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View Full Version : Parking Strategy? Parking Structure



charpaul
02-05-2007, 02:43 PM
I decided to ask this here because I am the person who ALWAYS picks the longest/slowest line in the world. I consistently pick the line that stops moving as soon as I get into it. I AM NOT KIDDING!!!!

My latest case in point... I arrive at the parking structure at a quarter to 9 on a Sunday morning. I know that it will be busy, I know there are a lot of people trying to get in, I know that I just need to be patient....it is all up to Disney at this point.

45 minutes later, I have finally parked and am standing in the Tram plaza waiting for a tram. I started thinking during my wait that I MUST be missing something. There MUST be a way to not let this happen to me again. The parking lane I arrived in had to merge, and then merge again, and then the lane I picked inside the structure (I had the choice of 2) stopped moving for about 15 minutes. Then it crept along at the rate of one car in my lane to two cars moving forward in all other lanes. ALL the other lanes kept right on moving along and other cars that were far behind me in the original line were parked by the time I showed my pass at the structure.

So I am asking all of you here - do you have ANY tips that might help me avoid this in the future??? What have you found that helps? Is there ANY strategy that you have found to help with parking in the structure??? Or am I simply at the whim of Disney as soon as I cross that bridge and enter Resort property???

just beatla33
02-05-2007, 02:48 PM
Choose the line that has the less vans, not SUVs, but vans, for some reason they love to stop and ask like a million questions which hold up the line.

Bytebear
02-05-2007, 03:29 PM
Rule of thumb: Go to the right. Always go to the right. When you pick a toll booth, go to the right. When you go up the ramp, go to the right. You will almost always be parked closer to the escalators.

This rule also applies to ride lines as well: Haunted Mansion and Pirates are particularly true.

wdwmartin
02-05-2007, 03:34 PM
I agree that you should almost always go to the right, especially pirates and parking!

The parking gates are always random, but my big suggestion is that in the morning when the tram lines are really long, we just walk to the park, they have a little path that goes out of the parking lot, you then cross the street and follow the path into DTD. We can usually beat our friends who stay and wait for the tram. And in a day when you are going to walk 10-15 miles, what is an extra half mile?

DaddyB
02-05-2007, 10:40 PM
If it's really, really busy, and traffic is backed up from the overpass of Ball road going to the garage, don't take it, stay to the right and cross over Ball Rd using the city street.

I won't share any other secrets other than that. Too many people know the secrets, and it won't be as fast anymore (there's a reason why it's a secret)!

Darkbeer
02-06-2007, 05:47 AM
Park at Pummba on busy days.

It is located on Disney Way, across from the Garden Walk construction.

Most times they don't even open up the toll booths (aka free parking) like this past Sunday, so very short waits, just find a parking space, get out of the car and walk to the park. Very litttle wait, and the walk isn't that bad (about a 1/2 mile), since Disney does not offer Tram service from the lot.

Alas, they don't open the lot on slow days... :(

DisneyDustin22
02-06-2007, 06:33 AM
Rule of thumb: Go to the right. Always go to the right. When you pick a toll booth, go to the right. When you go up the ramp, go to the right. You will almost always be parked closer to the escalators.

This rule also applies to ride lines as well: Haunted Mansion and Pirates are particularly true.

Except on Jungle Cruise, stay to the LEFT! When the line splits before the boarding area, go to the left. Both sides continue along the dock but when you reach the boat, the left line loads right into the rear of the boat while the right snakes around just a tiny bit more in the queue.

On a busy day it could mean the difference of having to wait for one more boat or not! Which could get you on one ride quicker, in turn getting you off one ride quicker, thus adding one more ride to your day! :D

samsma
02-06-2007, 07:22 AM
O.K. I have a question, that I hope you can help me with. We will be going to Disney on Feb 14-19(ya I know, busy weekend),and we will be renting a car. My husband wants to drive and park at Disney so we can just drive to where we want to go after. Our hotel is not in walking distance(holiday inn anaheim resort on Manchester av),and they have ART transit, and include free passes for our stay. After seeing the lines to park from trip reports posted, I would like to know if we should park or take transit(I have seen really long waits to ride those busses before).I know the cost to park, but that really is not an issue to use, it is more about time and convenience. Any suggestions?

Darkbeer
02-06-2007, 08:35 AM
Here is something I recently wrote at TripAdvisor...

I am one who is NOT a fan of driving, I live close by and have an Annual Pass that allows me to park at no charge, but I still avoid it if possible.

I sometimes get a room at Howard Johnson's, and I either walk or use ART. I will park at the Pummba lot off of Disney Way (near the Ramada) instead of dealing with the hassle of the Parking Structure and/or the Timon Lot off of Harbor Blvd.

Let's start with close by Hotels, using the center of the Main Entrance Plaza as the end point, the distance (from the Hotel Lobby) from Howard Johnson's, the Candy Cane Inn and the Paradise Pier Hotel are all the same distance, about 6/10th of a mile. The closest hotels are actually the Park Vue Inn and the Best Western Park Place Inn, even closer than the Grand Californian.

If I am at any of those hotels, I will walk and not use the shuttle unless I have someone who needs assistance, but you are still walking about the same distance as going from the Main Turnstiles to Splash Mountain in the park, it isn't that much as compared to the rest of the day.

If you need a shuttle, most hotels use the ART system.

http://www.rideart.org.

