Stopping at a resort to eat without staying on property?

Betsytacy812 · Jan 21, 2018

Can someone please tell me how it works if we are staying off property when we first arrive, but want to check out Art of Animation, eat there in the food court, and see the Cars themed area? Will they let you park there without being an on-property guest? Thanks!

_auroraborealis_ · Jan 21, 2018

Lynne M · Jan 21, 2018

Yep, it’s absolutely fine. Just drive up to the guardhouse at the resort parking lot entrance, tell them you’d like to check out the resort and eat at the food court. They’ll probably ask to see a photo id, and then they’ll let you into the lot.

married2mm · Jan 21, 2018

Please note-
Deluxe properties can & will turn you away if you don't have an adr.
We drove last October to the contemporary in order to eat at contempo cafe & we were told in no uncertain terms to go!

Wubar · Jan 21, 2018

I think there is a rough 3 hour parking rule, but I'm not sure how strict it is. But it has to be enforced somehow, otherwise gamers would say they wanted to eat breakfast at the food court and then take the buses to the parks hoping to park for free all day.

Animal · Jan 21, 2018

We do this a lot to eat and shop at POR/POFQ/CBR. I would not do this at GF/Poly/Contemporary/BC/YC/WL. AKL may work.

georgina · Jan 21, 2018

Wubar said:
I think there is a rough 3 hour parking rule, but I'm not sure how strict it is. But it has to be enforced somehow, otherwise gamers would say they wanted to eat breakfast at the food court and then take the buses to the parks hoping to park for free all day.

I think this is more of a problem at the MK and Epcot resorts. I doubt there are many people who head to a value resort for free parking! Many of the resorts no longer give out paper parking passes, so there may be no way to check at some of them.

Disneylover99 · Jan 21, 2018

married2mm said:
Please note-
Deluxe properties can & will turn you away if you don't have an adr.
We drove last October to the contemporary in order to eat at contempo cafe & we were told in no uncertain terms to go!

We've never had a problem driving to Deluxe resorts without an ADR. Maybe it depends on the time of day or time of year when you visit?

married2mm · Jan 21, 2018

Disneylover99 said:
We've never had a problem driving to Deluxe resorts without an ADR. Maybe it depends on the time of day or time of year when you visit?

We had never experienced this before until this guard at the contemporary-she was not budging!!

Surgie2 · Jan 21, 2018

married2mm said:
Please note-
Deluxe properties can & will turn you away if you don't have an adr.
We drove last October to the contemporary in order to eat at contempo cafe & we were told in no uncertain terms to go!

I hope this was just an off-day! We drove to each of the deluxe resorts in one day last year in January with no ADRs. We got an appetizer at each resort. No problem whatsoever. We were asked to show an ID and then directed to parking. It would have been very shortsighted if they had turned us away as our visit to Poly inspired us to book a family trip there and we reserved three rooms. Might not have happened if they had refused us entry.

dansdad · Jan 21, 2018

Surgie2 said:
I hope this was just an off-day! We drove to each of the deluxe resorts in one day last year in January with no ADRs. We got an appetizer at each resort. No problem whatsoever. We were asked to show an ID and then directed to parking. It would have been very shortsighted if they had turned us away as our visit to Poly inspired us to book a family trip there and we reserved three rooms. Might not have happened if they had refused us entry.

The only time they will turn you away is if the lot is full, or almost full. You can understand that they would want their guests with ADRs and guests paying to stay there to be able to park, right?

married2mm · Jan 21, 2018

dansdad said:
The only time they will turn you away is if the lot is full, or almost full. You can understand that they would want their guests with ADRs and guests paying to stay there to be able to park, right?

That of course, makes perfect sense.

We have driven to the boardwalk,wilderness lodge & fort wilderness where signs were displayed stating only parking available was for hotel guests or guests with adrs.
There was no such signage displayed at the contemporary-it was approx 6.20am

Surgie2 · Jan 21, 2018

dansdad said:
The only time they will turn you away is if the lot is full, or almost full. You can understand that they would want their guests with ADRs and guests paying to stay there to be able to park, right?

Of course! I didn’t realize a full lot was the reason the PP was told in no un-certain terms to go.

verleniahall · Jan 21, 2018

there is a 3 hour time limit for parking - when we did this, they gave us a paper slip to put in our window stating the time that we parked and we were told after 3 hours they would tow the car - we made sure to only stay 2 hours!

KickassPrincess · Jan 21, 2018

The values are spread out with lots of parking. And nobody has an ADR because there are no table service restaurants. You should be fine.

Queen of the WDW Scene · Jan 21, 2018

When you drive up just tell them you're there to eat....
You're welcome to explore the resorts whether you are staying there or not.

hllb · Jan 21, 2018

My friends are coming to visit us at Poly on arrival day. They’ll let them in, won’t they? We’ll be there when they arrive, but might not have a room yet so not sure if we’ll be considered staying at the resort?

dansdad · Jan 21, 2018

hllb said:
My friends are coming to visit us at Poly on arrival day. They’ll let them in, won’t they? We’ll be there when they arrive, but might not have a room yet so not sure if we’ll be considered staying at the resort?

Unless the lot is full, definitely.

Stopping at a resort to eat without staying on property?

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