Parking at Boardwalk

[DisneyAl]

How much do you tip for valet parking and how long does it take to get your car when you use it?

 

[kem330]

We tip $2. We always call 5-10 minutes before leaving our room and car is ready for us (usually). You could wait anywhere from 5- 20 minutes depending on how busy they are if you don't call ahead.

 

[AnnK]

DisAL,
We usually valet the car. ( As I stated earlier.) I enjoy not having to worry. Tha main reason I rant about the parking is becasue I feel it SHOULD be readily available for ANY GUEST should they choose to self-park.
We usually tip $3-5 in each direction, because it's not the same person parking your car, and bringing your car. The nice thing about valet is that you can call the front before you leave your room, give them your number, and by the time you get to the entrance it is usually sitting there waiting for you!

 

[Zimbubba]

Charging will not keep people away. They will always find a way around it. We go there from OKW to stroll the boardwalk, eat in the restaurants, etc.

They obviously underestimated parking.’

 

[DisneyAl]

What can we do to try to get the parking improved?

 

[spiceycat]

I generally tip $1.00 and it depends on how far the drivers (runners) have to go - generally no more than 10 minutes maximum (and that was when they were parking in the same lot we are discussing) - last time it was more earlier (like may 2 minutes), but I think it was being parking in the handicap (?) section.

 

[KNWVIKING]

There is no easy answer for BW parking because Disney encourages public access similar to DD. I believe a separate lot for room keyholders is ideal solution and it should be the closest lot availible.PETERD made comment about showing ID to get on Disney transport: My wife + I have discussed several times about how if we were kids living in Orlando area,we would simply go to DD,hop on any resort bus and head straight to the pools & hot tubes.In '95,our 1st trip,I remember showing ID,but haven't since.I will admit,we stay at OKW but sometimes park at BWV to go to Epcot, especially for dinner.

 

[rbuzzotta]

Our first trip to BWV will be in July and we will be driving from Boston. Any advice on parking? We will be staying in a 2 BR Preferred view. Will this be further from the parking lot? It sounds like valet parking is the way to go! Do you tip both times, when you get your car and when you return your car? Thanks...

Rosemary
Off-site every year since 1985
PO '96, '97, '99
Coronado '00
WL '94, '00
CB '98
VB '97, '98, '00
DVC member '00 OKW
DxL '97, '01
BWV '01

 

[RoseNJ]

First of all, I am so excited to see a neighbor from Vineland NJ posting here! I thought I might be the lone Cumberland County DVCer. Last summer we almost always valet parked without incident except when we were leaving to go to the airport. They lost our keys! It took the manager and most of the runners close to an hour to find where someone had misplaced them. Word of warning...if you are driving your own car, have your second set of keys with you. We made the flight, but it was not pleasant to stand for an hour while wondering what had happened.

 

[drusba]

rbuzzota, the parking lot is actually a hike to the hotel no matter where you park; there is also a second parking lot across the street which is even further away. If you are near the very end of the resort that points toward MGM, which is also near the tennis courts, and park on the southwest end of the lot that lines up with the tennis courts, then you might be a little closer to your car from the rooms in that area (standard or preferred) but it really does not make that much difference. We use valet, which makes it very convenient. We follow a rule to tip ($3) only when your car is retrieved not when you drop it off -- that is the practice generally followed by business travelers everywhere (and that is regardless of whether you will have a different person coming and going). However, you will see many here saying they tip both ways and some mentioning that they tip a lot more than we do. Thus, you really have choices and do what you feel comfortable with. (My usual tipping rule is to tip at that level which matches the amount of guilt I can tolerate for not having tipped more, and I have a very high tolerance for guilt.) When leaving the hotel, you can call down and ask for the car and it will usually be there about the time you get down.

[This message was edited by drusba on 03-09-01 at 10:51 AM.]

