$11 for parking

[WallyBoag]

Chargers Stadium also offers many alternatives to driving including a trolley stop at the stadium, busses from suburban centers etc. etc. all for less than 20 bucks for two people, and you don't have to pay for gas or wear and tear on your car. And by the way, Petco has a $5 and $8 lot that you forgot to mention.

Staples Center has tons of off site lots, many of which are closer than the "official" lot, and most of which charge 10 dollars or less. You might have to walk a quarter mile, but you definitely are not stuck with the $20 "official" lot. Same situation applies for the concert hall. On weekends and weekday evenings there are tons of $5 lots near the concert hall.

Here are some other prices to compare Disneyland to:

Angels Stadium:
$8 general lot
$5 across the street
Tons of free street parking one block away

The Hollywood Bowl:
Free parking at the LA Zoo, $3 per person round-trip bus from the zoo to the bowl.

California Beaches:
Most charge $3-$5 a day, if there is no free parking.

Tram service at Disneyland, by the way, really sucks. I usually wind up walking anyway.

[Banjalot]

Because this discussion board, like some others, looks at both sides of the equation, to properly discuss anything, you must look at all aspects, not just the positive or the negative.

[TP2000]

Tram service at Disneyland, by the way, really sucks. I usually wind up walking anyway.

I guess you've never been to Six Flags Magic Mountain.

The two (2) small trams they own and occasionally operate on busy weekends are like something you might find to take you to the satellite parking lot in hell. Rusty, paint peeling, covered in grafitti scratchings and old gum, capacity of about 40 people tops, belching fumes, and hosted by a delightful Santa Clarita high school dropout hanging off the back mumbling "remain seated hands inside the vehicle 'til we stop" into a PA system wired through one blown speaker. It's a riot!

Your other option is to walk, uphill, from wherever in the parking lot you found your own spot. Magic Mountain parking staffs no one to assist with anything after you pay your 15 bucks. No help whatsoever.

Legoland is cleaner, but again the parking lot is located downhill from the main entrance. You get to walk up the hill to the theme park, without any tram service whatsoever. They do have one Ford van at Legoland to take you up the hill if you are in a wheelchair, but that's it.

Compared to the parking lot operation of other SoCal theme parks the Disneyland operation is run like a Swiss railway.

And yes, you can find cheaper parking at some of the entertainment venues I mentioned. But you can also park for free across the street from Disneyland and be at the main gate in minutes. The International House of Pancakes is an easy target, or Mimi's Cafe works too. The Fairfield Inn also has a really big parking lot that never checks cars and has no parking permit process. (some of the smaller motels aren't as easy as the Fairfield) You could also park at the Anaheim Convention Center for $9.00 and walk across the street to the tram stop in Timon and get to the main entrance that way, saving two bucks. You can also park in the Cast Member lot on Katella and take their shuttle bus to the Esplanade, all for free. The Security CM's there never check parking permits, and as long as you look like you could be a CM (no facial tattoos or green hair), no one would ever stop you. There were some AP's recently bragging about how they park in the Cast Member lot and ride the shuttles with the CM's for free when they visit Disneyland. They claim it's easy and fun and a thrilling way to start their Disneyland day, not to mention it's free parking. It happens, and so you have to consider it as a parking option for your next visit to Disneyland.

You can park for cheap - or free - or illegally, or any combination of those three options, at any number of SoCal entertainment and sports venues. And that includes Disneyland. That wasn't the point of my post however. The point was that the official parking rates and operation at the Disneyland Resort is priced competitively or under the official rates charged by many other competing entertainment venues within a 100 mile radius of Anaheim.

[darph nader]

This is why we stay 'off' sit. $11.00 in my pocket.

[TP2000]

And by the way, Petco has a $5 and $8 lot that you forgot to mention.

I didn't mention it because I thought it wasn't fair to Petco. It's apples and oranges, and it's not at all flattering to Petco Park's parking options. Here's a map of the parking options Petco Park has in downtown San Diego. http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/NASAp...rking_2006.jsp

The $8.00 parking begins 10 city blocks from the entrance to Petco Park. It ranges between a 10 to 15 block walk.

The $5.00 parking begins 13 city blocks from the entrance to Petco Park. It ranges between a 13 and 21 block walk.

Doing a quick calculation on Yahoo maps, the closest $8.00 parking area to Petco Park's main entrance is a 1.1 mile walk though city streets. The $8.00 parking ranges from 1.1 miles at the closest, to 1.7 miles at the farthest.

The $5.00 parking option is my favorite, now that we're talking about it. The closest $5.00 parking area for a Padres game at Petco Park is a 1.4 mile walk from the stadium. The farthest $5.00 parking for Petco is a 2.3 mile walk. You could walk a few blocks on each end to a trolley station and take the trolley part of the way, but that adds $2.50 per person for round trip trolley fare and thus defeats the purpose of getting that awesome $5.00 parking space two miles away in Little Italy.

As a point of reference, a 1.1 mile walk to Disneyland's main entrance would be the equivalent of paying $8.00 for parking and walking to the main gate from the entrance to the Fujishige strawberry farm down on Harbor Blvd. A 2 mile walk to Disneyland's main gate would be the equivalent of paying only $5.00 for parking and walking from the Anaheim Amtrak Station near Angels Stadium. Bring comfy shoes.

And since we're talking apples and oranges here, I should mention that parking in and around downtown San Diego on a weekend for a game at Petco Park is a madhouse! Clogged streets, honking horns, drunk Marines, panhandling bums, wailing car alarms and jammed intersections are all part of the fun of parking in those satellite lots a mile or more from Petco Park. Don't get me wrong, I love San Diego and find it to be one of America's most fabulous cities, but it gets very crowded downtown on game day. Just as it does in any big city on game day with a splashy new downtown stadium. It's nowhere near as organized, master planned and efficient as the Disneyland operation.

[Homer]

Tram service at Disneyland, by the way, really sucks. I usually wind up walking anyway.

How does it suck? It gets you to where you want to go and the wait is always minimal, how does that suck?

[bbmm]

People expect parking to be pricey at theme parks. Especially at Disneyland.

[RoyalMidnight]

I'm still trying to figure out the correlation between a closer-to-living-wage minimum wage and the rising cost of parking.

[WallyBoag]

I find that the times that I do park at Disneyland I very rarely am able to get on the next available tram, usually having to wait in a mob for two or three tram loads.

If you park in Timon, forget. One, maybe two trams running. At least a 20 minute wait from getting out of your car to getting to the front entrance or vice-versa. Much faster to walk.

[jonvn]

But you can also park for free across the street from Disneyland and be at the main gate in minutes. The International House of Pancakes is an easy target, or Mimi's Cafe works too.

You can get your car towed that way.