With a single-day Walt Disney World ticket starting at $128 per day, some visitors look for every way possible to save money.

Many pricing hacks are obvious. You can stay off-property, not eat your meals or snacks inside the parks, and visit the park with the lowest demand each day in order to make dynamic pricing work for you.

Some Disney World fans, however, take saving money to even higher extremes and, one of those efforts, lets them park for free. That’s no small savings given that parking at the four Disney theme parks starts at $35 per day.

Walt Disney, however, has quietly closed that loophole.

Disney World changes it parking rules

As a Disney World annual passholder, I get to park at any of the company’s theme parks as part of what I pay for my annual pass.

Before I had that pass, however, I would routinely park at Disney Springs, the company’s shopping, dining, and entertainment district with a free surface lot and multiple free parking garages, then hop on Disney transportation to visit hotels, or the theme parks.

You can take busses from Disney Springs that give you access to pretty much any Disney World location you want. That’s a policy Disney World is about to change.

“Starting June 28, guests who want to take a bus from Disney Springs to one of Disney’s resort hotels will need to show that they have a current hotel room, dining or activity reservation. Guests without any of those will not be allowed to enter the bus transportation area at Disney Springs. Same goes for the boat to Port Orleans,” wrote Robert Niles at Theme Park Insider.

The change was verified by WDWMagic which posted pictures of new signs at Disney Springs which detail the change.

“That means no more parking at Disney Springs in order to go hang out at one of the hotels, ride the Skyliner or monorail, or eat at a hotel counter service restaurant. More to the point, perhaps, it means no more parking for free at Disney Springs and then transferring at a hotel to get to one of Disney’s theme parks,” Niles wrote.

Disney World visitors still have some loopholes

While these new rules tighten up who can use the bus from Disney Springs, you can still access that system with a valid reservation. Many Disney restaurant and experience reservations come with cancellation fees, but a few do not.

In theory, you can make a reservation at a Disney World hotel restaurant, grab an appetizer or a drink, and spend less than the $35 parking fee. In some cases, you can also make a reservation, then cancel it once you board the bus.

Disney Guest Relations shared the official policy with WDWMagic:

Beginning June 28, 2026, Guests boarding Walt Disney World Bus Service or the Sassagoula River Cruise from Disney Springs to visit our Disney Resort Hotels will be asked to show a valid Disney Resort Hotel room key, MagicBand, or a Dining or Enchanting Extras reservation. Please keep the following details in mind for your visit:

• Guests with a valid Disney Resort Hotel reservation may board any Disney Resort Hotel Bus Service or Sassagoula River Cruise boat from Disney Springs
• Guests with a valid Dining or Enchanting Extras reservation may board the appropriate Disney Transportation from Disney Springs up to 2 hours before their reservation time.
• This process is specific to Disney Transportation from Disney Springs to Disney Resort Hotels. Guests may continue using available Disney Transportation from Theme Parks to visit Disney Resort Hotels.

Disney Transportation from Disney Springs is intended for Guests staying at a Disney Resort Hotel or visiting one with a valid Dining or Enchanting Extras reservation. This helps keep our Disney Transportation running smoothly and allows us to deliver the best possible experience for our Disney Resort Hotels Guests.

Disney Spring has two parking garages and a surface lot that are free to park in.

Daniel Kline/TheStreet

Disney World attendance remains strong

Walt Disney CFO Hugh Johnson commented on Disney World bookings during the company’s second-quarter earnings call.

“Disney World bookings are pacing up strongly,” he said.

CEO Josh D’Amaro also made it clear that Walt Disney considers investing in Disney World a priority.

“In ’26, most of our forecasted CapEx and experiences includes the new ship and the ramp of major new expansions at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Disneyland in Anaheim, and at our Shanghai Disney Resort,” he said.

He sees an uptick in visitors to the company’s U.S, parks as well.

“When we look forward, demand is healthy. We’re expecting attendance at our domestic parks in Q3 compared to the prior year period to show improvement compared to the1% decline that we had reported in Q2. And this will happen as headwinds related tointernational visitation stabilize and we begin to lap the opening of Epic Universe,” he added.

Disney’s Experiences division, which includes its theme parks, posted an increase in year-over-year revenue in the company’s second quarter, from $8.88 billion to $9.48 billion, according to the Q2 earnings release.

The parking change, while relatively small, keeps Disney transportation limited to paying customers. That’s something the company might loosen up if traffic drops, since those people using the parking loophole likely do spend money at their destinations, but for now, the company has prioritized hotel and theme park guests.

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