cyclenut
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 24, 2011
- Messages
- 1,406
Last week DW and I decided to head on over to DLR. It was a Sunday evening and we wanted to see Christmas at night. We'd already been earlier during daylight hours. We arrived just around dusk and entered the parking structure. Just like normal we showed our pass and got our ticket and was directed up the ramp. We were sent to Daisy.
This is where things turn strange. When we got to the top of the ramp we noticed a whole line of cars merging with those entering the level. A parking attendant was there just watching. As we made our way through, every aisle was open. Usually they have them coned off when the aisle is full and they direct you to open spots. We knew that by being sent to Daisy we were going to be expected to "fill in" those spots left open by those who left earlier. What we didn't expect is that it was a free-for-all. No attendants were even attempting to direct cars, much like the Christmas parking rush at your local mall.
Unlike the local mall, all the rows in the parking structure are one way. Once you pick your row, you can't turn and head back up the next row. If you pick your row and there are no spaces, you end up back in line to go all the way back around again. This is why there was this long line wating to merge with all the cars entering the structure for the first time. We didn't realize what was going on the first pass through and we went by several empty spaces waiting for the attendant to "guide us" to where they wanted us to go. No dice.
We passed a couple of attendants and finally stopped and asked one. He just shrugged his shoulders and pointed to a general area and said ... "people seem to be finding parking spaces over there somewhere. Good Luck".
That was it. I was left to wonder what would have happened if they had sent too many cars up to the Daisy level. The exit doesn't allow you to re-enter or go to another level. You are sent back out on the street, looking for a way back to the parking structure.
Unbelievable.
Well, we went back around and grabbed one of the first spaces we saw ... way in the back. We saw people heading the wrong way down the aisle, people backing up down the aisle and general chaos in the area. I have never seen this. Ever.
As we headed into the park we could see that many people were leaving. Trams were full and there were more full trams taking people out of the park than those coming in. The park was crowded, but not that bad ... I've definately seen far worse.
This is where things turn strange. When we got to the top of the ramp we noticed a whole line of cars merging with those entering the level. A parking attendant was there just watching. As we made our way through, every aisle was open. Usually they have them coned off when the aisle is full and they direct you to open spots. We knew that by being sent to Daisy we were going to be expected to "fill in" those spots left open by those who left earlier. What we didn't expect is that it was a free-for-all. No attendants were even attempting to direct cars, much like the Christmas parking rush at your local mall.
Unlike the local mall, all the rows in the parking structure are one way. Once you pick your row, you can't turn and head back up the next row. If you pick your row and there are no spaces, you end up back in line to go all the way back around again. This is why there was this long line wating to merge with all the cars entering the structure for the first time. We didn't realize what was going on the first pass through and we went by several empty spaces waiting for the attendant to "guide us" to where they wanted us to go. No dice.
We passed a couple of attendants and finally stopped and asked one. He just shrugged his shoulders and pointed to a general area and said ... "people seem to be finding parking spaces over there somewhere. Good Luck".
That was it. I was left to wonder what would have happened if they had sent too many cars up to the Daisy level. The exit doesn't allow you to re-enter or go to another level. You are sent back out on the street, looking for a way back to the parking structure.
Unbelievable.
Well, we went back around and grabbed one of the first spaces we saw ... way in the back. We saw people heading the wrong way down the aisle, people backing up down the aisle and general chaos in the area. I have never seen this. Ever.
As we headed into the park we could see that many people were leaving. Trams were full and there were more full trams taking people out of the park than those coming in. The park was crowded, but not that bad ... I've definately seen far worse.
