Dinner @ GF before MK night?

[LBelle]

Hello!

Just trying to decide on renting a car or not. I'm doing this by seeing how and when we would likely use a car or take WDW transit. I have a question about 1 night:

we have an ADR for dinner at Grand Floridian Cafe @ 5:25pm. Our plan is to have a leisurely dinner and then head over to Magic Kingdom for Evening Extra Magic Hours.

Are we allowed to keep our rental car parked at the GF after dinner, take the boat or monorail to MK and then back again to pick up the car at the end of the night?

Thanks for your help.

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

Self parking, no (at least normally no), you normally are limited to three hours. But if you pay to valet park, it's been said on these boards that valet is not time limited. So, valet should work.

Another option is to park at TTC (normal MK parking), then ride resort monorail from TTC to GF, then on to MK.

 

[LBelle]

Ahh yes...had forgotten about that TTC! It's been years since we've bothered with a rental car so we're used to pulling right up to MK on the Disney busses. Is it much of a pain getting out of there by car after a busy night at MK? I imagine no worse than waiting forever with a million people to stand on a crowded bus!!

As for the valet option - any idea on how much $$$ to do this?

I'm just playing around with options and ways to avoid the crowded bus situations. I was thinking of doing the cab thing here and there...like this MK night, for example: take a cab to dinner and take the Resort monorail to GF or Poly or walk to Contemp after MK closes and get a cab back to our resort (ASMusic). My cab estimations for the week are sitting at around $100 including tips. Probably cannot get a rental for less than that for our trip so maybe the cab is the way to go?????

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

Ahh yes...had forgotten about that TTC! It's been years since we've bothered with a rental car so we're used to pulling right up to MK on the Disney busses. Is it much of a pain getting out of there by car after a busy night at MK? I imagine no worse than waiting forever with a million people to stand on a crowded bus!!

No pain at all.

As for the valet option - any idea on how much $$$ to do this?

$10 plus tip last I heard.

I'm just playing around with options and ways to avoid the crowded bus situations. I was thinking of doing the cab thing here and there...like this MK night, for example: take a cab to dinner and take the Resort monorail to GF or Poly or walk to Contemp after MK closes and get a cab back to our resort (ASMusic). My cab estimations for the week are sitting at around $100 including tips. Probably cannot get a rental for less than that for our trip so maybe the cab is the way to go?????

If you are leaving after the Wishes, you're leaving with a few thousand friends. You would encounter a crowd no matter what mode of transportation you used, except walking to CR.

 

[sirJeffrey90]

Okay completely off topic; but $10 for valet parking?!?! That seems SO cheap for a hotel like GF. Last November I payed flippen $20 a day for valet at a Sheraton. I was so pissed off!!!

But on topic now...best bet is probably to valet there. Just take the boat back over after the park closes; have a quiet and scenic walk to your car, then exit, traffic free. Have fun!

 

[Alexander]

Okay completely off topic; but $10 for valet parking?!?! That seems SO cheap for a hotel like GF. Last November I payed flippen $20 a day for valet at a Sheraton. I was so pissed off!!!

But on topic now...best bet is probably to valet there. Just take the boat back over after the park closes; have a quiet and scenic walk to your car, then exit, traffic free. Have fun!

Has the walkway from MK to the GF been finished? Last I knew (a while ago mind you) it was not. That is a long walk! If the pathway is not lit up, I don't think they will allow you to walk it either. I know at SSR and OKW the pathways are closed at dusk.

 

[Endeavour105]

Has the walkway from MK to the GF been finished? Last I knew (a while ago mind you) it was not. That is a long walk! If the pathway is not lit up, I don't think they will allow you to walk it either. I know at SSR and OKW the pathways are closed at dusk.

No.

Expect the walkway from the MK to the GF to be completed following the extention of the monorail system to all of the 3 other WDW theme parks.

 

[Alexander]

No.

Expect the walkway from the MK to the GF to be completed following the extention of the monorail system to all of the 3 other WDW theme parks.

Oh really now, they don't have to do that! As long as they run it to OKW I will be happy!

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

Oh really now, they don't have to do that! As long as they run it to OKW I will be happy!

....and POP

 

[LBelle]

while they're at it...they may as well extend that monorail line right up to the Jazz Inn building at ASMusic!!

Okay...so you guys think maybe the rental option is better than cabbing it? If I can use that valet option at GF for leaving the car, I kind of like tha idea too.

Cabs? Rental? Cabs? Rental?