The Great Parking Issue

[MikeS]

Okay, here's the story.

It's Friday night and we just got back from some late night shopping at Downtown Disney.

I pull into the Polynesian and find the parking lot about 95% full with the 5% of available spots right near the guard shack.

What's up with that?

I park the car and as I walk towards the Great Ceremonial House I check the dashboards...and THAT'S when :x turned to :evil: .

I must have checked about 20 or so cars and this is what I found:

- Empty Dashboards
- Dashboards with parking permits for MVMCP (2 1/2 hour permits)
- Dashboards with parking permits for Ohana's (2 1/2 hour permits)
- Dashboards with parking permits from other WDW resorts
- Dashboards with parking permits for Polynesian Resort Guests.

Oh yeah...those 2 1/2 hour permits were expired by at least 90 minutes.

I was pretty mad and stormed into the lobby ready to launch a bigtime discussion with whomever was behind the desk.

I cooled down a bit before getting to the desk.

The CM behind the desk was Jerry and I started off pretty calm.

"Hi Jerry," I began, "I have an issue with the parking and I thought it important to bring it to your attention."

I started explaining what I had seen in the parking lot and about one minute into my dissertation on this problem he called the manager.

I then spent about 10 minutes with a most delightful person, Suzy, who was extremely gracious and listened to my problem.

When I explained to her what I had discovered she seemed a bit troubled and asked what she could do for me that night. I thanked her but said that the purpose of my discussion was to have this issue resolved not that night but in the future.

Here were my suggestions:

1. Reduce the valet parking area by 33%. I naver see that area even half filled. It's wasted space. From now on when I stay at the Polynesian, if I have any parking issues I will park my rental in valet parking.

2. Assign either character names, Polynesian names, or colors to certain areas of the parking lot. Only cars with corresponding permits will be allowed to park in those areas.

3. Install gates that can be activated by resort cards to allow guests access. This will allow guests to park as close as possible to the longhouse area (left or right of GCH) they are staying in. So my resort card gets me into the parking lot and into my room.

4. Continue to allow guests to park in the Polynesian for Ohana's or Kona Cafe but change the policy. Allow for 2 1/2 hours but they must park in a special area of the parking lot also gated.

5. Give guests a 2 1/2 hour access/egress card. If they do not leave the lot before the 2 1/2 hour time limit then the card expires and WILL NOT WORK at the exit gate. They will then have to go into the lobby and reactivate that card by paying a $25 dollar fee. Make sure they are aware of this "late fee" when they park the car. Oh yeah...that fee goes up $5 per hour.

6. Finally, do not allow any cars through the initial guard shack without a reservation slip or confirmation number for a PS. Isn't that the way it should be? They should certainly not issue a parking permit for the MVMCP either.

If any of you have any other thoughts please post them here.

I will be writing to the WDW Security manager next week. My pal Suzy gave me his name and address and wanted me very much to tell him my thoughts.

Thanks for listening.

MikeS

[PoohbearFan]

Hi! I think all your solutions are great, but had one thought about #6. I think only allowing guests who have a PS at a restaurant to gain access to a resort is a little too restrictive. A lot of people enjoy, especially at Christmastime, visiting the other resorts, browsing in the shops and enjoying the ambience of the lobby. It would really be a shame to prevent this. Some people (me included) can only stay in the value or moderate resorts. It's nice to visit the deluxe resorts and soak up a little of that experience. Of course, I patronize their restaurants as well! :eat:

I know that parking is a major problem, especially at the MK resorts. I was just there in November and noticed a major crackdown to prevent people from trying to park at these resorts and then walk to MK. I think all your other suggestions would help to alleviate this problem. I only worry that #6 restricts access a little too much.

Just a thought...glad to hear that Disney is willing to listen to your suggestions! :)

Poohbear

[Rosebud]

I understand your frustration Mike. When I've gone over there I've seen what awful parking they have. Personally it always amazed me that a Deluxe Resort parking was so bad - and not only that deluxe resort, but others as well.

It really amazes me that they were giving out passes to MVMCP! The party itself is 4 or 5 hours plus the time people spend getting there and back and perhaps stopping for food or shopping would well exceed the 2 1/2 hr limit.

However, I have to agree with PoohbearFan on #6. I often go over there just to look around and soak up the atmosphere. Sometimes I do it by Monorail but sometimes I don't. Sometimes when there I might decide to stop and eat if I can get in with little wait, but very rarely have PS already.

I certainly wouldn't mind if they made a certain section for me to park in since I was actually staying there, but to say I can't go visit if I want to drive there would upset me. I believe it would also harm Disney because I think visiting resorts makes you either want to stay there on a future trip or go back in the future to spend money there whether in the stores or in the restaurants.

They actually did this at AKL when it first opened. You had to have a PS in order to park there. I know because we had missed the AP preview by about a week and decided to go visit. That has since changed though which we found on our next trip when we had a PS and they didn't even bother asking.

As far as #1 goes, I think they should move the valet parking further away and let the guests use that closer parking area.

