Disney Turns Away Guests: Admission Denied Amid ‘Delusions of Grandeur

A guest recently explained how he and his family were not allowed into a Disney Resort, and because of this, the resort hotel ended up losing out on a ton of business for the night.

The Walt Disney World Resort is a Disney Park vacation that many families all over the world aspire to and yearn to experience. From the amazing rides and attractions to themed lands and Pandora and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, there’s a lot to love about the Disney experience.

But things do go awry.

Guest Explains He Was Refused Entry to Park for Dinner at Art of Animation

A guest recently took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to explain how he and his family were denied entry into Disney’s Art of Animation resort, which they wanted to have dinner at, for no other reason except they were not official guests of the Disney resort hotel; i.e., they were not staying at AoA.

Derek Burgan explained, “We were not allowed past the guard gate because we did not have a hotel reservation. Explained situation to guard, and we were right outside an area where you can see well over 100 open car parking spaces.” 

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Burgan continued in his thread, “I guess to their credit (in Disney’s mind at least) the guard was unwavering. The only answer we got was that there was a sandwich board next to the gate that said parking was for guests only.” 

However, as the guest pointed out, while this policy might have made sense if Disney was making sure guests didn’t arrive early to park at resorts and skip paying for parking at a Disney Park, it’s unlikely that he and his family were doing that at 7 p.m. at night.

The family had wanted to have dinner and enjoy the Cars-themed area at the resort hotel since Burgan’s son was a huge fan of the franchise.

Burgan concluded, “Long story short, we drove home. Disney lost out on at least $100 for dinner and probably $250 or more overall because they wouldnt allow a car into a parking lot with tons of open spaces for an hour or so because a sandwich board says no.” 

Burgan was incredibly disillusioned with the Disney Resort, as were many other guests who pointed out Universal—one of Disney’s primary competitors—has an easy fix to this offering, which allows guests to shop and dine at various resorts without being guests there (for a fee, of course).

The guest wrote, “Current WDW has delusions of grandeur.”

Have you ever found yourself in a situation like this? What are your thoughts on what happened? Let Disney Dining know in the comments! 

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