2 questions

[rustysgirl]

ok one question is kinda silly & the other is something i was really wanting to know. the important one is.. say i went to epcot by myself & rode the bus from the hotel over. when i was ready to leave later that night & my fiance came to pick me up to go back to the hotel, would he be able to drive in there where the buses are and get me or no? since he wouldn't be parking he shouldn't have to pay for that right? just wondering if that was possible. i know you must be wondering why i wouldn't just ride the bus back to the hotel but my fiance wanted to know if he could just get me. lol thanks in advance for your help!

the other thing, well i guess its more of a does anyone else do this kinda thing instead of a question but, since we are at the height of hurricane season here in sunny florida! does anyone look at the weather channel & see a hurricane getting close to florida & think please don't hit orlando! lol of course we don't want a hurricane hitting anywhere with people but i was just thinkin how i don't want a hurricane messin up WDW =) ok i'm done now. sorry! lol

 

[Courtman]

Hiya

I've driven in several times to pick people up from Epcot, they generally send you to the front left of the parking lot where the kennels are (were?), in Animal Kingdom it was the Diamond lot. You may get stopped by the parking cast members a couple of times but they'll wave you on quick enough when they know what your up to.

As for the hurricanes - yes! We went a few years ago and it was the year of the big ones, and we arrived just a couple of days after one had hit. We spent days wishing the course would alter or it'd move away quicker. It worked out OK in the end!

 

[Thorpyness]

I think the magic Kingdom has been shut a total of 4 times because of hurricanes in it's almost 40 years, so you take a 1 in 10 years chance...and i'm sure some of the closures were only for the odd day. Someone will have a reference rather than a memory.

1 in 10 years is good enough for me.

It was also shut on 9/11, but that was obviously not weather and exceptional.

 

[Monty]

If you're staying on-site, you'll be given a parking pass that's good for free parking at the parks.

Your fiancé won't be able to pick you up where the buses go, but each park has guest drop-off areas. You'll just need to both figure out where those are in advance. Your hotel Concierge should be able to help.

 

[Rinx]

The guest drop-off lot at Epcot is in the Imagine Lot near the kennel, front left.

 

[foreverbelle]

I'll answer your second question. Yes when we go down to the World during hurricane season, we watch very closely and when storms are forming I find myself doing dances and what not in hopes that it will miss the magical place. So your not the only one.

 

[Rob562]

Here's the pickup situation at Epcot:

The red circle is pretty much where he'd be picking you up. The lighter-colored pavement is really a parking pad for motorcycles, but there's also a bench or two around there somewhere. To get your bearings, you can see the edge of the monorail station in the bottom middle, and the kennel is just off-screen below the red circle.

He would enter from the Epcot toll plaza (just off-screen in the upper-left) and follow the yellow line alllllllll the way around the far end of the lot. There'll be a stop sign when he gets to the second major north-south lane (directly up from the red circle) that he'll have to be careful at, as there will be non-stopping cross-traffic exiting the lot there.
There's a colored line in the pavement for him to follow, but I'm blanking on what color it is. (Green, I think?)

Also, if it's late enough in the evening, there may not even be anyone on-duty at the toll plaza to stop/direct him on where to go.

-Rob

 

[French Quarter]

It might be easier for you to take the monorail over to one of the monorail resorts. (You'll have to transfer monorails at the TTC.) That way he can just pick you up at the main entrance of the Poly, the Contemporary or the GF and you won't have to worry about parking or crowds.

 

[Eljay]

Another option would be for you to have him pick you up at the Beach Club valet area. He would have to tell the security guard at the gate that he's picking you up, to get in.

You would exit Epcot at the International Gateway, between UK and the bridge to France.
The Beach Club lobby and valet area is a 5 minute walk from there.

A Google Earth look at the area would make it very clear.

 

[French Quarter]

Another option would be for you to have him pick you up at the Beach Club valet area. He would have to tell the security guard at the gate that he's picking you up, to get in.

You would exit Epcot at the International Gateway, between UK and the bridge to France.
The Beach Club lobby and valet area is a 5 minute walk from there.

A Google Earth look at the area would make it very clear.

Duh! That would be so much easier than my monorail plan! Good thinking. :sohappy:

 

[tizzo]

I think the magic Kingdom has been shut a total of 4 times because of hurricanes in it's almost 40 years, so you take a 1 in 10 years chance...and i'm sure some of the closures were only for the odd day. Someone will have a reference rather than a memory.

I don't think it was even that many times. I know that Charley in 2004 was the first weather-related closure of a WDW park ever, and they closed for Frances later that same year, and I think that's it.