Taking an afternoon break... worth the drive and parking a second time?

[Belle5]

While vacationing at WDW we always leave the park and take an afternoon swim/rest. It often takes quite a bit of time to travel round trip to our resort (whether onsite or off). We find that we enjoy our park time so much more when we can get away for a while and come back in the early evening refreshed (instead of worn out). We are soon to be visiting DL/DCA. I am planning on employing the same strategy in California as Florida. Is there any reason not to continue our break from the parks? We are staying off-site and driving 15 minutes each way to the parks. Is it going to be tricky to deal with parking when we return? I have visions of finding our morning parking lot full and being redirected to a different parking lot (which might be confusing/time-consuming). I know that the simplest way to pull off an afternoon break is to stay on-site or stay at a nearby hotel that is within walking distance to the parks. That is not possible, in our case.

 

[dieumeye]

Short answer: you will be fine. Park at Mickey & Friends and don’t worry about it.

Long answer: sometimes M&F does reach capacity or close temporarily, but for the most part it’s big and available. And soon it will be expanded meaning it’s less likely to reach capacity, but SW:GE is opening in May 31, which will mean it’s extra busy. And if it is closed, you’ll be redirected to Toy Story lot, which isn’t the end of the world, so don’t worry about it.

 

[Belle5]

Short answer: you will be fine. Park at Mickey & Friends and don’t worry about it.

Long answer: sometimes M&F does reach capacity or close temporarily, but for the most part it’s big and available. And soon it will be expanded meaning it’s less likely to reach capacity, but SW:GE is opening in May 31, which will mean it’s extra busy. And if it is closed, you’ll be redirected to Toy Story lot, which isn’t the end of the world, so don’t worry about it.

We will be there in early April (6-10), before the SW:GE opening. It sounds like it won't be too difficult to take our break! Thank you!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

You have enough days that you might want to try both ways. You can drive back one day for a break and stay on property for your break another day, just for comparison. There are lots of ways to take a break and rest on site, even when you're not staying in one of the on site hotels. You can see shows, enjoy the hotel lobbies (GCH lobby is great for this), enjoy attractions with a/c (e.g. Mr. Lincoln, Tiki Room, Animation Academy, etc.), enjoy a slower ride (e.g. Mark Twain), etc. The train can be very relaxing -- 3 times around is about an hour's rest. Try both ways (going back and staying on site), then do whichever one works better for you on your remaining days.

 

[Belle5]

You have enough days that you might want to try both ways. You can drive back one day for a break and stay on property for your break another day, just for comparison. There are lots of ways to take a break and rest on site, even when you're not staying in one of the on site hotels. You can see shows, enjoy the hotel lobbies (GCH lobby is great for this), enjoy attractions with a/c (e.g. Mr. Lincoln, Tiki Room, Animation Academy, etc.), enjoy a slower ride (e.g. Mark Twain), etc. The train can be very relaxing -- 3 times around is about an hour's rest. Try both ways (going back and staying on site), then do whichever one works better for you on your remaining days.

Sounds like something to try at least once! The train sounds really nice!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Make sure to hang on to your parking stub so that you don't have to pay to park a second time!

 

[StormyCA]

If it were me and I wanted a midday off-site break, I'd leave the car @ DL and take Uber to the hotel and back. Doesn't add but 5 or so minutes each way and it's less of a hassle.

No car seats though (if you need that) and would probably cost $15 round trip including tip. It'd be worth it though. No trudging back/forth to M&F or TS. Just pick up & drop off Uber on Harbor right by the Esplanade. In fact, when we're offsite we never drive, we Uber. Cheaper than parking since we don't do a midday break. Even with two round trips per day, it's not much more than parking these days!

 

[tarheelalum]

Yes the drive back is worth it.

 

[figment_jii]

I would also opt to try both ways on the first two days and see which works best for you. Personally, I wouldn't want to deal with the hassle of leaving the park, catching the tram or bus to the parking structure/lot, driving back to the hotel, then driving back, re-parking, taking the bus/tram again, and going back through security. While the drive is only 15 minutes, I'd still allow between 45 and 60 minutes each way (rather like you would when taking transportation around WDW). We were staying within walking distance and after the first day, we decided the hassle of going back to the room wasn't worth the time and ended up just taking a break inside the resort at one of the quieter areas.

 

[gary1955]

if you do leave and come back you may get to experience the parking roulette game.

in the morning when you park and they are loading a new floor or section there is a lot of direction from cast members to direct you to where to park.

later in the day when they are back filling parking, once they direct you to a floor or section you are on your own.

you are driving along the far edge of the lot and that's where the game begins. the farther you are from the escalators or bus loading area the more spaces there are, the closer you get the fewer there are.

first you have to pick an aisle, then you drive and try to decide how far you want to go. if you drive too far and there are no spaces left you have to all the way around and start over again.

it is not to bad if there aren't too many cars on the floor or section waiting to park, but some times it get crazy and it's bumper to bumper driving around in circles looking for a space.

on one occasion it was so bad that we decided to leave the lot without parking and go get something to eat. we returned later and parking was a bit easier.

 

[dieumeye]

if you do leave and come back you may get to experience the parking roulette game.

Haha. I gamble on the first row every time (actually the first row that doesn't have HC spaces). I guess I like to live dangerously! I also end up circling around more often than not!