If this is that serious of a problem - the DTD parking lot getting filled with cars from people trying to avoid paying to park in the theme park lots - then maybe this is the best solution - pay for parking in the DTD lot, too. Not necessarily a lot or as much as the theme park lots, just comparable to what a small town might charge in their municipal lot.
Many towns and cities with paid parking now have, instead of a meter by every space, a couple of machines on a street or in a lot, where you pay for your parking, leave the receipt in yoour car (facing up, so the police/meter readers can see how long you've paid for parking) and make sure you return before your time expires. I propose that Disney really ought to consider using those machines.
DTD parking could be as inexpensive as a quarter every half hour or quarter hour, and a person can pay up to 12 hours at a time. But if you're staying on site, your parking permit bypasses the required payment.
Finally, they should make the fine for not getting your car out or paying for more parking pretty severe so no one tries to take advantage of it.
What this does is a: Prevent resort guests from having to pay for parking, since one of the perks of staying on property is free parking; b: bring in a little more revenue, which WDW sorely needs
but seriously, a little extra coin never hurts, it might just be enough to pay for the security they'd need to patrol the lot and have expired cars or scofflaws towed; c: if someone is planning to use the DTD to save money by parking there and taking a bus to a theme park, they'd have to either pay just a couple of bucks and hope they get back on time, OR they'll have to put in so much money to avoid the risk of being late, it's not worth it, they may as well park in the theme park lots.
The people this indirectly affects the most are people (mostly locals) who are coming to DTD just to shop or eat or enjoy nightlife, & are not locals. They might wind up paying 5-10 dollars more a day, and that would stink. One potential way around that is to do what many supermarkets do with their receipt tape - print coupons on the back. Maybe it's good for a free soda with purchase of a sandwich at Earl of Sandwich, or free popcorn at the movies, a few dollars off a CD at Virgin, with no expiration date or a long far-away expiration date. To be used next time. Or, when the receipt prints out, the coupon could print out along with it to be detached at the end, and the more you spend on parking that day, the more coupons you get, and this way people are getting back at least some of what they spent on parking, and with coupons that many stores tend to give away anyway to entice business.
Have your people get on that- pronto. :ROFLOL:
