Parking to see Christmas decorations

[Lindz518]

Hi! We are going the first week of December and will be staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek. We will have our car and want to check out some of the resort decorations. Will we be allowed to self park for free to check these out? Mainly all of the Deluxes.

 

[Grumpy92]

Yes you will be able to park at the Deluxe resorts, but you may have a time limit on how long you can park there. All will ask for ID (normally a drivers license) and why you are visiting. They then might give you a parking pass for that specific resort.

 

[Lindz518]

Thanks! Any ideas how often they do a time limit and how long it is? For the Epcot and MK resorts we planned on parking at one and making a day of each walking around and hanging out at the Boardwalk and maybe doing a carriage ride at Fort Wilderness.!

 

[MyKidzMick]

Last year, GF wasn't allowing self-parking the first week in December. Cars were being turned away or told they needed to Valet park if they did not have an ADR. We had an ADR for Citricos and were directed to park in the Villa parking lot.

Another time, we were going to eat at GFC or the CS restaurant and because we didn't have an ADR, we weren't allowed to park at all. You may want to schedule an ADR to be assured of parking during the busy time of year.

 

[EagleFlyer]

Could you park at DTD and take a resort bus from there?

 

[catherines_mama]

Could you park at DTD and take a resort bus from there?

Yes, this is allowed. The route can be a pain at times but the decorations are worth it.

 

[disnut8]

For the Epcot resorts, park at the Boardwalk in the overflow lot. It's a bit of a walk but worth it. Take a nice walk all the way around Crescent Lake and enjoy.

I believe from there you can take the resort bus (from any resort) over to the Magic Kingdom and then do a monorail tour of those resorts and then go back over to an Epcot resort.

 

[MyKidzMick]

And, also for the Boardwalk, Fantasia Gardens has a large parking lot and it is directly across from the Swan/Dolphin.

Another option if you are turned away from GF: exit GF and as you are driving away you will be alongside the MK parking lot. Stay in the far left lane and there will be a turn lane for MK parking. If you turn in, you end up in the parking lot. This turn-in lane does not direct you to the parking lot entry plaza and toll booths... in fact, there is no way to get to the parking lot toll booth entry plaza... you just find a place to park. Parking is allowed or else there wouldn't be a left turn lane with a sign pointing to MK parking. This is a perk for cars/guests who enter from behind the MK or GF/Poly/CR areas.

 

[Lindz518]

Thanks so much for the info!

 

[Grumpy92]

I wouldnt recommend parking at DTD. It is a big mess right now. One of the parking garages opens next week, but dont know if that will alleviate the limited parking spots and the congestion. Still only one bus stop too.

 

[Disneyholic]

Pay to park at either the MK or EPCOT parking lot or pay Valet at a hotel. By taking the boats, monorail & busses from the parking lots you will be able to get to all of the hotels without abusing the parking system.

All these ways of getting around paying for parking are not fair to the people who DO pay to park. Parking in a hotel parking lot is for the guests of that hotel and people with ADRs there. Can't tell you how many times we have stayed at a Deluxe hotel at WDW and had to park out in the boondocks because people "visiting" the hotel took the closer spaces. How do I know that this is the case? When we walked back to the hotel after the parks closed and went to the parking lot to get stuff from our car, all of a sudden, hundreds of spaces close to the hotel opened up when people who had been in the park left. That is the only way we ended up getting our car any closer to the hotel (we moved it into one of those spaces after they left).

There used to be busses from DTD to all the parks until Disney realized that people were parking there to avoid paying for parking. They closed that loophole. If enough people continue to abuse the other parking situations I am sure they will figure out a way to close those loopholes, too.

Of course I will now be known by an unkind name because I would even say any of this, but this is how I feel about it.