Parking Question

[blitzkrieg048]

I own at OKW, but this upcoming vacation I have decided to take advantage of the free meal plan and pay to stay at the All Star Movies. My question is can I park at The Wilderness lodge and take the Ferry Boat over to MK or can just the guests at the resort have access to the boat? The buses at the All Stars I think will be packed, plus it is a nice little boat ride to the MK form the Wilderness. Thanx for the help.

 

[Doctor P]

You may never park at a resort (other than the one you are staying at) to access a theme park, so the simple answer is no. What I would do is take a bus to AK, and then switch to a bus to WL if you want to take the boat. BTW, the bus service to and from All Stars is excellent in our experience and certainly no more crowded than any other resort because there is only one bus stop for each resort and when it is crowded each resort has their own buses.

 

[dianeschlicht]

So what is it costing you this trip for your "free" dining?

 

[blitzkrieg048]

So what is it costing you this trip for your "free" dining?

1,400 for 5 days includes flight for 6, 2 rooms at the all-star movies and 1 counter and 1 sit down and 1 snack per day. Also includes 1 day in a park.

 

[dianeschlicht]

1,400 for 5 days includes flight for 6, 2 rooms at the all-star movies and 1 counter and 1 sit down and 1 snack per day. Also includes 1 day in a park.

My way of looking at that is that you are spending $1400 for 5 days of meals free instead of a DVC stay where the 5 days of resort stay is already paid for, and you pay for your meals instead. I know it's not exactly accurate, but that's the way I look at it.

 

[mommym]

Am I understanding you correctly that airfare for 6 is included plus meal plan for 6 and 1 day's park tickets for 6? If so you got a heck of a deal. Where are you flying from? Where did you find this by the way? I want in...

 

[beattyfamily]

I'm from MA too and also doing the free dining instead of DVC points.

My total for resort (All Star Movies), food, 1 base ticket each, and airfare for 2 adults/1 child for 5 nights is $1301.78.

It works for us this time anyway.

 

[blitzkrieg048]

I'm sorry the flight is not included...my bad.

 

[blitzkrieg048]

My way of looking at that is that you are spending $1400 for 5 days of meals free instead of a DVC stay where the 5 days of resort stay is already paid for, and you pay for your meals instead. I know it's not exactly accurate, but that's the way I look at it.

Understand this, 1) this is our 2nd time down there this year and we are using our points in november and already used them in Feb., 2)I don't have enough points to use for this vacation, 3)My father paid for all but $400 of the trip. So basically for my wife and my 3 kids and me it is costing me just $400 for EVERYTHING including flight. Can't pass that up, sorry. So feel free to look at it anyway you want but for $400 I get a pretty good deal.

 

[Muushka]

I am also not staying at DVC for the 'free dining'. While I do not relish staying at a value, it will make me appreciate DVC even more when I return in Dec. The 'free dining' vacation is the 3rd of the 4th time to WDW in less than 1 year. I cannot complain. And I will save those valuble points (we do not have an unlimited supply, unfortunatly).

ETA (forgot the point of the thread!) As a VWL avid boat-taker(Oh yeah, I stay at VWL too), I hope that this is not something that a lot of people do. Those boats would sure be even more crowded! I hope that the both of us enjoy our stay at AS resorts and that the transportation is good. And we will really enjoy that free dining .

 

[blitzkrieg048]

I am also not staying at DVC for the 'free dining'. While I do not relish staying at a value, it will make me appreciate DVC even more when I return in Dec. The 'free dining' vacation is the 3rd of the 4th time to WDW in less than 1 year. I cannot complain. And I will save those valuble points (we do not have an unlimited supply, unfortunatly).

ETA (forgot the point of the thread!) As a VWL avid boat-taker(Oh yeah, I stay at VWL too), I hope that this is not something that a lot of people do. Those boats would sure be even more crowded! I hope that the both of us enjoy our stay at AS resorts and that the transportation is good. And we will really enjoy that free dining .

Thank you I hope you have a great time also. It will make me appreciate DVC more. MY kids(8,5,3) love visting the AllStar Movies because of the Toy Story theme, so when they heard we were staying there they were ecstatic.

 

[OKWMom]

Thank you I hope you have a great time also. It will make me appreciate DVC more. MY kids(8,5,3) love visting the AllStar Movies because of the Toy Story theme, so when they heard we were staying there they were ecstatic.

Amazing how your priorities shift when you get older isn't it? When we joined DVC we explained to the children it almost guaranteed them a Disney vacation each year and they were pretty excited about that. But what sent them over the moon was when the 10 year old was reading some of the membership information and found out we could pool hop. I still remember the look on his face when he asked "You mean we could go to a different pool every day?"

Hope you have a great trip.

 

[Lizziejane]

Back to the original topic... I remember we stayed at CSR, valet parked at BW and entered Epcot through International Gateway. Were we not supposed to do that?

What's the rule if we plan, for example, to have breakfast at the Poly? If we drive there and want to go on to MK after breakfast, are we expected to drive back to the transp. centre, then catch the monorail from there, vs. just hopping on the monorail at the hotel?

 

[Doctor P]

Back to the original topic... I remember we stayed at CSR, valet parked at BW and entered Epcot through International Gateway. Were we not supposed to do that?

What's the rule if we plan, for example, to have breakfast at the Poly? If we drive there and want to go on to MK after breakfast, are we expected to drive back to the transp. centre, then catch the monorail from there, vs. just hopping on the monorail at the hotel?

Yep. You got it. You could take Disney Transportation to breakfast, too. That would solve your dilemma.

 

[Lizziejane]

Darn! Should have known my "plan" was too simple!

 

[DisneyConvert]

We did not buy DVC 6 years ago (when we should have).
Instead we bought a fixer-upper in a very nice town and have "invested" in it wisely. It's a great home and we are beginning to love it. The downside is that, for now, much of our non-retirement equity is pledged to our home.

6 years and 6-going-on 7 Disney visits later, 110 pts or so, would have "paid off" nicely. Oh well.

We have thought about buying/renting points and trying a DVC option. These boards have explained the basics very nicely. After our last trip to January, when we met several DVC'ers, we were going to do that ...

But dang if they didn't come out with this free dining plan deal again. My wife and I, our 4 year old son, in All Star (we've stayed there before and it's fine) for 5 days/4 nites . . . park hopper admissions and dining plan => $1,063.

I fly enough on business so I can usually scrounge up free flights with the points. So, what the heck . . . here we come again!

 

[Doctor P]

Darn! Should have known my "plan" was too simple!

Actually, the other (probably obvious) and not too inconvenient alternative would be to park at the regular MK lot and then take the monorail to Poly for breakfast.

 

[dvc_john]

Actually, the other (probably obvious) and not too inconvenient alternative would be to park at the regular MK lot and then take the monorail to Poly for breakfast.

Or walk. The Poly is only a short walk from the parking lot tram drop-off point.

 

[rigsby25]

We once thought it was okay because we were DVC to park at the Contemporary and go to MK. We thought the parking pass allowed us to park free at any Disney property. Boy were we wrong! They had a guard at the lot and they did ask what we were doing. If you are going to breakfast, you are directed to a 3-hour only parking lot. When you think about it, it really isn't fair to the people who are staying at the resort if guests from other resorts use the lots.

 

[DisneyConvert]

If you already have parking (as a resort guest or via DVC/APO), you can try valet parking and give the young men a few bucks (both coming and going to be fair) to park the car . . .

They then become your "allies" and generally will be happy to overlook the 3 hour rule. It's not free, but it seems to assuage my guilt a bit.

Has anyone actually ever been towed from that 3 hour lot?