And if they ever did change to #5, I think you would see a lot of angry people in the Poly lobby which not be very good for guest relations. Doesn't matter if they warned people or not, I believe that is what would happen.

I really think the best thing would be to separate the parking for Poly guests and all other guests further away.

[MikeS]

Now that I think of it I realize #6 is pretty harsh. However, how do you prevent people from parking there and taking the monorail to The Magic Kingdom? There should be a time limit on parking.

And Karen I too was amazed at the MVMCP parking permission slips.
Huh? That would mean everyone at the party could park at a monorail resort.

On the Valet Parking I also agree with you....further away...not closer to the GCH.

Maybe the visitors should have the first few sections after the guard shack and the guests have the remaining sections...but gated.

MikeS

[Tagrel]

While I agree that there is definitely a problem that needs to be fixed here, I kind of fear Disney's solution.

To prevent this sort of issue at Universal hotels, they charge $6 a day to park at the hotel, and $12 a day for Valet! :shock: Since Disney is always looking for a way to increase customer spending, I can see them wrapping up this sort of new charge and explain it off as fulfilling Customer requests.

Now I'd be happiest if they could somehow 'block' the car after 2.5 hours, and the person would have to go to the guard shack and pay a 'fine' to have the car released. Word would get out, and this practice would stop pretty quickly. Maybe a wheelblock of sorts would do the trick. :)

Moving Valet parking might be nice for guests, but the CMs that have to run back and forth there all the time wouldn't like that solution too much! :)

I like the visitor area and gated guest area parking idea ALOT. :) Or how about visitors pay a fee upon entrance, and can get it back if they leave before the time limit is up?

[pixie]

I like the idea of a gated area for Polynesian guests. My DH is very particular and won't let valet park his SUV. When we rent a car we use valet.

Last year they had part of the parking lot blocked off and were using it as a staging area. I had hoped this year it would be better. It seems to me many people park there to avoid paying for parking. We have seen families arrive in the morning and unload for the day. I don't mind them parking there but just leave room for paying guests. It seems fair to me.

We leave for the Polynesian in 22 days! I'll let you know how we make out.

:tink: Barbara

[WillCAD]

For years, the various WDW resorts had security gates on the parking lots that went mostly unused. Since 9/11, the security gates at all the resorts are manned by a Disney security officer 24/7. And yet...

I think this simple policy at all the resorts would work just fine, although it would cost Disney a little money to implement:

1. Each resort lot would be a gated area, accessed by resort ID cards, for Guest parking. This would prevent any Guest spaces from being taken up by non-Guests, since you couldn't get into this section of the lot if you weren't staying at that resort.

2. Each resort would have a seperate gated Check-In lot for those checking in and out, and for those resort hopping or dining. This smaller area would continue the current policy of 2-1/2 hour parking permits, but since it's a small, self-contained area of lot, Guests abusing the parking policy to save the $7 parking fee would not be able to steal spaces away from paying Guests.

3. Valet parking shouldn't be the closest area to the lobby, but it shouldn't be terribly far away, either. The point of valet is twofold; first, valet saves you from having to hike 3 miles every time you park, and second it saves you the time it would take to hike 3 miles every time you park. Putting the valet lot too far away would impact the time it takes for the CMs to get your car when you leave. Since valet is a paid service (albiet one I choose not to use myself), it woud be wrong to move the valet lot too far away from the lobby, causing delays in car retrieval.

As to Mike's suggestions, 1 is excellent, 2 is not really nessecary, 3 is an absolute must (same as my 1), 4 is pretty much the same as my 2, 6 is a little too restrictive as others have stated.

And 5? It's bad enough to get a parking ticket if your meter runs out before you can feed it another quarter, but to have Disney slam you with a $25 (or any amount) fee if you accidentally go 1 minute over your 2-1/2 hour window would cause more bad feelings toward Disney than eliminating Early Entry did. I would go nuts!

[MissBianca]

Sure can understand your frustration, Mike. I absolutely cannot believe that they would let people just going to MVMCP park there!

I think you should have asked the nice lady to get them to zip you out to your car in one of those little carts they have all over and move the car to valet for free for the night. In fact, I think they might even have let you use the valet for free the whole stay if you'd asked! After all, even if they resolve things in the future, you could have had a better perk than all those parking pigs!

[Mariaºoº]

I can certainly understand your frustration! I like the idea similar to the one used at the Ft. Wilderness campground. Have a separate parking area for resort guests staying at the Poly which can only be accessed using their room key. I can also see a problem with those checking in/out if those spaces are filled with people who are visiting the resort. There needs to be a gated system, but charging people is not the solution. This will only cause more bad feelings and eventually loss in revenue. Those wishing to visit the Poly should use WDW transportation which would illiminate parking issues, but I'm unsure how they could strictly enforce this without causing bad feelings which could cause those who would be future resort guests not to stay there because of hassles.

[Lou-Ann]

On occasion when going to Chef Mickey's we have been told to park in a certain area at the Contemporary. This is a separate area from the guests at the resort. I thought this was Disney policy.