"Free" Parking - Anyone Ever Do This?

[WDSearcher]

And bottom line ... if hundreds of people read the article and start parking in the "free" lots, then eventually Disney will figure out a way to put an end to it. They'll start posting guards there or putting in gates or towing cars without resort ID or whatever. Disney can take care of itself -- it doesn't need any of us trying to fight the good fight. If they start losing money, they'll figure out a way to get it back.

The people that rankle me are the writers of articles like this. I'll bet this author would never say, "And don't even THINK about paying for your dinner at the restaurant" and then follow that by explaining how to order your meal, get through almost all of it, ask the waiter for a refill on your coffee while you "go to the bathroom" and then cut out without paying. And he'd probably never say, "Don't even THINK about paying full price for that souvenir" and then follow that by explaining how to take an expensive item and chip off a little piece of it, report it as "damaged" and ask for a significant discount. Then, once you get the item home, just glue on the broken piece and good as new!

I do occasionally find myself hoping that people who advocate parking in the "free" lots get to the park and discover they've left their camera in their car or that they get to their BBB appointment at MK only to find that little Suzie left her Cinderella dress in the trunk and needs it RIGHT NOW. At which point they have to go back out, wait for the bus, take the bus, walk to their car, get the item, wait for the bus, take the bus, and then meet up with their party. OR ... they decide they just don't want to go through all that, so they purchase a new camera or another Cinderella dress, thereby totally eliminating the savings.

But ... that's probably mean.

 

[imthatgirl]

I don't condone cheating, but what is wrong with wanting to save between $50 and $100 if they can? It is not $14, it's $14 x 5, 6, or 7 for a lot of people. If you can park for free legally, then why not? If they have to pay to park, then they're obviously staying offsite, which may be because they can't afford to stay onsite. I stay onsite, but don't look down on those that don't or can't financially afford to.

You don't have to agree ith my opinion, and that doesn't mean I have to change it either.

 

[HHSTigerFan]

Maybe because not everyone has a car with them.

Then charge $82/day for those staying onsite for a ticket, maybe $87 for a ticket for those staying offsite..

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

This is a none argument.........the lot is intended for resort parking, not a way to steal the parking fee at a park lot.

So if your a thief, theres no problem for you, of course your teaching your kids to steal as well!

AKK

 

[robinb]

The article was about parking at the boardwalk overflow lot or at downtown disney. anybody can park there not just resort guests

That is mostly true. Anyone visiting the Boardwalk can park at the Boardwalk lot but there is a sign that makes it clear that you may not park in the Boardwalk's parking lot in order to access the parks. In addition, that lot is actually used as overflow parking for BW guests. The week between Christmas and New Years is especially hard to find a place to park and they often just shut the main lot down even to resort guests. As for DTD ... I don't see the attraction of parking there since there is no bus service to the parks.

 

[ftballfan7]

I don't get the anger over issues like this! What do you care where someone else parks! I was an assistant teacher for many years and I can tell you a lot of people on here act like my six year old students! They were constantly complaining about what others were doing even if it had no affect on them whatsoever! I would ask " Does this have anything to do with you" and when they said no I would say " You worry about you then" !!!!

And we wonder why each generation seems to be more apathetic then the last. It starts with teaching the acceptance of poor behavior at a young age if it doesn't affect you directly and progresses to not reporting bullying and the like when a little older and finally to adults with no regard for how things might affect others.

I know it is difficult to manage a classroom of 6 year olds. I am not a teacher, but have volunteered in classrooms on many occasions and I wouldn't want to have to deal with it on a regular basis. However, if the rule is to only take 5 crayons at a time and little suzy took 8, one is sending a mixed message when little Tommy points it out and is then dismissed with a "mind your own business" like response. After enough times of this, little Tommy is going to "mind his own business" when little Kaitlin is getting bullied. Wouldn't it be better to foster an atmosphere where rules are enforced and doing the right thing is rewarded?

