Parking at Boardwalk

[DVC4US]

I had a close friend that worked at the BW and they said it was unbelievable how many people they saw park their car, pull out the strollers or whatever, and head STRAIGHT for the sidewalk going to HS. They were parking there simply to avoid paying theme park parking fees. Since the skyliner towers have gone in BW has lost a BUNCH of parking so they are much, much stricter. And during F&W doubly so.

I have stayed at BW numerous times and seen this for myself - upsets me every time when I have to drive around the parking lot looking for a space, but after park closing time there are spot galore.

 

[DisBuckMan]

I have stayed at BW numerous times and seen this for myself - upsets me every time when I have to drive around the parking lot looking for a space, but after park closing time there are spot galore.

Poly is equally bad. It's amazing how its lot empties out after MK closes.

You pay to park at YOUR resort...not any resort. As said above, if any resort is fair game, why are there tiered parking fees? People who stay at deluxe resorts are paying more for the amenities...and location/proximity to the parks.

 

[Missyrose]

The 3 hour rule is never enforced, they have told us about it but I never have seen any cars being towed or summoned

And I've seen them marking tires and towing cars at CR, Poly and BW. So YMMV.

 

[southerngirl528]

I have stayed at BW numerous times and seen this for myself - upsets me every time when I have to drive around the parking lot looking for a space, but after park closing time there are spot galore.

Poly is equally bad. It's amazing how its lot empties out after MK closes.

You pay to park at YOUR resort...not any resort. As said above, if any resort is fair game, why are there tiered parking fees? People who stay at deluxe resorts are paying more for the amenities...and location/proximity to the parks.

As a DVC member, I am a frequent WDW resort guest. I was extremely unhappy during our GF villas stay over July 4th with my family a year and a half ago when we came back from driving over to DS and there were ZERO parking spots at the GFV. NONE. My sweet SIL went over the Grand to do self-parking and guess what? NO available spots there either! And valet was full too!!! So if I recall correctly, they let him park at the convention center there, which is quite a hike from the GFV building. People complain about security guards not letting them park at the resorts, but those paying to stay should ALWAYS get first preference for any available parking.

 

[Deb & Bill]

As a DVC member, I am a frequent WDW resort guest. I was extremely unhappy during our GF villas stay over July 4th with my family a year and a half ago when we came back from driving over to DS and there were ZERO parking spots at the GFV. NONE. My sweet SIL went over the Grand to do self-parking and guess what? NO available spots there either! And valet was full too!!! So if I recall correctly, they let him park at the convention center there, which is quite a hike from the GFV building. People complain about security guards not letting them park at the resorts, but those paying to stay should ALWAYS get first preference for any available parking.

We've seen many guests pull out the strollers and backpacks at the GFV parking lot and head for the monorail. They aren't there for the villas.

 

[southerngirl528]

We've seen many guests pull out the strollers and backpacks at the GFV parking lot and head for the monorail. They aren't there for the villas.

It's just isn't right.

 

[jackglick]

Same thing happened to us one 4th of July at BLT. We paid premium for a theme park view at blt. We had to drive around for over 20 minutes to find a parking spot. Once the fireworks were over, you had to see how many cars were leaving the lot. It was infuriating. They really need to manage that better.

 

[piccolopat]

I have stayed at BW numerous times and seen this for myself - upsets me every time when I have to drive around the parking lot looking for a space, but after park closing time there are spot galore.

For BW and other hotels with this problem, Disney needs to split the parking lot so one is for hotel guests only and a separate, timed lot for day visitors. For day visitors, it can work like a lot of parking lots where you are clocked in and out and your fee is based on the excess time there. The excess charge should max out at the same or slightly higher than theme park parking to discourage the practice. Anyone can opt to pay for valet parking if they want to eat on the BW and then walk to Epcot, for example.

 

[southerngirl528]

Same thing happened to us one 4th of July at BLT. We paid premium for a theme park view at blt. We had to drive around for over 20 minutes to find a parking spot. Once the fireworks were over, you had to see how many cars were leaving the lot. It was infuriating. They really need to manage that better.

