The New Hotel Perk in Disney World Is Quietly Ruining One of Its Parks

Beginning this year, Disney introduced a new perk to those staying at Disney World hotels — a FREE day at whichever of Disney’s water parks is open at the time of your vacation on the day of your check-in.

We were skeptical about this offering when we first heard about it and were curious to see just how many people would use it. Well, as it turns out, a LOT of people are utilizing this new perk…and some are saying it’s ruining the water parks.

Right now, Blizzard Beach is the water park open to guests as Typhoon Lagoon closed for refurbishment back in November. We were there for reopening day, and like most winter days at the water parks, it wasn’t crowded.

However, that has changed thanks to this new perk, the warmer weather, and spring break crowds descending on the park. We recently visited on a Thursday, and while Disney World is pretty much busy every day of the year, Thursdays in the parks are typically less crowded. Needless to say, we were shocked.

We’d heard that the Blizzard Beach parking lot had begun filling up to capacity on many days, and we found out that it’s TRUE! We spoke to a Cast Member who told us the parking lot often fills up on weekends, often by only noon or 1 PM. So what happens in that situation? Well, we were told that many times, guests are given a voucher to park at Animal Kingdom and will then take a bus back over to Blizzard Beach. Is it ideal? Certainly not, but at least you’re not paying any extra money.

We were also told by another Cast Member that they’ve actually cut off the entrance to guests before who WEREN’T staying at a Disney World hotel and had the free perk! This means that if you have a normal ticket to the water park, you may be sent to park somewhere else, but note that this is only happening on VERY busy days, especially around holidays like spring break.

The Cast Member recommended that if you want to avoid the crowds and have a better shot at parking at the water park, it’s best to get there VERY early or come closer to 4 PM when many people have started to leave for the day, which yes, only leaves you around two hours to enjoy the park as they often close around 6 PM.

So, what did the actual park itself look like? Well, it was pretty crowded, and we honestly haven’t seen it this busy, especially on a weekday, in a while. Private patios and lodge umbrellas were all sold out, and Cast Members told us this was due to a combination of the free hotel perk and spring break crowds. You are allowed to reserve a patio or lodge umbrella up to 60 days in advance of your trip, and we were told that’s highly recommended if having one or both of those will be extremely important to you.

While we think this hotel perk is great, it’s clear that Disney has some issues it needs to work out, and relatively quickly since summer is on its way! We think it’d be great if this perk could generate enough interest that both Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon could be open at the same time again during the busier summer season to help alleviate the overcrowding issue. We know that there’s a Moonlight Magic event happening at Typhoon Lagoon in May, so is it possible we could see the water park reopen fully around that time? We’ll be watching closely to see, so stay tuned to AllEars!

If you’re looking for a travel agent to help with your vacation, we recommend our friends at Mouse Fan Travel. They’re experts in the field with over 20 years of vacation planning experience, and they can help take a bunch of the stress out of the entire booking process for you!

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How do you feel about Disney World’s water parks? Tell us in the comments!

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