Parking

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Malsdad

Malsdad

Oct 3, 2013
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Chesterfield
I've had quite a few 'not so good' experiences with preferred parking this year, and was wondering if anyone else notices or has experienced the same thing.

On a few occasions, I've paid for preferred parking, only to find out after I paid that their parking everyone in the preferred lot and not sending anyone to the main lots. I called them on it and got my money refunded. I was told that later in the day, they start parking everyone in the preferred lots so that the trams don't need to run as long when the park closes. That certainly makes sense, but it's dishonest to charge for it if everyone is getting it anyway. They pulled this on me again a second time and I once again called them on it. The supervisor at Guest Relations basically called me a liar and said that was not possible. I said it was, as I watched about 30 cars file right in behind me, none with preferred tags. I told her we would have to agree to disagree. Boy was I mad that day. It still really bothers me.

This past Saturday, around 2pm, I was told preferred was sold out. Germany lots were not being used and were EMPTY. I asked her where they are parking people and she said Scotland. Scotland??? Germany is empty, why are they parking people waaaay over there? I have yet to figure this one out yet.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

So, on my trek to the Scotland lot, which actually ended up being BAVARIA :shocked: I noticed well over 100 spaces available in preferred. Sold out huh??? So, I think I know what their doing on this one. When I first went to the parking booth, prior to handing them my pass, I had asked for preferred and was told it was available. As soon as I handed her my season pass, she got a weird look on her face and said, oh, yeah, preferred is not available.

My conclusion, and I can't 'yet' prove it, is that their holding those spots and selling them for the full price of $25 to the non season pass holders.

Grrrr:mad:
 
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I can't speak to most of these issues, but I have noticed for several years that they will stop issuing Preferred Parking passes, even when there are still a few available. My impression is that they sell X number of Preferred, and then stop because the lot is theoretically full. I guess they cannot easily account for people who leave. We have occasionally gotten them to give us the hangtag anyway, so we could look "just in case."
 
I can't fully answer the problem, but here is what I believe.

Parking operations changes from day to day as the projected or predicted attendance is changed. If they expect an extremely low amount of guests, on slower days, they try to park everyone in the France and England lots so that they can save the fuel for trams.

On any other day where they expect a decent sized amount of people, yet not capacity amount, they park people in the Italy and Ireland lots first so that trams will only have to stop at two points instead of stopping at three points in an effort to conserve fuel for the trams.

On days they expect to hit capacity, they park in the Italy and Ireland lots first, then they send them to the Scotland and Bavaria lots and then they will start using the Germany parking lot. This is because they can conserve fuel if they send one tram on the Overflow circuit and and whatever trams they have for the Regular circuit.

Now as far as Preferred Parking is concerned, they do have to save some spaces for handicapped, and whatever handicapped crowd they expect, as well as they save spaces for those picking up guests. The park does not want cars to idle or park in the area for picking guests up so that they don't block traffic, and they will tell them to go park in the France parking lot and wait until their party arrives at the parking lot or since they will not be staying for more than half an hour, they may be told to park in a handicapped parking space until their party arrives, provided there is space. If they refuse, they are told to drive out of the parking lots altogether and come back through the toll plaza when their party finally arrives at the parking lots.

I know this isn't a very sufficient and complete answer; however, it comes down to either saving or conserving fuel and then a few other small factors. I think the higher price discourages people from parking in the France parking lot, so that helps save spaces for other needs, but it really is unfair and uncertain on how their procedures work.
 
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malsdad said:
I've had quite a few 'not so good' experiences with preferred parking this year, and was wondering if anyone else notices or has experienced the same thing.
Click to expand...
Spring for the extra 2-3 dollars a month for a Platinum Pass. 99.9% satisfaction for the Almighty chickenking!! One day in the spring, I was denied entry to my beloved England lot due to it being packed out with buses for band kids and whatnot. I have been to the park a lot this year; all season long on the best and worst days. Platinum is the only way the chicken rolls.
 
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Hmmm... Maybe Chickenking and Kid Rock were both right. I'm going Platinum!

Is the food/drink discount any higher on the plat pass? Just the idea of cheaper beer would have me intrigued :s

Are you guaranteed England? I always get thrown in the other preferred lot, which isn't that bad either. How are you hooking England every time?

I have like 10 preferred parking thingies floating around my car now, just from this month alone, so this looks like the way to go...
 
Platinum passes get the same discounts; however, you get to skip the toll plaza all together and go straight to the employee/bus entrance and park in England.
 
No. Discounts are the same on all the season passes at 10%.

You are guaranteed nothing. Platinum for preferred simply means you don't have to PAY for preferred parking; wherever it is located; if available. Coming into the park via the Employee Gate means you have access to the England lot unless it is closed for whatever reason. In my many MANY visits this season, only once did I have to use the Germany lot for Preferred.

It is all about saving time. I can only imagine how many hours I have saved myself due to skipping the toll plaza and trams. Though I dearly love riding the trams and make special visits to them as a "ride".
 
I want to clarify some thing here. I have always had a Platinum Pass, and when I go in the main gate I am not always able to get Preferred Parking. I have just started using the England Lot, as I only discovered that option recently. So, it may be that I will never have parking problems again. That said, I have noticed that the England Lot is sometimes used for regular Preferred, in which case, I can see a scenario in which it might fill up, as well.

I just wanted to provide some caution, because the Platinum Pass is NOT a golden parking ticket.
 
Where is this employee gate located? How do you get to it? How did you find out PPM's can use it?

I'm a little directionally challenged, so if not careful I could end up in Bavaria:s
 
So looking at Google Maps, did I hit the mark as to where the Employee entrance booths are? What's the best exit # coming from Richmond, if you know...
 

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Yes you did.

And I learned about it from here, BGWFans, I believe, from Pretzel Kaiser a couple of years ago. I don't know where the initial information came from because I know that the park does not make this public.
 
I thought Shafor or CK posted it originally...

Also, the last 3 times I've gone. I've gotten parking in the exact same spot, which is the closest spot in the whole England Lot. And this was coming at like 2-3pm on a Friday, Saturday, and a Sunday.
 
I have a question. When were the France, Germany, Ireland, and Italy lots built? Was it before we got our 64 exit or when we got our 64 exit? Sorry I just can't remember.
 
I believe there has always been an Ireland, France, and England lot. They have just been expanded and such, I know it's surprising but back in the day, the entire Italy or German lot was nothing but trees.

I would say you can use the historical satellite images with the parcel viewer but last I checked, that feature was disabled. I will go searching around though.
 
Party Rocker said:
I believe there has always been an Ireland, France, and England lot. They have just been expanded and such, I know it's surprising but back in the day, the entire Italy or German lot was nothing but trees.
Click to expand...

Actually from what my Mom has told me she said that the original lots were Scotland, Bavaria, and England. Then they added on from there, but she can't remember when the lots over by what's now the main entrance were built. And those lots are France, Germany, Italy, and Ireland. I hope that helps you a little more.
 
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