5 Tips For the NEW Disney Springs Bus Rule

There’s a lot more to do at Disney World than just going to the theme parks. Yes, you have Disney Springs, but checking out all of Disney World’s resorts is a very fun activity we love to do all the time!

Riviera Resort

Resort Hopping shows you a different side of Disney with more opportunities for shopping, dining, entertainment, and more. It used to be easy and free to do, until Disney introduced a new rule that requires you to have a hotel or dining reservation, making it so much harder. That being said, we’ve crafted together a list of tips for how you can still resort hop without reservations.

Before we get into the tips, you need to understand this new rule. We all know that you can’t park at Disney World hotels without a hotel or dining reservation. That being said, one of the easiest ways around that was to park at Disney Springs, hop on a free bus, and head to the resort. However, that isn’t the case anymore. Right now, for a limited time, you CAN’T take a bus from Disney Springs to a resort without a reservation.

Disney Springs

So, you can’t park at a resort without a reservation, and you can’t take a bus from Disney Springs to a resort without a reservation…how do you even get to a resort without a reservation? Don’t worry, we’ve come up with five of them for you!

Grand Floridian Resort

Go to the Parks…THEN the Resorts

To be honest, this would be the best option. No matter which of the four parks you go to, there are buses or some form of transportation that will take you to the Disney World hotels — no reservation needed. This option works perfectly for Annual Passholders who get free parking at the parks. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay to park.

Skyliner station at Hollywood

The TTC is Your Friend

The TTC (Ticket and Transportation Center) is probably the best place to go for resort hopping. The TTC has the monorail, which covers Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, Disney’s Polynesian Resort, and Disney’s Contemporary Resort. You can take the monorail to each of the resorts, or you can walk the trail from the TTC over to the Polynesian.

Monorail entrance at the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC)

The monorail and trail will also take you to the Magic Kingdom’s front gate, where you can go to the boat dock and take a boat to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Lodge. So, the TTC really covers four of Disney’s most popular resorts, no reservation needed! Some ways to get to the TTC would be parking at Magic Kingdom or taking a rideshare — which leads us to our next point.

Fort Wilderness

Rideshare

Taking an Uber or a Lyft is the next best way to visit the resorts without a reservation. Now, we would exercise this option with caution. You can take a rideshare to whatever resort you want to check out, but more often than not, we have been asked if we have a reservation. They might let you in, but you don’t want to bet on a might. It might be smarter to Uber or Lyft to a park, and then use Disney transportation from there to get to a resort.

Uber at EPCOT

Minnie Van

This is basically the same point as the rideshare one, but the difference is that Minnie Vans are basically Disney World’s Uber. You’ll have a lot better luck getting into a Disney World resort using this, rather than your typical rideshare, but keep in mind that they still might require reservations.

Minnie vans

Target Hollywood Studios

Our favorite option for resort hopping without reservations is the TTC for reasons we shared. Our next favorite option is Disney’s Hollywood Studios, because some of the other deluxe Disney World resorts are on the Skyliner route. The Skyliner will take you to spots like Disney’s Riviera, Caribbean Beach Resort, and EPCOT’s hotels, like Disney’s BoardWalk. You can then go to Disney’s Beach and Yacht Club Resort, too.

Disney Skyliner

If you’re an avid Disney World resort hopper like we are, we recommend trying these out while this temporary Disney Springs rule is in place. We’re always on top of all the latest Disney news, and we love to help make your trip so much easier and smoother. Make sure to follow us at the Disney Food Blog for more!

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