Parking Cheapery

[pedestrianrex]

I'm in the process of trying to convince myself to not splurge and buy an annual pass, and the biggest grey area I have at the moment is over the matter of parking.

At $20 a pop, I very much do not want to have to pay for parking. I'm sure this is the case for everyone, but given my financial constraints, having to pay this much will have a big impact on how often I'd take advantage of the passport.

I live in Los Angeles proper, a good thirty miles away, so taking public transit would probably only cost me more. So I definitely need to drive, I just need to figure out what to do with my car.

Fortunately, I really enjoy walking and would not mind a twenty-minute jaunt to avoid a twenty-dollar price tag. I'm thinking I'd park a one of the following parking lots:

- Shakey's Pizza, just north of Harbour and Ball (0.9 mile walk)
- Anaheim Marketplace, NE corner of Cerritos and Anaheim Boulevard (1.4 mile walk)
- Strip mall at Euclid and Katella (1.7 mile walk)

Ideally I'd just park in one of the surrounding neighborhoods, but I'm sure there are strict and enforced parking rules on these streets. The question is: am I going to run into that same issue at these business' parking lots? Does anyone have any experience parking in one of these lots? Or is there any word on how often cars get towed from neighboring businesses?

Whatever the case, I'd love to hear y'all's thoughts on the matter. Maybe there's even a sweet spot I don't know about! Or a golden strategy involving hotel shuttles! We can all dream, can't we!?

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Do you have friends with whom you can carpool? $20 divided by 4 or 5 isn't that much per park visit. I do know that the Target south of the parks on Harbor does tow from their lot, so that is not a good option. Some people park at the transit center by the Honda Center and take the shuttle. If you really want to walk, you could from there, although it is a little far.

 

[pedestrianrex]

Do you have friends with whom you can carpool? $20 divided by 4 or 5 isn't that much per park visit. I do know that the Target south of the parks on Harbor does tow from their lot, so that is not a good option. Some people park at the transit center by the Honda Center and take the shuttle. If you really want to walk, you could from there, although it is a little far.

Yeah, I'd considered the transit center but couldn't find out if parking was free - anyone know?

 

[dshimel]

In general, if there was an easy, safe, free way to park near Disneyland, thousands of people would be trying to park there to avoid the $20 a day parking fee. More would be looking to save on hotel room by staying a few miles away instead of paying more to be within a mile, if there was free, safe, easy parking within a miles or so.

Any private property (or limited access public property) can tow you if you are parked there in violation of the rules.

Park in a strip mall or restaurant, and as soon as they realize you are off property, they can/will tow you.

Transit center is free parking, BUT they say on their web site they assume that anyone parking there is taking a transport from there. I don't know if you can drop a buck or two on a basic city bus ticket that goes to DLR. Pretty sure they have ART, which is like $5 per person, per day.

 

[agamble]

Or a golden strategy involving hotel shuttles!

Very few hotels have their own shuttles anymore. Years back they instituted ART, which charges about $5 per day (less for a mutli-day pass). Most hotels also have parking fees. The hotels who have their own shuttles have been grandfathered in. Basically as soon as they update their hotels they will lose their shuttle services. Anyway, I don't think there is much you can do to avoid parking fees, other than as mentioned park in the transit area for free and pay the $5 to get to the parks. OR buy a much more expensive pass and get free parking. Probably not a likely idea.

 

[Traver Freeman]

We pay the $20 and go once a month. So you really just factor that price into what it would cost you. I mean, in the long run, an annual pass more than pays for itself if you go at least 4 times. At $100 per person, per day, your savings can be huge. If you only go 2 or 3 times a year, and don't plan to go more often than that, then you should stay with what you're doing. However, since we easily go 12 times or more, that's about $800 per person we save, so paying $240 for parking isn't too bad. Obviously you are going to pay to eat. We usually just allocate about $70 per day we go to Disneyland. $20 for parking and $50 for food. The AP price is kind of "out of sight out of mind" after you've paid for it. Obviously when renewal time rolls around it creates this kind of thought processes that you're going through.

