Tinkermommy
06-17-2006, 10:06 AM
I've recently read here about people having difficult experiences going in and out of the Mickey & Friends structure. Yesterday we stopped in on the way home from San Diego and experienced just about everything people have been writing about. ARGH!
Going in, around 5 p.m., I was behind another car and got all the way up to the booth before I discovered, when the car in front of me moved out of the lane, that the booth in my lane was closed. There was nothing to let us know that until we'd passed a line of cars waiting in the lane next to us (and I was in the lane in which I started at the parks/hotel split) except for a yellow bar at the front of the booth, and two cones about five feet in front of that. Of course, the people (and bus) waiting assumed I'd gone around them intentionally, and didn't want to let me in. (Who could blame them?) When I finally got in and had my turn, I asked the guy why they don't warn cars earlier, and he said (referring to the closed booth), "He's just on a break. He'll be right back." Sigh.
We parked on Donald, and when we left around 10:30, we were once again forced to take the lanes that go to the 5 freeway. I normally do the "merge of death," turn right on Ball Road and take that to the 57 freeway for my 1.5 hour drive home. (Contrary to what Disneyland parking planners apparently believe, not everybody who parks on Donald lives near the 5 freeway.) Since the exit lanes were all separated with cones and there was an Anaheim police officer enforcing the divisions, we were stuck. The only alternative would have been to cut across INSIDE the parking structure, which wasn't safe at that time of night.
So, now that I've vented (ARGH!), can anybody tell me an easier way to go home when I get forced into those stinking 5 lanes? So far when it's happened, I've driven over the freeway and turned right on some street that has a signal and is dark and scary (always a delight when it's just my little girl and I), taken that to Harbor Blvd. and eventually turned left on Ball Road. Because the blocks are long, it seems to take me WAY out of the way. What I need is a route that doesn't make be backtrack all that way to Ball, and that has a late-night drive-through where I can get a caffeinated soda for the ride. (Ball Rd. has Burger King, open until 11, and McDonalds, open even later.)
Any help from locals would be VERY much appreciated!:(
Going in, around 5 p.m., I was behind another car and got all the way up to the booth before I discovered, when the car in front of me moved out of the lane, that the booth in my lane was closed. There was nothing to let us know that until we'd passed a line of cars waiting in the lane next to us (and I was in the lane in which I started at the parks/hotel split) except for a yellow bar at the front of the booth, and two cones about five feet in front of that. Of course, the people (and bus) waiting assumed I'd gone around them intentionally, and didn't want to let me in. (Who could blame them?) When I finally got in and had my turn, I asked the guy why they don't warn cars earlier, and he said (referring to the closed booth), "He's just on a break. He'll be right back." Sigh.
We parked on Donald, and when we left around 10:30, we were once again forced to take the lanes that go to the 5 freeway. I normally do the "merge of death," turn right on Ball Road and take that to the 57 freeway for my 1.5 hour drive home. (Contrary to what Disneyland parking planners apparently believe, not everybody who parks on Donald lives near the 5 freeway.) Since the exit lanes were all separated with cones and there was an Anaheim police officer enforcing the divisions, we were stuck. The only alternative would have been to cut across INSIDE the parking structure, which wasn't safe at that time of night.
So, now that I've vented (ARGH!), can anybody tell me an easier way to go home when I get forced into those stinking 5 lanes? So far when it's happened, I've driven over the freeway and turned right on some street that has a signal and is dark and scary (always a delight when it's just my little girl and I), taken that to Harbor Blvd. and eventually turned left on Ball Road. Because the blocks are long, it seems to take me WAY out of the way. What I need is a route that doesn't make be backtrack all that way to Ball, and that has a late-night drive-through where I can get a caffeinated soda for the ride. (Ball Rd. has Burger King, open until 11, and McDonalds, open even later.)
Any help from locals would be VERY much appreciated!:(