Tips needed for Parking

[DBASRA99]

I was hoping to somehow avoid the daily parking fees at DW as I am staying off-site.

Is there a way to park at Downtown Disney and shuttle to the parks for free?

Or any other suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[GirlDreamer]

Most hotels offers free bus shuttle to the parks, so that's probably a lot easier and quicker.

If you really want to drive to DTD you could technically do it yes, but I wouldn't recommend it. There's no buses directly from DTD to any of the parks, so you would have to drive to DTD, take a bus to one of the Disney resorts and then catch a bus to the park from there. This is potentially very time consuming.

So unless driving is very important to you, I would really recommend doing the hotel shuttle.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Disboards does not permit threads on how to break the rules at Disney so be warned this thread may be closed.

 

[maxiesmom]

While you can technically park at DTD and use the Disney buses, the time you waste won't be worth the money you save. There are no buses that go from DTD to the parks, they only go to the Disney resorts. So instead of waiting on one bus to get where you want to go, you will have to wait on two. So it could take an hour and a half or more from parking at DTD to finally geting to a theme park. And then you will need to repeat the process going back to your resort.

I think most people would say saving $15 is not worth wasting 3 hours of park time.

The only suggestion I have is to pay for parking. There is no method for getting out of it that will not waste gobs and gobs of your time.

 

[janabananas]

As maxiesmom stated, you can technically park at DTD and then get to the parks. It is not against the "rules" to do so. However, Disney does make it difficult to do so, and it is a huge pain and waste of time, especially if you want to get to a park for Rope Drop.

The buses do not start going to DTD until later in the morning. If you do not care about getting to rope drop or getting to the parks early in the day, you can park at DTD and wait for a bus to one of the closer hotels to the park you want to go to. For example, if you want to get to MK, you can take the bus to the GF/Poly/CR and monorail over to MK. Or if you want to get to EPCOT/DHS, you can take the bus to The Boardwalk or Beach Club and walk to the International Gateway.

I personally wouldn't want to waste valuable park time waiting around for buses that may or may not come for quite awhile. The DTD buses are notoriously unreliable. However, if this is not an issue for you, it is a possibility. Although frowned upon and made difficult by Disney, it can be done.

I would suggest either taking the bus your hotel may offer, or just pay the $14.

Good luck with your trip!!

 

[Havana]

Your time is so valuable at Disney. The parking fee is minimal compared to the cost of the park ticket and the hours the park is open. Take full advantage of every hour the park is open.
We drive and park because we don't want to wait for a bus.

 

[manning]

Buy an annual pass. Parking is included.

 

[smidgy]

I would also like to point out that if you park at DTD, and take a bus to a WDW resort, adn then take a bus from that resort to a park. you will then be taking up bus seats/space from those who are actually PAYING to stay at that onsite resort.
My guess is you would be the first to complain about haveing to stand.....

 

[dbrn]

I wouldn't recommend it. Today, after parking and taking the ferry over to MK, we changed our minds and decided to go to AK. We were going to just move the car from the TTC to AK, but one of the cast members on the ferry boat mentioned that we could just take a bus over to AK and we thought we'd give it a try. There were very few people on the bus, it was quick and easy, and we were dropped off very close to the entrance. At the end of the day, however, when so many people are exiting the park at the same time, it did take awhile to get back. Not a terrible experience, but a time-consuming one, and after a long day at the park, I would really have liked to have the car closer!!! In my opinion, it's definitely worth the $14.00 for parking.

 

[Art 1]

Buy an annual pass. Parking is included.

 

[Dodge34]

Is it against the rules to use the Disney Buses at all if we stay off site and get dropped at TTC via the Lynx Public Bus, I always think the Disney Buses are for everyone that have a valid Magic Your Way ticket to the parks, no matter where they stay, I'll be at the Enclaves on I-Drive and will have to rely on the Public Lynx Bus system because the shuttle service they offer is only free for Universal, Island of Adventure, Sea World and Aqiatica, for Disney they want us to pay 15$ by person each trip, which we can't afford for 7 days in a row.

 

[smidgy]

Is it against the rules to use the Disney Buses at all if we stay off site and get dropped at TTC via the Lynx Public Bus, I always think the Disney Buses are for everyone that have a valid Magic Your Way ticket to the parks, no matter where they stay, I'll be at the Enclaves on I-Drive and will have to rely on the Public Lynx Bus system because the shuttle service they offer is only free for Universal, Island of Adventure, Sea World and Aqiatica, for Disney they want us to pay 15$ by person each trip, which we can't afford for 7 days in a row.

the WDW transportation system is free and available to all WDW resort guests... the "WDW Resort" being the entire property, not only those staying at an onsite resort.

so, yes, you can use the transportation. many use the monorail to hop back and forth from epcot to Mk, and the boats to hop back and forth from epcot and DHS.

they eliminated the buses to and from the parks and DTD because many were trying to skip the parking fee at the parks by parkig at DTD.

you are welcome to visit the resorts,dine there, see the christmas decor, etc. go from park to park,.

it is however, in bad form to park at DTD, catch a bus to a resort, then take that bus to a park in order to avoid a parking fee.

