A Big Change Is About To Make Getting To Disneyland A Lot More Annoying For Many Guests, I'm Especially Worried For One Reason

When Disneyland was first built, it was surrounded by a berm, an earthen wall designed to make it difficult, if not impossible, to see the world outside the park. This wasn’t really an issue 70 years ago when Disneyland opened, and Anaheim was little more than orange trees, but in the years that followed, Anaheim exploded, adding restaurants, hotels, and more to cater to tourists visiting the Happiest Place on Earth.

Disneyland Resort has three amazing hotels of its own, but there’s little argument that they can be quite expensive. For this reason, many choose to stay at one of the dozens of hotels within a few blocks of the area. This is usually no big deal because there is a convenient shuttle service, the Anahim Resort Transit (ART), that will take you from your hotel to Disneyland for just a few bucks each way. Or at least, there was.

Anaheim Resort Transit Will Be Shutting Down In Two Months

In a shocking move reported by the Orange County Register, the governing board of the Anaheim Transportation Network, which runs the ART bus system, has voted to wind down operations. ART will stop operating after March 31. The system was reportedly running at a financial deficit, and had been for some time, so it seems it just became too expensive.

This is going to make getting from many hotels in the area to Disneyland an absolute pain. While there are lots of them that are walking distance from the gates, a lot of people who likely would have used ART are now going to have to look at walking much further than they thought, paying for a rideshare or cab, or driving just a few blocks and paying for Disneyland parking, which only gets more expensive. Unfortunately, there’s a potential problem there too.

Bus Service From The Toy Story Parking Lot Is A Question

There are two major parking lots that currently serve Disneyland Resort (until one that recently began construction is done). The Mickey and Friends Parking Garage on one side has a tram system to deliver guests to the theme parks and Downtown Disney. The Toy Story parking lot has bus service to transport people a few blocks to the resort. That bus service had operated under a contract with ART.

At this point, it’s unclear what’s going to happen to the Toy Story Lot. Will Disneyland be able to implement its own transportation in time to prevent a disruption to service? Will guests simply have to walk from the lot? Is there another company that can pick up the contract? I reached out to Disneyland to see what might be happening, and Disneyland officials responded...

I do not doubt that this issue will be resolved, and some sort of replacement transportation will arrive. Disneyland is already working on it. The question is simply how quickly it will all happen, as the clock is ticking.

As somebody who has frequently used ART buses when staying off property, and who generally uses the Toy Story Lot when parking at Disneyland, whatever happens here certainly has the potential to change how I get to Disneyland a lot of the time. Those Disneyland Hotels may be expensive, but they’re certainly looking a lot more attractive right now.