We tested Disney’s Contemporary Resort access on a Halloween party night

After Disney introduced new transportation restrictions and mobile ordering geofencing at select Walt Disney World Resort hotels, social media quickly filled with claims that non-resort guests might not be able to visit monorail resorts or use the resort’s walkway to Magic Kingdom.

Our first test took place during a relatively quiet period in early July. A Halloween party night provided another opportunity to see what procedures guests might encounter when visiting the Magic Kingdom Resort area during a separately ticketed event.

Accessing the monorail resorts during Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

There is an important caveat: An early-August party night is not necessarily representative of what guests will encounter later in the season. Labor Day weekend, late September and much of October can bring heavier demand to the Magic Kingdom Resort area. Resort access and transportation procedures can change as crowds and hotel demand increase.

Here is what happened during our Aug. 7 test.

Visiting Disney’s Contemporary as a non-hotel guest

For our test in July and again in August, I selected Disney’s Contemporary because there is generally less demand for non-hotel guests to visit here versus Disney’s Polynesian and Grand Florida resorts. It also provides an easy walkway to the park that I can test.

We deliberately waited until after the party rush

We parked at the Transportation and Ticket Center using my Walt Disney World Annual Pass and purposefully arrived shortly after 7 p.m. based on this year’s party schedule.

Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party guests can enter Magic Kingdom beginning at 4 p.m., with the party officially starting at 7 p.m. We did not want our test to add to the heavier flow of guests arriving during that three-hour window.

Once at the TTC, we boarded the Resort Monorail to Disney’s Contemporary Resort. We did not encounter a resort-guest restriction preventing us from using the monorail to reach the Contemporary. Once inside the resort, we walked through the lobby and public areas without issue.

Testing mobile ordering restrictions

At approximately 7:44 p.m., while the resort monorail neared the Polynesian, I opened Contempo Café in the My Disney Experience app. This time, no restricted-access message appeared like it did in July. I was able to place an order for a Signature Rice Bowl with Chicken and the seasonal Spiced Pumpkin Cupcake. I could not resist the call of pumpkin spice as “Augtober” kicked into high gear.

We also encountered no apparent geofence preventing us from mobile ordering outside of the Contemporary’s resort grounds.

That differed from our July test. During that visit, we encountered a message indicating mobile ordering was limited to guests staying at Disney’s Contemporary Resort and Bay Lake Tower. Later in that experiment, after leaving the resort, Contempo Café was no longer available to us for mobile ordering.

Five weeks later, we could place the order from near the Transportation and Ticket Center without encountering either restriction. By 8:02 p.m., the My Disney Experience app indicated our Contempo Café order was ready. We picked up the food at the restaurant and spent some time at the resort before continuing our test.

Walking to Magic Kingdom

Next came one of the biggest questions from our original experiment: Could a guest who was not staying at the Contemporary still use the resort’s pedestrian walkway to Magic Kingdom?

On Aug. 7, we walked from Disney’s Contemporary Resort to Magic Kingdom without encountering a resort-guest restriction. There were no signs indicating any access policies, just the standard park regulations and rules.

Entering the theme park itself requires valid admission and, on a Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party night. We spent some time outside Magic Kingdom taking in the Halloween atmosphere before continuing around Seven Seas Lagoon.

Procedures could change as Halloween crowds increase

This test took place on the first Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party night of the season in early August.

Conditions around Magic Kingdom can be considerably different during Labor Day weekend, in late September and throughout much of October. Demand for nearby Disney resorts can also increase during busier periods.

Disney can restrict resort access or adjust transportation and parking procedures based on capacity and operational needs. What worked during our Aug. 7 visit may not work under different conditions — and a mobile order should not be viewed as a guaranteed method of accessing a resort.

That is also why we are documenting these visits as tests of what actually happened on a particular date, not statements of permanent Disney policy. Five weeks after our first experiment, we encountered fewer restrictions. As Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party moves into its busier fall dates, Disney may change the procedures for accessing these areas.

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