Parking all day at Polynesian with breakfast ADRs

[Libmom333]

Hello. During all of my previous trips, I've parked at the Polynesian resort on my Magic Kingdom days. We have breakfast at Kona Cafe and then take the monorail over and back. I've never been given a 3 hour parking pass before. We always stay on property, but not usually at the Poly. I've noticed a thread discussing the 3 hour parking pass. Has anyone received one for the Polynesian lately? I literally have breakfast and dinner reservation there on my MK day this time and would hate to have to move my car 2X.

 

[Lucius Best]

Hello. During all of my previous trips, I've parked at the Polynesian resort on my Magic Kingdom days. We have breakfast at Kona Cafe and then take the monorail over and back. I've never been given a 3 hour parking pass before. We always stay on property, but not usually at the Poly. I've noticed a thread discussing the 3 hour parking pass. Has anyone received one for the Polynesian lately? I literally have breakfast and dinner reservation there on my MK day this time and would hate to have to move my car 2X.

There is no physical 3-hour pass that I've ever seen. Technically you're not supposed to park there more than 3 hours (but I've never seen that in writing), and I've heard stories about cars being towed from Contemporary.

I've also parked many times at Polynesian, sometimes to eat, sometimes to walk around, or tour the monorail resorts. I've never had a problem parking at GF, Polynesian, or Wilderness Lodge (usually during low crowd times, so there's tons of parking available, and I'm staying on-site so the parking attendant knows that I'm not parking there just to avoid the $17 parking fee).

 

[njk986]

Ask at your resort front desk for a parking pass and put it on your dashboard to be safe.

 

[Lynne M]

To some extent, it depends on whether it's a busy time of year or not. They get much stricter about parking at monorail resorts during holiday seasons. From your ticker, it looks like you're going in mid-November, so depending on how close it is to Thanksgiving, you may have a problem. Or not.

There are two options that would keep you from having to move your car. The free way would be to just park at the TTC (MK's parking lot). There's a walking path to the Poly, or you can take the monorail to Poly. The not-free way would be to valet park at the Poly; they don't mind if you stay all day if you do that.

 

[goofy4tink]

You are 'officially' welcome to park at the resort you are paying to stay at....for as long as you want. You aren't 'officially' entitled to park, while in a park, at a resort you are not paying to stay at. So...what does this mean? It means that Disney prefers that you park at a resort if you are enjoying the amenities of that resort...eating, shopping, checking it out. But, that doesn't mean heading to a park for the day. Just because you are staying elsewhere, on-site, doesn't mean you get to park at every other resort for the day, while you head to a park. That is a perk that those paying to stay at these resorts are getting...as well they should for the money they are paying to stay there!!
Can you park at the Polynesian, for the day, and go to a park after eating? Sure. It will most likely be allowed. It's really more of an honor system. If you do choose to park in a resort that isn't the resort you are staying at, for the day, it would be polite and considerate to choose a parking spot that is a bit further removed from the front of the lot.
There will be times during the year that you won't be allowed to park.....for instance, during Food and Wine times, parking is limited at the Epcot resorts. If you aren't staying at, for instance BW, you won't be allowed to go to the general parking area. On the nights of MNSSHP and MVMCP, you may find parking to be limited at the CR and the Polynesian. There will be signage up at the resorts letting you know that parking at the resort for theme park access is not allowed.

 

[GreatLakes]

To some extent, it depends on whether it's a busy time of year or not. They get much stricter about parking at monorail resorts during holiday seasons. From your ticker, it looks like you're going in mid-November, so depending on how close it is to Thanksgiving, you may have a problem. Or not.

There are two options that would keep you from having to move your car. The free way would be to just park at the TTC (MK's parking lot). There's a walking path to the Poly, or you can take the monorail to Poly. The not-free way would be to valet park at the Poly; they don't mind if you stay all day if you do that.

This has been my experience. I have parked there all day after having breakfast before but it was always during slow times so the rule wasn't enforced. Now I just head over to that side of the main MK parking lot and walk. I believe it is the Woody parking lot but am not 100% sure.

 

[wdwrich]

Ask at your resort front desk for a parking pass and put it on your dashboard to be safe.

Unfortunately, the paper parking pass only allows one to park at the resort you're staying at and in the theme park lots. It does not give you permission to park all day at another resort and head off to a park. As mentioned above, the resort lots have signage stating that those lots are not for theme park parking.

 

[Polydweller]

Look, it's about courtesy to the guests of the resort not whether you can get away with it or needing a parking pass. First, the lots are posted as not for theme park parking.

Second, the people staying at that resort have no other option but to park there. You as a visitor have other options and you expect to be able to park at your resort when you return and would be pretty upset if you couldn't because of people 'visiting' the resort.

Well, people staying at the Poly expect to park when they return too. And it does happen that the lots are full when one returns. The lots are simply not large enough to hold all the people who would want to do this. Take a look on google maps to see the difference between the Poly lots and the TTC.

It's an awful experience to return to you home resort and there is no parking and its one you don't want to experience. If you want to park all day there the use valet, that won't have the same impacts. Do the courteous thing, don't park in self parking or move your car.

Yeah, I'm hot about this issue but I've experienced the full lot effect too many times. A lot may look like it has lots of spots when you arrived but that's often because that resort's guests have driven to other parks or resorts and will return later and the new arrivals haven't shown up yet. Just show people at that resort the same courtesy you expect at your resort.

 

[wagner1225]

In years past I have had a Paper 3hr pass to put on window, on this last trip May 2015, they checked our Magic Band when we checked in for Adr's ( gate guard) at different resort restaurants , it must work, they always knew our name with asking, there was no mention about time limit.

 

[disnut8]

Hello. During all of my previous trips, I've parked at the Polynesian resort on my Magic Kingdom days. We have breakfast at Kona Cafe and then take the monorail over and back. I've never been given a 3 hour parking pass before. We always stay on property, but not usually at the Poly. I've noticed a thread discussing the 3 hour parking pass. Has anyone received one for the Polynesian lately? I literally have breakfast and dinner reservation there on my MK day this time and would hate to have to move my car 2X.

Why not park in the main Magic Kingdom parking lot, then walk from the TTC over to the Polynesian, have your breakfast, go to Magic Kingdom, come back for your dinner and then walk back to the TTC and your car?

It will be interesting in the future once all the MagicBand stuff is together for parking to see what Disney can and cannot do to determine who is staying where and who has dining reservations where, etc.

 

[ols386]

Why not park in the main Magic Kingdom parking lot, then walk from the TTC over to the Polynesian, have your breakfast, go to Magic Kingdom, come back for your dinner and then walk back to the TTC and your car?

It will be interesting in the future once all the MagicBand stuff is together for parking to see what Disney can and cannot do to determine who is staying where and who has dining reservations where, etc.

This is what I would do.

 

[Libmom333]

Thanks for all of the input everyone. If valet parking is an option that allows all day parking, then that's what we'll do. That way we won't be going over the three hour limit and resort guests can self-park.

 

[asheleycs]

We went to several meals in late July/early August this year and valet parked. Each time we asked the valet if it was okay to leave the car for the rest of the day. They always said yes. Contemporary, Polynesian, Yacht Club, at least one other...

 

[vinotinto]

You can definitely leave the car with valet all day, but you can also literally walk to the TTC (MK parking lot) from the Poly. It's a 5-minute walk.

 

[Polydweller]

In years past I have had a Paper 3hr pass to put on window, on this last trip May 2015, they checked our Magic Band when we checked in for Adr's ( gate guard) at different resort restaurants , it must work, they always knew our name with asking, there was no mention about time limit.

Of course no talk of time limit. The lot is marked as not for Theme Park. That in itself says use it for the resort only. Stay there as long as you need for an ADR or visiting, but then leave. And it's still mostly about courtesy to others.

 

[disnut8]

Thanks for all of the input everyone. If valet parking is an option that allows all day parking, then that's what we'll do. That way we won't be going over the three hour limit and resort guests can self-park.

Just realize that you will be spending over $20 for the parking that you would get for free since you are staying onsite. But, it's a personal decision.

 

[fairy oma]

It is my understanding that the Poly has a limited amount of parking, especially now due to the presence of construction vehicles, equipment and construction areas. It really is a quick 5-7 minute walk from the TTC and then you can catch the Monorail after you ADR. Save the extra $20 for valet parking for something fun!

 

[jmccoy18]

I know they will tow your car at the CR, the gate guard told us that when we parked there for breakfast at CM right before NYE 2013

 

[loves to dive]

Not to make waves or be taken as snarky but why not just use Disney transportation? Sounds like you are planning on spending all day at MK anyway so you wouldn't be standing around waiting for buses two or three times. Unless your dinner ADR is so late you won't get done until a hour after the park closes you can just go back to MK to take the bus. If I just wanted to drive, I would just park at TTC, you are staying on Disney property so parking is free.

 

[Sue M]

Thanks for all of the input everyone. If valet parking is an option that allows all day parking, then that's what we'll do. That way we won't be going over the three hour limit and resort guests can self-park.

Thank you for your consideration. I usually return my rental car after check in. I did have a car my first stay at Poly, and it was low season but finding parking was miserable.
Valet if you're leaving the car is great, or park for free at TTC, it's a 5 min walk to Poly.