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.
Wilderness Lodge
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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I say, Im picking up guest then go park
Does this also apply to the boats from Disny Springs.
Seems like Disney is doing everything it can to ruin things for locals and longtime Disney guests (as in from year one!). Sometimes we stay overnight but often just go out for the day….specifically to eat and shop at various resorts. We always could park at the resorts but no longer (we seldom make reservations, just walk up). As annual passholders, we would go to a park….free parking as you say….and take a bus to the resort such as Animal Kingdom (one of our faves). And your first suggestion is to do just that but didn’t you say that it’s no longer allowed without a reservation? So do we make a dining reservation knowing we won’t use it just to shop? If this is one of Josh’s first decisions as the new head of wdw, I’m really concerned. Locals may not spend as much in one visit as others but total yearly spending is many thousands including one family member who is Dvc! More importantly, wdw is saying we are less important guests even as they’ve raised our passes 10-15x higher than in the beginning and taken away most of the perks we loved. Most of all, it just seems un-disney…. No magic…No fun….No pixie dust….