Parking Strategy for California Grill

[Southwest Minnie]

Our first park day is coming up soon on Friday 7/22 - yay! We are starting our park reservation at EPCOT and have park hopper tickets for all days of the trip and a rental car with priority parking tickets for the parking lots. We want to rope drop EPCOT on this day trying for GoG either VQ or ILL (or both). We are staying on property at Old Key West so will try our best at 7 am to get that ride first because it's important to us

We have a 7:45 pm reservation at California Grill. Needing some help on strategy for this day because I can't get my head around it with regard to parking. Since we will be in EPCOT most of the day on 7/22, do we drive over after 2 pm towards MK and park at TTC to go into MK to do rides and then head to dinner at CG (or can we park at the Contemporary Hotel so early in the day)?

OR... is it possible to take the monorail from EPCOT to MK, do our rides, have dinner, and head back to EPCOT via monorail to collect the car? (this sounds kind of tiring after a long day).

OR... factoring in the Florida midday heat, maybe we should just leave EPCOT midday, chill at the hotel and then head to the TTC for afternoon rides & dinner at CG.

Any thoughts on this plan are most appreciated!

 

[Minniesgal]

The contemporary has a very small parking lot. You are allowed to park for a reservation but they can turn you away as they have few spaces. I’d just park at Epcot myself and take the monorail

 

[Her Dotness]

...Since we will be in EPCOT most of the day on 7/22, do we drive over after 2 pm towards MK and park at TTC to go into MK to do rides and then head to dinner at CG...

You could do this but not much respite from heat and a somewhat long day.

(or can we park at the Contemporary Hotel so early in the day)?

No. In fact, you wouldn't even be admitted to CR parking much earlier than 7:15-7:30 for a 7:45 reservation. That's generally true at any resort near a park.

An ADR allows only about 3 hours of parking unless you want to pay to valet park.

OR... is it possible to take the monorail from EPCOT to MK, do our rides, have dinner, and head back to EPCOT via monorail to collect the car? (this sounds kind of tiring after a long day).

You could. However, this will mean spending well over 2 hours round trip on the monorail. Fine if you enjoy riding it and aren't concerned about what many consider wasted time that could be better spent in a park.

OR... factoring in the Florida midday heat, maybe we should just leave EPCOT midday, chill at the hotel and then head to the TTC for afternoon rides & dinner at CG.

Actually, what we'd do is head back to OKW after lunch to relax, beat the heat and possibly nap, then going to Cali dinner and possibly rides in MK afterward.

A few hours of downtime in the hottest part of the day does much to restore energy levels for a fun evening.

 

[Ross Kratter]

You could do this but not much respite from heat and a somewhat long day.

No. In fact, you wouldn't even be admitted to CR parking much earlier than 7:15-7:30 for a 7:45 reservation. That's generally true at any resort near a park.

An ADR allows only about 3 hours of parking unless you want to pay to valet park.

You could. However, this will mean spending well over 2 hours round trip on the monorail. Fine if you enjoy riding it and aren't concerned about what many consider wasted time that could be better spent in a park.

Actually, what we'd do is head back to OKW after lunch to relax, beat the heat and possibly nap, then going to Cali dinner and possibly rides in MK afterward.

A few hours of downtime in the hottest part of the day does much to restore energy levels for a fun evening.

Also, bear in mind that California Grill has a Resort Casual dress code; you don’t really see people in park attire there. Maybe you can head back to your resort after the parks, change, and drive over to the Contemporary closer to the time of your reservation.

 

[cgattis]

Also, bear in mind that California Grill has a Resort Casual dress code; you don’t really see people in park attire there. Maybe you can head back to your resort after the parks, change, and drive over to the Contemporary closer to the time of your reservation.

Well, you DO see people in what they wore to the park, but we try to avoid printed shirts and that sort of thing. But they WILL turn away men in tank tops or hats, so remember that, especially if you do go straight from a park. My husband had some hat head on one occasion LOL

 

[Skip Coffee for Rope Drop]

Our first park day is coming up soon on Friday 7/22 - yay! We are starting our park reservation at EPCOT and have park hopper tickets for all days of the trip and a rental car with priority parking tickets for the parking lots. We want to rope drop EPCOT on this day trying for GoG either VQ or ILL (or both). We are staying on property at Old Key West so will try our best at 7 am to get that ride first because it's important to us

We have a 7:45 pm reservation at California Grill. Needing some help on strategy for this day because I can't get my head around it with regard to parking. Since we will be in EPCOT most of the day on 7/22, do we drive over after 2 pm towards MK and park at TTC to go into MK to do rides and then head to dinner at CG (or can we park at the Contemporary Hotel so early in the day)?

OR... is it possible to take the monorail from EPCOT to MK, do our rides, have dinner, and head back to EPCOT via monorail to collect the car? (this sounds kind of tiring after a long day).

OR... factoring in the Florida midday heat, maybe we should just leave EPCOT midday, chill at the hotel and then head to the TTC for afternoon rides & dinner at CG.

Any thoughts on this plan are most appreciated!

I may be too late for this but your best bet is to cool off at the pool at Key West and take a bus to Magic Kingdom. Then take 1 stop Monorail to California Grill. They have a dress code there and you may want to shower and be refreshed when you arrive. You will most likely watch the fireworks from the roof, then go to MK after and you may get a few rides in between 10:15 and 11. If it is a wed, the MK is open till 1am so that would be ideal to eat there on a Wed.

 

[Southwest Minnie]

I may be too late for this but your best bet is to cool off at the pool at Key West and take a bus to Magic Kingdom. Then take 1 stop Monorail to California Grill. They have a dress code there and you may want to shower and be refreshed when you arrive. You will most likely watch the fireworks from the roof, then go to MK after and you may get a few rides in between 10:15 and 11. If it is a wed, the MK is open till 1am so that would be ideal to eat there on a Wed.

Hi Skip, thanks for the reply! We're home now. It was a great trip! That Friday we stayed in Epcot until about 2ish then went back to OKW and had some pool/nap time. We left about 7 pm to go to our CG dinner reservation and parked in the Contemporary self-park lot. No problems with the attendant, he just scanned my magicband which showed the reservation time.

Our dinner there was fabulous! We had a perfect table to watch the fireworks and so did not go out to the observation deck. It looked like the deck outside was very crowded (one of our 16-year-olds did a reconnaissance look and said there was standing room only about 2 rows deep of people). They first tried to seat us in the back room overlooking Bay Lake and we expressed our disappointment and were promptly seated on the other side with a great view of MK. We were enjoying ourselves so much at dinner that we were at our table all the way until the 11 pm showing of fireworks, then headed out to the observation deck and had a stupendous view to watch the fireworks and only a few other people outside on the deck. It was magical and I highly recommend the California Grill for dinner.

 

[Lewisc]

Disney recently changed the dress code. It's no longer sex distinct. Cothing should be clean, neat and in good condition. Please no swimwear.

Should suggests a preference, not a requirement.