They usually run every 20 minutes, and the hotel front desk knows the approximate time they will arrive (Such as 5, 25 and 45 minutes past the hour). Find out the arrival time.

Gather the family together and make it to the ART pick up point a few minutes early, and have you ART passes available (the Hotel will sell them to you, or point you to an automated machine).

Load the ART and ride it to the park.

Get off, go thru security and enter the Main Entrance Plaza.


Now, let's look at driving.

You have to gather everyone up and load the car. Start up the car and head to one of two main entrances.

The one off Harbor Blvd (crossroad is Disney Way) is close to the hotels, but in my opinion the worst choice.

You line up and pay the toll (currently $11 for cars) or show your parking pass. Then you will be directed to one of three parking lots. On very busy days, they will send folks to Simba, in which you are sent down a road behind California Adventure and across Disneyland Drive, and you park behind the Paradise Pier Hotel, which as mentioned earlier is the same distance as the HoJo's or CCI, so you unload the car, and then walk FURTHER than if you just walked in the first place! Talk about a lose-lose, you had to pay to park and save NOTHING!

The second choice is the Timon Lot (next to the Tower of Terror building), which tends to only be open or busy days, after Simba is full, if they expect very large crowds. If you get directed to Timon, count your blessing, you can park near the Trams, and it is convenient. But the lot is not that big, and more than likely will be getting smaller in the future as they need the space to help add attractions to California Adventure.

Most folks who enter the Harbor Blvd entrance currently are handed a receipt and a printed slip that tells you how to get to a back entrance to the Parking Structure. This is basically the same road as going to Simba, but making a right onto Disneyland Drive to Magic Way, where you make a left to the parking entrance. This entrance is also used by others, so they have another set of Parking Toll Booths, where you will show your receipt to be allowed in. To find out the rest, just read the description below...

Most people who drive from the LA area take 5 south to the Disneyland Drive exit, and go directly to the Parking Structure, as does all AP holders with the Parking Pass, because the AP states it is only good at the structure (though they do not enforce the rule).

If you are close by, you get onto Ball and take that to Disneyland Drive and follow the signs.

Now depending on the day, you can get lucky with very little wait (usually later in the day), or the average 10 to 20 minute wait in the mornings, or on very busy days, I have seen the cars backed up to the freeway entrance (that is over a 40 minute wait just to pay or show your pass).

Once you get by the 10 toll booths (not all are open, 4 to 6 is average) they have to blend the traffic (along with those who entered from Magic Way) into two lanes of traffic (sometimes one), plus filter out those who didn't pay (EXIT flyer posted on windshield), over-sized vehicles, Bus parking, 15 minute parking, etc.

Once you get past the merge, which is just awful when they have all 10 booths open. you are sent to a parking level using a ramp, and then you get to find out where you are told to park, you are directed to a space, you don't get a choice. And we are talking about one of the largest parking structures in the world. And the way the structure is designed, there is only one pedestrian entrance/exit, on the south-east corner. So if you are told to park in the North-West corner, you can have a walk that is over a 1/4 mile just to get out of the structure. Once you finally park, and unload the family, you join the other families and the strollers to the escalators to the tram loading area. The strollers have to go to 1 of just 2 elevators, as they are not allowed to take kids sitting in strollers on the escalators, which creates long lines at the elevator, which can get nasty if they are parking two levels at the same time. The elevator fills up at the first stop, and then goes to the other level, where folks are stuck, as they elevator is always full. So they start to hit the "up" button, and fill up the elevators to get on, which upsets the folks at the other level, who want to board, but the elevator is full.

Then there is the Tram loading area itself, I parked at the structure twice this weekend, and both times ended up walking due to the long waits for trams (and the walk is about 1/2 mile, the same distance as the Paradise Pier, HoJo's or CCI). The trams hold 5 person per row, and people tend to try and cut in many cases to get their entire group on the same tram. Also, ALL children have to be removed from strollers, and folded up, with the exception of a few spaces in the front and back of the tram, where you can leave the stroller unfolded, but the child MUST be removed. The front area is usually already filled up with folks in wheelchairs (which load in a separate area). So if you want to keep your stroller unfolded, go to the BACK of the tram, as that space is used only for strollers.

You take the tram, and then unload near the World of Disney store, and then get in line to go thru Security and enter the Main Entrance Plaza.

So let's look at the 3 choices.

A. Walk...

1. Simple, easy, no real steps.

B. Shuttle/ART

1. Arrive at the Stop

2. Load the van/bus

3. Unload at the park

C. Personal Vehicle

1. Load up the vehicle

2. Drive to the Parking Entrance

3. Pay the toll or show the parking pass

4. Get directed to a parking space

5. Unload the vehicle

6. Walk to the Tram Loading area

7. Load up onto the Tram (sometimes a long wait)

8. Unload from the Tram at the park

So, IMHO the all day parking lots are a pain and not worth the hassle, in fact, I will park at the Pummba lot when it is open, since it tends to not be very busy and just walk, which is about the same distance as staying at the PPH, HoJo's or CCI.

Another option I use is the Downtown Disney lot, which is near the Disneyland Hotel. This only works if you will be there three hours or less, but I would rather walk than deal with the Parking Structure.

samsma
02-06-2007, 08:42 AM
Thank you Darkbeer. I will show this info to my Hubby when he gets home, and I think we will take the ART, as our hotel is not in walking distance.