Toy story parking lot?

[Lorilais_mommie]

Last time we were at DL 2012
a CM told us that the toy story parking lot was near our hotel and would be a faster way to get to and from the park.. And it's free
All we have to do is hop on the tram!

Can we still do this??
If so what time do the trams start running?

 

[superlarz]

You can still do this. Busses start running about an hour before the park opens.


Edited: Doesnt seem to be open any earlier for MM

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

You can still do this. Busses start running about an hour before the park opens or 90 minutes if there is MM

Is the toy story lot open everyday? Or only for overflow?

 

[dina444444]

Is the toy story lot open everyday? Or only for overflow?

The lot is open daily.

 

[LizzyS]

Next time we go, we're staying at the Red Lion, so I might consider doing this to come back from the parks at night.

So it's totally free, eh?

I've never really checked up on this, tbh.

 

[chathaway]

Next time we go, we're staying at the Red Lion, so I might consider doing this to come back from the parks at night.

So it's totally free, eh?

I've never really checked up on this, tbh.

Stayed at marriott Anaheim and rode toy story bus everyday
It was great and Cm never said anything about us walking up the sidewalk to get on. He actually stopped vehicles so we could cross. 10 min walk for us to the bus from our hotel
It was a nice secret I learned while researching! They drop off closer than the art shuttles I thought

 

[superlarz]

Stayed at marriott Anaheim and rode toy story bus everyday
It was great and Cm never said anything about us walking up the sidewalk to get on. He actually stopped vehicles so we could cross. 10 min walk for us to the bus from our hotel
It was a nice secret I learned while researching! They drop off closer than the art shuttles I thought

The lot itself is not free to park in. The shuttle bus is free. You have to walk to the lot to get on the bus. The Toy Story lot is one of the main lots for the resort. It is open every day. Disney openly encourages people to park there instead of using Mickey and Friends.


They also sell tickets at the lot for anyone who needs to purchase tickets, helping you avoid lines at the park ticket booths.

 

[grnflash]

Just an FYI if you're doing MM, the lot was not open this last Thursday. We pulled out of the Marriott at 6:40 (just 20 min before MM opening) and the gates were shut, no activity could be seen in the lot. Cars were making u-turns since it was obviously closed. On a good note, after parking at M&F, we still made it to opening with 2 min to spare.

**We stay at the Marriott frequently and always use the Toy Story shuttle (only didn't this trip because we had free parking.) It is very convenient and way shorter than walking. We've asked 2 different times if it's ok to take the shuttle since we weren't actually parked in the lot. The 2nd time the attendant said "If you're going to Disneyland, we're happy to take you there. Hop on."

 

[BlueBayou]

When we have stayed at the Clarion - we use ART mainly. But both trips we have also used the Toy Story tram and then walked too or from the hotel. Worked fine.

 

[bakerudall]

The shuttles run from an hour before to an hour after regular park opening. They are very close to the Red Lion and closest to the Clarion (there is also a Hyatt Place under construction just south of the Clarion, which I am excited about). Last trip, we used the Toy Story shuttles even though we had an ART stop directly in front of our hotel (Doubletree Suites). Besides being free, the Toy Story shuttles depart more frequently than than ART and don't make any stops along the way.

As a PP mentioned, they are no good for MM. If you use the M&F garage for MM, get there about 30 min early. When the structure opens, you will be directed to park outside by the trams, but you will want to skip the trams and walk through Downtown Disney. We were third in line for parking, but then waited a long time for the first tram and finally made it through the gates around 10 minutes after MM started.

 

[Blue32]

Stayed at marriott Anaheim and rode toy story bus everyday
It was great and Cm never said anything about us walking up the sidewalk to get on. He actually stopped vehicles so we could cross. 10 min walk for us to the bus from our hotel
It was a nice secret I learned while researching! They drop off closer than the art shuttles I thought

So.... a 10 min. walk from the Marriott. Then how long of a bus ride to the drop off point at DL? Thanks.

 

[bakerudall]

So.... a 10 min. walk from the Marriott. Then how long of a bus ride to the drop off point at DL? Thanks.

I should have thought to time this accurately, but it always felt like about 15 minutes from the time we lined up to wait for a bus to the time we were dropped off by the gates.

 

[chathaway]

So.... a 10 min. walk from the Marriott. Then how long of a bus ride to the drop off point at DL? Thanks.

It'a about a 20 min walk to the parks from Marriott Anaheim. We have 2 children 8 & 10. We walked one day just to compare and we wished we had taken the TS bus instead. It took us about 10 min (actually less) to get to the bus stop. They always had a bus and never had to wait for one to arrive. It took us about 5-10 min from the bus to the parks. It was really easy. From Marriott to the park gate was 15-20 min max. It worked really well for us and CM were very friendly. We had one driver that shared jokes the entire time back to the parking lot.
Have fun! We sure did!! This was our once in a lifetime trip to DL and made the best of it!
oh, get the churros! we had to get them 4x while there! Haha

 

[pixiewings71]

Next time we go, we're staying at the Red Lion, so I might consider doing this to come back from the parks at night.

So it's totally free, eh?

I've never really checked up on this, tbh.

Totally free unless you park your car there. We stayed at the RL and walked to the TS lot every morning, rode the shuttles to the parks and then back at the end of our days. I asked the CM's at the lot prior to doing this and they said it was absolutely acceptable to do.
The RL is actually right next to the TS lot, it takes about 5 minutes to walk from the hotel to the shuttle lines.

 

[Newsiemj]

We stayed at the Red Lion earlier this year and used the toy story lot buses. They ran so much more frequently than ART!

 

[phred84044]

What is the shortest route from the Red Lion to the Toy Story parking lot? Down Harbor to Katella down to the lot?

 

[HollyL]

Next time we go, we're staying at the Red Lion, so I might consider doing this to come back from the parks at night.

So it's totally free, eh?

I've never really checked up on this, tbh.

We stayed at The Red Lion in May with these plans. I wouldn't recommend it, honestly. First off, it's farther away than it looks on Google maps, I thought it would be a quick walk through the back of the hotel (but there is no access, it's fenced off). You have to go all the way around, and there isn't a sidewalk for pedestrians to gain access to the lot. Also, CM's were looking at us funny. I would rather pay the few dollars for the ART tram that picks right in front of the hotel, or just walk to the park, as it's really not that far.

Also, the first time around, I went into the wrong entrance (the cast member entrance) and a nice, friendly Disney security guard told me I couldn't go in there. So, we ended up just walking to the park. The way back, we took the Toy Story shuttle, which was fine until we had to walk back to the hotel, where the was no sidewalk, just car lanes, and people were looking at me weird. It just wasn't worth the hassle in my opinion.

 

[HollyL]

I see it seemed to work for a lot of you guys, maybe I just went in the wrong way? Is there a secret passageway that I missed?

 

[Gisele]

I see it seemed to work for a lot of you guys, maybe I just went in the wrong way? Is there a secret passageway that I missed?

The entrance is off of South Harbor Blvd at W Convention Way. If you are staying at a hotel that is close by, you will save $17.00 on parking, by walking to the shuttle area, which is a bit further up from the initial entrance. You will easily see it from the road/street entrance.