how is the distance between parking and the parks?

[wakica]

DH and I are disagreeing on which way to go.

He wants a brand new hotel that's about a 5 min drive from DL. so we would need to use the parking - cost is about 115/night and sounds like service is excellent and the free breakfast is fantastic

I want to be close enough to walk so found Desert Palms to be walking distance but it's an older hotel, the pool is in the center of a tall hotel so not much sun in there we are assuming and the ratings on the free breakfast have been mediocre. The parking is "tight" too apparently (whatever that means). It would be 122/night

Maybe if I can figure out how long it would take to get from the parking area to the parks it might help us decide. I like desert palms because it's right by Candy Cane Inn and many people have said it's a very easy walk to get to the parks.
If we stay at the other place we have to drive, find parking, walk to the parks - it all takes time.

Can anyone fill me in on the details of parking at DL? We like to get to the parks EARLY (before rope drop) so I don't want the parking situation to hold us back either.

help??????

 

[Malcon10t]

The Desert Palms is about a 5 min walk from the Candy Cane. You would continue up Harbor past the Candy Cane to Katella. Turn right at Katella and go about 200-300 feet past the 7-11.

If you drive, park at the Toy Story lot and take the tram to the esplanade.

I would stay at the newer hotel.

 

[sonnyjane]

Being able to walk is INVALUABLE!!! I'd happily stay at a no-frills place within walking distance rather than deal with driving everyday.

 

[FourM's]

Being able to walk is INVALUABLE!!! I'd happily stay at a no-frills place within walking distance rather than deal with driving everyday.

This exactly!

 

[ghostrdr]

The last time we parked at Mickey and Friends parking structure, from the moment I pulled up into the car line, paying for parking, riding the tram and getting into the gate at the parks was 30 min. Add the 5 min drive to that and it is likely 35 min.

My friend got turned around and redirected to another lot and that took another 20 min. On top of that.

I don't have much experience with The Toy Story parking.

On the plus side, I always tell the kids that the tram is one last ride they get to do.

 

[aussie shaz]

Being able to walk is INVALUABLE!!! I'd happily stay at a no-frills place within walking distance rather than deal with driving everyday.

Me too! By the time you wait for the tram, take the tram, get off, and then walk from there to the entrance, you could have walked from your room at the Desert Palms.
But, my choice would be Park Vue Inn or Best Western Park Place Inn. Soooo close to the entrance.

 

[figment_jii]

Can anyone fill me in on the details of parking at DL? We like to get to the parks EARLY (before rope drop) so I don't want the parking situation to hold us back either.

If this is something that is really important to you, then I would opt to stay at a place where you could walk to the park. I've not had a lot of problems when parking at DLR, but there is always the chance that there will a line to get into the structure/lot and then another line to get to tram/bus. Ultimately, if you're able to walk you have much better control over the timeline.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I prefer walking distance, but I also wasn't a fan of the Desert Palms the one time we tried it. If given only the two choices you've provided, I might be tempted to try out the new hotel and maybe use the ART. That's how much I didn't love Desert Palms. My preference though would be option number 3: some other walking distance hotel.

 

[superlarz]

There are many misadventures with parking at DLR. Sometimes from pulling up to the lot to get to the gate can take close to an hour. On the best day its probably 20 mintues. Unless you plan on spending most of your day at the hotel, stay somewhere walking distance.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Being able to walk is INVALUABLE!!! I'd happily stay at a no-frills place within walking distance rather than deal with driving everyday.

Ditto this. Traffic (the resort area is very congested), getting parked, and waiting for and loading onto a parking tram can take lots of time--on both ends of your day.

 

[Thumper_Man]

We've never really stayed close enough to walk, so can't comment much there. We've parked at both Mickey's Parking Garage and Toy Story Lot. We like the Toy Story Lot much better. Mickey's seemed to take forever to get in to. Then waiting on the tram took forever. Think it took us about 30-35 minutes to get into a park from the time we parked. Took about 10-15 minutes from Toy Story.

Leaving also was faster. Tram lines to Mickey's were long. Even though there were 2 sides. Shuttle lines for Toy Story are quite long as well, but seemed to move a lot faster than the lines for the tram at Mickey's.

 

[cats mom]

Traffic/parking around DLR can be a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes it's quick and easy, other times it's a nightmare.

As ghostrdr posted, sometimes Disney temporarily closes certain lots (seems to happen with Mickey & friends fairly frequently) and re-directs incoming traffic elsewhere. If you get stuck in that nonsense, or are entering/exiting at a particularly busy time, you'll be wishing you were one of the people walking a few blocks to get to/from the parks.

