Talk to me about parking at GCH...

[meggles]

Specifically, do we Valet or self-park? I'd like to have somewhat quick access to our vehicle in case we end up needing a stroller for our 4 year old. He barely used it a year ago and is a great walker, but you never know. Also, I've heard sometimes rooms at the GCH aren't ready at check-in time so maybe it would be better to self-park? Would you then pull the car around to unload once the room was ready? What about temporarily parking at the front and one of us popping in the hotel to see if our room is ready? Is that allowed or would we have to valet?

What's the best plan??

 

[whoever]

We only ever valet. Worth it for the convenience factor for us. It is costly though. I'm not sure where the self-park even is.

 

[ParkHopper1]

You can check in any time during the day as early as you want. If you room is not ready, they will hold your bags for you at the bell desk, issue your keys, then will text you your room number once it is ready if you want to go hit the park.

If you need something from the car, they will bring it around or let them know you might need access to it and they can park it in the spaces just below the valet entrance.

Kid...family...bags...valet it. MUCH easier. Self park is across the street over by the PPH.

 

[tlovesdis]

It's only $8 more to valet! So worth it!

 

[Malcon10t]

We valet. Self parking is across the street. If you check in early, have them unload your bags, then the bell desk will send them up when you get back to the room when it is ready. Valet is much easier for us. Self park is $17 a day and valet is $25 (plus tips). For us, it is worth it for valet.

 

[Nonsuch]

...What's the best plan??

This:

We valet. Self parking is across the street. If you check in early, have them unload your bags, then the bell desk will send them up when you get back to the room when it is ready. Valet is much easier for us. Self park is $17 a day and valet is $25 (plus tips). For us, it is worth it for valet.

We also always valet at GCH.

 

[meggles]

I guess I was only questioning the valet because I thought it might be faster to zip back and forth to the car if we needed the stroller quickly. We also usually pack some waters, a small cooler, and usually too many random
Bags overall so I didn't want leaving stuff with bell service to be a fiasco. I guess I will just have to consolidate things as best as I can.

I'm not worried about the cost- disneyland and the GCH aren't the place to worry about a few dollars here and there!

 

[nolenbelledavis]

We've only used the self park. It's across the street by the PPH, so it's a bit of a walk. We never thought about using valet because it seemed pretty simple. Have you thought about just taking the stuff to the room with you? It's not a big deal to leave a bunch of stuff with the bell hops. We just pull up to the circle, they come up with a cart. We load the cart up and then if the room isn't ready they just keep it all until you give them a call to bring it to the room. I've seen them super-packed with all kinds of random stuff from people before. You won't be in the minority with bottles of water, etc. They just keep everything sitting on the cart until you call, from what I understand, so it's not like they are labeling everything and unloading, if that's your concern.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I've always self-parked, too, after checking in. We've always left our luggage at bell services, checked in, then went to go park the car. Valet sounds nice, but is it $8/day more for self park? That would add up for me.

 

[Jerryp49]

I have always self parked. There are 7 of us with 2 rooms and I make speed runs occasionally to the store .They fly , I drive with everyones luggage so I usually wait until I drop off stuff before I go shopping for cases of water ,groceries, stuff we forgot, even had to get medication one time. Its not that far of a walk to self park.

 

[DizMe]

We've only driven a couple of times, but we use the self-park also. We generally never touch the car once we're there so it seems silly to pay an extra amount every day for our car sitting in a lot. When we *do* use the car, we like to just go get it ourselves. I hate the process of having my car brought around by valets and I get kind of tipped out at GCH anyway. I always tip well, but I like it when I don't have to tip! I'd rather save the $80 or so I'd spend on valet for other things, which makes it not worth it to me.

 

[rms123]

You should see us load up that luggage cart with random stuff. We usually end up with a count around 15. Flat of water, suitcases, bags of food, cooler, kids backpacks, princess dresses. You get the idea. They've seen it all.

 

[Bud Ice]

Think of it this way, if you're paying $500/night for a room. An extra $8-$10 a day for valet is not a big stretch. Plus as people have said, self-parking is across the street.

 

[Malcon10t]

Self parking is only a 5-7 min walk. Just slightly longer than walking from the Paradise Pier hotel to the Grand. You can drop off your luggage with the bellman, then drive to self parking, drop the car and come back. If you need stuff from the car, it is just a few min walk.

 

[Nonsuch]

I guess I was only questioning the valet because I thought it might be faster to zip back and forth to the car if we needed the stroller quickly. We also usually pack some waters, a small cooler, and usually too many random
Bags overall so I didn't want leaving stuff with bell service to be a fiasco. I guess I will just have to consolidate things as best as I can.

It is helpful to combine items into larger bags or coolers, but bell services can take everything.

 

[taniahappy]

I would just valet and pack as neatly as I could and take everything to Bell desk upon arrival.

 

[Malcon10t]

I don't even want to think about our carts. Usually the count shows "20+". We travel with a suitcase and backpack per human, then the service dogs have their equipment, and come Christmas we have all our decor.... I will have to take a pic for this thread. The bell guys are great at what they do!

 

[Tyggress]

Last year we had like 27 items...including 24-packs of waters, etc....it all sat on the bell services cart until our room was ready, no biggie.

I am staying at GCH in a DVC villa in December....self-parking is included in my price, so I will be using it rather than paying for valet. BUT, if I did have to pay either way, I would pay the extra for the valet convenience.

 

[MommyJKM]

I didn't even know there was self-parking for years. Valet is great. You pull up and they unload everything for you onto a bell cart and take it in. If your room is ready they'll just bring the cart up with you. If not, you call down and they'll bring it when you get checked into the room. For us, it's a hassle to self-park so far away. if we stay 5 nights it's only $40 more for the convenience of not dragging a ton of things across to the hotel.

And we don't use the car usually on our trips but I have been known to get the car from valet sneak off to Andree's Patisserie in the morning and it's nice to have the car come quickly

 

[DizMe]

I didn't even know there was self-parking for years. Valet is great. You pull up and they unload everything for you onto a bell cart and take it in. If your room is ready they'll just bring the cart up with you. If not, you call down and they'll bring it when you get checked into the room. For us, it's a hassle to self-park so far away. if we stay 5 nights it's only $40 more for the convenience of not dragging a ton of things across to the hotel.

And we don't use the car usually on our trips but I have been known to get the car from valet sneak off to Andree's Patisserie in the morning and it's nice to have the car come quickly

Did the prices change for valet? I remember that we paid a huge uptick for it when we went with my mom, but that was several years ago. I haven't used valet since then.

But you also have to figure in the tip. Here is where I'm a bit unschooled. You tip them when they bring you the car and when you bring it back, right? How much is that? Maybe I tipped too much. I was giving them $5 each way. If you take your car out much, the tips would add up. Then you also have to tip the bellhop and the guys who take your bags to hold them and then again when you get them out? I try not to 'short' anyone but I'm not too sure on the proper tipping protocol.

LOL on Andree's! That's my kind of run