 

[Dodge34]

Yeah I catch this, was there in june 2008 and was wondering why there was no direct buses from DTD to any parks, now I understand.

 

[Missy29]

Or any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Pay the parking fees

 

[3BoysRDisneyFreaks]

it's called pay the parking fees or stay on site. OR take a off site hotel shuttle.
Pretty easy.

Sarah

 

[subtchr]

Is it against the rules to use the Disney Buses at all if we stay off site and get dropped at TTC via the Lynx Public Bus, I always think the Disney Buses are for everyone that have a valid Magic Your Way ticket to the parks, no matter where they stay, I'll be at the Enclaves on I-Drive and will have to rely on the Public Lynx Bus system because the shuttle service they offer is only free for Universal, Island of Adventure, Sea World and Aqiatica, for Disney they want us to pay 15$ by person each trip, which we can't afford for 7 days in a row.

This is definitely fine, but you will be spending a great deal of time each day commuting. Is there any chance you could find accommodations closer to WDW? To do that commute seven days in a row will be quite wearying, when there are so many choices to stay so much closer.

 

[LuvindisCruiser]

And, if we pay the fee to park it is good for the whole day,
Even if we drive to another park later, right?

The parking fee is 15.00 a day?

 

[Dodge34]

Sorry but you're really late, all went fine for my trip this January except the USA aren't really good at any kind of public transportation (if I'm correct, they think public transport is for poor people and these poor people don't have a car its a shame for them) I even had some discussion about using a bike there and America seems to think bikes are for loosers not for people to travel around from work to home for exemple, basically in USA if you don't have a car, rent one or don't go to Disney if you're not staying on their resorts clearly, otherwise you can get there but its really long to get there, its only a 10-15 minutes ride if we have a car to any theme park (maybe 30 minutes for Epcot and Animal Kingdom) and it takes more than 2hrs to get to any parks if we use the LYNX bus + Disney transportation system, less than 5mi to drive to Disney from our location on Idrive and it takes 2hrs with a bus, unbelievable, the worst is the red lights in Orlando, In Quebec I was sure we had the longest red lights in the world but I had never seen lights that are red for more than 2.5minutes before I went there on Idrive, longest I've seen is 4,5minutes on the red light, its very time consuming and you have to plan according to them.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Yes, your parking pass is good for one day at any park and it's $14.00, unless it has gone up recently.

I would pay to park before I drag my family all over the place and eat up so much time avoiding the fee. It won't be worth it.

 

[subtchr]

Sorry but you're really late, all went fine for my trip this January except the USA aren't really good at any kind of public transportation (if I'm correct, they think public transport is for poor people and these poor people don't have a car its a shame for them) I even had some discussion about using a bike there and America seems to think bikes are for loosers not for people to travel around from work to home for exemple, basically in USA if you don't have a car, rent one or don't go to Disney if you're not staying on their resorts clearly, otherwise you can get there but its really long to get there, its only a 10-15 minutes ride if we have a car to any theme park (maybe 30 minutes for Epcot and Animal Kingdom) and it takes more than 2hrs to get to any parks if we use the LYNX bus + Disney transportation system, less than 5mi to drive to Disney from our location on Idrive and it takes 2hrs with a bus, unbelievable, the worst is the red lights in Orlando, In Quebec I was sure we had the longest red lights in the world but I had never seen lights that are red for more than 2.5minutes before I went there on Idrive, longest I've seen is 4,5minutes on the red light, its very time consuming and you have to plan according to them.

I'm sorry, I was doing a search for something else when I found this thread, and did not check the original date until after I posted. I'm usually better about that!

But I'm glad you responded, and sorry your experience with public transportation was not a pleasant one! When I read your post, I was afraid that would be your experience, which is why I commented. You are absolutely correct, other than some very large cities (New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Boston, and maybe a couple others I have not yet visited), US public transportation systems are woefully inadequate. As for bikes, I really don't think it's a matter of people regarding bike commuters as "losers", but more that other than a few cities, the infrastructure (bike paths, etc.) just isn't there, making biking inconvenient at best and dangerous at worst. And then there is the laziness factor....

Thanks again for sharing your experiences - hopefully you met some nice Americans while you were here!