Parking lot and park hopping question

[zianha]

Ok, some of us on the Commando Club thread were discussing this and I'd like some insight on this.

If you park at HS and they close at 9pm, but you leave your car at the HS lot and hop over to MK (say it has a EMH till 1am), you leave MK at say 11:30pm, are buses still running that will bring you back to the HS parking lot?

It's my understanding that buses going TO the parks only run up until that park closes. I'm also wondering if someone did manage to get a bus to take them back to HS at that time of night, will they encounter problems leaving (i.e. the exit from the lot is blocked or otherwise closed).

Does anyone know the rules on leaving your car in a parking lot after a park has closed? Does the parking ticket stub and/or receipt list any tips or rules on it?

 

[joelkfla]

Yes, a bus will be available to take you from an open or just-closed park to a park that closed earlier to get to your parked car. If the park-to-park buses are no longer running regularly, transportation cast will put you on a bus to a nearby resort and that bus will drop you at the park. The rule about not taking guests to a closed park specifically excludes guests returning to a parked car.

In the case of MK, a bus is staged at the TTC to take guests to DHS or AK. If you're so late that the monorail has stopped running, they will probably take you from the MK bus area right to the other park. I don't know how they're handling guests returning to Epcot since the monorail hours cutback, but the nighttime bus cast will be able to direct you.

AFAIK, theme park lot exits do not close, as those exits are shared by cast lots. There are no gates on the exits, so the worst that could happen would be a traffic cone in your way. I would just get out and move it, rather than spend the night in the parking lot!

 

[NotUrsula]

Sure, you can do it, but you don't want to. The exits are not blocked, but that isn't the issue; it's the walking. If you do this, Disney will send you to the theme-park bus area at TTC to get a bus to take you to DHS, they will take you even if you are the only passengers. However, the bus will only take you to the main park gate of the closed park, and you will have to hoof it to your car, no matter how far out in the lot it is. We did it once and had to walk for 30 minutes to reach our car after being dropped off; had we been fresh in the morning it probably would have taken 15, but we were all dog-tired and many of the lights in the parking lot were turned off, so it was a bit difficult making out the signage.

The best strategy is to park at MK first thing in the morning and take the park-to-park bus over to the park you want to do first. Then take the bus or monorail to MK and end the night there, where your car is, and where the trams will still be running to take you close to it.

 

[zianha]

Thank you for the info!

 

[blondietink]

We always park our car in whichever park we plan on visitng last that day.

 

[goofy4tink]

Good info people...park at MK and then bus back to DHS for the day. So much easier than getting back to DHS at 1:30am!!!

 

[zianha]

We always park our car in whichever park we plan on visitng last that day.

This sounds like a good idea but does it take you a long time to get to whatever park you plan to start in? Do you normally do rope drop?

 

[blondietink]

We normally start from our off-site hotel/resort about 45 minutes before the park we wish to start at opens, except for AK. We have managed to get to our preferred starting park either at rope drop or shortly after.

The only exception to this rule of ours is if we stay at an Epcot area resort as we will either walk to a park or take the bus to MK in the morning. Then we usually don't even move our car for days unless we need to go grocery shopping.

Parking at MK first thing in the am is ideal as the buses to the other parks are right there, or you can take the monorail over to Epcot. A few weeks ago MK was open until 1 am. We parked in the MK parking lot in the am and took the bus to AK. Bus back to the TTC in the afternoon and took the monorail over to Epcot. the CM's on the monorail told us the monorail from Epcot to MK would run until 10:30, then there would be buses at Epcot to bring people back over to the parking lot after that. But, we made the monorail, watched the MK fireworks from the ferry dock, went in to MK for the 2nd showing of the Electric Light Parade, rode some rides and back out to the parking lot.

 

[goofy4tink]

This sounds like a good idea but does it take you a long time to get to whatever park you plan to start in? Do you normally do rope drop?

If you really want to do rope drop, then I would drive to DHS, enjoy the day there, and then drive to MK. If you aren't staying onsite, just keep your parking receipt and you won't have to pay to park a second time.