Treehouse villa parking difficult

[anna08]

Just thought I'd share our recent difficulty with parking while staying at the THV. There were NO spots available in the THV area for our entire stay near our villa the weekend of 3/14. We did call security as not one of the cars in front of our villa had a parking pass, but they did absolutely nothing. We were told we could have only one space on arrival, but we couldn't even get one. We were a group of 8 and it was rather inconvenient as we would have left some items in the van if it were close to us. We basically had to send the driver out to walk to the Grandstand to get the vehicle whenever we went anywhere, and then had to move the van to let the Disney Resort bus go by when it was waiting to load our group. All we needed was one spot. Shame on those that take more than one. Our neighbors appeared to have 4 cars in the area...

I would think if you had someone disabled in your party, this would be a huge inconvenience.

 

[MichelleB]

I don't understand why they wouldn't do something about the cars that were without parking passes. That should've been a no-brainer.

 

[tasha99]

It seems like there should be a spot at each villa.

 

[n2mm]

Sorry to read this. I hope you write to the satisfaction team because it's just wrong. Sadly I've read this before and is the reason we will never stay there. We don't need that kind of stress.

 

[disneynutz]

IMO the spaces should be marked with the villa number and illegal cars towed, period.

Contact member satisfaction.

Bill

 

[WilsonFlyer]

You were MUCH more understanding than I would have been. I tolerate an amazing amount of things that would bother most at Disney, but that I wouldn't have put up with. Admittedly, I'm much more tolerant at WDW than I am day-to-day but that crosses a line I wouldn't have been able to behave myself about.

 

[gdrj]

I don't understand why they wouldn't do something about the cars that were without parking passes. That should've been a no-brainer.

It seems like there should be a spot at each villa.

IMO the spaces should be marked with the villa number and illegal cars towed, period.

Contact member satisfaction.

Bill

Definitely need to have spots assigned, especially with parking passes being eliminated.

While Disney has a right to tow, nothing good can come of it (I understand it may have helped OP). The potential PR nightmare of a Mom with her infant being interviewed saying she ran in to her unit due just briefly, or that she claims pass what on dashboard, or if she has a a special needs family member etc. etc. Disney would look like a $$ hungry big bad company taking the money of someone who saved up for two years yada yada.

The answer as noted above is marked spaces, AND very prominent signs about towing.

 

[pavicich]

There is no way I would have put up with not having a spot all week. I probably wouldn't have left the front desk without resolution. Op you must be a saint.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

There aren't enough spaces, that's a given. Disney's limited by the wetlands on what they can build in the area. I can't see Disney ever actually enforcing it if they did have assigned parking spot numbers. They don't seem to want to go there and be the bad guy with things like that, so it's not like you'd ever see a tow truck being used. (Of course, we'd all complain if they did start enforcing every rule.) The only way to truly enforce the one-car rule would be to have a unique parking pass for vehicles that can park in the THV (limited to one per room) and to replace the automated gate with a manned guard shack. (Ka-ching!)

I think they rely on the fact that many guests use Magical Express and don't have a car. They also rely on people doing the right thing and self-enforcing the one car rule. In the OP's case, that obviously didn't work out. Send a note to the Member Satisfaction Team. The only way they'll ever change it is if they see it's a problem.

 

[disneynutz]

There aren't enough spaces, that's a given. Disney's limited by the wetlands on what they can build in the area. I can't see Disney ever actually enforcing it if they did have assigned parking spot numbers. They don't seem to want to go there and be the bad guy with things like that, so it's not like you'd ever see a tow truck being used. (Of course, we'd all complain if they did start enforcing every rule.) The only way to truly enforce the one-car rule would be to have a unique parking pass for vehicles that can park in the THV (limited to one per room) and to replace the automated gate with a manned guard shack. (Ka-ching!)

I think they rely on the fact that many guests use Magical Express and don't have a car. They also rely on people doing the right thing and self-enforcing the one car rule. In the OP's case, that obviously didn't work out. Send a note to the Member Satisfaction Team. The only way they'll ever change it is if they see it's a problem.

DVC and SSR knows that it's a problem, they choose not to correct it like so many things. If the wetlands kept them from having enough parking spaces then they should not have been given a permit to build. Oh wait, I forgot that Disney issues it's own permits through the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

Bill

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

DVC and SSR knows that it's a problem, they choose not to correct it like so many things. If the wetlands kept them from having enough parking spaces then they should not have been given a permit to build. Oh wait, I forgot that Disney issues it's own permits through the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

Bill

I agree it's a problem, as evidenced by the OP's post. However, I don't know that it's a widespread, continuous problem. We've spent four weeks in the THV since they've opened and never had a problem with parking. We were always able to find a space fairly close to our villa. This topic comes up often, but many times it's people complaining that "their" space was taken, not realizing that the spaces in the tree house area aren't reserved, and the person parking in the spot closest to their front door isn't doing anything wrong. This is the first I've seen it reported here that someone couldn't find a space at all.

