Pixar Pals Parking Structure Specifics/Updates

[Old Mouseketeer]

When I went earlier in the week, Pixar Pals was absolutely jammed after the fireworks with bumper to bumper traffic just to exit. I was parked in Mickey & Friends and it was the total opposite. No difficulties leaving whatsoever.

I'm not surprised. There are a lot of logistics to be tested and practiced. I hope they will improve their handling of the exit flow, especially after fireworks as they gain more experience.

EDIT: I suspect they don't have all their exit options online yet. They are set up to offer exit from Pixar Pals two ways: one is next to the entrance at the traffic light on Magic Way. The other is through the "chute" at the back of the new structure parallel to Walnut. There is a green gate on Magic Way and a cut in the traffic island. But I assume this would require APD directing traffic on Magic Way. I think they're probably not quite at the point of implementing this. But these are my best guesses.

My Bothans report a change in CM parking. CMs who enter the Ball CM Lot which is North of M&F have often been able to park on the second level of M&F, but had to exit with guests down the ramp in the middle of the structure. I'm told that they have coned the Eastern-most (shortest) ramp on the North side of M&F which CMs use to access the second floor, and have made it two-way traffic. This allows CMs to exit through the Ball CM Lot onto Ball Road. In addition, CMs can use all of the second floor in both structures.

This will be interesting to monitor through the summer.

 

[Darkbeer1]

So after the USA won the WWC, My lovely Wife Lisa wanted to get out of the house and do some walking. (She lives by her Fitbit, and it has taken her from a size 18 to a size 2!)

So we decided on AGW and DtD. I asked her to do a scenic drive by the Westin, Hilton Garden Inn and Home2Suites, MCML, Element, The JW Marriott, Radisson Blu, Cambria and KCML/Bullseye. On the way to the Westin, we drove by both Parking Structures, and noticed the Magic Way entrance to Pixar Pals was open.

So after the drive bys, we decided to park at Pixar Pier. Got to the structure around 1 PM, and NOBODY was using the entrance. We pull up to one of the two booths open, paid $25 and then directed to the ground level Incredibles ADA parking area. (Located behind the concrete wall of the tram loading area). Parked the car facing the wall. Followed the signs pointing north saying "Disney Parks" only to be told all the signs are wrong, and you need to go south to Magic Way (almost), and turn left and follow the sidewalk.

At the end is metal fencing, and a staircase and elevator. No way to get to the Tram Loading area. So Lisa said she would walk to the 6th Floor, and I took the elevator. After taking some photos, we walked to M&F, went to the 1st Floor (Lisa by the stairs, I used the elevator). We then used the restroom (which is why we went to M&F). Then we went to Tram Security, and took the tram.

After going to DtD, then AGW and back to DtD, I took the tram back or tried to around 6 PM. The tram at the station had a computer error and wouldn't let it leave the station, so they took all the ADA people in line to a Mickey Van. We loaded and left, while the tram was still stuck in the station, and a bunch of trams sat in locations empty. They even sent one tram back empty to PP.

So get out of the Mickey Van, which unloaded inside security on the south end. Of course, the exit is on the north side. At this point, I had to go south to the main PP elevators, go up to the 2nd floor, switch to the far south elevators on the other side of the tram road, and go back to one. Then walk the path back to the car. Now, I am getting better in my walking and extending my distance. But I was getting somewhat tired, only had two main rest stops, lunch at Earl of Sandwich and a snack at Cold Stone Creamery on Harbor just before taking the tram back to the car.

But whoever decided that Incredibles was a great place for ADA parking, well, they should have had some real life ADA folks test it out.....

But they were directing PP guests leaving to the Magic Way exit, which was nice. (Left turn to Disneyland Drive ONLY, no option to go to Walnut).

And I have a SOAR meeting coming up. A lot to talk about, including the lack of the predicted capacity crowds (aka less tax revenue than hoped for), but before/after the meeting, I will be talking to some nice CM's, if I don't get to before that.

 

[mandelbrot]

I'm not surprised. There are a lot of logistics to be tested and practiced. I hope they will improve their handling of the exit flow, especially after fireworks as they gain more experience.

EDIT: I suspect they don't have all their exit options online yet. They are set up to offer exit from Pixar Pals two ways: one is next to the entrance at the traffic light on Magic Way. The other is through the "chute" at the back of the new structure parallel to Walnut. There is a green gate on Magic Way and a cut in the traffic island. But I assume this would require APD directing traffic on Magic Way. I think they're probably not quite at the point of implementing this. But these are my best guesses.

My Bothans report a change in CM parking. CMs who enter the Ball CM Lot which is North of M&F have often been able to park on the second level of M&F, but had to exit with guests down the ramp in the middle of the structure. I'm told that they have coned the Eastern-most (shortest) ramp on the North side of M&F which CMs use to access the second floor, and have made it two-way traffic. This allows CMs to exit through the Ball CM Lot onto Ball Road. In addition, CMs can use all of the second floor in both structures.

