Parking for dining at MK hotel restaurants

[horizons82]

I made a sincere effort to research this before posting, but since it has been 1-2 years since I last visited WDW I thought the forum would give me the most up-to-date info.

A couple of years ago my wife and I used to go to dinner at some of the signature restaurants at the GF & CR. At the time we either had Tables In Wonderland or were passholders, so parking at the hotels just to go for dinner was free and never an issue. (We are locals, so we used to drive to the hotels just for meals w/o visiting the parks).

However, we are no longer passholders and no longer have TIW, so if we are going to the CR or the GF just for dinner (with reservations), do we still have to pay for parking, or do we get waived through with our reservations? Is there a special lane we need to go through for dining purposes at the hotels?

I'm looking to reserve a nice dinner for my wife and I for during the holidays, but feel so out-of-the-loop now that we haven't been in some time, and haven't been without having had passes or TIW.

Thanks for any assistance or info!

 

[deeevo]

No, you don't have to pay just tell them security you have a reservation.

 

[horizons82]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Now when you say "security", are you referring to the security gate at the hotel? I know they will wave me through with a reservation, but what about at the main parking toll plaza?

Unless something has changed one still has to go through the main parking toll plaza to get to the hotel...the main parking fee will be waived for those with reservations, yes?

 

[deeevo]

Yes, the security booth up front and now that the fly over is completed you no longer have to go through the main parking toll plaza to get to GF, Poly, CR or WL.

 

[horizons82]

Oh wow, I really have been away for a while...thanks for the info!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Yes, the security booth up front and now that the fly over is completed you no longer have to go through the main parking toll plaza to get to GF, Poly, CR or WL.

When did that happen?

 

[deeevo]

When did that happen?

August it opened

 

[daisyduckie]

August it opened

View attachment 324538

And it is so nice!! But Goggle Maps was a bit confused.

When I was at the parks last month they did scan a magic band when I went to my ADRs at different Disney resorts.

 

[Rasstuss]

So do you have to be within a certain time frame of your ADR to park at the resort? For example we have a dinner ADR at 1900 Park Fare and plan to spend that day in MK beforehand. Could we park at GF that morning and then Monorail into MK for the day? I do understand this would be taking advantage of the system in a way but it would be convenient to have our car there at GF to just leave after dinner that evening.

 

[Tuvalu]

So do you have to be within a certain time frame of your ADR to park at the resort? For example we have a dinner ADR at 1900 Park Fare and plan to spend that day in MK beforehand. Could we park at GF that morning and then Monorail into MK for the day? I do understand this would be taking advantage of the system in a way but it would be convenient to have our car there at GF to just leave after dinner that evening.

You will be turned away at the gate if you show up in the morning. You will be allowed in up to an hour prior to your ADR time.

 

[Rasstuss]

You will be turned away at the gate if you show up in the morning. You will be allowed in up to an hour prior to your ADR time.

Thanks that makes sense, I'm sure if this wasn't the case that loophole would have already been well documented.