If this level of extreme overcrowding in the tree house parking is an intermittent problem, Disney's probably in the right not to throw a lot of money at solving it. If it is a widespread issue (and I'm not talking about those who complain that the parking spot closest to their tree house wasn't available, but truly those who had to give up and park their only car in Grandstand), then the way to raise it to Disney's attention as a real issue is for everyone who experiences it to continue to report it to Member Satisfaction. As I said, though, it wouldn't be an easy fix.

I completely disagree with your premise, Bill, that if there aren't enough spaces for everyone to park as many vehicles as they like, Disney never should have rebuilt the tree houses. However, if the possibility that a convenient parking spot may not be available is a show-stopper for anyone, it's certainly a consideration when deciding if you want to stay there or not. (BTW, even though not the ideal situation, and certainly not fair if others aren't following the request for one vehicle only, the walk from the THV to the Grandstand parking lot is certainly comparable to the walk to the parking lot at many other DVC properties. I won't begin to describe to you where my rental car is, today, while I'm here at VGC.

 

[disneynutz]

I agree it's a problem, as evidenced by the OP's post. However, I don't know that it's a widespread, continuous problem. We've spent four weeks in the THV since they've opened and never had a problem with parking. We were always able to find a space fairly close to our villa. This topic comes up often, but many times it's people complaining that "their" space was taken, not realizing that the spaces in the tree house area aren't reserved, and the person parking in the spot closest to their front door isn't doing anything wrong. This is the first I've seen it reported here that someone couldn't find a space at all.

If this level of extreme overcrowding in the tree house parking is an intermittent problem, Disney's probably in the right not to throw a lot of money at solving it. If it is a widespread issue (and I'm not talking about those who complain that the parking spot closest to their tree house wasn't available, but truly those who had to give up and park their only car in Grandstand), then the way to raise it to Disney's attention as a real issue is for everyone who experiences it to continue to report it to Member Satisfaction. As I said, though, it wouldn't be an easy fix.

I completely disagree with your premise, Bill, that if there aren't enough spaces for everyone to park as many vehicles as they like, Disney never should have rebuilt the tree houses. However, if the possibility that a convenient parking spot may not be available is a show-stopper for anyone, it's certainly a consideration when deciding if you want to stay there or not. (BTW, even though not the ideal situation, and certainly not fair if others aren't following the request for one vehicle only, the walk from the THV to the Grandstand parking lot is certainly comparable to the walk to the parking lot at many other DVC properties. I won't begin to describe to you where my rental car is, today, while I'm here at VGC.

Dave to be clear, IMO Disney should have planned one parking place per unit, not enough spaces for everyone to park as many vehicles as they like.

Bill

 

[florep1]

This prevents us from staying at THV. As SSR owners, I've always wanted to book the THV. In fact, I had one reserved back when the points were the same as a 2BR but once I warned DH about the parking situation, he said no way, no how. And the fact that if you'd like to use the buses, you have to go to Grandstand to get to a park. I'm hoping this gets corrected, but I don't see it happening.

 

[tasha99]

This is making me change my mind about wanting to stay there in the future as well. I'm pretty mellow about the buses--I like OKW, even without a car. But I'd always thought if we tried the Treehouse Villas, we'd rent a car, as the distance to a bus stop seemed like too much. Not too keen on an internal bus to another bus if that's even offered. They seem like individual houses--I guess I just assumed each one would have its own parking spot.

 

[quirty30]

I've stayed in a Treehouse before for 8 nights, and most of the time, we were able to park in the spot closest to our Treehouse. We stayed in villa 7031, which was right next to the Grandstand path, and about halfway between the pool and the boat dock. It was just an ideal location. There are also a bunch of overflow spaces in that area going towards the pool, so the few times that closest space wasn't available, I was able to find a space in that direction. It seems to me that there are enough spaces that Disney could assign a specific one for each villa and enforce it. I agree that the OP was more tolerant than I ever would have been.

 

[anna08]

Normally I'm one of those odd people who love to walk everywhere, and if the circumstances were different (i.e., not traveling with another family as our guests, not a pre-cruise stay where we had tons of luggage, and I wasn't in the middle of an asthma exacerbation,) I wouldn't have minded horribly. I think given that the intra-resort buses add a layer of waiting/riding and feeling like we were wasting our limited WDW time, we have concluded it's just not the place for us. I can't say I have that feeling about any other DVC I've stayed at, and we've been to all but Aulani and Hilton Head. I do think the point requirement should be of a 2 BR because of this issue. The day we left for the cruise we actually backed the van up on the sidewalk entry into the villa because we had 8 people and a ton of bags, and we didn't want to have to move it for the bus. We should have just parked there the whole time. I will let member satisfaction know, thanks for the reminder.