This will be interesting to monitor through the summer.

Good to hear. I am among the many CM's who are being moved from the Simba CM lot to the Ball CM lot. If we can park in Pixar Pals the walk will be somewhat bearable. Exiting will suck, though.

 

[Ismael Flores]

not sure if it has been mentioned but it looks like Mickey and Friends structure is getting more elevators. the foundation is being added and the levels have had their fencing/walls cut where the landings are.

also many of the trees are in place for the new courtyard.


I also want to rant about the people that sit down and make some if the ost stupid decisions when it comes to the trams load areas.

so yesterday at the end of day we walked out of park to encounter one of the most stupid ideas of crowd control for loading.

i wish i had taken pictures.

most of the western side if the esplanade past the ticket booths was closed of with heavy barriers. it forced people to funnel south towards DTD.

now the reason is because they closed off the northern unload area. you would think using the signs or just blocking off that path would be enough instead the close of a HUGE area.
not only that imagine the trouble to bring out all these huge barriers. we are talking dozens.

once people were crowded into the area by Boudin they funneled people up the first tram walkway.
here is where it gets worse. the waiting area for the tram was full of barriers as well with people tripping over the footstands of the barriers.

They literally created a dedicated path all along the tram load area for disable people cutting the waiting space in half. The disable path also had a sign saying it was a disable path but it was so big that it blocked the walkway for the non disabled. then they moved it to right in front of the path blocking the way for wheelchairs.

people were so confused that they avoided it and cut thru the regular loading area.

If thats not all they only had one load area for one tram because as you walked further down they added even more barriers and a maze of chains allowing only disabled people that had merged from the now basically inaccessible path.

now lets make it even worse, my first thinking was who is the moron that decided this. This is an accident waiting to happen. they probably wanted to force people into DTD or at least the Disney store but that wasn't the case.

not only did they add all these unnecessary barriers but they also closed off every ramp that leads from the DTD area to the tram area.

everyone in DTD shopping now had to head east and merge with guests coming west and fight their way into a reduce tram area filled with obstacles.

i left at 8:45pm and yesterday the parks where not dead at all. crowds were forming for the fireworks and DCA had a nice big crowd. when i left the tram area was a nightmare with crowds packing it in that area and i could only imagine what it was like when everyone left after fireworks.

in just don't understand who comes up with these stupid decisions. why don't they just let things flow the way they are designed to flow. the tram loading area only needs CM's guiding people to open areas. They don't need to corral people like cattle and make things worse.

 

[Ismael Flores]

and my other complain, i am a disabled person, i have necrosis and cant stand in one area long. i do not use the disable cards or anything in the parks and just look at wait times and know my limit but when it comes to tram loading i do.

my complain is that sometimes the disable load ramp is sometimes worse because of a certain policy. there is always someone that is too lazy to fold their stroller and decides to use the ramps.
yesterday myself and three other people with canes and a couple wheelchairs had to wait for other trams because at least half a dozen strollers where using the ramp load.

i looked over to the shuttle and it was the same situation. there were three strollers in line and being allowed to board meanwhile a couple wheelchairs with disabled children had to wait for the shuttle to go and come back.

Disney really needs to treat the disable load area like a disable parking space. being lazy with a stroller should be unacceptable and they should require them to wait like the other people with strollers or advice them that wheelchairs and disabled people take priority and they would have to step aside and wait.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

You should add that to the list of managerial blunders.

The high-pitched lispy nerd voice would try to tell you it's because they've added so many additional parking spaces resulting in increased crowding.

 

[Darkbeer1]

Ismael, I presume you meant the La Brea Bakery...

And if the Strollers had the large Red Luggage Check Band, it will state Stroller being used as a Wheelchair, therefore allowed and treated like any other ADA device. The CM's are supposed to only let the Red Tag strollers to use the ramp, everyone else need to place them onto the tram from ground level.

 

[shambolicdefending]

my complain is that sometimes the disable load ramp is sometimes worse because of a certain policy. there is always someone that is too lazy to fold their stroller and decides to use the ramps.
yesterday myself and three other people with canes and a couple wheelchairs had to wait for other trams because at least half a dozen strollers where using the ramp load.

i looked over to the shuttle and it was the same situation. there were three strollers in line and being allowed to board meanwhile a couple wheelchairs with disabled children had to wait for the shuttle to go and come back.

On multiple occasions my wife and I have been specifically directed by the CMs to take our large-ish stroller to those loading lanes. We have no issues folding it up. But, you should know that the CMs openly advertise those lanes for strollers as well as disabled guests.