One day not long ago I sat on Disneyland Dr headed toward Ball Rd and barely moved through at least 5-6 light cycles because people kept blocking the intersection, so it didn't matter what color the light was, no one moved anyway. Getting from Ball Rd past Harbor (where the Mickey & friends structure dumps out unless the overpass is open) wasn't much better. There were no special events, or accidents, or rain, or anything else that tends to bring things to a standstill, just bad timing and lots of backed-up traffic.

Of course you could get lucky and have light traffic every time you want to enter/exit parking areas, but you just never know.

The nice, new hotel with the good breakfast certainly sounds better than Desert Palms to me though.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

I've had the miracle of easy traffic around the resort district. I've also had a taxi take half an hour just to get from the HoJo to Downtown Disney. (All of half a mile.) It's true, you just never know.

 

[wakica]

Thanks for your suggestions everyone. I will sit down with DH tonight and go over all the suggestions.

I did look into the two suggested hotels that are right across the street but they are $40.00 a night MORE than the one we looked at. With this being a 3 week trip to Cali we just can't justify paying that much more per night. Perhaps if it were only 10 to 15 more we might have bitten on that suggestion.

Can anyone tell me what the rate is these days for using Disney parking? That would also be helpful for us to know when making up our minds.

thank you!

 

[figment_jii]

Can anyone tell me what the rate is these days for using Disney parking? That would also be helpful for us to know when making up our minds.

Parking is $16 per day for regular vehicles.
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/guest-services/parking/

I usually stay at the Best Western Park Place Inn because of the proximity to the park. However, it's worth noting that they charge for parking (I think it's like $10/day).

 

[wakica]

Parking is $16 per day for regular vehicles.
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/guest-services/parking/

Thanks figmentjii

If we were to stay at a hotel close to one of the further away parking lots, is it possible to just pop on to the lot and catch a tram to the park?

I guess it would depend if that particular lot was in use yet though - or do they open all lots at the same time every day?

 

[figment_jii]

If we were to stay at a hotel close to one of the further away parking lots, is it possible to just pop on to the lot and catch a tram to the park?

I guess it would depend if that particular lot was in use yet though - or do they open all lots at the same time every day?

The Mickey & Friends is open every day. I'm pretty sure that the Toy Story lot is also open every day. The Pumba lot is only open when the crowds are high.

 

[koolkat808]

In case you decide to drive and park, I’ll share what worked best for us on our recent trip...

We stayed at a house 1 mile away, a little beyond Walnut St. We felt it was too far to walk to the parks so we either drove or caught a taxi everyday. Taxis ended up being costly and too much of a hassle, so we ditched that alternative after the first two days.

What worked for us was to park in the Downtown Disney parking lot, as close to Rainforest Cafe as possible. It was very easy to find a spot in the morning, a bit trickier later in the day... but at no time was it ever difficult, even during very crowded park conditions. Before returning to our car, we always made a small purchase in Downtown Disney to get a validation... usually we purchased a small order of Beignets for $5.50 at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen. You could also get a drink for $3, but we enjoyed the beignets. The validation gave us an additional 2 hours of free parking, for a total of 5 hours free. We paid whatever the additional parking charge was, at a rate of $6/hour.

This plan worked well for us because we visited the parks twice a day and went home for a midday break. We often exited with a $0 parking charge... and never paid more than $6 a day. We did not have to catch a tram, and the walk through DT was a pleasant 8 minutes. Also, we never had a long wait to enter or exit the lot. However, this would not work as well if we stayed at the park for over 7-1/2 hours, since the rate would then exceed $15.

That being said, I think staying nearby and not dealing with the hassle of driving is worth a lot... and is probably the way we will go next time.

 

[wakica]

Thanks for all your fantastic advice everyone

DH won though so we are staying at Ayres Hotel Anaheim. It will be a beautiful hotel so I'm sure we won't regret it but I will definitely be soaking up as much advice and as many tricks I can to make parking go a smoothly as possible.

Thanks again

 

[Kristina4109]

Just my two cents - for 3 years I was a pass holder so I used to take my (then) preschooler to Disneyland about once a month. It was a pain in the patootie to fold up the stroller and hold it AND her on the tram.

So we started walking from the Mickey and Friends lot to the park entrances. Mind you, I have been a walker for a long time (born and raised in New York) so it didn't bother me a bit.

There were days, though, when after a full day at the parks my legs couldn't bear to walk back to the parking structure, so I sucked it up and took the tram and dealt with the stroller!

It's about a half a mile and I could do it easily in under 15 minutes.