"Unofficial" Incentive-Free Parking at Disneyland

[Thousand Oaks CNGer]

When I moved to Southern CA from Texas 25 years ago, one pet peeve of mine was having to pay for parking.

In Texas... they want you to eat at their restaurant, or visit their mall. They don't want anything to keep you from coming, so they have large parking lots to accommodate the masses.

Of course in CA with land at a premium/and or non existent, it has given the establishments the excuse to charge for the convenience of parking.

With a natural gas car now, when I park, it gives me an excuse to mention quite innocently, "Do I get to park for free because I am driving a natural gas car?" I know it sounds pathetic and cheap, but hey we're in a recession and every little bit helps!

Usually most places say no, or don't even understand the concept of a NGV vehicle. But sometimes it works.

To my shock I pulled into Disneyland of all places at the end of summer, and was pleasantly surprised to be waved thru. I wasn't really looking forward to an end of the summer run at the happiest place on earth(wife and kids idea), but after my freebie, it started a day that eventually became the best time we had every had at the park(no lines!!!!)

So NGVers...give it a try when you pull to the attendant. You never know when you will get VIP recognition, for helping to Green the planet. I am sure Walt would have approved.


Paul

DISCLAIMER: I am sure this is not official Disneyland policy. I probably just found a sympathtic attendant.

[Timon]

Re: "Unofficial" Incentive-Free Parking at Disneyland

This would not surprise me since Disney has really been moving toward green fuels.

Since I have an Annual Pass with parking I've never worried about it but I'll have to ask the next time I go. If I find out anything I'll post.

[jetboatjohnny]

Re: "Unofficial" Incentive-Free Parking at Disneyland

I also have an annual pass (cheap one) with no free parking but I always go with a friend with the parking pass so I have never had to pay. Next visit I will ask to see if they actually have some kind of policy. They must have some kind of awareness of CNG because their trams used to be stinky on diesel but now are so nice to be running on CNG.

[cngmike]

Re: "Unofficial" Incentive-Free Parking at Disneyland

The flat boats for Tom Sawyers Island is also an NGV. It was weird watching them putt around the Long Beach Harbor.

[jetboatjohnny]

Re: "Unofficial" Incentive-Free Parking at Disneyland

The big boat still runs on diesel.

[scott]

Re: "Unofficial" Incentive-Free Parking at Disneyland

the engineer told me it was bio.

[CNG Utah]

Re: "Unofficial" Incentive-Free Parking at Disneyland

I don't see nearly as many CNG vehicles on the road in CA as I do in UT, so I was happy to see the CNG parking lot shuttles when I took my family to Disneyland a few months ago.

[CraziFuzzy]

Re: "Unofficial" Incentive-Free Parking at Disneyland

I don't see nearly as many CNG vehicles on the road in CA as I do in UT, so I was happy to see the CNG parking lot shuttles when I took my family to Disneyland a few months ago.

by percent of cars on the road, you are right, NGV isn't quite a high as Utah right now. but that said, I'm pretty sure there are actually more ABSOLUTE number of cars in ca than any other state... there's SOMETHING paying for the huge fueling infrastructure here. It's just mostly fleets (who have been using it en masse here for MANY years.)

As for Disneyland... are there ANY SoCAL CNG'ers who Don't have the annual pass? ;-) I guess I'd also be interested if there is free parking for CNG, but I also have the parking on my pass (well, actually on my daughter's pass).

did some research, and it seems that the Trams (both crew AND guest), Tom Sawyer Island rafts, Jungle Cruise boats, the Sailing Ship Columbia, and all main street vehicles use CNG. The large trains, and I believe the Mark Twain use bio-diesel (from the park's waste cooking oil).

[malibu]

Re: "Unofficial" Incentive-Free Parking at Disneyland

No free parking for CNG or any Alternative Fuel Vehicles at Disneyland here in California. I asked last weekend. Too bad for us.

[ajgiorgi]

Re: "Unofficial" Incentive-Free Parking at Disneyland

I don't see nearly as many CNG vehicles on the road in CA as I do in UT, so I was happy to see the CNG parking lot shuttles when I took my family to Disneyland a few months ago.

It's bc of CARB. You don't see as much in CA. I would love to have a 300 mile focus, but no, we cant have that. It's only EPA approved. BS!

[CraziFuzzy]

Re: "Unofficial" Incentive-Free Parking at Disneyland

I dunno... it's a business decision on the part of the conversion shops. Really, the CARB certification isn't THAT much more expensive than EPA, and it's not like they need to get both. If they choose to go CARB, that trumps EPA. It's just a matter of whether that extra cost will equate into better sales with the larger market California (plus the 12 other CARB states) has to offer. Previously, non-fleet sales have been highest in Utah, because of the fuel cost situation for a number of years there. I do think that CA could provide quite a few new private customers... we'll see what happens when natural drive finishes up on their supposed CARB program. I wonder, after they go through that, if John would recommend to others to forgo the EPA altogether and go straight for CARB. It does appear they are going for CARB certs on the 2010 Impala, and 6.0L trucks, instead of the EPA.

[ajgiorgi]

Re: "Unofficial" Incentive-Free Parking at Disneyland

I dunno... it's a business decision on the part of the conversion shops. Really, the CARB certification isn't THAT much more expensive than EPA, and it's not like they need to get both. If they choose to go CARB, that trumps EPA. It's just a matter of whether that extra cost will equate into better sales with the larger market California (plus the 12 other CARB states) has to offer. Previously, non-fleet sales have been highest in Utah, because of the fuel cost situation for a number of years there. I do think that CA could provide quite a few new private customers... we'll see what happens when natural drive finishes up on their supposed CARB program. I wonder, after they go through that, if John would recommend to others to forgo the EPA altogether and go straight for CARB. It does appear they are going for CARB certs on the 2010 Impala, and 6.0L trucks, instead of the EPA.

If they know that in the first place why EPA cert? They can make a killing out here in Cali.

[CraziFuzzy]

Re: "Unofficial" Incentive-Free Parking at Disneyland

CARB is more restrictive, and therefore, harder to pass.. on top of that, i believe it is much more costly. John Mitton would be the one to answer this. Smaller shops may not be able to outlay the higher capital, and if their production/conversion capability is lower than the demand of the NON-CARB states, than it doesn't make sense to pay for the more expensive certs. I believe the SCAQMD is helping to fund NaturalDrive's CARB certification process, so this decision is a bit easier to make in that case.