Does Anyone Do This?

[WDSearcher]

If you can afford to go to WDW then you can afford the $14/day parking.

This is not a valid argument.

When someone comes on the DIS and says, "Where can I buy glow necklaces to take along to WDW?" no one ever says, "If you can afford to go to WDW then you can afford the $5 glow necklaces." When someone asks if eBay trading pins are actually tradable in the parks, no one ever says, "If you can afford to go to WDW then you can afford to buy pins." And when someone asks what kind of food you can bring into the park for a picnic lunch, no one ever says, "If you can afford to go to WDW then you can afford to eat there."

None of these things have anything to do with whether you can afford the parking or glow necklaces or pins or on-site meals or any of the other things that people try to save on. It's about discovering where you can cut a few dollars here and there to make a trip either more affordable or provide more money for other extras. Some things -- like BYO glow necklaces -- are great suggestions for money-saving. Other things -- like parking at DTD for park access -- are not.

 

[WDSearcher]

This was quite rude and not always true.

I remember when I was 18 and saved and saved so that my girlfriend and I could go to Disney. We had to watch every single $. We deserved the right to go even if we had to do it on a budget. We never once ate anything in the parks or got a drink (water). We had a GREAT time. We stayed for 7 days (offsite) and spent a total of 600.00 between the two of us. We paid for parking but it was nowhere near the 14.00 it is today. It's a total RIPOFF!

Well ... no it's not, if you think about it. I paid more than that to park at Six Flags the last time I went there, and there were no parking attendants showing people where to park (total free-for-all), no trams, no friendly Security guy to help people find their cars at the end of a long day (I actually drove some woman around because she was walking in circles and getting very upset), most of the lots have no identifying marking (lot names, row numbers, etc) so you're relying on your memory as to where you parked, and it's just not a great experience. When I park at Disney, I see the CMs there, I know that I'll get help with my car if I need it, I know that everything is orderly and that I'll be able to find my car at the end of the day. If I have to pay $14 to help cover the costs of paying and costuming the parking CMs ... I'm good.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I got to say, the fact that people took advantage of the buses to the parks from DTD so that they were removed really cheesed me off last week when we were at Downtown Disney to watch our school's concert band and then wanted to go to Hollywood Studios.

 

[pg0314]

This is not a valid argument.

None of these things have anything to do with whether you can afford the parking or glow necklaces or pins or on-site meals or any of the other things that people try to save on. It's about discovering where you can cut a few dollars here and there to make a trip either more affordable or provide more money for other extras. Some things -- like BYO glow necklaces -- are great suggestions for money-saving. Other things -- like parking at DTD for park access -- are not.

Well said! I love WDW; it's my all-time favorite vacation destination. But I'm not immune to the fact that Disney is every bit as greedy and money grubbing as any other big corporation. The prices of everything from bottled water to parking is ridiculously overinflated. If someone can find a way around paying $14 to park, then good for them! So long as it's not illegal or breaking the rules, of course.

That said, I wouldn't park at Downtown Disney or one of the resorts simply because the transit time would eat up too much of my park time. But if someone else wants to give it a try, I don't see anything wrong with it.

 

[hookedonears]

Well I guess you could take a bus from DTD to the BC and then make the short walk to EPCOT, But by the time you waited on the bus and did all of that, half the morning would be gone and would $14 be worth all of that?

 

[mrsdrake625]

We looked into the same issue for the same reasons. We are trying to watch our $$'s - just because we can afford the tickets doesn't mean we have extra money to blow on souveniers, parking, nice food, etc. So to whomever said that if you could afford to go, you can afford to park - well, maybe he can take us both!

We looked into the Orlando city bus system - for $16 a week/person, there are bus routes that stopped right outside our hotel (nice!) and dropped you off at the TTC, but they were only worthwhile in the morning. The helpful routes stop running in the early or mid-afternoon. There were only a few routes at night, and that would require (a) NOT missing the Disney transport from whatever park we were at to get to TTC in time to leave, and (B) NOT missing the LYNX bus, either. It was too much risk for us, so we nixed it.

I would look at it this way: you have prioritized the park tickets, as far as what you're willing to spend money on. That means you value your time in the park more than you value eating Disney food in the park, or sleeping on a Disney bed on property, etc. (We were the same way).

So, the question I would ask is this: if you're saving $14 but missing over two hours in the park per day just trying to get there, are those two hours worth more than seven dollars each? Let's say you have 4-day tickets, so you're spending $60 a day, per person. If you were in the park from 9am until 9 pm, that's 12 hours, so $5 an hour, x2 people = $10/hour. That's what you've valued your time at. Plus, we could keep our lunch or snacks in the car and although it would take us some time to get to the car in the middle of the day, we could save a cool $20 if we needed to eating our own food.

Once we realized that, it was an easy decision.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[miami305]

Surprising how often this sort of thing is asked. As bad as asking how hot will it be in July.

 

[boxer]

We absolutely love to take the DD disney busses to the parks!!

We make it an adventure.....my 2-year old son (well he is actually 4, but Disney doesn't know) LOVES to get on the bus at DD. We all know those busses go to a resort first, so we use this as a great time to pull out the 1998 Dixie Landings resort cup and grab a free drink at the resort before heading over to MK.

During the (free) bus trip over to the MK, I discreetly put a cast on his right leg so we can get the Handicap access to all the rides. This also works great for the 3PM parade, as I roll him up at 2:55 and get front-of-the-line access.

The idea is to make stealing an ADVENTURE--this way you have an excuse to do it!!

