The big issue, when you park east to west (aka last space in the row first), the people get out of their car and head to the West End to use the escalators/elevators, and just walk up the row, right into the line of cars. It slowed things down A LOT.
Second, human nature says you don't want the last space, and start parking at any space near the west end, not following the CM direction.
It was just one big F... Up Mess. And Disney had to switch directions.
Now, the way the original 1955 parking lot was smartly set up. Cars would enter from the East mainly, and South. Everyone would exit in the West Side (West Drive, now named Disneyland Drive), and back to Katella and the I-5, once it opened in the 1960's.
Parking Space went in rows going North to South, with room for 2 cars per space.
They park the North West rows first, one car per row, and then park the second space a bit later, after the first set of guests left the area.
Pedestrians had two choice, head North to the Main Entrance, or Trams (not assigned pick up zones) went to the west side of the row being parked. So those guests naturally got out of the vehicle traffic. And so it went until the spaces on the south end were full, and then it was looking for empty spaces, usually in the North West end, as that is where the early guests parked, and left early.
There was a loading area for trams taking you back to your car. But no real assigned drop off zones. The Tram Driver, based on how busy it was, would decide some central areas to drop off. Usually the driver (or rear position CM) would ask for a show of hands for specific areas, such as "If you parked in Daisy or Eeyore, please raise you hands" to figure out if they needed to stop there.
Was it a bit dangerous? Yes, plenty of stupid human tricks happened, like trying to enter/exit the tram while moving, etc. No Doors or seatbelts, so the CM's had to pay attention.
But it was very efficient and a great way to maximize the use of the lot.
But Michael Eisner heard about "Speed Parking", and mandated its use, and was proud when he talked about prior to DCA opening. Well, it was one of many failures in the Eisner/Pressler years, and one that cost more than a few bucks to fix, and Disney is still paying for it, as the current system requires the use of more CM's.
