Driving to MK

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

Hi! We are driving to DW this October. One of our main reasons is that it was quite stressful dealing with crowded busses after the parks closed. We had 3 young children, and often found ourselves with two sleeping kids and a double stroller to juggle, in addition to making sure our son was able to keep up with us. So, we're trying to avoid public transportation at this time. During the day it shouldn't be a problem, and we will probably use the bus system.

My question is about using our car at the MK, without having to rely on the ferry or monorail. Is it possible to park close enough that we could just walk over? We will probably be booking a package thru AAA, and will have the diamond passes for the special parking.

I had read in the UG to make ressies for a meal in the Contemporary, park there, and head back there to get the car after the park closes. I'm wondering if we could do that also at the GF (1900 Park Fare), and use the monorail back to that resort to avoid TC. Do they check resort ID's to head back to these resorts via Monorail at the end of the day? I was reading it's a lot calmer to take the resort option vs. the express monorail

I may sound paranoid, but this was the only thing about traveling with small children that was stressful. We've added another bundle of joy, so the thought of dealing with 4 on a crowded bus with a big stroller is quite intimidating.

TIA

 

[deide71]

Unfortunately MK is the hardest parking situation. If you park @ one of the monorail resorts for a meal they give you a parking sign for only three hours. You can be towed after that time. don't risk it. You cannot park anywhere @MK close enogh to walk. You have to take the monorail or boat from the TTC.

 

[Aliki]

Parking at the Contemporary for a meal, they'll only give you a 3-hr parking pass and tow your car; so unless you plan a real short trip at MK, you'll be in trouble when you come back after the park closes!

We didn't use the bus system, but neither the monorail nor the ferry were crowded when we had to travel to MK. I highly suggest driving your car to MK, paying the $8 to park there, and taking the monorail in. Your kids will enjoy the view.

 

[Mickee]

Sorry

 

[goofy4tink]

It is hard traveling with the little ones, that's for sure. Unfortunatly though, you really aren't supposed to use the CR, Polynesian, or GF parking lots for long term parking, even if you do have a meal there. All the deluxe resorts have run into this issue. People were parking at WL and taking the boat over to MK to avoid the bus situation. Same thing with the Epcot resorts...people park at BW and then want to leave the car there all day/night while they go to either MGM or Epcot.
So, I would recommend that you just drive to the TTC and park there. Yes, it's not as convenient as the CR but at least it's 'legal'. Using either the monorail or the ferry is not a huge issue. I know that's not exactly what you want to hear, but can you imagine if you had paid to stay at the CR, and had a car to park, but you couldn't find a decent spot because people who didn't want to use the TTC lot took all the good parking spots at your resort?
If you use the monorail, then you don't have to fold up the stroller. At least no one has folded theirs when I was there. With the big ferry, I can't say as I've never taken it before.

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

Thanks for all the replies. Please don't think I am trying to do anything that's not "legal". I had just read the Contemporary idea in the Unofficial Guide. I would have never thought of that myself, but it sounded so good.

Well, I guess we will just mentally prepare ourselves to deal with the crowds. Since we will have our own car, maybe we'll bring an assortment of strollers, and only use umbrella strollers for the evening trips. They are much easier to fold down than the big double!! We're not going at a super crowded time, but then again, we never have. I've already warned our 5 year old that she is going to have to stay awake for the ride home, since there is no way to carry 3, plus strollers.

Again, thanks for all of your ideas and suggestions.

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

Hi again. Does anyone know if the AAA diamond pass parking area is much closer than the regular lots? My quote was not with as big of a discount as I would have liked, so I'm toying with waiting to see if a regular Disney discount comes along.

That special parking area sounded nice, but is it really that much better/closer?

 

[sz9144]

I've never travelled with 4 little ones, just 2. but what we did was just grab a cab from the parks home each night. It was so worth the $12-15 each trip, just to have a big van to ourselves without 50 of our closest strangers....

 

[shafke]

Another option is to valet park at CR. I believe you would then be able to leave the car there for the day.