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View Full Version : Parking at DLR (3/27/09)



bassett1976
03-27-2009, 08:46 PM
Tonight was definitely a first for us and, of course, we didn't take our camera to the parks tonight.

We took a trip down for the evening knowing that the parks might be busy. We turned into the parking structure just as they turned on the sign that said the parking structure was closed but they hadn't blocked the road yet. We kept going.

We waited for a while as the cars slowly entered the parking structure and we creeped toward the money booths. Eventually we noticed numerous managers coming out and signaling to people. They started parking people on the lower level in the entrance to the parking structure. We ended up parking right behind the money booths on the left side of the entrance roads.

The parks were very busy and when we returned to the parking structure we found that the cars were parked in a single lane (two on the left and one on the right) from in front of the booths all the way back to the entrance to the parking structure. I think we may have found the newest winner of the worst parking space in the structure. :eek:

ChurroGirl
03-27-2009, 09:54 PM
WOW! That must have been a crazy busy day!

Hope you still had fun though!

olegc
03-27-2009, 10:15 PM
and I bet there were many space spread throughout the structure at the time you arrived..

Tinker Bell
03-28-2009, 09:54 AM
Well I know when I left around noon from the second floor I went out with 4 other cars. So there was some space on 2 Daisy.

ryanvalle
03-28-2009, 09:59 AM
Well I know when I left around noon from the second floor I went out with 4 other cars. So there was some space on 2 Daisy.

Even though you left, they won't "sell" your spot because you've already paid for your parking ticket.

bassett1976
03-28-2009, 10:10 AM
and I bet there were many space spread throughout the structure at the time you arrived..
They were trying to repark but not everyone was allowed up. I bet they had a lot of parking spaces left. They also told us that the CM parking lot in the back was already filled. They also had two rows in the oversized lot that was open.



Even though you left, they won't "sell" your spot because you've already paid for your parking ticket.

So, would they let you back to that parking space?

ryanvalle
03-28-2009, 02:07 PM
So, would they let you back to that parking space?

They should allow you to go back in and if your space is not yet taken, you should be allowed to take it. Typically, they don't do the "park wherever you want" since they have their attendants telling you to park in a certain area as cars move in. We all know how it works, they fill it up row by row. Since they do it this way, its possible for you to drive back up to where you were and go back toyour parking spot.

I havent done this myself before, but in theory, it should work. When I arrive later in the evening, I often see a handful of spots free near the escalators, yet none of the CMs are guiding any of the traffic to fill those spots up.

foolishmortal
03-28-2009, 08:38 PM
We left toady from the PPH hotel parking and the lot behind the building was packed with a RIVER of people going to the park.
We were so glad to be in DCA by 9:45am and out by 11:00 with all the rides rode and sour dough loaves and lego's in hand! picked up a few sandwhichs at PPH and RAN FOR IT!! WOW it looked like is was going to be packed.
Thur./fri. was not any where near as bad as we thought it was going to be, and we had a great time.

Amazing on the parking.

AVP
03-29-2009, 10:25 AM
Even though you left, they won't "sell" your spot because you've already paid for your parking ticket.That's not true. The M&F structure used to be re-parked all the time - if they filled the entire structure, they just started over again. Then it seemed that they stopped fully staffing the structure after they went into re-park mode - the ground level crew were there to collect payment and direct you onto a level, but once you got there you were on your own to find a parking space. That was a MESS, and led to situations where people got to the end of a row, couldn't find a spot, and wound up driving against traffic on the next row to try to find something.

Now it seems like they just close the structure when it fills up, and never go into reparking mode. I left the parking structure on a Sunday a few weeks ago after they had filled & closed the structure, and there were well over 100 spots open in just the little section of the parking level I could see immediately around my car. I don't understand it.

AVP

ryanvalle
03-29-2009, 11:09 AM
I left the parking structure on a Sunday a few weeks ago after they had filled & closed the structure, and there were well over 100 spots open in just the little section of the parking level I could see immediately around my car. I don't understand it.

AVP

Possibly, the park was reaching near full capacity and they had to control that somehow.

olegc
03-29-2009, 01:59 PM
Possibly, the park was reaching near full capacity and they had to control that somehow.

I left the parking structure on a Sunday a few weeks ago after they had filled & closed the structure, and there were well over 100 spots open in just the little section of the parking level I could see immediately around my car. I don't understand it.

AVP

i would guess it was more about spending time and resources (meaning paid employees) to try and keep the lot full.... why spend money when you have taken in a lot already? have you seen the cost of parking go up over the last year? two or three dollars in one year. hmm - add it all up and you might not have to reopen for the number of cars coming later. It's kind of like annual passes - would rather get your money up front instead of as you go - and just keep raising prices...

cstephens
03-29-2009, 06:52 PM
They should allow you to go back in and if your space is not yet taken, you should be allowed to take it.

That wouldn't work because they don't have access to all six floors open at the same time. If the floor you were parked on is now closed, you wouldn't even be able to access that floor.

And how is someone going to be able to prove which space was "theirs"? Not to mention, would they even know which exact space was the one they were parked in.

Reparking was done all the time. But I too saw the fiascos that AVP saw when people were just randomly sent down rows. So instead of fixing the problem by having CMs assist, they've just made the structure inaccessible after a certain time. Yeah, good move.

currence
03-29-2009, 08:02 PM
Just thought I would chime in. We were also at Disneyland on 3/27. We didn't get there until close to 8pm and Mickey & Friends had re-opened at that point. It was very weird seeing cars parked in what is normally traffic lanes. There was one person at the ticket booths, waiving people through (no need to pay), and another at the point where handicapped cars are split off.

From there, we were sent to the ramp that takes you to the third and fourth floors. They were both open, so we chose four (Goofy). There were very few other cars on that level and we decided to be greedy and go all the way down. Not surprisingly that was taken but we were able to back into a space pretty close by. It was everyone for themselves, but because hardly anyone had chosen to go to the fourth floor, it wasn't a big deal. I don't know what it looked like on the other levels, which probably had more people trolling for spaces.

I guess Disney figures it doesn't make sense to fully staff the parking lots after a certain time and while I'm inclined to think that at the current parking rates it only takes a couple of cars per hour to pay the employee's salaries, I would assume that most of the cars entering that late are annual passholders who aren't paying anything additional to park. Though, there was a surprisingly long line at many of the ticket booths.

disneyfn
03-31-2009, 02:01 PM
Too bad Disneyland doesn't use a system like at the parking garage in the Irvine spectrum. There as you enter is a message board lit that tells you how many spaces are available on each level of the structure. You decide which level to go to depending on spaces available.Sure would make finding a space a lot easier but would cost a lot of money to retrofit the parking structure with the sensors.

olegc
03-31-2009, 02:05 PM
Too bad Disneyland doesn't use a system like at the parking garage in the Irvine spectrum. There as you enter is a message board lit that tells you how many spaces are available on each level of the structure. You decide which level to go to depending on spaces available.Sure would make finding a space a lot easier but would cost a lot of money to retrofit the parking structure with the sensors.

not only sensors - but also a better way to go up and down each level. Right now the entrance ramp has the turns kind of set for input from the bottom, and the exit ramp is REALLY strictly one way. That would require major retrofitting too. the Spectrum lot has many ways to go up and down each individual level.