 

[miami305]

Deleted my post because Boxer expressed my feelings so much better! *dying*

 

[Figment43]

We absolutely love to take the DD disney busses to the parks!!

We make it an adventure.....my 2-year old son (well he is actually 4, but Disney doesn't know) LOVES to get on the bus at DD. We all know those busses go to a resort first, so we use this as a great time to pull out the 1998 Dixie Landings resort cup and grab a free drink at the resort before heading over to MK.

During the (free) bus trip over to the MK, I discreetly put a cast on his right leg so we can get the Handicap access to all the rides. This also works great for the 3PM parade, as I roll him up at 2:55 and get front-of-the-line access.

The idea is to make stealing an ADVENTURE--this way you have an excuse to do it!!

This is the funniest bit of trolling I've read in a while!

 

[MrsDuck]

We've parked at DTD, taken a resort bus, and then got a park bus from there.

This was when we were "poor college kids" and we always regretted not just paying the $ for parking.

It's do-able but why do it?

 

[jayze2525]

However, how do you make "cast" for the leg...Do carry the plastar powder in a bag and then steal some water from the resort?

 

[WDSearcher]

We looked into the same issue for the same reasons. We are trying to watch our $$'s - just because we can afford the tickets doesn't mean we have extra money to blow on souveniers, parking, nice food, etc. So to whomever said that if you could afford to go, you can afford to park - well, maybe he can take us both!

Although you've got some apples and oranges here. "Nice food" and "souvenirs" are technically variable costs to a Disney vacation. Disney isn't telling you that you need to buy those things -- you buy them if you want to. "Parking", on the other hand, is a fixed cost (unless you have ticket media that provides parking, like an AP, or unless you're staying on property). Disney charges for parking, period. It doesn't say, "here are the various places you can park for free and here are the more expensive places where you can choose to pay". They charge for parking. Having money for parking isn't "blowing extra money" -- it's paying for what Disney is asking you to pay for.

 

[jennyjinx3]

We absolutely love to take the DD disney busses to the parks!!

We make it an adventure.....my 2-year old son (well he is actually 4, but Disney doesn't know) LOVES to get on the bus at DD. We all know those busses go to a resort first, so we use this as a great time to pull out the 1998 Dixie Landings resort cup and grab a free drink at the resort before heading over to MK.

During the (free) bus trip over to the MK, I discreetly put a cast on his right leg so we can get the Handicap access to all the rides. This also works great for the 3PM parade, as I roll him up at 2:55 and get front-of-the-line access.

The idea is to make stealing an ADVENTURE--this way you have an excuse to do it!!

 

[chartle]

Although you've got some apples and oranges here. "Nice food" and "souvenirs" are technically variable costs to a Disney vacation. Disney isn't telling you that you need to buy those things -- you buy them if you want to. "Parking", on the other hand, is a fixed cost (unless you have ticket media that provides parking, like an AP, or unless you're staying on property). Disney charges for parking, period. It doesn't say, "here are the various places you can park for free and here are the more expensive places where you can choose to pay". They charge for parking. Having money for parking isn't "blowing extra money" -- it's paying for what Disney is asking you to pay for.

I agree while the PP was a little snarky and short with his answer he was not being rude and thats pretty much the standard answer here when this is asked.

Not including parking in your budget is like not budgeting for food or a lodging. Its part of what is expected when you stay off site on a WDW vacation and has to be factored into any onsite vs offsite discussion.

Asking about buying glow stuff at home is not at all the same because you can't "buy" parking at home cheaper and bring it with you like sunscreen.

 

[mrsdrake625]

Although you've got some apples and oranges here. "Nice food" and "souvenirs" are technically variable costs to a Disney vacation. Disney isn't telling you that you need to buy those things -- you buy them if you want to. "Parking", on the other hand, is a fixed cost (unless you have ticket media that provides parking, like an AP, or unless you're staying on property). Disney charges for parking, period.

I agree, partially, but you have two opposing statements - you are not required to pay for parking if you don't park a car at Disney. If a park fee was required to get into the parks, it would be part of every park ticket. Disney isn't telling you that you have to park on property, so they only charge if you want to do that - it's very similar to the souvenir/food situation, in that case.

OP is not staying on property, which gives her some other options. Some hotels offer a shuttle service, you can take a taxi, you can take a city bus, etc.

My point is that if you're willing to spend your time to get on a LYNX bus, by all means, do it. But if you're valuing your time in the park at a premium, then the $ you save by doing so might not be worth the time you spend.

I was simply trying to phrase the question differently to help the OP think through her options.

 

[mrsdrake625]

I also realize that I sounded snarky - I am sorry, I truly didn't mean to! It's hard to be lighthearted in type... my apologies. I have no beef with anyone, just want to help.

 

[boxer]

You know I've been on this board for like 4-5 years, and never heard the word 'snarky' until I came here.........and still don't hear it anywhere else BUT here.

Is snarky a 'dis thing'? Like all the acronyms TTBAB, ToT, BTMR, etc?

 

[Allison]

You know I've been on this board for like 4-5 years, and never heard the word 'snarky' until I came here.........and still don't hear it anywhere else BUT here.

Is snarky a 'dis thing'? Like all the acronyms TTBAB, ToT, BTMR, etc?

No, not at all.

 

[Maggie Lizer]

Could you, in theory, walk from DTD to Saratoga Springs and take the bus to the parks from there? I am not advocating doing this, but wondering if you can (I've never stayed at SS so I have no idae, but I think it is pretty close to DTD?).