Parks from Disney Springs

[MonaMN]

We haven’t been to Disney Springs since pre-Covid and I don’t see a pinned thread to answer this.

We are contemplating pushing our AK time during the busy spring break week to a late afternoon arrival and staying to close. If we head to Disney Springs for lunch/shopping, are there still buses that go from DS to the parks in mid-afternoon? Vaguely recalling that there were some time restrictions at one point…

 

[FCDub]

There have never been buses from DS to the parks. This is to prevent people from parking there for free and going off on their way. You'll need to transfer at a resort.

 

[MonaMN]

There have never been buses from DS to the parks. This is to prevent people from parking there for free and going off on their way. You'll need to transfer at a resort.

Phooey! Makes sense… but makes this plan less convenient!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

There have never been buses from DS to the parks. This is to prevent people from parking there for free and going off on their way. You'll need to transfer at a resort.

There have been, occasionally and inconsistently, buses FROM the parks TO DS.

 

[Skippyboo]

Take the bus to AKL from DS and then get a AK bus. It’s like a 5 minute bus ride from AKL to AK.

There used to be buses from the parks to DS in the later part of the day. But never the reverse.

 

[MonaMN]

Take the bus to AKL from DS and then get a AK bus. It’s like a 5 minute bus ride from AKL to AK.

There used to be buses from the parks to DS in the later part of the day. But never the reverse.

Maybe… though we might just grab an Uber/Lyft… too tempting to hang out at AKL if we stop there and using up extra time…

 

[BorderTenny]

Riviera is probably a better bus transfer option than AKL.

 

[kwhite1022]

There have never been buses from DS to the parks. This is to prevent people from parking there for free and going off on their way. You'll need to transfer at a resort.

"Never say never" as my mother would say! Back in the 2000s you could park at what was then Down Town Disney and park hop.....I know because I did it. Now, like anything Disney touches, they took that option away to again be able to cut out people not paying to park. Gee, not like they don't get enough of our money.

 

[HopperFan]

"Never say never" as my mother would say! Back in the 2000s you could park at what was then Down Town Disney and park hop.....I know because I did it. Now, like anything Disney touches, they took that option away to again be able to cut out people not paying to park. Gee, not like they don't get enough of our money.

Yup used to be a thing that seemed mostly FL folk knew about but Disney caught on to the loss of money and stopped it.

A few years ago there were buses FROM parks to DS after 4 pm to promote folks going to DS to spend money at the end of the day. As far as I know they are not back.

Best bet is just drive yourself to park, not worth the loss of time resort hopping to get there. If no car take ride share.

And just for fun - it used to be only Disney hotel guests could use Disney hotel transportation. You would get a Transportation Card from your hotel (I still have one) that you had to show bus driver to get on the buses. Then they figured out all guests might want to bus to a hotel to spend money eating or shopping.

 

[CarolynFH]

"Never say never" as my mother would say! Back in the 2000s you could park at what was then Down Town Disney and park hop.....I know because I did it. Now, like anything Disney touches, they took that option away to again be able to cut out people not paying to park. Gee, not like they don't get enough of our money.

Not only did they lose revenue from theme park parking lots, they lost revenue from guests like us who got tired of circling the DS (at that time, Downtown Disney) parking lot and left without buying stuff at World of Disney and other DTD stores or eating at their restaurants.