Downtown Disney parking situation???

[BABYJOSIE98]

We decided to stay a day after our cruise and I really want to visit Downtown Disney. We will have a rental car, but I have been hearing such horrible things about the parking and traffic at DTD that I did not know if it was worth trying to go there on the afternoon of June 7th or not??

We do have another option.....I booked through Dreams the Buena Vista Suites for the one night and they offer a free shuttle to Downtown Disney at 6pm? Should we just wait and do that rather than trying to park in the afternoon?

We will be driving up from Miami and plan to check in around noon and the we could get lunch at the hotel and swim and then head to DTD at 6.

We managed to snag an Ohana ADR yesterday for June 7th at 9:10pm.
So excited about that...So I figure we could go at 6pm and walk around and shop a few hours then take a bus to the Poly for dinner and then back to DTD for our shuttle pick up at 11:20pm.

So excited I am getting my Disney fix before we fly home and it is way cheaper flying home from Orlando than Miami!! WOW!

 

[conniehar90]

You should be fine. Yes, it is usually very crowded but we always drive our own car and always find a spot to park. It may take a few minutes of driving around but we always find something. If worse comes to worse, there is usually always parking down near Cirque. Have fun!

 

[Reddog1134]

I'm not sure if the previous poster is aware of the construction. But parking is MUCH worse than it's been in the past.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . have been hearing such horrible things about the parking and traffic at DTD . . .

1) Let's see.
2) Trying to think of a comparison for DTD parking during construction . . .
. . . mother-in-law visit
. . . root canal
. . . underwear 2-sizes too small
. . . aluminum siding salesman spiel
. . . earth during armageddon

 

[GigiDisneyfreak]

We decided to stay a day after our cruise and I really want to visit Downtown Disney. We will have a rental car, but I have been hearing such horrible things about the parking and traffic at DTD that I did not know if it was worth trying to go there on the afternoon of June 7th or not??

We do have another option.....I booked through Dreams the Buena Vista Suites for the one night and they offer a free shuttle to Downtown Disney at 6pm? Should we just wait and do that rather than trying to park in the afternoon?

We will be driving up from Miami and plan to check in around noon and the we could get lunch at the hotel and swim and then head to DTD at 6.

We managed to snag an Ohana ADR yesterday for June 7th at 9:10pm.
So excited about that...So I figure we could go at 6pm and walk around and shop a few hours then take a bus to the Poly for dinner and then back to DTD for our shuttle pick up at 11:20pm.

So excited I am getting my Disney fix before we fly home and it is way cheaper flying home from Orlando than Miami!! WOW!

Will there be a second shuttle after the 11:20 shuttle. That is cutting it close with a 9:10 adr. I don't know what time wishes is that night but O'hana is always crowded at wishes and is usually running late. You may not be able to get the bus back in time for your shuttle. I always use the rule of an hour whenever I use Disney buses. Parking had always been bad at DTD but maybe you would be better driving there earlier in the day so you can drive over to the Poly later.

 

[WDWOswald]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but is there a parking option that requires perhaps a ton of walking but is still available while the construction is going on?

 

[PSUGuy]

After a bad experience trying to get near Raglan Road last Oct., a few weeks ago we just went directly to the Cirque area, parked and walked a bit.

Bill From PA

 

[joe1946]

Taxi from your hotel to DTD
Bus from DTD to Poly
Taxi from Poly back to hotel

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

Taxi from your hotel to DTD
Bus from DTD to Poly
Taxi from Poly back to hotel

This did cross my mind as an option

I even thought if we get back to DTD and miss the bus we can just grab a taxi from DTD back to the resort. It is less than 2 miles from DTD where we are staying.

Thanks for all the advice..I know just from listening to the Pod cast that it must be a mess around DTD....

If we did drive over in the afternoon I think I would just go to Cirque parking lot and walk in from that way and then head back to the resort to get ready for dinner.

Then we could drive to the Poly that night for dinner.....

 

[dachsie]

DTD also has offsite parking that they have a shuttle running to and from. They dont want to lose those dollars so they will provide a way.

