After 42 Months, Do We Even Care if Disney Brings This Back?

It appears that it’s “too little, too late” when it comes to Walt Disney World’s most recent comeback.

Since the phased reopening of Walt Disney World from the pandemic, guests have seen a very staggered approach to the return of certain theme park experiences. Character meet and greets, parades, and Fantasmic! were slow to come back to the Florida theme parks, but the Disney parking trams were arguably the most notable absence from the Walt Disney World Resort experience.

Now, after a 42-month gap, do guests even care that the trams have fully returned?

It’s official: as of September 20, 2023, Disney parking trams have finally returned to both EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme parks. This is the first time the service has been back at all four Walt Disney World theme parks in more than 3 years.

That’s right. It’s been over 3 years since all four Walt Disney World parks had parking trams. Or 42 months. Or over 1000 days.

The Disney parking lot tram service returned to Magic Kingdom back in December 2021 and Disney’s Animal Kingdom park in May 2022, but the parking trams at EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios only returned this week.

Related: Disney Announces Return of Trams to EPCOT, Hollywood Studios!

Many guests at Walt Disney World considered the parking lot tram service to be their “first ride of the day,” an experience that became as treasured as the Monorail or the ferry boats.

When the parks reopened in 2020, indoor attractions, entertainment offerings, and parking trams were suspended for safety, with health protocols such as masks and plexiglass required at the Florida resort.

Guests were vocal on social media about the absence of the beloved Disney parking trams. They were open-air, of course, so why were they closed for “safety’? We now had to walk from our parking spots at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which could be very long and arduous from particular areas of the parking lots.

Even at EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the walks could feel largely unsafe with no real specification of where pedestrians should walk alongside the cars entering the parking lots.

Related: VIDEO: Argument Breaks Out on Walt Disney World Tram

Worse still, in both EPCOT and Disney’s Animal Kingdom parking lots, the parking trams were lined up right where vehicles entered the parking lots, teasing guests facing the long walk to the theme park entrance.

42 months is a long closure for Disney. For a theme park giant that prides itself on its magic and great customer service, it’s been a long wait for guests for what is, at the end of the day, a minimal part of the Disney theme park experience. What started as a safety and staffing issue during the pandemic seems to have become a money-saving initiative in Disney’s reluctance to return to normal service.

The fanfare that Disney once had when its trams at Disneyland in Anaheim and Magic Kingdom returned has now gone, and it seems even theme park bosses and Disney CEO Bob Iger realize the underwhelming and, frankly, embarrassing occasion of this delayed return to full Disney-level service.

In the meantime, we can now all once again enjoy the beloved spiel below as we head toward EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios for our vacations:

Driver, you are clear. **Tram begins moving** Please hold on to hats, glasses, or any loose items that may fall from the tram. If an article should fall, please stay seated until the next stop, and inform the nearest Cast Member.