A new Disney policy has been making the rounds on social media, and the reaction has largely been sensationalistic. This post will take a look at that policy, discuss what it IS and what it IS NOT, and try to take a step back and look at whether it’s a good decision by Disney.
The new policy relates to bus and boat service from Disney
Springs. Up until now, anyone could take
Disney transportation from Disney Springs to any place it would go (notably,
this meant Disney resort hotels, NOT parks.
This will be important in this discussion). Now Disney is saying that this particular
transportation will be restricted only to guests that have “business” at these
resorts – basically this means a resort stay, a dining reservation or some
other kind of experience reservation.
Disney actually implemented this policy as a test over
Easter, when crowd levels tend to spike.
It should then not be a shock that they liked what they saw and decided
to make this permanent. Cast members
will now have some sort of perimeter set up before you would reach the bus
area, meaning you will have to show proof that you have business at a resort.
Once you get past the perimeter, however, you can board any bus or boat
available to any resort, the same way that you can from any other park or
resort on property.
Disney didn’t come right out and say it, but there’s really
only one reason that this policy is necessary – there has been a “hack” for
years that you could park at Disney Springs for free, then get on Disney
transportation and make your way to the parks, thereby circumventing the
parking fee at the parks themselves. This
new policy simply closes this loophole so that a small subsection of guests
can’t abuse the system. As usual, a
small few ruins it all for the whole group.
Is this a big deal, though?
If social media is any indication, then yes. I have to think that social media is in
itself a cause of this problem, as influencers love to share any sort of hack
or trick that they have to “stick it to the man” (the man being Disney World in
this case). There are plenty of doom and
gloom headlines about how this is the end of resort hopping.
If you are a guest staying on property, this is a win for
you. There have been plenty of stories
about crowded buses and long lines from Disney Springs. There have also been recent complaints about
Port Orleans being overly crowded with non-guests going there to buy the
“viral” beignets that only they serve.
This will certainly cut down on some of that traffic.
I should point out here that using this “hack” to beat a $35
parking fee seems like a lot of work to me.
As noted earlier, there are no buses that go from Disney Springs to any
of the Disney parks. Meaning that you
would have to take the free bus from Springs to a resort, then transfer again
to another mode of transportation to get to the parks. Of course, if you went to a resort such as
the Grand Floridian or the Beach Club, you could simply walk to the parks from
there. I have to assume that most of the
abuse comes from this subset of guests, as otherwise it seems like a very
inefficient way to travel on property, and Disney is often all about
efficiency.
One group of people that is likely to be affected here are
annual passholders staying off property, often locals. Disney Springs can be the closest shopping
center to many people in the area, and the idea of going there to shop and then
taking a relaxing boat cruise to Port Orleans to soak up the atmosphere sounds
pretty appealing to me as a non-resident.
I do have some sympathy in this case but I think the net effect is
largely a positive one.
So that’s what this policy really IS – now let’s talk about
what it’s NOT, which is the end of resort hopping. For a personal anecdote, I went resort
hopping once last year, with no park tickets or intention to visit the parks
that day. I was dropped off, and once I
was inside the “bubble”, I knew that I could get to any Disney resort I wanted
by various means of transportation. The
wrinkle in my case is that I wanted to start with Art of Animation and Pop
Century but the car I was in (driven by a family member) was not allowed to get
past the gate there. Instead, we were
told to go to Hollywood Studios where I could be dropped off without having to
pay (presumably the way an Uber or Lyft would operate) and then travel from
there.
Nothing about this new policy changes anything that I mentioned above; I only noted my issue with drop off because on a previous trip, this same family member had been allowed to drive into the Boardwalk to pick us up. Why was one allowed and the other not? Either way, anyone staying off property could do exactly what I did – go to a park, pay to park there (a key distinction!) and then travel all day around Disney property. There’s a lot to see, I assure you!
So I am in favor of this new policy as is, because it closes
a particular loophole. If this were to
be expanded, that’s where I would be concerned – it’s a slippery slope once you
start restricting certain things. One of
Disney’s selling points has been that the resorts are for everyone to enjoy,
regardless of whether they were staying there.
The themed designs, culinary options and resort-specific merchandise are
a big draw, and Disney has encouraged this (mostly because it means guests are
spending money, which is Disney’s ultimate goal as a business).
One negative of this open door policy has been that certain
resorts get overly crowded with guests who aren’t staying there. The Polynesian is a great example – the lobby
there in busy season is almost always packed.
Is it fair that guests who paid to stay there have to fight through a
mob of people to enjoy their own resort?
As someone who has stayed there and is planning another stay there next
year, I very much want it to be a peaceful sanctuary. As someone who has stayed elsewhere and
visited there just to soak up the atmosphere (and get a Dole whip), I would be
upset if this were somehow locked off to me.
The question really is where does the line get drawn? I think we have to put up with crowds at
popular (and close to the park) resorts, because all guests should have the
right to visit these. But there are some
things that could be done to make the experience of the guest staying there
better. The Polynesian already does
this, by restricting access to the viewing areas of the Island Tower to those
staying there, so the beautiful views of the fireworks aren’t a mob scene of
outside guests. Frankly, they should do
a better job of enforcing this policy on guests watching the fireworks from the
Polynesian beach, as that can often be a crowded scene of people who don’t want
to pack into Magic Kingdom.
Another useful policy (and one that I believe exists, even
if it isn’t enforced all the time) is no pool hopping. The resort pools can get crowded as it is,
and they should only be for resort guests staying at that resort. Traveling from a value resort to a luxury one
to use the pool is just setting guests up for a bad experience. But can the same be said of a restaurant,
such as ‘Ohana? I don’t think so, for
practical reasons as well as monetary ones.
Despite the backlash, the Disney Springs bus policy makes a
lot of sense and is a net positive for Disney.
I’ll be keeping an eye out however to see if anything else changes. Resort hopping is a great way to spend the
day, and I think Disney is cognizant of that and not willing to make any
sweeping changes that would alter that.
I think/hope that this is a specific use case and not the start of
something more dramatic.
No comments:
Post a Comment