The Disney World Hotel Parking Rule That Could Seriously RUIN Your Plans

When it comes to visiting Disney World hotels, there are a whole OTHER set of rules you need to know about.

Disney’s Riviera Resort

For example, if you’re traveling with your pet, only SOME Disney World hotels have pet-friendly accommodations. But there are also some driving and transportation rules that you may or may not know about, especially at hotels you’re NOT staying at. Don’t worry, though! We’ll fill you in and tell you what you need to know.

You may know a little something about these rules if you’ve done any resort hopping over the past few years in Disney World. Here’s the thing when it comes to driving to hotels you’re NOT staying at: you may not be able to park at that hotel unless you have a dining reservation there.

Disney’s Polynesian Resort

You also may be required to show PROOF of that reservation or a confirmation of your stay AT that hotel when you drive up to security at that hotel. No reservation? You can’t go there. Disney World started strictly enforcing this rule in late 2022, and it’s been more or less our experience ever since. We’d also like to point out that sometimes even a Mobile Order at that hotel will not be accepted.

Contemporary Resort

This also goes for taking a rideshare, like Uber or Lyft, to a Disney World hotel. Security will ask to see a reservation or confirmation of stay when you reach that hotel.

Rideshare sign at EPCOT

You can get around that problem by taking Disney transportation instead of your own car. Just park at one of the theme parks and take the bus, Skyliner, or Monorail to the hotel you want to visit.

But things are sometimes even complicated if you’re taking official Disney transportation, too. If you’re trying to visit a resort during a busy season, like around the holidays or during spring break, you may not be able to board Disney transportation to that resort without an advance dining reservation or confirmation of stay at that hotel. Again, this has been our experience a couple of times (mostly just during peak holiday season), but we’ve also sometimes had no problems at all — check when you visit to see what the situation is like.

Wilderness Lodge

Some of our team members have had issues with this recently when attempting to board a boat from Magic Kingdom to Fort Wilderness during the holidays. If they did not have confirmation of stay or a reservation for the Hoop-Dee-Doo-Musical Review, they were not allowed on the boat.

Fort Wilderness

Now, we have also had instances where this WASN’T the case. Sometimes a Disney Vacation Club membership card can get you an “in” at the resort. Sometimes we’ve explained that we wanted to dine at a resort without a reservation and we were let. But the good thing to remember is that you may not be able to visit a resort you’re not staying at without a dining reservation. This is why we recommend NOT making a mobile order until you know you’ll be allowed into the hotel.

Grand Floridian Resort

We’ve also noticed that this rule with Disney transportation tends to be enforced more at hotels that are closer to the parks, particularly the deluxe hotels. We’ve been able to visit Disney’s Port Orleans Resort without a reservation in the past. But again, it’s probably best to make a reservation if you want to visit another hotel, to be on the safe side.

Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter

So to reiterate, you cannot park at a Disney World hotel without staying there if you don’t have a dining reservation, and it’s possible that you may not be able to visit that hotel via Disney transportation during a very busy season. Keep that in mind, and you shouldn’t have any surprises when resort hopping during your next trip.

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