Observation MK to DTD

[Ladygoldenhair]

I left the park tonight asking the shortest way to get to DTD. A CM at the exit told me to hop the resort monorail to the Contemporary Resort exit and catch a bus....
Well, the bus stop was packed. We waited for the third packed bus until we got on. So many had sleeping kids, sleeping wives going to DTD. Then i thought, no one drags sleeping little ones to DTD this late at night. A-Ha, the one couple I saw exited and went to a parked car.

I thought there was a time limit enforced? But, if you are onsite, skip the Contemporay stop as the shortest, choose another resort stop. It maybe further, but will not be so packed.

 

[KrazeeK120]

First of all, it's much faster to walk from MK to the Contemporary rather than taking the monorail.

Second, that couple may have been Contemporary guests. If they were, it wouldn't have made any sense for them to drive to MK from there. Thus, their car would have remained parked at the resort while they were at the MK.

Could they have been "cheating"? Sure, but you're making an assumption when you don't know all of the facts.

Either way, I would think that many people would have the idea that heading to the Contemporary and boarding a bus to DTD would be the fastest way to get there. If you're going to take Disney transport, I agree that heading to a different resort (maybe Poly or GF) would be a less popular option.

 

[ParrotBill]

I don't agree that walking to the Contemporary is much faster but it can be a little faster if you walk at an average speed. After walking all day I don't fancy that walk, so I would walk toward the resort monorail, and hop a boat to GF or Poly if it happens to be just arriving... otherwise hop the monorail.

At certain times of the evening lots of people head to DTD and the buses can often be full... not just at the Contemporary!

 

[DebbieB]

Now that the walkway from Saratoga to DTD is closed, taking that bus has been shutoff as a quick way to DTD. I'm sure plenty of people park at DTD to save a few bucks. They should do what Disneyland does - 3 hour time limit, 5 hours with a restaurant validation. After that, you pay. Maybe they will when the parking garages are done.

 

[Letsbgoofy]

I don't think that they should start charging to park at DTD or require any type of validation, though I can see why they do that at DL as you can walk to the parks from DTD there.

What they should do is have bus service from the parks to DTD like they are testing with AK right now. If resort ID was required to board the bus at DTD, then they wouldn't have people parking there to get out of paying for parking at the parks. Parking at DTD was a nightmare before, I can't even imagine what it's like now with lots closed. I had planned to spend a couple evenings there eating and shopping, now I'm not sure that we will get there at all because it's such a hassle.

 

[seashoreCM]

I do think that there should be some form of validation for parking.

But I do not think that there should be a parking fee for everyone at Downtown Disney. I would not go there to shop if there was a parking fee.

A suitable validation method would be having kiosks here and there where you put in your plate number. With magicband bracelets this could be a touch and go method like entering a theme park. A refinement would be having any transaction using the magicband re-up the parking at that locale (venue).

You would be required to visit a kiosk at least once every three hours. If you passed by a kiosk sooner you can re-up your parking then and start the 3 hour timer all over again.

This same method could be used at resorts and it would keep most guests from parking at resorts just to go to theme parks. (Using a magicband at a different locale e.g. Epcot would not re-up parking at, say, Boardwalk or Downtown Disney.)

 

[KrazeeK120]

I don't agree that walking to the Contemporary is much faster but it can be a little faster if you walk at an average speed. After walking all day I don't fancy that walk, so I would walk toward the resort monorail, and hop a boat to GF or Poly if it happens to be just arriving... otherwise hop the monorail.

At certain times of the evening lots of people head to DTD and the buses can often be full... not just at the Contemporary!

It would depend on what time you're leaving the park. If you're leaving at closing, its a HECK of a lot faster to walk. If you're leaving at some random time, its possible that it the monorail could take approximately the same amount of time, if you caught the monorail right away.

Either way...its literally less than a 10 minute walk. I've stayed at the Contemporary before, and found it much less of a hassle (and much more pleasant) to just walk rather than messing with the monorail.