Parking vs. ART

[bonoriffic]

We are staying on Harbor Blvd, well past walking distance south of the parks. What is the realistic traffic situation each morning, is it a figurative parking lot as we head to the actual parking lot? Do those with hotels to the south go to the Toy Story lot? Or is Mickey and Friends the primary parking destination everyone heads to?

Does the shuttle bus system have any sort of unique fast lane that makes them advantageous over driving? I'm used to Disney World and will drive to the parks compared to waiting for a slow bus. Are the shuttle buses frequent enough, or even with a moderate wait they are still superior to driving yourself? Cost isn't a consideration, but time and convenience with two toddlers is.

Harbor and Chapman are the cross streets if there is some magic exact distance where one option becomes more superior to the other. What would the reasonable low season travel time be each morning?

 

[Mary09]

I'd probably do the ART because I imagine that if you park you still have to wait for a shuttle to take you from the lot to the entrance? I never park, though, so I'm guessing. I've done the ART from about a mile closer than that and it's never taken very long. 5 mins. or so? But with sleepy toddlers at night the 15-20 mins. or so you might wait for an ART might be unbearable and the parking shuttles might run more often.

 

[yaya74]

I guess itndepends on when you are going to the park. During the week might be fine. But the line to get into oarking lot would be long during the weekend. My experience when parking at Mickey and Friends lot was... 1. waiting to get into the parking structure. 2. finding a spot (might take you 5-10 minutes to get a spot if it is busy. 3. park your car and walk to the tram station (might take you 5-10 minutes with kids. if you have strollers, you need to wait for the elevator). 4 line up and wait for the tram. 5. tram will take 5 minutes to get to DTD. 6. walk to the security check point.........

I would take ART.

 

[seadd67]

i was debating this very subject with my self, we will be a ways from the park, more then a mile would it still be better to take ART?

 

[kkmcan]

Personally I would park at the Toy Story parking lot. There is almost always a bus there ready and loading when you get there and one ready and loading on your back when you exit the park. Hardly any waiting at all.

I've done ART twice now and it took huge amounts of time to wait. The buses are never on time and we almost always ended up waiting 15 minutes because we had just missed it as it came early or late the last time around.

Also by the time it makes all it required stops you've wasted 20 more minutes on the bus. Toy Story goes straight to the park and straight back, no stops.

 

[cp11]

Personally I would park at the Toy Story parking lot. There is almost always a bus there ready and loading when you get there and one ready and loading on your back when you exit the park. Hardly any waiting at all.

I've done ART twice now and it took huge amounts of time to wait. The buses are never on time and we almost always ended up waiting 15 minutes because we had just missed it as it came early or late the last time around.

Also by the time it makes all it required stops you've wasted 20 more minutes on the bus. Toy Story goes straight to the park and straight back, no stops.

I disagree. We tried parking. Too much work. ART is so much easier. First you can get text with time updates of arrival at your hotel. Second, we could always time it with texts. Yes, they were late but we always could time it and never seemed to have a problem. We have been doing it for the last four years. JMHO

 

[Here4mydisneyfix]

Done both, they both work fine. The trams to the park from the parking structure come very often, so there really is no waiting, however, unless you have an annual deluxe pass, parking is $15/day, that can really add up! ART is only $10 for a 3 day pass and they even have kids ride free deals. We used the ART 2 years ago and it was wonderful! The busses come often and drop you off right at the main gate. Better than both of these options though? Stay onsite or across the street!! We stayed at DI&S a few months back and it was AWESOME being so close to the parks! Literally 5 minute walk to the main gate, no waiting for anything, PRICELESS with small kids when they are tired and cranky at night!

 

[seadd67]

when parking In the garage, do they allow you to leave and come back with out pay again? In the same day

 

[Gina]

First you can get text with time updates of arrival at your hotel. Second, we could always time it with texts. Yes, they were late but we always could time it and never seemed to have a problem. We have been doing it for the last four years. JMHO

Neat! How do you go about getting the texts?

 

[julieheyer]

Done both, they both work fine. The trams to the park from the parking structure come very often, so there really is no waiting, however, unless you have an annual deluxe pass, parking is $15/day, that can really add up! ART is only $10 for a 3 day pass and they even have kids ride free deals. We used the ART 2 years ago and it was wonderful! The busses come often and drop you off right at the main gate. Better than both of these options though? Stay onsite or across the street!! We stayed at DI&S a few months back and it was AWESOME being so close to the parks! Literally 5 minute walk to the main gate, no waiting for anything, PRICELESS with small kids when they are tired and cranky at night!

^This. This is what we've decided to do this time. Waiting for shuttles and trams at the beginning of the day when you're excited and impatient to get to the park, or at the end of the day when you're "done" and just want to go to bed, the walking distance hotels seem like a great option .

