Live at Boardwalk - not happy about parking

[PatMcDuck]

I would like to know if our dues are going towards the parking lot and how much. If we are maintaining half of it, we should have access to half of it, in a decent spot, not shoved to the back. Parking has always been a sore spot at BWV, I talked to the General Manager after the annual meeting I think in 2000 and his response was that is why we give you free valet parking. Well, we don't have free valet parking anymore, so what is the solution?

It also is in stark contrast to BCV, where the parking for DVC members is excellent. I think several of you have made relevant points about dues/parking lot maintenance....... keep us posted!

 

[disneynutz]

I would like to know if our dues are going towards the parking lot and how much. If we are maintaining half of it, we should have access to half of it, in a decent spot, not shoved to the back. Parking has always been a sore spot at BWV, I talked to the General Manager after the annual meeting I think in 2000 and his response was that is why we give you free valet parking. Well, we don't have free valet parking anymore, so what is the solution?

Sadly you have no more rights to a decent spot than cash guests do.

I can hear the argument at the front desk now, "we paid hundreds of dollars per night and our vacation cost $8,000. Those darn DVC people have all the best parking, that's not right".

Bill

 

[perdidobay]

I stayed at BWV Oct 15th thru the 19th, granted they all were weekdays, but we had no issues with parking. Some days we parked in front of the convention center, some days we parked in the strip of regular parking to the left of the handicap spots in front of the valet area (the left turn just before the bridge to the entrance). We parked there most of the time, mainly because we had a room on the very end of the hall (room ended in 35), and it was quicker to go down the stairs and walk past the tennis courts to the parking lot than trek back to the front entrance.

 

[lilpooh108]

When we were there Friday we had to park in the lot across the street behind the Hess station to go to our reservation

Holy crap that's far.

 

[lilpooh108]

I would like to know if our dues are going towards the parking lot and how much. If we are maintaining half of it, we should have access to half of it, in a decent spot, not shoved to the back. Parking has always been a sore spot at BWV, I talked to the General Manager after the annual meeting I think in 2000 and his response was that is why we give you free valet parking. Well, we don't have free valet parking anymore, so what is the solution?

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Thanks guys for the update....I'll report back on our experiences when we return next week

 

[n2mm]

we are here and have been here since the 12th. we always park on the left (tennis court side). Parking has been heavy Mon to Thur when the guards don't lock down that lot. On fri to sun we are on lock down, which is a good thing. You have to show your room ID to go pass the guards twice to get into that lot. The poles are up Fri to Sun so you can only get in by passing the second guard. We also saw a first last Friday when they were towing a car out of a spot. We think it was a handicap spot that someone had parked in. Keep in mind that the gartner convention has moved in and the parking will get heavier over the next few days. This is a large group that is here every year we've been here. we are heading out today for MK, so as always hope we can find a spot when we return.

 

[DizBub]

We tried to park at BW last week because we wanted to eat at ESPN. Guard told us ONLY valet parking was available. As we made the U-turn I remembered that I have TIW that gives us free valet parking. Instead of turning around again we headed to BC. Guard told us the same thing about only valet parking and we told him that we have TIW. The change in attitude was "magical". The guard and valet treated us like royalty. We ended up eating at Captain's Grille.

To use TIW for the valet parking you must produce a dinner receipt. And we did tip the valet.

A couple of days later we went to YC to eat breakfast at Captain's Grille. We had to wait while the guard repeatedly (I counted 6 times) told the woman ahead of us that she could NOT park there to go into the parks. She kept insisting that she could and tried to get him to speak to someone on her cell phone. When she finally went away he told us the lot was entirely full except for 2 spots and they were reserved for VIPs. When we told him about TIW he gladly waved us through with a huge smile.

Parking in the Epcot area during F&W is a nightmare.

 

[DizBub]

Keep in mind that the gartner convention has moved in and the parking will get heavier over the next few days. This is a large group that is here every year we've been here.

Thank you so much for this info. All week we saw the HUGE tent rooms set up around the Swan & Dolphin and YC and wondered what was going on. Amazing.

 

[horselover]

I was there last week (Mon & Tue) & the guard didn't say a word to me about only parking in certain areas. All I got was welcome home & here's your parking pass. When I 1st checked in very early Mon. morning I tried to park on the left side close to the canal. The poles were up so I turned around & parked over on the right. Found a spot with no issues. The rest of my time there I parked on the left very close to the tennis court with no issues whatsoever. If this is a new policy they are being very selective in who they share it with.

