cstephens
06-06-2010, 09:38 PM
We arrived at the Mickey and Friends parking structure at about 11:45am today. The CM at the parking booth asked if we had a wheelchair or a stroller in the car. The husband said we did not. The CM then put a white slip of paper on my dashboard. The next CM then directed us to the far right lane, and at first, I thought they were parking us on the other side of Chip and Dale, which confused me. Nope, eventually, I figured out they were parking me outside, past Chip and Dale, in an unnamed lot that is normally used for parking by Downtown Disney employees.
I asked a CM there why I was being sent out this way. He said that they were expecting it to be an extremely busy day, so they were sending anyone without a wheelchair and without a stroller to that parking lot. Ummm, ok. So I found a space and parked. And the husband reminded me (since we'd actually had to park there as overflow parking before) that from there, you have to take a flight of stairs up to the second level (Daisy) of the structure and then walk to where the regular escalators are. They weren't sending cars with wheelchairs and strollers that way because of the stairs you have to use. Even though it's on the bottom floor, there is no way to get from there directly to the tram loading area without either taking the stairs or a seriously long detour through traffic.
OK. But they didn't ask if anyone in the car had mobility issues. There are times when stairs are difficult for me to navigate. Luckily, this wasn't an issue at that point in time. But what if someone was using a cane or had a leg brace or using crutches or was pregnant or had some other mobility issue that made stairs very difficult or even impossible but it wasn't someone who either needed or brought their own wheelchair with them? It would have been a serious problem to have ended up in that lot in that case. If Disney is going to send specific groups of people to that lot, it might be a good idea for them to take all situations into account, not just a stroller or a wheelchair.
Neither park seemed all that crowded to me today - busy, but not packed. I wonder if they're testing out the parking situation for the crowds that will undoubtedly arrive once World of Color starts. If so, perhaps they should find some way of being able to allow guests to get from that parking lot to the tram loading area without having to take a flight of stairs first or making sure that they're not sending someone to that lot who is going to have issues navigating the stairs.
I asked a CM there why I was being sent out this way. He said that they were expecting it to be an extremely busy day, so they were sending anyone without a wheelchair and without a stroller to that parking lot. Ummm, ok. So I found a space and parked. And the husband reminded me (since we'd actually had to park there as overflow parking before) that from there, you have to take a flight of stairs up to the second level (Daisy) of the structure and then walk to where the regular escalators are. They weren't sending cars with wheelchairs and strollers that way because of the stairs you have to use. Even though it's on the bottom floor, there is no way to get from there directly to the tram loading area without either taking the stairs or a seriously long detour through traffic.
OK. But they didn't ask if anyone in the car had mobility issues. There are times when stairs are difficult for me to navigate. Luckily, this wasn't an issue at that point in time. But what if someone was using a cane or had a leg brace or using crutches or was pregnant or had some other mobility issue that made stairs very difficult or even impossible but it wasn't someone who either needed or brought their own wheelchair with them? It would have been a serious problem to have ended up in that lot in that case. If Disney is going to send specific groups of people to that lot, it might be a good idea for them to take all situations into account, not just a stroller or a wheelchair.
Neither park seemed all that crowded to me today - busy, but not packed. I wonder if they're testing out the parking situation for the crowds that will undoubtedly arrive once World of Color starts. If so, perhaps they should find some way of being able to allow guests to get from that parking lot to the tram loading area without having to take a flight of stairs first or making sure that they're not sending someone to that lot who is going to have issues navigating the stairs.