This is a pretty minor vent, but I thought I'd disclose it in the title. I know that parking is at a premium, and I'm fortunate that for now I'm grandfathered in with the parking add on for my AP.
Sometimes I make the effort to meet up with friends to carpool either to help them save $18 or because it will be crowded, like on the 24 hour days. But it's always less convenient than just driving myself because I don't live near any of my AP holder friends and we all keep different schedules.
On Tuesday I was at AP Days and they were pushing the carpool option for a free AP pin. There are different colors, collect them all. Personally, it's a pin that says AP. Usually I wear nothing in the parks that says that I'm an AP, but my friend wanted the pin, so we carpooled. But because one friend had an appointment, we arrived later in the afternoon. We asked about the pin at Toy Story and were told, "Nope, we're done for the day." No sorry or anything. I've been told "no" many times at Disneyland, but as my friend said, he seemed to take pleasure in it.
Meanwhile, a parent with two toddlers, who obviously couldn't drive themselves and therefore park another car gets the button promotion.
And that's why offering a free button to encourage carpooling hasn't encouraged carpooling. Especially for AP Days. Because for the cost of a Signature AP or the parking add on, it's not worth the extra time and inconvenience to arrive together and be tied to leaving together. And it's definitely not worth it for the possibility of getting a free button.
I don't know how to solve the parking issue short of a new lot, which I know is coming. But I'd rather see something like discounts or multi-day parking passes to park farther away. Or a tiered hourly lot where I pay less to park for a shorter time and they design the lot in a way that allows for easier reparking than what they have now.
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