That said, parking is nice since you can bring a cooler, jackets/umbrellas, etc and keep them in the car. The tram to the parking lot runs regularly. That's my vote .

 

[theluckyrabbit]

...unless you have an annual deluxe pass, parking is $15/day, that can really add up!...

Actually, all APs can add on parking (and the PAP comes with parking). A DAP on its own will not cover parking unless you pay extra for the parking add-on.

when parking In the garage, do they allow you to leave and come back with out pay again? In the same day

Yes, M&F and TS both allow you to leave and return on the same day without additional fees. Just keep your parking stub and show it to the CM upon your return.

 

[bcinohio]

How do you get the text messages letting you know when the next ART will be at your hotel?

 

[Chris9ty]

Following - we don't have much public transportation in our small hometown and I don't text often, but would like to try this out on our trip. I see the website explains it- http://rideart.org/how-to-ride/text2go/

 

[Nicolette11785]

At the stop in front of your hotel there is a sign with the redirection and route # so you can see when it's coming.

I have done the texting to time the ART bus and that worked good.

I also think that staying across the street is your best bet if you want to not deal with parking or buses.

For the toy story bus and tram there are waits to get on the buses/trams but usually only if you are leaving after entertainment or near closing time. The wait is usually 5-15 min depending on how busy it is.

The ART bus is more convenient in my opinion but I guess it would depend on how long the route is. Some routes have buses that come every 10 min and some up to 30min or longer. Some routes have a ton of stops and some dont. Where are you staying?

 

[DLgal]

Actually, all APs can add on parking (and the PAP comes with parking). A DAP on its own will not cover parking unless you pay extra for the parking add-on.



Yes, M&F and TS both allow you to leave and return on the same day without additional fees. Just keep your parking stub and show it to the CM upon your return.

Actually, NEW AP purchases can NOT add on parking anymore. It is no longer an option. I had to buy a premium AP while the rest of my family got Deluxe Passes just so we could have parking. People who hold APs that have a parking add-on can continue to keep the parking if they are renewing.

OP, the Toy Story lot is the way to go. M&F is a 45 min commitment these days (waiting in line,parking, walk to tram,wait for tram, tram ride). Toy Story lot never has a line, the lanes are shorter so almost every spot is close to the shuttle buses, and the bus will have you to the parks in 5 minutes. They are constant. There will be no issues with traffic going to the TS lot. Your hotel will be very close to there. I go to the DLR every week. I have parked in M&F once this summer and wish I hadn't.

 

[bumbershoot]

Harbor and Chapman are the cross streets if there is some magic exact distance where one option becomes more superior to the other.

FWIW we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn just on the Disney side of that intersection, and walked back and forth all but one evening when we caught a cab.

Many people staying in that area just *walk* to the lot up Harbor and take the Disney bus in, but we never quite felt like that. Walking was fine for us. If it hadn't been fine we would have walked into the lot and taken a bus.

 

[Winnowill]

When we were there, we found that we could usually park in the Pinocchio lot if we got to M&F early (pre-park opening) - Pinocchio is SO much better than M&F! One unpleasant discovery we had was when we were planning to do rope drop on an EMH day - we intended to be in line about 40 minutes before park opening and discovered that M&F doesn't open until 30 minutes prior. We had DH drop us off at Downtown Disney and we walked while he waited to park, but that sucked.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Actually, NEW AP purchases can NOT add on parking anymore. It is no longer an option. I had to buy a premium AP while the rest of my family got Deluxe Passes just so we could have parking. People who hold APs that have a parking add-on can continue to keep the parking if they are renewing...

If you look at the date of the original post, it is from 2012 when adding on parking to the passes was possible. Yes, it is only allowed now for PAP or for lower passes grandfathered in. But at the time I posted, the information was accurate. Just another example of why it is important to keep up with the current DLR policies.

 

[DLgal]

If you look at the date of the original post, it is from 2012 when adding on parking to the passes was possible. Yes, it is only allowed now for PAP or for lower passes grandfathered in. But at the time I posted, the information was accurate. Just another example of why it is important to keep up with the current DLR policies.

Oh, I didn't even see the date stamp!

 

[luulu1999]

Personally I would park at the Toy Story parking lot. There is almost always a bus there ready and loading when you get there and one ready and loading on your back when you exit the park. Hardly any waiting at all.

I've done ART twice now and it took huge amounts of time to wait. The buses are never on time and we almost always ended up waiting 15 minutes because we had just missed it as it came early or late the last time around.

Also by the time it makes all it required stops you've wasted 20 more minutes on the bus. Toy Story goes straight to the park and straight back, no stops.

We had this problem a lot too its been a few years since we used ART but we would walk out and a the bus would be a few mins early and be driving off as we are walking out so we would have to wait for another, last year we just stayed right across the street at Park Vue Inn, next year we are staying at the new Homewood suites so I think we are going to walk to Toy Story since its right next door and taking the shuttle