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

On multiple occasions my wife and I have been specifically directed by the CMs to take our large-ish stroller to those loading lanes. We have no issues folding it up. But, you should know that the CMs openly advertise those lanes for strollers as well as disabled guests.

I think this may be the issue. The trams can only load large strollers into the front (double) row. It looks to me that part of the strategy with the expanded structure is that they are trying to divert more of the strollers into the Mickey Vans to increase the dispatch time of the higher capacity trams. I don't have any insight to their capacity calculations, but it just seems to me that the more strollers being loaded into the trams, the longer the load time and the smaller the capacity. But I could be wrong. I'm mobility impaired, as well, and have used the trams with visitors who were exclusively wheelchair users. The problem is the decision to keep using their legacy tram system rather than spending the money to build an airport-style peoplemover that loads everyone at-grade.

I believe that one of the problems is that when an airport authority builds a peoplemover system, they are passing some of the costs onto the airlines. Disney has to pay for it on their own. OTOH, they got Mickey & Friends for free so they could damn well have afforded to upgrade!

 

[Disney Irish]

Speaking of trees, here is the latest from the new courtyard being developed at the parking complex, starting to look good:

Good thing there is no coaster going through here, it'd be a maintenance nightmare....

 

[Darkbeer1]

Hey, maybe they can take a few of the Pixar Balls in the Forefront and used them near the Emotional Whirlwind. That should be nice next to the oval rocks.

 

[Ismael Flores]

Ismael, I presume you meant the La Brea Bakery...

And if the Strollers had the large Red Luggage Check Band, it will state Stroller being used as a Wheelchair, therefore allowed and treated like any other ADA device. The CM's are supposed to only let the Red Tag strollers to use the ramp, everyone else need to place them onto the tram from ground level.

didn't pay attention to see if they had the tag, All i notice is that they were empty or had merchandise on it. The children were being carried. I will have to look at that next time

 

[Mac Tonight]

Speaking of trees, here is the latest from the new courtyard being developed at the parking complex, starting to look good:

View attachment 390609

Good thing there is no coaster going through here, it'd be a maintenance nightmare....

I can hardly see anything... there's too many trees in the way!

 

[mandelbrot]

A lot more CM's are parking in the structures since the closure of the Simba CM lot. The second floor of both structures will be primarily CM parking for the foreseeable future. Simba is being reworked to be DTD's only lot. No word on what happens to the old DTD main lot (Stitch?) but the old DTD overflow lot (Lilo?) is now exclusively DLH CM parking.

It's weird. A giant new structure opens and parking gets worse for just about everyone.

 

[Disney Irish]

A lot more CM's are parking in the structures since the closure of the Simba CM lot. The second floor of both structures will be primarily CM parking for the foreseeable future. Simba is being reworked to be DTD's only lot. No word on what happens to the old DTD main lot (Stitch?) but the old DTD overflow lot (Lilo?) is now exclusively DLH CM parking.

It's weird. A giant new structure opens and parking gets worse for just about everyone.

Yes, but wasn't most of this always going to happen once the new Hotel started construction. It just appears, with some adjustments, they're going ahead with all the parking changes even though the new Hotel isn't going to happen.

 

[mandelbrot]

Yes, but wasn't most of this always going to happen once the new Hotel started construction. It just appears, with some adjustments, they're going ahead with all the parking changes even though the new Hotel isn't going to happen.

Things would be different if the hotel was built but no less inconvenient. A structure would have been built in Simba instead of Pinocchio but at least there would be the hope things would get better once the Simba structure was done. As it looks today, this is the new normal.

 

[Disney Irish]

Things would be different if the hotel was built but no less inconvenient. A structure would have been built in Simba instead of Pinocchio but at least there would be the hope things would get better once the Simba structure was done. As it looks today, this is the new normal.

Actually not true.

Here was the plan from a little under 2 years ago before the cancellation of the new hotel, note Pinocchio still being used and almost eveything you mentioned is part of this plan minus the hotel:

 

[Darkbeer1]

Just drove by the Manchester CM Lot. Vehicles are using the new main entrance, and a CM Shuttle was servicing the lot.

I would say about 100 vehicles at 8 AM Thursday.

 

[The_Mesh_Hatter]

Just drove by the Manchester CM Lot. Vehicles are using the new main entrance, and a CM Shuttle was servicing the lot.

I would say about 100 vehicles at 8 AM Thursday.

Total opposite of Ball Lot (behind and including level 2 of the structures), which is a total mess right now. Granted, MCML is mainly used by DCA CMs so the day is still young.

 

[Darkbeer1]

Just got out of a SOAR meeting. As always, can't really share, but Disneyland Parking came up. One fact I can share, the 4 Magic Way bridge segments were built in North Dakota and trucked to Anaheim.