Does free resort parking extend to any resort?

[mercuryvenus]

Here’s why I’m asking. We’re staying at Contemporary in January. Trying to figure out the best way of getting to Hollywood Studios to beat some of the crowds.

We’re going to rent a car, but some have suggested not driving and parking at HS, but instead getting breakfast at Boardwalk and walking over.

Could we drive to Boardwalk and park there for a day for free? Or would it be cheaper to get a Uber?

 

[bumbershoot]

Boardwalk has very tight parking. Don’t try to park there all day.

I would just park at HS.

 

[Ruttangel]

The only time I’ve worried about parking at DHS was on the opening day of SWGE.
If social distancing was in play then the queue for Smugglers Run would have been back to the Boardwalk!!

You’ll be fine.

 

[drusba]

It would be much easier to park at HS to enter park. The walk to HS from BWV is close to a mile. Moreover, you are not supposed to park at BW for the purpose of going to a park (Epcot or HS), and you need an actual reservation at BW to park there during the day and, even then, you are supposed to park only for a limited time, not for the whole day. Finally, as noted above, BW has limited parking and the constant complaint of those staying there is that they often cannot find a place to park because of too many people doing just what was suggested to you.

 

[zavandor]

The suggestion to park at one of the Crescent lake resort was recently made in a blog post on www.easywdw.com who, recommended to book a meal to start the day there, not just to go and park).
The parking lot at HS doesn't open until half an hour before park opening and walking to the Studios allows to beat everyone else (buses included) to the queue to the first attraction of the day (which should be MRR).

Not sure if this violates Disney policy. If you have a dining reservation, are you required to leave the parking lot after you've finished? It is certainly something that would become quickly a problem if too many people do it.
Taking a Uber or Lyft, have an early breakfast at a resort and then walk to the studios wouldn't violate any policy. It would cost around $15 from anywhere on property and might be a worthy investment.

 

[The Jackal]

The suggestion to park at one of the Crescent lake resort was recently made in a blog post on easywdw (who, recommended to book a meal to start the day there, not just to go and park).
The parking lot at HS doesn't open until half an hour before park opening and walking to the Studios allows to beat everyone else (buses included) to the queue to the first attraction of the day (which should be MRR).

Not sure if this violates Disney policy. If you have a dining reservation, are you required to leave the parking lot after you've finished? It is certainly something that would become quickly a problem if too many people do it.
Taking a Uber or Lyft, have an early breakfast at a resort and then walk to the studios wouldn't violate any policy. It would cost around $15 from anywhere on property and might be a worthy investment.

Rope drop happens before the park opens. If it didn’t no one could get in the queue for Rise. I think the parking lots open up a little earlier than 30 min prior to opening, unless something has changed.

 

[zavandor]

30 mins is approximate, yes. The parking lot for all parks used to open much earlier, allowing to be at the gates for rope dropping way over an hour before park opening. It's no longer the case, Disney wouldn't be able to keep social distancing between people waiting at the gates. So they make people wait in their cars in a queue at the parking lot entrance. And the do not run the buses or the skyliner super early either. That's why walking from a resort is so effective: if you can be at the gate before Disney opens the parking lot, you've beaten everyone without having to arrive 90 minutes before opening time, you compete only against other walkers.

 

[Sandisw]

The suggestion to park at one of the Crescent lake resort was recently made in a blog post on www.easywdw.com who, recommended to book a meal to start the day there, not just to go and park).
The parking lot at HS doesn't open until half an hour before park opening and walking to the Studios allows to beat everyone else (buses included) to the queue to the first attraction of the day (which should be MRR).

Not sure if this violates Disney policy. If you have a dining reservation, are you required to leave the parking lot after you've finished? It is certainly something that would become quickly a problem if too many people do it.
Taking a Uber or Lyft, have an early breakfast at a resort and then walk to the studios wouldn't violate any policy. It would cost around $15 from anywhere on property and might be a worthy investment.

You are not supposed to use resorts for theme park parking, even with a reservation.

So, while having one allows you time there for the meal, it is not allowed in any other way.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

If you're staying at the Contemporary you have to pay to park at your own resort.

Unless you mean BLT?

 

[Sandisw]

If you're staying at the Contemporary you have to pay to park at your own resort.

Unless you mean BLT?

Only if booked via WDW and it’s not BLT. Owners who stay on cash at DVC can have parking waived.

 

[Heather07438]

I think the limit was 3 hours for 'day trips' to other resorts? Unless that's changed this year.

I'm wondering about Uber... are they able to drop off before the parking lot terminals open? One post on easyWDW explained parking lot terminals are only letting cars thru 25-35 minutes before official open at AK, leaving those guests well behind the ropedrop crowd coming in on resort buses. Not sure if that included drop-offs.

 

[lovin'fl]

Ale and Compass has a nice little breakfast. And can park at Yacht Club to eat there. Love it. Very easy. Just a suggestion if you are looking for a breakfast on crescent lake.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Only if booked via WDW and it’s not BLT. Owners who stay on cash at DVC can have parking waived.

My point is more that Contemporary is not DVC but is one of the open deluxes and it is important to know the difference.

 

[OKW Lover]

Could we drive to Boardwalk and park there for a day for free?

