It may take people to make the dream of Walt Disney World a reality, but it takes buses, monorails, and boats to get the dream moving. It may sound hyperbolic, but Walt Disney World really is its own city, and as such it is constantly making changes to the various transportation options around the resort in order to better serve the guests and Cast Members who rely on Disney’s complex transportation system every day. If you are going to be riding a bus, parking tram, or even your own car, here are a few interesting changes that you should probably know about!
1. New parking lot names and bus stops coming next week to Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Next week on March 19 Disney’s Hollywood Studios will change the names of its various parking lots to feature characters that meet guest at this park. The new parking sections will be named Jessie, Buzz, Mickey, Minnie, BB-8, and Olaf. In addition to the renaming of the parking areas, there will also be two new bus drop-off loops added at the entrance of the park.
2. Direct bus service to Typhoon Lagoon coming this weekend
Image: Disney
Now that warm weather is finally here to stay, Disney Bus Transportation will begin providing direct transportation service to Disney’s Blizzard Beach and Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon starting this weekend. Each resort will have a designated bus stop at the front of each water park.Direct transportation will still not be provided between water parks and theme parks, but guests can transfer at any resort to a water park bus.
3. Preferred parking now comes with two prices depending on date
Image: Disney
After the recent ticket price hikes, Disney has slightly altered the structure of its preferred parking option. Guests who want to park closer to the park gates will pay $45 for most of the year, which is $5 cheaper than the previous price. However, during peak season, preferred parking will return to $50 per vehicle. This seems like an upper limit for parking (both standard and preferred) and we can’t see Disney going any higher with these prices, even with the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge this summer.
4. Grapefruit garage opening later this month
Image: Disney
Though Disney Springs was originally planning to open the new Grapefruit Parking Garage last month, this project has been delayed slightly, and is now on track to open before the end of March. The $58 million project will support parking for an additional 3,000 vehicles, and will feature the same space tracking technology that makes finding a space in the Lime and Orange garages so easy. And though this new garage will be on the other side of Buena Vista Drive, there will be an elevated crosswalk that will provide guests with direct walking access to the shopping district.
5. Disney Skyliner begins full line testing ahead of opening later this year
Construction on the Skyliner has been going on for more than two years, and now we know that this project is in the home stretch, as Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Bob Chapek has confirmed that Disney Skyliner will open sometime in late 2019.
And while we don’t know an exact date for the opening of the Disney Skyliner project, it looks like this project is progressing nicely as Disney has not only been testing out components of this transportation system after hours, but has also been running full line tests at top speed with unwrapped gondolas to and from the Caribbean Beach Resort station. So with all of these tests going on, could we be looking at an opening of this new system sooner rather than later? Things are looking good,especially since a summer opening for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge has been confirmed. While the stations are still under construction, it looks like the technical and mechanical aspects of this new transportation system are pretty much finished, which is definitely a good sign for guests wanting to check the Disney Slyliner out soon.