 

[TampaDisneyFreaks]

I agree that parking at BWV is a problem. We own at BWV and frequently go there (we are only 1 and quarter hour away) just to stroll the BW and have dinner. Occasionally we meet friends there and do stuff on the BW AND myabe go to EPCOT for a little bit. If going to EPCOT for whole day, we park at EPCOT (we have Prem. AP's and get free parking anyway, but they DON'T give us a parking tag). However, when we go to BW to just do the stuff at the BW, we tell the guard that and they point us to the main self park lot. I was not aware that the lot behind the guard station (when coming in) was for self park/ day guests. I thought that was part of valet parking. We used to always self park, but our first trip as DVC member s we parked in the main lot and the Mickey Head was stolen off of our car antenna the first day. We valet parked the rest of the trip ($2 tip). We will valet park if staying there, but self park (and take our mickey head off the antenna) for day visits

 

[KNWVIKING]

I'm trying to find out if you went to high school in Millville, if you did we might know each other because we would have graduated together in '77.

 

[rbuzzotta]

Thanks for the info. drusba! I think we will just valet park. We are hoping to have my stepson join us on this trip and being a party of 6 (one under 3) I can already hear all the whining and moaning with the extra walking to the car.

We leave for DxL (on points) in 10 days. Won't be soon enough since we are expecting another foot of snow tonight..on top of 14 inches we got Tuesday!

Sunshine, here we come!

Rosemary
Off-site every year since 1985
PO '96, '97, '99
Coronado '00
WL '94, '00
CB '98
VB '97, '98, '00
DVC member '00 OKW
DxL '97, '01
BWV '01

 

[BobH]

Use the valet parking and get out right at the door. For a couple of dollars as a tip it is well worth it. Treat yourself!

 

[baileybrad]

The parking set-up, free valet and all, is the reason that we have no intention of staying at this resort as DVC members. It is a hassle no matter what you do if you use your vehicle alot. I would hope that something that improvements could be made to make things easier on the guests that are actually staying at the resort. But, that being said, many folks swear by this resort so I suppose you have to take the bad with the good and the parking is definitely bad if you use your car a bunch. And lets face it the valet parking is not really "free".

 

[Peterd]

The parking isn't really soooo bad as to not stay there. It's just the one thing that, after a 10 or more day stay, could get annoying sometimes.
If the parking is the only thing I can complain about, I'm pretty lucky. A room away from the elevator? We just go out a different exit. We're on vacation, a little walking never hurt anyone.
I just wish they would put up a gate at the guest parking. That would fix the whole problem. We valet most of the time, but sometimes when you go in and out a lot, you just want to self park.
I've seen people make the left at the tennis courts, see they couldn't get into the valet parking spots, drive onto the walkway looking for a closer spot. I'm glad to see they put up a gate for service vehicles only now. They even put rocks around the gate, so people wouldn't try to drive around the gate on the grass.
We used to go to the Contemp., go to MK, then to Chef Mickeys afterwards. They put an end to this. I think you get a 3 hour parking pass now?
As for the Bw parking, I don't have a problem with Okw or Wl members parking in the guest parking, because it can't be that many, and even though they don't own there, they're members there. I just think the visitors and other resort guests, should park in the visitor's parking. They say they're trying to sell the Boardwalk as an entertainment area. Since they're making money on it, money that doesn't decrease dues but goes right in their pocket, they could run a small tram/bus from the visitor's parking area.

 

[Peterd]

If any DVC member cares. We've been waiting for a reply from DVC about the parking for almost 4 months. They called again today, about one of my recent emails about the Parking for guests only. I said don't tell us about the free valet, because they lost our car in Oct. for almost two hours, making us miss our resv. for dinner. Like they always say, "We'll look into it and get back to you". This was the third time they have called to tell me this. They also said not enough people have complained about this in their phone calls and email from the DVC site. Well here's your chance if this bothers anyone else. Email them and let them know. dvc.ms9800@disney.com

I also sent this whole thread to them. Hope it makes them at least think about it.

[This message was edited by Peterd on 03-14-01 at 10:30 PM.]

 

[bicker]

Personally, I don't know if it is in our best interests to make the BoardWalk a less attractive destination for non-resort guests. That status might some significant impact on the routing of any new monorail track that Disney eventually lays, and the rumors were that since the BoardWalk was a destination that guests from around the resort would want to visit, there would be a monorail stop (on the way from Epcot to D-MGM) at the BoardWalk. Making it more difficult for non-resort guests to visit the BoardWalk would damage the success of the BoardWalk restaurant, shops, etc., and that would in turn reduce the BoardWalk's status as a destination within the resort, and consequently make it less likely that a monorail stop will be erected there.

Brian Charles Kohn
"in my own words"
Some Imagination, huh? - Mickey Mouse