Mickey and friends parking structure

[narsel]

We were at the parks last Saturday. Arrived about 10:15am. The Mickey and friends parking structure was closed and we were diverted to the Toy Story parking lot. The rest of our party arrived about an hour later and drove right into the Mickey and friends structure. We've been pretty regular visitors to Disneyland (3-4 times a year) for the past 20+ years and annual pass holders for the past 2 years (going 2 to 3 times a month) and we have never parked in the Toy Story lot, or for that matter, we've never parked anywhere other than Mickey and friends. Anyone know what was up with that? Is there a new parking protocol where they fill the toy story lot first and then open Mickey or something? Can't say I would want to do that again, it took us @ 25 minutes to get from the off ramp to the toy story lot and another 20 to get on the bus. Super inconvenient, especially when the Mickey structure was empty.

 

[dina444444]

If it's going to be a busy day they divert traffic earlier in the day away from M & F to the other lots. This has been happening on a fairly regular basis on busy days for the past two years at least.

 

[narsel]

I had no idea, I guess we've just always been lucky?? So if you want to park in Mickey and friends, What time should you arrive?

 

[FryingPansWhoKnew]

Were you coming from the south and/or turning left/south on Disneyland Drive? If you are coming from the north, you can usually enter M & F Parking structure even when they are doing the traffic redirection.

Like the PP said, they divert traffic on the busier days so it doesn't back up onto Ball Rd. I agree it's a pain and I've been stuck in that trap you describe twice myself.

I almost hesitate to give this information out because I'm convinced if enough people do it they will change things and really cause a pain for us that do this, but oh well. Here's how you get around the traffic redirect if it happens again. I posted this in another thread awhile ago:

If you want to get to the Mickey and Friends parking lot, you will need to do a lot of surface street driving. That parking structure on busy days is usually only open to people coming from the north.

So what you have to do is get off on Harbor Blvd., not Disney Way. Turn right on Harbor, then left on Ball Rd. DO NOT turn left on Disneyland Drive even though it tells you to. You will get redirected by the Anaheim police department past DLH and all the way over to the Toy Story lots eventually, negating everything you've done so far and chewing up a lot of time. You have to turn right on Disneyland Drive, then make a U-turn at your earliest opportunity. You will pass the offramp for the I-5 North on the right. Once you make the U-turn, and head south on Disneyland Drive, you will be able to access the flyover bridge to the left that the southbound I-5 traffic gets to use and you will make your way to the Mickey and Friends parking structure. If you miss the flyover bridge, do not continue south on Disneyland Drive as you will get caught up in that Anaheim PD redirection. Just circle back at Ball Rd. and try again.

 

[tarheelalum]

So what you have to do is get off on Harbor Blvd., not Disney Way. Turn right on Harbor, then left on Ball Rd. DO NOT turn left on Disneyland Drive even though it tells you to. You will get redirected by the Anaheim police department past DLH and all the way over to the Toy Story lots eventually, negating everything you've done so far and chewing up a lot of time. You have to turn right on Disneyland Drive, then make a U-turn at your earliest opportunity. You will pass the offramp for the I-5 North on the right. Once you make the U-turn, and head south on Disneyland Drive, you will be able to access the flyover bridge to the left that the southbound I-5 traffic gets to use and you will make your way to the Mickey and Friends parking structure. If you miss the flyover bridge, do not continue south on Disneyland Drive as you will get caught up in that Anaheim PD redirection. Just circle back at Ball Rd. and try again.

Is it possible you could also do this by driving west on Ball and go past Disneyland Dr and then make a right onto S. Walnut, then a right onto W. South, and then a right on Disneyland Dr? I've never tried to do this but from the looks of it on google maps, W. South will put you onto Disneyland Dr north of the flyover bridge but I've found out the hard way you cannot always trust google maps. And if W. South will put you in position to get onto the flyover bridge, do you need to be in the right or the left lane on the bridge to go directly into Mickey and Friends, or does it matter?

 

[Jaylens Papa]

Is it possible you could also do this by driving west on Ball and go past Disneyland Dr and then make a right onto S. Walnut, then a right onto W. South, and then a right on Disneyland Dr? I've never tried to do this but from the looks of it on google maps, W. South will put you onto Disneyland Dr north of the flyover bridge but I've found out the hard way you cannot always trust google maps. And if W. South will put you in position to get onto the flyover bridge, do you need to be in the right or the left lane on the bridge to go directly into Mickey and Friends, or does it matter?

This is what I have recommended. It ads maybe an extra mile but works great. As long as the flyover is open. Also, if you end up being detoured on Disneyland Dr you can make a right on the street going toward DTD parking and head to West St. Then follow the PP's route.
We travel in a motorhome so we can go straight to the roadblock and the police will move the cones four us. M & F's has the oversized vehicle parking area.

 

[narsel]

We were coming from the north on the 5, exited on Disney Drive, the flyover bridge was also closed. We could see as we drove on by that the Mickey structure was near empty and there were no cars backed up to get in. Is it just random times that they close it or do they have some sort of schedule?? Like I said before, we have never been blocked from that parking structure coming over the flyover bridge.

 

[QueenJen]

We come from South County and have been redirected more frequently the last couple of years. It is frustrating to drive through the extra long maze to be re routed to Toy Story or the Garden Walk garage. Pre-park opening we have been able to park M&F - after that it is questionable. We arrived between 5:30 and 6:00 last Sat night and were redirected. I was not in the mood, so we parked in DTD. it was worth it if we had to pay beyond 3 hrs. We ended up being there a bit over 4 hrs with no extra parking validation and were not asked to pay upon exit.

 

[calilou]

We were coming from the north on the 5, exited on Disney Drive, the flyover bridge was also closed. We could see as we drove on by that the Mickey structure was near empty and there were no cars backed up to get in. Is it just random times that they close it or do they have some sort of schedule?? Like I said before, we have never been blocked from that parking structure coming over the flyover bridge.

Yes. We almost always come from the north and have found the flyover ramp closed from time to time. I have found that when it is we just circle around and keep trying. It usually opens up shortly.

 

[Epek]

I posted this on the other thread rearking, but on May 29 we were diverted to Garden Walk right around park opening (9, I think), and my friend was diverted to Toy Story at 1pm! She said M&F was empty as she drove by. We were diverted again to Garden Walk on the 31st, arriving around 11am. The parking attendants told us it was orders from Anaheim PD, but the fact that M&F was still empty at 1pm on a Friday was curious to us.

 

[mjh2901]

Its annoying. The lot is a long long walk. and your car is not in the nice shade of the parking structure. I wish I knew when they where doing it because that is a good reason to just hit Toy Story lot.

 

[SMD]

On May 22nd they were alternatively directing the traffic on Disney Way to Gardenwalk or Toy Story. I was sent to Toy Story and my friend got Gardenwalk. The difference was it took me 40 minutes longer to get to the park and over an hour more to get back to my car. The Anaheim PD controls the flow of traffic, so while it's frustrating, I've learned over the years not to expect to choose my parking lot.