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My Disney Transportation Adventure

Texas84

Texas84

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'd like to hear what you all would have done different. Feel free to make fun of me.

So I'm parked at Epcot. I take the Friendship launch from the International Gateway to the Dolphin to meet a friend for dinner. We finish dinner and suddenly it's 8:50. I ask the Dolphin bellhop how to get back to Epcot parking (there is NO Epcot bus) and he says, "You're going to have to take a cab!" Take a cab? How un-Disney! So here I decide to make this a DISNEY ADVENTURE! And I decide I am not allowed to ask for help.

Here's my plan: I want to ride the Monorail back to Epcot parking. So I take the bus to the Marketplace. Argh. We stop at every Epcot area resort and I get there about 9:15. I just miss the first Contemporary/Poly bus and the next one shows at about 9:30. As we leave the Contemporary around 9:50 I see the monorails are still running. Yay! I hit the Poly running through the torches and make it to the TTC right at 10:00 and just make the waiting Epcot monorail. I ride all the way back to Epcot with a big smile on my face. And as I arrive at Epcot, there are still people leaving! So there was obviously no rush. I'm reading now that the monorails run two hours after closing.

What would you have done different assuming taking a cab is NOT an option.
:wave:
 
Rob562

Rob562

Well-Known Member
You could have just re-entered Epcot and walked through the park to the lot. Illuminations doesn't start until closing time at 9PM, and it lasts almost 15 minutes. It then takes at least 30-45 minutes for the exiting crowds to die down to a trickle.
When you got to the International Gateway, even if the turnstiles were locked because it was past closing time, a CM would have let you through if you explained that your car was out in the front lot.

If it was WELL after Illuminations, they often just leave the stroller/wheelchair gates open next to the turnstiles until the sweep of the park by Security is done. I've exited out the IG heading for the Boardwalk WAY after Illuminations ended, and the gates were open and not a CM in sight.

The only time you would have really had a problem would have been if you'd stayed at the Dolphin until 11PM or later. The IG gates would have been locked, and the Epcot monorail would have stopped running. Your only option would have been to call a cab to drive you around to the Epcot parking lot. (there's always a lane or two left unblocked at the toll plaza into the lot)
And while it sounds like the Swan & Dolphin staff wasn't willing to go "above and beyond", you *might* have been able to walk over to one of the Disney hotels next door and talked to the Front Desk. They may have had an option to help you out, perhaps calling WDW Security to pick you up and drive you over. (But no guarantees on that one)


-Rob
 
disneydata

disneydata

Well-Known Member
You can't get back into the park after it closes. Once 9:00 rolls around, you can only exit, even from the International Gateway.
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
I would have gone back the way I came ... I have entered EPCOT after closing many times to get to the parking lot (more accurately to get to the bus station out front to avoid the DD dance you did).

I doubt that had you taken the boat and arrived a bit after 9 they would have turned you away unless they have enacted some new crackdown. Otherwise, I would have taken a bus to the MK and done the monorail loop.
 
GymLeaderPhil

GymLeaderPhil

Well-Known Member
disneydata said:
You can't get back into the park after it closes. Once 9:00 rolls around, you can only exit, even from the International Gateway.
Click to expand...
We've reentered through the International Gateway after closing to reach our car before. I'm sure there's a cut off point as far as when they have finished sweeping the area.
 
wdwfan100

wdwfan100

Active Member
disneydata said:
You can't get back into the park after it closes. Once 9:00 rolls around, you can only exit, even from the International Gateway.
Click to expand...

I am almost certain that we have gone back in the park after 9:00pm. Even if you couldn't, I could get from the Dolphin to the International Gateway in less than 10 minutes. Especially if it is going to save the remainder of my evening. :)
 
ewensell3

ewensell3

Well-Known Member
Texas84 said:
I'd like to hear what you all would have done different. Feel free to make fun of me.
...
What would you have done different assuming taking a cab is NOT an option.
:wave:
Click to expand...


Is it me or does this sound like a round of Mornington Crescent?

Magic Kingdom is usually open the latest, so you should have been able to bus straight to MK from the Dolphin. Then bus/monorail over to EPCOT from there, skipping the whole DTD/Marketplace/Resort loop.
 
WhatJaneSays

WhatJaneSays

Well-Known Member
GymLeaderPhil said:
We've reentered through the International Gateway after closing to reach our car before. I'm sure there's a cut off point as far as when they have finished sweeping the area.
Click to expand...
I know I've re-entered way after EPCOT has closed (I think it was close to 45-50 minutes after) to get to my car. I poked my head into Guest Services as a last pitch effort because there was no one at the gate but they were happy to let me pop back in. One of the landscaping crew even ran me up to the front gate.

The CMs are normally very accommodating at that back entrance because they know people are prone to getting "stranded" out there.
 
daliseurat

daliseurat

Member
This where it pays to understand the transportation system. If you couldn't get back into Epcot, there would have been a bus to the TTC from Dolphin.

Several years ago we learned the hard way. We were staying at a hotel in area near Downtown Disney. We had spent our day roaming around resorts. We liked to eat late at the time. It was after nine. The bus system was now working on a reduced schedule. We tried to get to Downtown Disney, but couldn't get a bus there unless we got to a resort. We got to PORT ORLEANS, decided to eat there, discovered the restaurant was closed. Waited 30 minutes for a bus to DOWNTOWN DISNEY, by the time we got there, stuff was closed. We were starving. So we walked back towards our hotel and realized the kitchen at those were closed as well. We finally found a bar at the Hilton that would serve us a sandwich. It was about 1 am. And my birthday. After that, I learned the entire transportation route as well as all the hours restaurants were open!

Things have changed a lot since then, but it got so funny that we just laughed through the hunger.
 
maggiegrace1

maggiegrace1

Well-Known Member
disneydata said:
You can't get back into the park after it closes. Once 9:00 rolls around, you can only exit, even from the International Gateway.
Click to expand...
We have left the Dolphin and The Boardwalk and walked back to International Gateway many times..including last March and walked through World Showcase back to our car at EPCOT parking lot after 9:00.

My parents did this in february..:shrug:
wdwfan100 said:
What, and miss all that transportation excitement? :lol:
Click to expand...
:lol:

I know!:D

I like the walk though..:)
 
ewensell3

ewensell3

Well-Known Member
This thread got me wondering, can you leave your car in a park lot overnight?

Let's say you were staying at an on-property resort and your car had it's parking tag clearly displayed. Could you just bus over to your resort and retrieve your car the next day?
 
WhatJaneSays

WhatJaneSays

Well-Known Member
ewensell3 said:
This thread got me wondering, can you leave your car in a park lot overnight?

Let's say you were staying at an on-property resort and your car had it's parking tag clearly displayed. Could you just bus over to your resort and retrieve your car the next day?
Click to expand...

I've done it before. It's probability not the 100% "correct" thing to do, but I don't think anyone at Disney is concerned about it.
 

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