 

[TenderDonkey]

Hi G4T! You will always have a front row spot in my heart!

 

[Disneyhayes]

New dis rule please....STOP POSTING THREADS ABOUT HOW TO AVOID PARKING FEES! If people keep avoiding them then parking rates are just going to go up.

 

[JoshuaShaw]

Has anyone found a way to beat the admission price? Perhaps an overflow ticket counter where they give away unused tickets. That'd be great...

 

[chartle]

This 'discussion' has been done to death. It just isn't that big a deal. I only wish that when articles like this come out, they also made it clear that using 'alternative' methods of getting to parks when getting 'free' parking, is not very fast or efficient!!

+1

Here what I see happening.

Scene MK 11:00 AM

Small child looks up at Daddy. - "Daddy why is the line for Dumbo so long?"

Daddy - "Well the TL lot doesn't open up until 9:00 AM and then we had to catch a bus to the CR and then walk to the MK."
​

Scene MK 7:00 PM

Small child looks up at Daddy pulling child out of the MK hours before closing. - "Daddy why can't we stay for the fireworks I want to see Tinker Bell Fly?"

Daddy - "Well once TL closes they stop running buses to there so we have to walk back over to the CR and hope we can still catch a bus to there."
​

Alternate ending Scene CR bus stop 9:45 PM

Not so smart Daddy to CM - "When does the next bus take us to TL?"

CM - "They stopped running hours ago when the water park closed."

Daddy - "But how I'm supposed to get back to my car?"

CM - "A Taxi, it should run you about $15. Have a magical day."
​

These scenes are enactments of what could happen. No real children were harmed in this production.

Cheshire Figment a CM and keeper of the Ticket Sticky has related stories of when he is at the front gate of TL, people first thing in the morning, not wearing swim attire asking him where the bus stop was. He directs them to the stop but forgets to tell them that the buses stop running after the park closes. Usually way before any theme park does.

 

[jamimb]

And we wonder why each generation seems to be more apathetic then the last. It starts with teaching the acceptance of poor behavior at a young age if it doesn't affect you directly and progresses to not reporting bullying and the like when a little older and finally to adults with no regard for how things might affect others.

I know it is difficult to manage a classroom of 6 year olds. I am not a teacher, but have volunteered in classrooms on many occasions and I wouldn't want to have to deal with it on a regular basis. However, if the rule is to only take 5 crayons at a time and little suzy took 8, one is sending a mixed message when little Tommy points it out and is then dismissed with a "mind your own business" like response. After enough times of this, little Tommy is going to "mind his own business" when little Kaitlin is getting bullied. Wouldn't it be better to foster an atmosphere where rules are enforced and doing the right thing is rewarded?

"Tattling" is greatly discouraged in a classroom! If it was rewarded you would get nothing done other than hearing 100 times a day "Suzie did this" or "Tommy did that"! I hate tattling and will not tolerate it in my own children. In every classroom I have ever been in we have gone over what is "tattling" and what you need to tell an adult about like someone being bullied or someone bringing a knife to school! Even at 6 kids aren't dumb and they know the difference.

Makes more sense to teach a child how to properly behave themselves instead of worrying about what their neighbor is doing.

 

[Rip]

I know the lot they are discussing. We have parked there before, when going to the Boardwalk for lunch. It's what it's there for... offsite guests who are going to the Boardwalk. I asked the attendant if we should come back and move the car if we wanted to go into Epcot and he said don't bother. This is also the lot we were directed to when we were meeting friends who were staying at the BWI. The valet guys at BWI directed us to this lot... after I told them we were meeting friends at the BWI for lunch and then to MGM (at the time.. now DS) for the afternoon, and asked if we would be able to move the car. The valet told us don't bother, take the boat over to MGM. SO... maybe this is only a huge issue here on the DISboard?

As are so many other things that nosy busybodies that actually have no vested interest in the matter seem to be.