A few things to clear up:

1. Resort parking fees only cover overnight parking at that resort
2. There is no charge to park at a resort during the day
3. However, you must have a valid reason to be at that resort like dining there.
4. Parking at a resort to go to a theme park is not allowed.

 

[Ronaldo17]

I would just park at DHS, with the limited attendance you should be fine.

 

[Rush]

I would just park at DHS, with the limited attendance you should be fine.

I agree, just park at DHS, but limited attendance? Yeah, not so much. Don’t go to the parks thinking you will have some kind of magical light crowd WDW experience. May have been true in June or July, but now it’s quite the opposite.

To the OP, give yourself at least 45 min just to get into the parking lot. We were there in Sept and traffic to get into DHS was bumper to bumper all the way back to Osceola Blvd. It took about 30 mins just to get passed the parking booths. With no trams running, walk in, temp screening, security, and scanning your magic band for entry I’d say 45 min is a bare minimum, weekends I’d give yourself an hour. We missed opening by mere seconds, and didn’t get a ROTR boarding group as a result. Thankfully we had got a standby boarding group at 2pm on an earlier day and made it on as literally the last people to ride that day. Don’t let that be you, go early.

As for the parking question in general, I agree one shouldn’t try to park at a resort as a way to circumvent the parking rules, especially if you are making a specific breakfast reservation to facilitate circumventing those rules. That said, last year, pre-Covid of course when park hopping was an actual thing, we had an Ohana evening dinner reservation, after which the kids wanted to go to the MK for a little bit before heading back to BCV for the night, we jumped on the monorail to do that. I realize that may be technically against the parking rules, but I’d question whether anyone in that situation would actually walk back to their car, drive out of PVB, loop back around to the parking entrance to MK, park, tram, boat/monorail to get there simply out of principle. Or maybe we are just horrible people.

 

[mercuryvenus]

Thanks, everyone! A couple of things to clear up (though I thought it was clear, since this is the DVC member services forum ):

We’re DVC, so we’re staying at BLT. My question was whether the DVC free resort parking perk extends to all DVC resorts, or only the one you’re staying at at the time.

Since it seems it’s better to park at HS, what time do folks suggest we get in line? We’re not dying to get RotR boarding passes, as we’ve done it before, but really want to do Railway.

 

[Rush]

Thanks, everyone! A couple of things to clear up (though I thought it was clear, since this is the DVC member services forum ):

We’re DVC, so we’re staying at BLT. My question was whether the DVC free resort parking perk extends to all DVC resorts, or only the one you’re staying at at the time.

Since it seems it’s better to park at HS, what time do folks suggest we get in line? We’re not dying to get RotR boarding passes, as we’ve done it before, but really want to do Railway.

If you don’t need ROTR I’d probably go 30 min or so after park opening. That’s just my opinion. Perhaps watch the map app on your phone for a couple of mornings and see what time the traffic starts getting better and go at that time. No sense in trying to be in that large group of people trying to get in the gate at opening if you don’t need to be there for the same reason they are. Yes, you might not be able to rush for MMRR, but the reality is that’s where pretty much everyone goes whether they get a boarding group or not. We avoided park opening almost everyday, if for no other reason than just to try to avoid the large crowds at the gate.

I will also add, the wait times for MMRR seem to be inflated, both times we rode it, our actual wait was 30-40 min less than what was posted. The line looks daunting, and can be tough if there’s no cloud cover and no wind, but it really does move pretty well. So don’t let a long posted wait time discourage you. I personally wouldn’t rope drop and fight the ROTR crowd for a chance I might cut off some time in the MMRR line, because it may not happen. Unless of course you can make it down Hollywood Blvd like George Castanza evacuating a fire at a birthday party, enjoy your breakfast and don’t stress it! Just my $.02

 

[mercuryvenus]

If you don’t need ROTR I’d probably go 30 min or so after park opening. That’s just my opinion. Perhaps watch the map app on your phone for a couple of mornings and see what time the traffic starts getting better and go at that time. No sense in trying to be in that large group of people trying to get in the gate at opening if you don’t need to be there for the same reason they are. Yes, you might not be able to rush for MMRR, but the reality is that’s where pretty much everyone goes whether they get a boarding group or not. We avoided park opening almost everyday, if for no other reason than just to try to avoid the large crowds at the gate.

I will also add, the wait times for MMRR seem to be inflated, both times we rode it, our actual wait was 30-40 min less than what was posted. The line looks daunting, and can be tough if there’s no cloud cover and no wind, but it really does move pretty well. So don’t let a long posted wait time discourage you. I personally wouldn’t rope drop and fight the ROTR crowd for a chance I might cut off some time in the MMRR line, because it may not happen. Unless of course you can make it down Hollywood Blvd like George Castanza evacuating a fire at a birthday party, enjoy your breakfast and don’t stress it! Just my $.02

Thanks! We’re also going Jan 18-25 and plan to hit up HS on a weekday, so I expect crowds to be lower than they are now, and certainly going into the holidays.

 

[Rush]

Thanks! We’re also going Jan 18-25 and plan to hit up HS on a weekday, so I expect crowds to be lower than they are now, and certainly going into the holidays.

Funny, we are there Jan 12-19, hoping as well that crowds will be less. Possibly, but honestly I’d be more happy to see park hopping and longer hours return. I’m not sure any of that will happen, but we can hope!