I'll be traveling with a group of 18, and we are all staying off site. We are trying to figure out when we need to leave the condo to be at rope drop for each of the 4 parks. We can figure out driving time from the condo to the parking lots easy enough but I'm not sure how much time to allow for getting from a parking spot to the gate itself. We have a couple of small ones and would like to get as much in as early as possible.
Thanks.
From your parking spot to the tram drop-off is fairly quick, as the trams are very efficient, usually no more than 15 minutes. The lag doesn't hit there, but in the parts just before and after that: a) getting through the parking plaza to your space, and b) getting through the bag check at the park. Just before rope drop these are both chokepoints.
We normally drive to the parks other than MK while staying onsite, and at park opening we generally assume that it will take about 70 minutes from the time we get into the car until we pass through the turnstiles of the park. The first 15 minutes of that is driving from the resort to the park's parking lot entrance. Then there is usually 20 minutes getting through the parking plaza and to a space (and we don't need to do more than slow down at the plaza, b/c we are onsite -- the delay is waiting for the other folks ahead of us who are digging around for change to pay the parking fee.) The speed limit when driving around the lots is 15 mph, and there are a LOT of folks snaking around and around the lots to merge into the single parking queue that the CM's direct all cars into. Then there are the inevitable folks who hold up traffic whilst arguing with the CM that they
really need to park at the end of the row nearest the tram, or the ones who try to refuse to pull in directly behind the car in front of them.
Also, the van/SUV driving stroller-loaders who pull in first but try to load their strollers in the space behind or to the side of their vehicles, forcing the folks behind them to wait until they move the stroller out of the way.
A bit of advice here: if you are using a stroller, don't unfold it and load it when you take it out of the car. Keep it folded and pull it to the tram behind you; because you are only going to need to fold it up again in less than 5 minutes to put it on the tram.
Bag check and the turnstiles can be quite slow; we find that first thing in the morning it can take 20 minutes from the tram to being inside the park waiting for rope drop. Most of the delay is usually at the turnstiles, because there are always first-timers who don't understand how the finger-scan works,
and the folks who got cheated on used passes,
and the folks who put their passes next to a magnetic snap on their purses,
and the folks who try to pretend that their 4 yo is a 2 yo,
and the kids who INSIST that they are going to do the finger scan even though kids don't have to do it,
and the big groups who designate one person to hold all the passes (and who then has to hand them all out at the turnstiles and then collect them all again.)
For the MK you need to add an add'l 15 minutes for the ride from the TTC to the MK station, or the ferry ride (presuming that the ferry is waiting at the dock.)