Amen! I was paying for a Lake View 2 bedroom villa at Grand Floridian Villas. And NO space to park. I complained nicely but VERY firmly to management about it. It's not okay.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

I have stayed at BW numerous times and seen this for myself - upsets me every time when I have to drive around the parking lot looking for a space, but after park closing time there are spot galore.

Being upset about not finding a parking spot as a paying guest is understandable. However, WDW does encourage people to visit the boardwalk area so...

 

[Missyrose]

Being upset about not finding a parking spot as a paying guest is understandable. However, WDW does encourage people to visit the boardwalk area so...

It's amazing how all those people taking Disney's lead and "visiting" Boardwalk just happen to be ready to leave about 10 minutes after Illuminations ends. What a coincidence!

 

[halfpintpeggy]

It's amazing how all those people taking Disney's lead and "visiting" Boardwalk just happen to be ready to leave about 10 minutes after Illuminations ends. What a coincidence!

Sadly, that's true. I was simply saying that WDW does encourage guests to visit the Boardwalk area.

 

[Dayzy]

We visit Hershey Park a lot and the lot for their Chocolate World center is free and in walking distance to the park entrance. They solve this by giving a ticket on the way in and you get 3 hours free parking. From 3-5 hours you are charged $15 and after 5 hours is $40. Maybe if WDW did this at the deluxe resorts it would cut down on parking problems a ton.

 

[DVC4US]

Being upset about not finding a parking spot as a paying guest is understandable. However, WDW does encourage people to visit the boardwalk area so...

This is why(especially at BW where the parking lot is limited) they should have a designated parking lot for resort guests and one for those wanting to "visit" the Boardwalk. "Visit" is in quotes because many of the people "visiting" the Boardwalk show up in the morning put on their backpacks get their strollers and head into Epcot and the lot miraculously seems to clear out about 10-15 mins after Illuminations. In my 20 years of staying at BWV I have seen this numerous times. They have an extra lot across the street behind the Speedway gas station(which is the overflow lot) - they should make this the lot for non-resort guests and give you 3 hours to park in the lot. Anything over 3 hours should be charged a rate along the lines of parking fees at the parks. This will stop people from parking at the BW to skip out on the parking fee at the parks.

 

[lbv7]

They have an extra lot across the street behind the Speedway gas station(which is the overflow lot) - they should make this the lot for non-resort guests and give you 3 hours to park in the lot.

That specific parking lot is reserved for the Cast Members who work at the Boardwalk, there is a gate that will only open with a Cast Member ID.

 

[gratefulfred]

You pay to park your car at YOUR resort. Your parking fee covers your resort, and the theme parks. It does not include parking at other resorts to enter the parks. That's why Disney offers free transportation to the parks and allows you to park your car for free at the parks if you're staying onsite.

Beliefs like this is why people who pay to park at BW/BC/YC/Poly/GF/CR cannot find parking spaces they actually paid a higher fee to park in.

It wasn't their beliefs, they were told by cm's they could park there because they were paying a daily parking fee. These resort parking fees are only going to make parking worse.

 

[Deb & Bill]

It wasn't their beliefs, they were told by cm's they could park there because they were paying a daily parking fee. These resort parking fees are only going to make parking worse.

They either misunderstood the CM or the CM misunderstood the guest.

 

[DVC4US]

That specific parking lot is reserved for the Cast Members who work at the Boardwalk, there is a gate that will only open with a Cast Member ID.

At one time this was the overflow lot and is where the guards would tell people to park if they were not staying at the Boardwalk. If this is no longer the case then Disney really needs to tighten up the parking at the Boardwalk. The lot was already too small to begin with, when you add in convention guests it gets worse, and now I believe they lost some of the lot due to the towers for the Gondolas - Disney just needs to figure out a way for the resort guests to have a designated place to park.

 

[gratefulfred]

They either misunderstood the CM or the CM misunderstood the guest.

Sure but they were still told by several cm’s that they could, the general public isn’t going to come here to ask the self declared Disney know it alls what the rules are, they are going to ask the cm’s with the Disney name tags

 

[lbv7]

They either misunderstood the CM or the CM misunderstood the guest.

Or, most likely, the CM didn't know what he / she was talking about.
Sometimes the "self declared Disney know it alls" on these boards really do know more than the CM.