 

[longboard55]

for years we would just park at downtown Disney. You could get 5 hours with a stamp at the pizza place. Then the went to 4 hours and they got real stingy with the stamps. We still do it a lot with a beer at the catal bar. The beer still is expensive but drinking it is fun. If you want to do an all day thing it will be difficult. You will either have to pay or risk being towed. I would just pay the parking

 

[Traver Freeman]

for years we would just park at downtown Disney.

They make it very annoying now. Probably for just this reason. You'd have to move your car every 2 hours to avoid paying anything if you didn't eat at Downtown Disney

 

[agamble]

for years we would just park at downtown Disney. You could get 5 hours with a stamp at the pizza place. Then the went to 4 hours and they got real stingy with the stamps. We still do it a lot with a beer at the catal bar. The beer still is expensive but drinking it is fun. If you want to do an all day thing it will be difficult. You will either have to pay or risk being towed. I would just pay the parking

How is DTD parking now? Still 4 hours with stamp? Is it 2 hours without? We're considering going shopping in DTD the night we arrive. I would rather park there than walk to the lot from our hotel and take the Toy Story shuttle.

 

[longboard55]

Two hours free, 4 hours with a stamp. But the hostesses just do not stamp for anyone like they did a year ago they actually want a dinner receipt. . After that I think it is $6 for 30 minutes.

 

[Traver Freeman]

How is DTD parking now? Still 4 hours with stamp? Is it 2 hours without? We're considering going shopping in DTD the night we arrive. I would rather park there than walk to the lot from our hotel and take the Toy Story shuttle.

Yes, 2 hours now without. I assume 4 with, but I never eat there so I don't know. I think they just add two hours if it's validated.

 

[Angrose]

I read on here a few years ago that the Mickey and Friends garage doesn't always charge after 8pm. I tried it one evening when I happened to be down there and sure enough, when I entered the garage at around 8:30pm no one was at the booth and the gates were up...free parking! This was about a year and a half ago so I'm not sure if it would still work. Good luck!

 

[ashley0139]

I read on here a few years ago that the Mickey and Friends garage doesn't always charge after 8pm. I tried it one evening when I happened to be down there and sure enough, when I entered the garage at around 8:30pm no one was at the booth and the gates were up...free parking! This was about a year and a half ago so I'm not sure if it would still work. Good luck!

It's not after 8pm specifically. It depends on when the parks close and how crowds are. They stop having people manning the booths when there aren't enough people entering for it to be worth it for them.

 

[longboard55]

We like to park at the DTD lot near paradise pier, which they seem to open up to DTD parking about 6pm. I would say a lot of the time they do not man the booth and you can just drive out, but certainly not all the time. You can tell it varies based on staffing

 

[VandVsmama]

Or you could pay the $20 parking fee and bring in all of your own food for the day. For $7 you can stow it in a small locker. The $27 would still be less than parking plus 2 meals and a snack at Disneyland.

 

[SMD]

There is a metro route that will get you from DTLA to DL for a single fare, look at the route info for 460. $20 to park on a monthly trip will pale in comparison to the cost of getting towed once. It might be best to delay you AP purchase until you can budget and save a little to cover parking. Plus, I'd ask around, you probably know people who have APs but don't talk about it who would be willing to carpool, and may even have parking on their APs but would love someone to drive them.

 

[agamble]

Two hours free, 4 hours with a stamp. But the hostesses just do not stamp for anyone like they did a year ago they actually want a dinner receipt. . After that I think it is $6 for 30 minutes.

Yes, 2 hours now without. I assume 4 with, but I never eat there so I don't know. I think they just add two hours if it's validated.

Thanks, good to know. We've parked at DTD before to eat at Rainforest Cafe. I know that parking there was becoming an issue for a while, but it seems the price has gotten pretty steep at $12 an hour, so that must deter people from using it for going to the parks. We would just be interested in doing some shopping and walking around, nothing that can't be completed in 2 hours.

 

[pedestrianrex]

Thanks for everyone's input! Right now I'm thinking the best alternative would be parking at the Anaheim Transit Center and taking a bus or tram, but I'm still up for occasionally using Mickey and Friends (or DTD, if I showed up late and didn't plan on staying too long).

Anyway, hope yous guys have some nice days!