Off property VS On Property....

[leebee]

I went to the front desk and explained that my parents felt safer meeting us at the resort each day, and could I use my allocated parking pass for them. They said of course you can, and just asked for the license plate number of the car for the parking pass. It was no problem, I wasn't cheating anybody and the resort was perfectly fine with it.

And there is nothing unethical about asking for a parking pass.

Here's the deal: Many DISboard people are Disney rule-followers, and pretty cut-and-dried about it. If it's posted as a "disney rule," they will defend it vehemently. What happens in real life, AT Disney, WITH Disney CMs, can vary widely. Personally, if the CMs at Disney say "go ahead," I go ahead. Just be honest. Several times we've had supper on the Boardwalk and then gone into Epcot. I just explain to the parking CM at BWI that that's what we are doing, and he's always said, "Sure, no problem, park over there." On another trip, DD and I were staying at POP; we didn't even know that my sister, BIL, and 2 nieces were in FLorida. They knew we were at POP, explained to the parking CM that they wanted to surprise us and would it be OK to park, and he said sure, park over there, here's a pass for parking for today." BOY were we surprised, and we all took the bus to MK for the day. The only place it's ever been an issue is at the Contemporary, where they always tell us it's 3 hour parking (but of course there'd NEVER be enough parking for CR guests if everyone just parked there and walked to MK!)

OP, I'd ask at check-in for the parking pass and put your dad's license plate number on it. They are going to let him into your resort lot to come visit you anyhow. They'll even let them use the pool at some resorts; in fact, on the day that my sister and her family surprised us, we found them IN the pool at POP. They'd tried to call my cell phone, but we weren't in the room (we were having b'fast) so they changed in the bathroom and used the pool while they waited for us to come back from the food court. We walked right by them, and heard my nieces screaming at us; it was such a surprise!!

 

[shepd]

If you can't park at the resort, why not park at Downtown Disney and bus up to the resort? You're not going to the theme park, so it's just one bus. Done. Now you don't even have to care about parking as DTD is a free parking lot, and you're not even doing the "bad" thing of abusing it to visit a park without paying for parking.

 

[Luckybee]

They have closed that loop! We are doing a split stay of on-site and off. Our ability to make advance FP+ ends the day we check out of onsite hotel! I am now waiting for my 30 day mark to book the rest of my FP+!

Are you sure about this ?....if so it just happened in the last 2 days.

I just finished making fp+ ressies for a friend who used the split stay to gain the benefit of the +60 days. She and her dh are doing 2 nights at the AKL and then 5 nights at the Ritz. On day 60 we booked the 2 nights of fp+, then each day at 60+ I booked her fp's for the 60th day. No problem at all doing so as long as you remember that it is a rolling window. The last day we did this was just Saturday.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

If you can't park at the resort, why not park at Downtown Disney and bus up to the resort? You're not going to the theme park, so it's just one bus. Done. Now you don't even have to care about parking as DTD is a free parking lot, and you're not even doing the "bad" thing of abusing it to visit a park without paying for parking.

You can also park at Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, Fantasia Gardens, Winter Summerland, and Wide World of Sports for free and bus to one of the resorts. The way I see it, if you talk to the cast member at check in and he or she says that it is fine for him to park at the resort each day and bus to the parks or wherever your family might be going, then fine. I don't think it's a good idea to try and do this without first getting permission, though.

 

[Canuckbiggs]

I have done several WDW trips but have only ever stayed on Property...

2015 I'm the planner for our multi family trip so I have My family and My sisters family on property

But my Parent refuse to stay on site ....

So what thing do I need to know Like I know
* Mom can't book FP+ when we are booking ours.
* then can't do EMH We don't usually do these anyway so not an issue
* Dinning I can book at the 180 day mark and just add 2 more people to the reservation number to include Mom and Dad right??

Is there anything I'm missing on as far as the perks for on site vs off that Im not accounting for??

Any chance you would consider a large house with a pool for everyone? Not sure what your numbers are, but it might be a great option to spend time together and be very reasonably priced.

We are headed down in the fall with 2 families. 4 adults and 5 kids. We are booked into a 5000+ square foot 5 bedroom home, with a private pool and it's own elevator at Reunion Resort. It is costing us less than $200 a night per family and that includes pool heat.

JMO put I would put a gun in my mouth before I would spend 10 days in any hotel room with 2 double beds, and be almost forced to eat in a restaurant 3 meals a day.

I would love to stay in a large multi bedroom condo in Disney but my Scottish ways and wallet won't allow it.