I completely agree with this. After your lovely expensive dinner, you should be able to hop on a resort launch, or walk the walking path for lovely evening at MK or Epcot). It would be rediculous for @ryan1 to have to go back to his car, drive to TTC to catch transportation to MK.
The thing I love most about WDW is the entirety of the parks and the resorts. I see it as a totality and have never thought that transportation or amenities are only for the guests staying at a particular resort. (Except parking which, as a limited resource should is reasonable to limit to resort guests AND people dining). It’s that totality that keeps me coming back and adds to the magic.
You could always take an Uber or Lyft to the contemporary and then bus back to your hotel after the Christmas party. With a tip, I have never paid more than $14 to get anywhere on property.
This would be interesting. I mean, while folks like liners tend to be far more in the know about things, I would imagine many guests are not. If there isn’t an explicit statement about the length of time allowed to park at a given resort with an ADR, how, exactly WOULD they know? Does the person at the parking gate inform the guest? Being part of the ADR would make sense. But otherwise…a guest would come, legitimately, for a meal, and not know they needed to be out 3 hours later?
So, I have to imagine this is communicated directly to guests somehow!
The variability of guards at the guard gates alone will tell you they are not enforcing this. One guard practically wants to do a background check on you, another asks for a license they don’t even look at and wave you through without even checking that the reservation you say you have is a real reservation. Coupled with limited staffing that we keep hearing about there is simply no way they are tracking this at all. The only way it would even become a possibility would be if they had a very specific lot at each resort designated for dining.
I just looked at my Steakhouse 71 confirmation - no language there at all - even the standard “allow yourself a ton of time to get to your destination” language.
I would imagine that if ANY resort would be enforcing this, it would be at The Contemporary (and, secondarily, at Poly or GF) just due to how close they are to MK. But if Disney isn’t bothering to inform guests, and there is no official language about this on their website, then…is it even a “rule”? I’m going to just keep monitoring the situation as we get closer.
We are probably looking at about $550 we are spending for the evening, between our S71 meal and then the Christmas party (assuming prices are similar to last year)! This is a splurge, for sure for us!
In my experience the Contemporary is the most strict and they do actually pull up your ADR on an ipad device before allowing you in. GF and Poly usually just ask for ID. Not that I’m doing this everyday but it’s what has happened recently in the past few months worth of visits. Although now thinking about it the last visit to the Contemporary was our Steakhouse 71 ADR before the Christmas after hours last year
I wonder what the point of this is? Do they compare the ID to something??? I mean, anyone who is actually driving will have ID (unless they are driving illegally!) So just checking ID would seem pointless!
Exactly what we always say! I’ll also point out that I have never done this at rope drop time. It’s almost always dinner after we drop off DD to work. We eat then wander around MK, its so much easier to get back around to the back of MK to pick her up from a resort. If we leave from TTC we have to make a u-turn.
well, I’ve not heard a word Contemporary and Riviera gate guards seem to be the most proactive about looking at your ID and verifying reservations, although I will admit I mostly use Poly, GF and EC area resorts for ADR/parking due to availability of ADRs. Only twice in the past 3 months has a guard actually looked up my ADR to confirm that I had one let-alone look at my ID. But neither time did they communicate a time limit. GF parks ADR guests in the self park area which is the furthest away from any dinning but I often ignore their directions and turn left instead of right.
Parking at any of the parks is spendy for guests so I can see many trying to avoid that cost; especially since they don’t have parking trollies running at all the parking lots yet. During the first year of the reopening they all were VERY strick about who they let into the resort parking lots even though there was plenty of parking to go around. Now it’s slim pickin’s and they don’t care as much.
They can look up your name and verify you have an ADR. After looking up my ADR at YC, one guard said, “Just for one?” and gave me a pitiful look of sympathy argh
As if to say…“Oh, you poor, pathetic, miserable, lonely woman! Looking to fulfill that emptiness you’re feeling inside with a bit of Disney, I see? Carry on…”
That does seem odd they would say something. Maybe they were trying to be funny? (Unsuccessfully.)
I go by myself all the time and it was the first time someone made me feel bad about it. … or maybe she knew I was just there for the parking and was trying to trip me up Oh well, didn’t work, I had an ADR; what was she gonna’ do, tell me I can’t let you in alone?
Expensive, probably! But I have to disagree slightly on the logistics. I’m planning a trip to the UK in a few weeks (and I went to France last summer) and the tetris I have had to play on these trips is also nuts! Peppa Pig bus tour only runs Sat/Sun/Tues, Hopetoun House is open Thurs-Sun but the boat tours only are open on weekdays, Transport museum requires an Annual Pass, etc, etc… I have so many spreadsheet tabs! I truly cannot fathom why there seems to be some idea (not that this was your suggestion at all) that no vacations require pre-planning!
Also, just park at the Contemporary. I’ve done it many times with strategic Chef Mickey’s reservations and there is always plenty of room close to the walkway because the actual guests want to park near the hotel.
Contemporary and Riviera gate guards seem to be the most proactive about looking at your ID and verifying reservations, although I will admit I mostly use Poly, GF and EC area resorts for ADR/parking due to availability of ADRs. Only twice in the past 3 months has a guard actually looked up my ADR to confirm that I had one let-alone look at my ID. But neither time did they communicate a time limit. GF parks ADR guests in the self park area which is the furthest away from any dinning 
but I often ignore their directions and turn left instead of right.
I go by myself all the time and it was the first time someone made me feel bad about it. 
… or maybe she knew I was just there for the parking and was trying to trip me up