If Disney doesn't care, then everyone else should just zip it.

 

[Planogirl]

Then charge $82/day for those staying onsite for a ticket, maybe $87 for a ticket for those staying offsite..

Well, that's really fair to those who have several adults in a party or who use offsite buses.

Unfortunately, there will always be those who try to work around the system. I imagine that this is nothing new. It's not fair to take it out on those who do play by the rules though.

 

[SDSorority]

A travel article that I came across this afternoon offered the following advice for avoiding the theme parks' $14 parking fee:

"Our all-time favorite spot is an unmarked overflow lot across the street from the BoardWalk Inn. Next to a Hess gas station, the lot is almost always half-empty and is a 10-minute walk to the resort."

The author then observes that you can walk to EPCOT from BoardWalk, or take a boat to DHS, or take a WDW bus to other destinations. See http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41464600 for the full piece.

Has anyone here ever done this? I wasn't aware that any resorts had "overflow" lots, and in any case the resorts generally have security gates controlling access to the parking lot.

The only time we've done this is when it was during the Food and Wine Festival last year and it was a Friday night. We were eating at ESPN that night, staying at ASMo. We parked there for dinner.... then walked to Epcot .... but it was just fine. They were being pretty strict about who could and could not park there- only patrons were allowed.

 

[morethananyonex]

A Disney vacation is not a right. Life isn't fair. If you can't afford the costs associated with a Disney vacation, don't go. I rank this right up there with packing away extra food at buffets, condiment salads and all that fun stuff that gets debated about. If $14 a day really makes or breaks your budget stay home, you clearly have more important things to save your money for. Yes we all love Disney, but be realistic. Its one thing to be cheap if that's all this is, but I won't feel sympathy for these people on the off chance they're being cheap because they can't afford it otherwise.

I have to say though, I highly doubt most of these "money saving tips" are used by people who can't afford the vacation otherwise. I'm willing to bet its people who don't want to spend the money versus people who can't. And in that case, well have fun taking 3 hours out of your day just to save $14 while the rest of us are having fun in the parks.

 

[patsal]

The world is full of people who think they are entitled to something they are not. It is the company's responsibility to monitor abuses. If I cannot park at my resort I will complain, other than that what can I do?

 

[sls_ontario]

The one thing that I will say .... $14 is a ridiculous amount to charge for parking!!! To me, it is appalling that after how much you pay to GET INTO THE PARKS that they screw you for parking too.

Why not free?

Or nominal.


And don't get me started on the $7 for a locker!!!!!!!!


I can deal with ticket prices ... I can even deal with the food prices ... but the parking pissed me off!

 

[DaParkers]

You don't have to agree ith my opinion, and that doesn't mean I have to change it either.

Ok.

 

[morethananyonex]

The one thing that I will say .... $14 is a ridiculous amount to charge for parking!!! To me, it is appalling that after how much you pay to GET INTO THE PARKS that they screw you for parking too.

Why not free?

Or nominal.


And don't get me started on the $7 for a locker!!!!!!!!


I can deal with ticket prices ... I can even deal with the food prices ... but the parking pissed me off!

I pay 12 dollars a day to park downtown in the city I live in and can get as high as 14 or 15. Concert tickets can cost more than a day at Disney, and parking for those tends to be around 5 dollars for just a couple of hours. The parking cost really doesn't seem that outrageous when you put it in perspective. Also, I'm in a fairly small Canadian city, around 700000 people.

 

[mom2rtk]

The one thing that I will say .... $14 is a ridiculous amount to charge for parking!!! To me, it is appalling that after how much you pay to GET INTO THE PARKS that they screw you for parking too.

Why not free?

Or nominal.


And don't get me started on the $7 for a locker!!!!!!!!


I can deal with ticket prices ... I can even deal with the food prices ... but the parking pissed me off!

You been to a major league baseball game lately?