 

[MagicRat]

My family's favorite place to visit on our trips is DTD. I was just there a week ago. During the afternoon? You will find parking- may take a few minutes, but you will find it. I just drop my family off and go look for it so I don't have the stress of having them in the car while I drive around.

 

[CanadianPaco]

We were there twice last week in the evening and also had a rental. There is an overflow parking lot at "Casting" right across the street. Lots of parking and it was an extra 5 min walk. No worries either time.

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

Thanks everyone....This gives me hope for finding parking when we go on June 7th....We do not mind a little extra walking.

We jut want to shop and have lunch at Wolfgang puck express and then go back and chill till Ohana...

Will probably drive to Ohana that evening in case it runs late....

 

[kappyfamily]

We went the Friday night after presidents weekend (princess half marathon weekend) and had zero problem finding a spot. It was about 5pm. I pulled into the lot and spent 45 seconds looking and a car backed out. Seriously had no problem. I parked by the Wolfgang puck/Xmas store side. Not sure what side that is but it was super easy... Have fun!

 

[MichelleVW]

My family's favorite place to visit on our trips is DTD. I was just there a week ago. During the afternoon? You will find parking- may take a few minutes, but you will find it. I just drop my family off and go look for it so I don't have the stress of having them in the car while I drive around.

It's usually easy to find parking during the afternoon...but they are looking at June 7th which is a Saturday. I avoid trying to park there on weekends at all cost...seems to be way worse.

 

[JanaDee]

Thanks everyone....This gives me hope for finding parking when we go on June 7th....We do not mind a little extra walking.

We jut want to shop and have lunch at Wolfgang puck express and then go back and chill till Ohana...

Will probably drive to Ohana that evening in case it runs late....

You probably won't be done at 'Ohana until close to 11, and it is likely you won't be back to DTD by 11:20pm.

 

[HM]

When we were there in mid-December. We ended up parking way down past Cirque d' Soleil because there just wasn't anywhere else to park one afternoon. Luckily for us, we weren't actually planning on the Marketplace (but DisneyQuest) so it worked for us.

Another day, we did visit Marketplace, but got there before 9am, and there were spots near there, but already there were a lot of cars.

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

I think I solved my problem....

I got an email for a managers discount at Best Western after we stayed at one this past weekend in Branson MO.....So I put it in and it gave me the same rate of $109 at the Downtown Disney Best Western Lake Buena Vista as I had for Buena Vista Suites. So I booked it and cancelled the other one that I had.

It still sleeps 5 with 2 Queens and a Sofa sleeper and free parking. We just give up the free breakfast but after eating at Ohana at 9pm Saturday night we will probably not even be hungry in the morning!! LOL

Not too mention we are coming off a cruise with tons of eating!!

They do have a resort fee of $11.95 so that is the only thing extra, but I think for the convenience of being able to just park and then walk to Downtown Disney is worth it.

We can now take the resort shuttles from DTD to the Poly....When we get back we can just walk to our hotel and we will need too after eating all the food Ohana gives you. I am so excited!!

I have always wanted to stay in a DTD hotel anyway.

Now I do not have too worry about finding a place to park and this Best Western has shuttles running all day and evening to the parks if needed.

We are all up for walking so this will work perfect for us....

 

[richmo]

We were there twice last week in the evening and also had a rental. There is an overflow parking lot at "Casting" right across the street. Lots of parking and it was an extra 5 min walk. No worries either time.

I've been parking at 'Casting' across from the Marketplace and find it fairly convenient. Most of the 5 minute walk is waiting for the light to change...but its a big savings over wandering around the usual lot.

 

[conniehar90]

We are here now and staying offsite. We have been to DTD three times (twice at night and once in the day). We have parked in the Marketplace lot all three times with no problems. No driving around forever - we just pulled in every time and found a spot. In fact, my DH made a comment that there are more open spots now then in the past. We think people are scared to pull in the lot because all the signs try to direct you to the lots across the street.