One of the best parts about staying on property at Disney World is that once you park your car at the hotel, you don’t have to move it again until the end of your stay.
Disney Bus
That’s because Disney World has complimentary transportation everywhere you need to go on property! You can take a bus, the Disney Skyliner, a boat, or the Monorail to other Disney World parks, hotels, water parks, and Disney Springs for no charge (or you can choose to park at the Disney World parks for no charge since you’re a Disney hotel guest). However, there’s a new hotel perk coming to the resort in 2025 that sounds all fine and dandy…until you realize what a transportation problem it’ll cause.
Starting in 2025, Disney World is introducing a new perk to staying on property — on their arrival day, guests will gain free admission to whichever of Disney World’s water parks is open at that time — Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon.
Surf Pool at Typhoon Lagoon
This is a great way for families to go have some fun in the sun at no additional cost, as it could save them buying a park ticket for a half day at the parks, OR for families who usually visit the water park anyway, it saves them money on a ticket.
Blizzard Beach Water Park
This perk is a little divisive right now, with some fans frustrated that if they arrive around 5-6PM on their arrival day, they won’t get to enjoy this perk at all since the water parks close early. However, regardless of how you feel about this new perk, it does mean one big thing needs to happen at ALL Disney World hotel — a LOT more buses are going to need to be running between the hotels and water parks.
Disney Bus
This may not seem like an issue at first glance, because Disney World has tons of buses! That’s true, but the majority of those buses are already being used to take guests to and from other locations around the resort, so will this mean Disney will have to pull those buses AWAY from other destinations to provide more transportation to the water parks? If that is the case, it could mean seeing longer wait times between hotels and Disney World theme parks, which could back up said transportation and mean longer lines.
Inside a Disney Bus
For some Disney World hotels, it’s easy for us to just recommend taking another form of transportation, such as the Skyliner, Monorail, or boats, but for many Disney World hotels, such as the All-Star Resorts, buses are the ONLY form of transportation to get anywhere you’d like to go. So at these resorts specifically, longer lines/waits between buses for other locations may put a strain on the time it takes to get from one place to another.
Crowded bus
Now, we have faith that Disney World is planning ahead and maybe has some extra buses ready to go to accommodate this new perk, rather than taking them away from the current schedule, but we’ll have to wait and see! It’s best to prepare for the worst and expect longer bus wait times if you’re traveling in early 2025. We’ll be sure to keep an eye out, so stay tuned to DFB!
We got stuck on the Disney World monorail with NO POWER — here’s what happened
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Is there any information about an alternative perk or alternative day if the water park or parks are closed on the day you arrive? Water park tickets are normally included in the tickets that we get, BUT – we normally visit in January now. On the days we’ve planned to go to a water park, they’ve been closed. Is there any indication that there are any plans to try to open the water parks on more days, or offer guests something different if the water parks are closed? I realize that this is a ‘freebie’ and a perk, but just like people who might arrive too late, people traveling at the ‘wrong’ time of year are not any happier about misisng out. I also realize that the point for DIsney is likely to increase attendance and affinity for the water parks, and thin crowds at the main four parks, and those goals are only relevant when the water parks are open. So I get that there is likely to be little motivation to offer something different if the WPs are closed, but it’s still an invented disappointment if you don’t get to enjoy it, and some kind of alternative, like a small room credit or quick service vouchers would go a long way toward feeling like you didn’t miss out completely.