Walt Disney World has confirmed that there will be permanent restrictions on who can take buses and watercraft from Disney Springs. The changes will take place next week, and they are intended to be a permanent policy change. The restrictions will prevent non-resort guests from utilizing both bus and watercraft transportation, leaving Disney Springs for resort hotels. Here’s the latest and what we know.
Disney Springs Bus & Watercraft Transportation Restrictions
Starting June 28th, guests without a confirmed resort hotel stay, dining reservation, or experience reservation will not be allowed to utilize resort transportation at Disney Springs. This is a permanent policy change following prior testing of the restriction during peak times. The change in policy is to ensure that the complimentary transportation options intended for resort guests continue to operate smoothly.
Similar to how the restriction was implemented during the testing phase, guests will need to scan their MagicBand or show a valid reservation to be able to board a resort bus at Disney Springs.
And we understand that it’s not just bus transportation that will have the restriction in place. Disney will also implement the same restriction on the Sassagoula River Cruise, which takes guests to Old Key West, Saratoga Springs, and Port Orleans.
It’s unclear if further restrictions will be implemented for pedestrians looking to leverage the free parking at Disney Springs to get around to the resorts and theme parks.
Disney Springs will be installing signage today to inform guests of the upcoming policy change well in advance of the June 28th start date.
We’ll update this article as we learn more about the restrictions and how they may impact your visit to a Walt Disney World Resort hotel as a non-resort guest.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
If I’m an annual pass holder how does it effect me? I like to go to disney springs and get a boat to port Orleans for lunch.
Can I go to a resort like Animation for lunch if I have an annual pass?
You can only use boat and bus transportation from Disney Springs if you have a valid, eligible reservation. No exceptions for Annual Passholders
Unless they extend this, park at Hollywood Studios and take the Skyliner to Art of Animation.
Hi I normally stay in international drive when I holiday to orlando am from the UK I normallyget a 14 day pass am I still able to use the bus from disney springs to go to the parks.
Guess the resorts will be losing money from us annual pass holders who like to go to resorts for lunch, bars, beignets, etc. May be losing a lot of passholders altogether since more things keep being taken away
For now, passholders always park at the parks for free. You’re almost always better off doing that as the Disney Springs buses have always sucked. They usually run 1 bus per shared line.
If you’re an Annual Passholder you can always park at HS and take a bus from there to any resort you’d like. You can also take the boat to 4 resorts, the Boardwalk and Epcot. Or you can take the skyliner to 4 resorts and Epcot. Or, park at T&T and take the resort monorail to 2 resort on Bay Lake and MK. If you enjoy walking, there’s a path there that takes you from resort to resort and also a boat to Wilderness Lodge from MK. Have been doing it for years and it’s all part of the fun.
This makes me suspicious. This will hurt food and alcohol sales at hotels for very little benefit to Disney. Do that many day ticket guests actually spend several hours in transit to avoid parking? I doubt it and I bet Disney knows that. I also doubt that Disney cares even if they do. The only people I can imagine doing that in the amounts to justify the added cost and friction of this change are passholders, but they get free parking.
My conspiracy theory is that this, combined with the rumor they want to expand it to other transportation, is a prelude to removing free parking from at least some annual passes. That’s the only way I see this being worthwhile for Disney.
And that change would be the end of my Disney annual pass. There is no way I am paying over 1K just to have the benefits I have now at Disney as it currently exists.
And another thing: unless they enforce this on both ends of Disney Springs bus lines, this will run counter to the internal policy of not standing guests. It would be far too easy for someone to get on a bus to Disney Springs without realizing they can’t take it back. I’m not sure Guest Services wants to deal with that.
Sorry to see Disney is taking this away …I did a Resort crawl back in March of 2024 when visiting family in Tampa Parked @ Disney Springs did some shopping then spent money on food and drinks at the Resorts instead of the theme parks.. had a lot of fun to say the least so now I guess this is not an option anymore Thanks Disney keep finding ways to slowly remove the Magic of WDW…