to the parks, or use park transportation, and get extra magic hours, I think getting to stay in a park 3 hours after closing is well worth $37, if its peak season I gather crowds are heavier and you may benifit from the lighter crowds after hours when those lines thin out or early before the park officially opens. IMHO I believe a WDW vacation just isn't a WDW vacation if I dont stay onsite, as a 15 trip vet I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir...
Back to the issue of "illegal" parking beware, I posted this before about a poor man who tried to illegaly use a refillable mug at the wrong resort, those DisPolice have no mercy, I don't want somthing like this to happen to you:

It is a tracking device. If you try to fill the mug at a resort that the mug was not purchased at it will deactivate the soda machine so you can't fill up and alert Disney security. I seen this happen at the CBR, a guest had a mug from the AS Sports and was going to fill up at CBR but when he tried to fill it nothing happened because of the tracking device on the bottom but he didn't know that. Within about 3 minuets while the guy was still trying to figure out why the machine wouldn't despense his soda 2 security guys came and confiscated his mug and the other mugs from his family of four. His wife and kids were sent back to their rooms at the all star under house arrest for the rest of the day and he was taken in handcuffs to Chef Mickeys where he had to wash dishes untill the Resturant closed that night, afterwards he was taken to the MK where he had to clean every restroom in the park using only a Mickey Mouse toothbrush, each restroom was inspected by Mary Poppins for her aproval before he could be finished, he had no memory of what happened after that but woke up the next morning at 9:30am proped up against his room at the AS Sports wearing a Peter Pan costume and bare feet. His family had all priority seating privileges taken away for the remainder of their stay and when it came time for check out they had to pay the hotel rate as if they had stayed in a tower suite at the GF. So remember, you an only fill up your mugs at the resort they were purchased at during the stay they were purchased.

 

[spiceycat]

what!!!!

the resort mugs don't have the tracking device.

the only mugs that have anything like that are the water parks.

 

[ntsammy5]

I posted this before about a poor man who tried to illegaly use a refillable mug at the wrong resort, those DisPolice have no mercy, I don't want somthing like this to happen to you:

That's hilarious!

 

[TxMickeyLover]

I posted this before about a poor man who tried to illegaly use a refillable mug at the wrong resort, those DisPolice have no mercy, I don't want somthing like this to happen to you:

That's priceless.

Seriously though, as a PP said, you will only be allowed to park at the resort for 3 hours. And I have seen posts on other threads about cars getting towed for doing this. I don't think that would make for a very magical vacation.

 

[skipperkim]

Here's an idea buy an AP. Not only would it allow you to go more often, but it gives discounts on rooms at WDW. Also, the perk is free parking rather you stay onsite or not.