UPDATE: it has been confirmed by @sallers , this path to the tram is no longer possible. Not that I doubted the Book! I will leave this topic open for a while longer in case others need the info, or have walking suggestions!
Hello all! Planning our next trip to DL and DCA in June. Have not been since 2015. On that trip we stayed at Springhill on Ball Rd. This trip we are planning to stay at Staybridge on Ball Rd. a little east of the previous hotel. On our last trip, another family staying at the hotel mentioned we could walk and skip the ART. We tried it one morning. Perfect. Walking is not an issue for us and we promptly returned our ART passes and walked the rest of the trip.
We are planning the same for this trip. But while I was catching up on the 2017 Unofficial Guide, it mentions on page 38 that pedestrian access from the north along Disneyland Drive is forbidden. I think I am miss-reading the locations but thought I would reach out. I have attached the path we took last time adjusted for the new hotel location east of our last trip. Our path took us through Mickey and Friends parking garage but we never accessed it from Disneyland Drive. We always came off of West Pl.(turning south off Ball Rd.) and walked in to the employee parking, then up a couple flights of stairs to the pedestrian path to the escalators and down to the trams.
I hope so! we are staying at the days inn on the corner of ball road next week and i was reading a lot of reviews that said you can still walk this way, taking the path you outlined on the pic. We also did this walk when we stayed in october 2015.
I stayed at the Best Western Courtesy Inn, which is near Staybridge, this past March and was able to walk through the employee parking lot then Mickey and Friendsā¦ Not sure things have changed since then, but I doubt it.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but no, this route is no longer available to guests. As of May 1st, the pedestrian access to the cast member parking lot from Ball Rd is limited to cast members only. We discovered this when we walked that exact path on April 30th. There was a sign posted announcing the new restriction, so we spoke to the security folks there who confirmed it. The available options now are to walk along Disneyland Dr on the east side and then cross over on Magic Way or to walk down Walnut St and turn down Magic Way on the west side. At which point, you might be better off just walking all the way to Downtown Disney rather than doubling back to the tram. Sigh.
Iām sure the hotels are none to pleased about this change too. Perhaps theyāll have alternate solutions - maybe start running shuttles?
Thanks for this update!! We love staying in that area because of the access to the trams but if that is out, no need to try to book there. It is bad news!
Thank you very much for the info. Big deal for us. Already booked but can still change. Going to look at some maps. I donāt want to rely on ART! Also thinking about calling Staybridge and encouraging a shuttle so they donāt lose all us walkers!
@amberlys94, wanted to make sure you saw this update! Huge bummer but Iām not canceling our reservation yet. Gonna look at the map and see what other options there could be. Boy I donāt want to rely on the ART. Good luck on your trip!
Look at hotels on Harbor side near crosswalk- much closer walk for you all. There are many options, I have stayed at Grand Legacy, the Castle, Desert Inn, and the Camelot Inn. All good options. Friends have stayed at the Tropicana, Park Vue, the Best Westerns, Candy Cane Inn, the Fairfield Inn, and Howard Johnsons so those would work too. The walk is so much closer than the Ball road hotels. We stayed back there at the Holiday Inn once and it was fine, but for the same price you can be a lot closer to the gates.
Iām not opposed to using the ART. We used it when we stayed at clarion before we realized the toy story tram was across the street. Is there a art stop close by on ball?
Hereās the explanation we were given: While it wasnāt that busy on the Sunday we were there, during the week, construction vehicles are frequently going in and out of that entrance. With that much traffic going on, the entrance is becoming more hazardous to guests - lots of families walking through with their kids. We asked whether this was a temporary or permanent change (since, theoretically, the construction vehicles wouldnāt be needed after the projects were finished). They said it was permanent.
Thatās what we were told by the security personnel who were there at the time, but someone else might have a different explanation. I still have my fingers crossed that theyāll change their minds, especially if the hotels express concerns about the inconvenience. But then again, they have been making lots of changes to their security policies, so it makes sense that theyād want to tighten things up everywhere. But I hold out hope that theyāre going to try it out and keep an open mind, seeing if it works or not and possibly changing it back. Weāll see!
Anyway, if anyone has more information, please feel free to add or correct. Otherwise, hope this helps!
ART would be fine if it was reliable. We lost our planned early entry last trip because ART was behind scheduleā¦way behindā¦
I hope you guys figure out something that works. We are working on solutions for our trip and will certainly pass on any great ideas we fine as your trip is right around the corner!
That is an understandable explanation. I will argue that every time we have used this path the people far out numbered the vehicles. But with the construction, I could see how that would have changed. I really appreciate the heads up though @sallers. Happy that we have some time now to consider options and maybe change hotels.
The first time we visited Disneyland we stayed at Alpine Inn - a nice place but my daughter hated the walk which really wasnāt that far. The next time we stayed at the Clarion. Not as nice as Alpine but cheaper and close to Toy Story. My daughter liked that much better because walking in the parks all day would really get to her. The buses from TS run frequently. Sometimes we had to wait a bit for the return to the parking lot, but for the most part it worked out well. I much preferred the Mickey and Friends trams though because I like trams more that buses, liked the scenery better, the security lines were much shorter and I liked getting dropped of in/next to Downtown Disney. I would try really hard to find an affordable place near there, so this is a blow. I have been considering getting a really cheap nightly hotel rate, if possible, through pricelineās name your own price, and then using the money saved getting uber/lyft rides but am kind of chicken to try it out.
Confirmed! Iām stubborn. Had to see for myself. And yes itās true. We immediately checked back out. This location is a bust now. We came over to Harbor
We ended up close to the toy story lot. We just walked over and caught the bus. And there are so many more options to eat on harbor. I doubt Iāll ever stay on the other side again. And there is a ART that run frequently!
I found that the Toy Story buses leave every 5 to 10 minutes (probably closer to 5) even when not full. The hotels near TS are usually cheaper than those closer to DL, so it is a win win to stay in that area. Still sad about the other area being a bust. We had just ādiscoveredā it.
UPDATE: it has been confirmed by @sallers , this path to the tram is no longer possible. Not that I doubted the Book! I will leave this topic open for a while longer in case others need the info, or have walking suggestions!
a shuttle so they donāt lose all us walkers!