Family parking at resort for day visit

[amartel9]

We will be leaving for the world in two weeks and staying at BCV We have a lot of family in Florida, and a few of my cousins will visiting us one day to join us at the parks. My question is - can they park at BCV that day (not overnight) and say that they are visiting us so that we can all walk over to Epcot together?? Thanks for your help!

 

[zumfelde]

Are they paying to stay at the BCV? If not NO they must pay to park at the Epcot parking lot. Please follow the rules and and leave the parking spaces at BCV for resort guests. Thank You

 

[amartel9]

Are they paying to stay at the BCV? If not NO they must pay to park at the Epcot parking lot. Please follow the rules and and leave the parking spaces at BCV for resort guests. Thank You

WOW! I didn't mean to upset anyone. I am using points and therefore "paying" to stay at BCV and NOT taking up a parking spot because we will not have a car onsite. So, I didn't think it would be an issue for my family to park one car in the lot to visit us. And, I could go with them and have them park for FREE at Epcot since my DH and I are AP holders. I just thought it would be nicer to walk over together since they have little ones with them.

Sorry to offend you, but I do think your reply was a bit mean spirited. I guess I should direct my questions to CM and not ask on the DIS.

 

[snoopy5386]

Yes, we have done this before. SIL visits from Tampa and we usually have no car. Just ask for a parking pass when you check in and then give it to your relatives to put in their car when they get there. You are only using "your" space anyway. Sorry for the pp rude reply. I have never in my life met people who are such rule nazis.

 

[CraftyMouse]

Please don't apologize for your post. It was a legitimate question.

There is nothing wrong with having your family meet you at your resort. You are staying there and can have guests visit you if you wish. Just have them tell the guard that they are visiting friends. They may have to provide your name and show ID but they should have no other problems. There is a self-parking lot right near the villas (all the way to the left as you pull into the property) so parking there would be their best bet!

Have a great trip!

 

[wdw1972]

WOW! I didn't mean to upset anyone. I am using points and therefore "paying" to stay at BCV and NOT taking up a parking spot because we will not have a car onsite. So, I didn't think it would be an issue for my family to park one car in the lot to visit us. And, I could go with them and have them park for FREE at Epcot since my DH and I are AP holders. I just thought it would be nicer to walk over together since they have little ones with them.

Sorry to offend you, but I do think your reply was a bit mean spirited. I guess I should direct my questions to CM and not ask on the DIS.

amartel9 - Just let it roll off your back Sometimes when a question gets asked here it brings out a tendancy to be the Disney rule-enforcement police, even if the enforcement is what they poster thinks *should be* vs what Disney would let you do.

At BCV during the day the parking lot will be more than half empty - so your family parking there will not cause chaos and disastrous vacations for the registered guests. Even if you were parking a car there, you can still have your family come and visit you at the resort (just not use the pool unless you have a 2br that allows 8 but only 4 of you in it for example). If they were coming to visit you IN your room for a few hours, I guess some people would say they should go pay to park at Epcot, buy a pass to the park, and walk through to come visit you. Obviously that's not reasonable or sane at all...so have fun and don't worry. Disney makes the rules and does the enforcement - not dvc members.

 

[amartel9]

If they were coming to visit you IN your room for a few hours, I guess some people would say they should go pay to park at Epcot, buy a pass to the park, and walk through to come visit you.

That just cracked me up!! I can picture my poor family doing this!!!

Thanks everyone for the great advice!!! I do love the DIS and I have to just ignore that some people are entitled to their opinions. Of course, if those opinions are different than mine, then they must be wrong!!

 

[mgilmer]

I have been to the BCVs when it was 100% booked and even then the villas parking lot was barely half full. Go for it and ignore the trolls.

 

[disneymomjcs]

Good question. I stayed at Pop Century once and had friends visiting and staying at the Polynesian.

I drove up and told them I was visiting friends, name and room # and the guard gave me a day pass legal and all.

Not breaking any rules.

People meet at Disney all the time and stay at different resorts. It would be rotten to not be able to get together.

 

[JimMIA]

If you want an honest answer, it is against the rules to park in any resort parking lot to visit a theme park. As you enter BCV, you will see a great big sign to that effect.

As others have noted, however, there is a huge difference between what Disney says and what they actually enforce. (See the exhaustive smoking, pool-hopping, occupancy, dress code, dining plan, and other debates for examples.)

If your question is whether there is any enforcement mechanism, I didn't see any when we were at BCV last year.

I believe the Swan and Dolphin have gone to paid self-parking because of abuse. They are not Disney properties, so that policy doesn't necessarily mean DVC will start charging for self-parking some day.

Disney could start charging for parking at all their locations, because there is no question there is an issue with people using free parking and Disney transportation to avoid paying the theme park parking fee. We hear it all the time here because of people parking at DTD and using Disney buses -- and then jamming the SSR buses to get back to their cars. I don't think Disney would do that based on resort parking, but if the problem gets so severe at DTD that paying customers can't find parking because of freeloaders, they might.

If you have friends visiting you at any DVC resort, I believe it is a simple matter to make arrangements for their parking (without paying anything) at the front desk. We've never had any problem doing that, no matter where we stayed.

And finally... If the walking-to-Epcot ease is truly the issue, it's a simple matter for your guests to use the valet service. That's a LOT more convenient than self-parking and noone could complain about anyone breaking rules to save $10.

 

[dcfromva]

Yes, we have done this before. SIL visits from Tampa and we usually have no car. Just ask for a parking pass when you check in and then give it to your relatives to put in their car when they get there.

We always have a car and the last few visits, the guard has encouraged us to use the self service lane (where you put your key in to open the gate) or the guard has asked to see our room key.

 

[LSchrow]

We always have a car and the last few visits, the guard has encouraged us to use the self service lane (where you put your key in to open the gate) or the guard has asked to see our room key.

our last visit in may (BWVs), the guard asked for photo ID in addition to our room key (not a problem as we did have it).

 

[crisi]

I was at BWVs in June, staying offsite, and swung through for an unplanned dinner (ate at the bar at Flying Fish), drove up, showed the guard my drivers license and said I was visiting the resort. No problem, waived me through to park. I resort hopped a lot when I'm down for a conference, and the only place I can't park after flashing my license, smiling, and saying "just visiting" is the GF (valet only).

I do try and park out from the main part of the lot - where there is lots of parking. I think ME has reduced the numbers of cars in the lot where visitors don't create issues - but ABUSE still will if enough people do it.