The new year is off to a bit of a rough start for Disney World and its guests. After promising to bring back a key service by the end of 2022, the Walt Disney World parking trams at EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios remain out of business as of the start of January 2023, making getting to and from the Orlando-based theme park and back to your car a little more difficult.
The tram service is just one of several modes of transportation to and from the parks. The trams take guests from the parking lot to the park’s entrance, eliminating those long walks. Unfortunately, for visitors, Disney World shuttered the parking lot trams at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as various services were temporarily closed to allow for social distancing. The trams were halted with the promise of an eventual reopening, with Disney in 2021 announcing that the parking lot trams would be up and running once again at all Walt Disney World theme parks sometime in 2022.
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However, according to Inside the Magic, that hasn’t been the case. Disney World did bring back tram services at the Transportation and Ticket Center in December of 2021 and to Disney’s Animal Kingdom on May 27, 2022. At this time, though, the service has not returned to EPCOT or Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Disney has not publicly commented on the current status of the tram services at these parks, but WDWMagic.com suggested that the services remaining unavailable could be due to “continued cost-saving measures.”
The lack of parking lot tram services has been a frustrating part of guests’ visits to Walt Disney World. The frustration over the unavailable service is so well-known that Stephen Colbert even previously mocked Disney on his late-night show for not providing the service to guests. Universal Orlando Resort has also poked fun at the ordeal on multiple occasions.
While it seems that parkgoers will have to do without parking lot tram services for the foreseeable future, in-park transportation recently got a lot easier. In late December, Magic Kingdom Park’s Walt Disney World Railroad officially returned to service following a nearly four-year closure. The train takes riders on a 1.5-mile scenic round-trip tour. With the reopening of the Walt Disney World Railroad also came the reopening of the Main Street, U.S.A. railroad station.
