Parking car at Grand Floridian to go to MK

[We-Luv-Disney]

We are thinking about parking our car at the grand Floridian and then taking the monorail over to MK. We want to come back and look at the decorations at the GF after MK closes, and we thought it would be easier than going back over to the MK parking lot. I was just wondering if it would be a problem to leave it there all day? We are staying at a Disney resort so we will have a parking pass.

 

[DVCJEN]

Manytimes they issue 3 hour parking passes. I wouldn't risk my car being towed for a $7 parking fee.

 

[ECurto]

Correct, you could vallet it for 7.00. There is no general parking at the GF, only handicap (6 spots). Even guests staying at the hotel must valet or park there car literally across the street 1/2 mile away. Thats the only thing i HATE about the GF.

 

[dsneygirl]

Correct, you could vallet it for 7.00. There is no general parking at the GF, only handicap (6 spots). Even guests staying at the hotel must valet or park there car literally across the street 1/2 mile away. Thats the only thing i HATE about the GF.

I hate that too.

Why not park at MK and take the monorail around to look at the decorations. The self park at GF is quite a hike from the main building.

 

[We-Luv-Disney]

I hate that too.

Why not park at MK and take the monorail around to look at the decorations. The self park at GF is quite a hike from the main building.

Oh, I did not know that the parking was that far from the building I guess I will park at MK and take the rail over. So my next question is, how long do the monorails run? Thanks for the quick replies everyone

 

[KevinM]

Can you leave the car all day with valet parking if you are staying off-site?
We are taking DD to the Perfectly Princess Tea Party one day and that would be alot easier than going to the TTC and hopping around

 

[NJBlackBerry]

We parked "across the street" in September. It was nowhere near 1/2 a mile to get in to the hotel. It certainly is much farther than valet parking, but it was a 5 minute walk.

 

[agotta]

We parked "across the street" in September. It was nowhere near 1/2 a mile to get in to the hotel. It certainly is much farther than valet parking, but it was a 5 minute walk.

I agree. Most of the time we are there, we park at GF. We have never been stopped if we have our resort thing in the window. IF we were, we would just head to the parking lot. However, we have been stopped at Poly many times and issued a 3 hour pass.

 

[liamandcaili]

Our last trip, we were able to park at the GF...my MIL said we had reservations for breakfast. A complete lie, but that's just her. They didn't issue us any kind of hourly pass, but I would say the parking lot is not exactly near where you need to go to get the monorail. We were hoping to get to MK for opening, and even though we arrived at GF in plenty of time, we were a half hour late because of the travel distance and the fullness of the monorails early in the morning. I think 3 or 4 passed us before we were able to get on.

I would park at MK and take the monorail to GF from the park (this also allows you to avoid some of the crowds by getting on the resort monorail). I don't know what time the monorail closes, but I know the buses run pretty late, so you could always catch one of them over to Ticket and Transportation.

Have fun!

 

[DebbieB]

1/2 mile is an exageration. It's no farther than from the entrance to BW and their self parking.

 

[LoriZH]

We had ressies for 1900 PF and after we ate we went to MK and when we got back they charged us 12 bucks. This was last year, we did do valet parking though. I am sure they must have a parking lot for visitors, you should call and ask them.

 

[beattyfamily]

The monorail resorts have the 3 hour maximum pass which is enforced more in the AM and during the holidays to prevent what the OP is wanting to do. It's even more enforced at the CR, and the Poly.

You 'should' just park at the TTC and monorail around to GF and MK.

As a frequent guest of the CR, I know from experience how frustrating it is not to find a spot in the self parking.

 

[eeyoreiscool]

I think the valet prices just went up. I would say the GF parking lot is about 1/4 mile from the building. However you do have to cross a road to get back to the hotel and this can take a while depending on the time. It is also the same lot that CM's park in so I don't know how they would differentiate between the cars out there.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

I have a perfectly honest question. Can you valet park your car at the Monorail resorts all day? Example. We are having an early morning breakfast at CM and then have the Family Magic Tour planned. We were stressed about getting the car back to the TTC and back into the MK before our Tour time. IF we valet when we get to the CR, can we then leave our car there until we are ready to leave the MK?