 

[Brian Noble]

Parking is FUBARed at BWV nearly every year around the Food & Wine festival. I don't know why it happens here and not BCV, but it does. I suspect it will return to "normal" as soon as the Festival ends.

 

[Chuck S]

If they restricted all parking in the BWV lot to people that would normally be entitled to free parking (onsite guests and annual passholders)and then made those with FL seasonal passes, dinner reservations, and all others park behind Hess, I wonder if that would open up enough BWV spaces to solve the problem? Maybe, maybe not.

 

[cdtommie]

OP here, talked to a few management people - called front desk right after we got in our room and they put a manager on the phone who was very sympathetic and said change came from upper management about three weeks ago and if enough people complained policy might be rescinded, was told by DVC Cust Sat contact who called on Sunday that this has always been the policy (certainly not as we have stayed at BWV every year in Oct since 2000), told by another manager who called our room Saturday that new policy was implemented about three weeks ago (ie. at start of F&W) and was told you can park in lot Mon-Thurs only. We did park in lot on right last night. I would say only about 5-10% of lot was occupied on Friday afternoon when we were denied admission - guard was sympathetic as he said he's a DVC member himself.

 

[cwdefouw]

As usual, policies change at the demand of "Upper Management" with apparently no consideration of Members. Then said "changed policies" are not broadcast to members via the Member Web Site or via email, and said "changed policies" are haphazardly implememented and enforced.

For the most part, I personally don't have a problem with policy changes, I mean, everything changes, whether we like it or not. My concern is the repeated lack of respect toward members in the form of no notification of these changes, and the inconsistency with which the changes are implemented and enforced.

I would just like to know about it before it is thrown in my face upon arrival at the resort, and to know that all Cast Members are on board, know about the changes, and enforce the changes in all situations and circumstances.

 

[gardenia]

I prefer to park on the Villa side and not the Inn side, and can't understand why anyone staying in the Villas would want to park farther away! I was miffed when we arrived last year and we couldn't park in the Villas lot due to an event, so I'm happy with the change. And happy with the fact that they are totally restricting non-guest parking - we had a much easier time parking this year during our F&W stay at BWV.

 

[mjtm610]

This isn't a new issue. We've been members at BWV for 15 years. Since they got rid of the valet parking a couple of years ago and we started parking our own car we have had the "big lot" closed off several times. Especially on week-ends, always during F&W, we've been directed to use the "small lot" or to park across the street. I don't find the parking in the small lot that bad, but I don't like parking across the street. Busses come around the turn from BC at a pretty good speed.....I'm afraid I'm going to get hit.

 

[LSchrow]

...told by another manager who called our room Saturday that new policy was implemented about three weeks ago (ie. at start of F&W) ....

we were staying at the BWVs sept 27 thru oct 6 - so, the start of the F&WF. as in recent years during the F&WF (as well as the F&GF), only BWV/BWI guests were allowed into the righthand parking lot. on weekends, a guard was posted checking room ids (and occassionally drivers' licences to ensure they matched).
non-resort guests (DVC, AP, and anyone else not staying at the resort) were directed to use valet or park in the lot behind hess.
even on weekdays, they were telling the cars coming in that they could not park in the 2 close lots - they just didn't have the lot entrance manned then.

aren't the gartner conventioneers staying at the swolphin, and most (if not all) of the meetings based there? if someone staying at the BW doesn't get free parking if they go to eat the the swolphin (whether or not their resort guests have to pay), it doesn't seem fair that the reverse would acceptable.

btw, we were thrilled that the lot has finally been empty enough for us to find a spot ever since they started limiting the parking to resort guests only. we don't complain that we have to valet or park across the street when eating at narcooses at GF, why should the BW be any different?

 

[DebbieB]

I believe VGF is going to have a new parking lot close.

 

[VrBchJ]

When we checked into BWV on Oct. 14 we were denied parking in the lot on the right, Inn side. The guard who blocked the entrance said there were three weddings that day and the parking lot was reserved for the wedding guests. We parked on the left at the far back corner of the lot. Thank Heaven we had dropped off our luggage because it was quite a hike back to the entrance. It so happened our room had a perfect view of the lot of the Inn side (right side) and it remained virtually empty for two days. I can understand refusing parking to people visiting the boardwalk but for paying resort guests is seems way extreme.

 

[disneynutz]

We need to keep sending complaints to Disney or problems will never go away.

dvcmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

Bill