Parking tram
| Parking tram | |
|---|---|
| Park | Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort |
| Type | Parking lot tram transportation |
| Opened | 1955 (Disneyland); 1971 (Walt Disney World)
|
| Status | Operating |
Parking trams are the open-sided, tractor-drawn trams that carry guests between the car parks and the park entrances at Walt Disney World in Florida and the Disneyland Resort in California. For many visitors the tram is, in effect, the first ride of the day: a short run along marked roadways at the edge of an enormous car park, with a driver at the front and a cast member at the rear giving the safety spiel and announcing the section and row where guests have parked. The service is complimentary at both resorts — at Walt Disney World it is operated by Disney Transport.
Each tram set consists of a powered tractor pulling a train of passenger trailers with long bench rows entered from the side. The whole train loads and unloads at once at marked stops, and because the trailers are open, trams do not run in lightning or other severe weather.
History
Disneyland
Trams have served Disneyland since the park opened in 1955. The original car park held more than 12,000 cars on a 100-acre lot directly in front of the entrance, and tractor-drawn, rubber-tyred trams with side seating ran guests from the far rows to the ticket booths.[1] That lot survived for more than four decades, its sections eventually named for Disney characters to help guests remember where they had parked.
The old lot closed permanently in January 1998 so that Disney California Adventure could be built on the site.[2] Parking moved to the edge of the resort, and on July 24, 2000 the seven-storey Mickey & Friends parking structure opened with about 10,250 spaces and its tram terminal alongside.[3] From then on the tram journey became a fixed route: from the structure, along the tram roadway, to a turnaround on the esplanade between Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
The neighbouring Pixar Pals structure, with about 5,000 further spaces, opened on June 30, 2019 and shares the same tram stop.[4] The Toy Story surface lot has never used trams; guests there travel by bus.
Walt Disney World
At Walt Disney World, trams were part of the plan from opening day on October 1, 1971. The Magic Kingdom car park — the lot served by the Transportation and Ticket Center — was deliberately placed more than a mile from the park, across Seven Seas Lagoon, and trams linked a guest's car to the monorail and ferryboat docks. As EPCOT, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom opened, each received its own large surface lot and tram service, with themed rows and sections the rear cast member could announce.
The Florida lots are so large that the tram is a necessity rather than a courtesy on a hot afternoon, and the end-of-night operation — train after train loading under floodlights — is one of the biggest crowd movements of the day.
Suspension and return
Tram service on both coasts stopped in March 2020, when the resorts closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was among the slowest services to return. Both resorts reopened without trams, leaving Disneyland guests facing a walk of close to a mile from the structures.
The return came in stages: Walt Disney World restored trams at the Magic Kingdom on December 19, 2021, and at Disney's Animal Kingdom on May 27, 2022.[5] Disneyland's trams resumed on February 23, 2022, between the Mickey & Friends and Pixar Pals structures and the Main Entrance Esplanade.[6] EPCOT and Hollywood Studios regained the service in September 2023, completing the Florida set for the first time in three and a half years.[7]
Operation
Trams run continuously rather than to a timetable, starting before the parks open and finishing after closing. At Walt Disney World each service is organised by lot section, with separate Heroes and Villains loading areas at the Transportation and Ticket Center. Boarding involves a step up, so guests needing step-free access use the walking routes near the entrances.
The ritual has barely changed in decades: note your row, wait at the end of it, and board only once the train has stopped. It is a small piece of transport theatre, but it bookends the day for most guests who arrive by car.