Please no flames, just an honest question. Thanks

 

[tkldisney]

From my experience you cannot valet your car for the day. When you get to the CR resort (or any resort) there is a guard on duty at the entrance to parking lot. They will issue you a 3 hr. parking pass. They do check the time limits & will tow your car.
I just don't understand why people can't be fair/honest and park in the TTC to go to MK. Paying $9.00 (if staying off property) to park is much better than having to pay towing charge. It really doesn't save you anytime to park at the resorts. If you have ressie at on of the resorts, park at TTC then use monorail, which you have to do anyway unless your at CR, then you can walk to MK.

 

[erikthewise]

The short answer: Yes, it's a problem.
It's a constant problem at the monorail resorts, and to a lesser extent at the Epcot resorts. I'm sure it's the number one problem faced by the gate attendants at these resorts. It's a problem if you've paid several hundred dollars a night to stay at these resorts and have trouble finding a parking place. It wouldn't be a problem if you were the only one who thought of doing this. But you're not.

I admit it's tempting and seems harmless. My own DW suggested it last year when we had a 5:15 AR at Kona Cafe before going to MK for the Christmas Party. I told her it was a no-no and she got miffed. I decided to drop off her and the boys at Polynesian, and told the gate attendant we had a reservation. She gave us a 3 hour pass, and told me to drive away from the gate slowly so she could write down my license number. If I had any doubts about parking there while we were in MK, that cleared them up! So I drove back to MK parking and walked back to the Polynesian. A little inconvenient, yes, but not as inconvenient as being towed. (And yes, that does happen.)

 

[We-Luv-Disney]

Sorry, I did not realize parking was such a problem there, by no means do I want to cause a problem for people staying at the resorts, I will happily park at the TTC. thanks for all the help.

 

[ReallyFunMom]

From my experience you cannot valet your car for the day. When you get to the CR resort (or any resort) there is a guard on duty at the entrance to parking lot. They will issue you a 3 hr. parking pass. They do check the time limits & will tow your car.

Why can't you valet? Did they say you could not? Besides the "in theory" if "everyone did it" arguement, why is it a problem? I've done it but always travel in offseason and no valet has mentioned a 3hr limit. I always supposed it was win-win. I'm pulling up at a slow time, no one in front of me, car goes to far off valet lot not impacting resort guests, valet gets his tip, Disney gets their fee, the restaurant makes a lot of money, and I've never experienced a full monorail on my ride over so I can't see the harm to the resort guest by my riding the monorail. (Which I would have also taken up space if I would have parked at TTC and riden over for my ADR.) Anyone else see resort parking, even within the 3hr limit as allowed, more of a problem to the resort guest than utilizing valet parking...... whether I've kept it to 3 hrs or 8 hrs, I don't see the harm in the extra hours in a valet spot.

 

[The Sweetness]

That way, everyone gets their way. WDW gets their$ 2 tips for valets, and you, the one who may have scrimped and saved for who knows how long to finance this family vaca., can all be happy. It may cost more now to valet and tip then to use the MK parking lot, but its worth it to me if I spend $20 per day on valet and tips (even more if nec). For some reason I hate the MK lot. Epcot too. Maybe its the tremendous size. Ill gladly pay for valet instead. As long as I didnt *take someones spot* the resort guests should be having to much fun on vaca themselves to give a crap about my little Toyota in the valet lot.

 

[dreamscometrue47]

Last trip, I valet parked my car at the Poly (we were staying at BCV). We had an early morning ADR at Kona's. I asked no questions, planning on getting my car after breakfast and driving back to BCV, then heading to Epcot. The valet clearly said "Now take your time today. Your car will be fine whenever you get back. Have a great day." Well she said something like that, but it was real clear that we could leave the car valeted all day, which we ended up doing and took the monorail to MK instead of going to Epcot. No problems at all.