It's hard to believe that we're already 3 months into 2015! I seriously don't even know where January and February went? The closing of February brought a nice catch up session with many friends from the SoCal area. My first visit was for an anniversary celebration of 6 (yeah that's a scary number) years with my Delta class sisters! We met up at Guppies in Hacienda Heights for dinner and finished our night with some T-Swift singing and shaved ice from Class 302. That weekend, more CSUF (Cal State Fullerton) friends and I planned on a hiking adventure, but instead it decided to rain the WHOLE day. So we ventured off to Burbank for Pho at Mama Hong's Vietnamese Kitchen; the perfect meal for a rainy day. Lucky for us Santa Monica's famous DK's Doughnuts was down the street too, hello cronuts! My friend Jessica had also traveled from Texas over the weekend in hopes of warmer weather. We agreed that Disneyland was the best place to catch up since we always went during our college days!
Out of the millions of times we have gone, finding our parking spot had never been an issue, until this trip! Yup, both our phones died and that meant bye, bye to the parking info we had saved that morning. Thanks to a really generous parking attendant we found my car 2 hours later. Worst Disney parking fail ever! However, I was happy to hear that people lose their cars ALL the time at Disneyland. If you are still reading this post you have probably done this at at least once in your life (be honest now). I will say the positive was getting a damn good power walk! We also passed by a few people who were clicking the panic button on their car keys because they too had a hard time finding their cars. See, I really wasn't alone in the struggle. In the end I was super thankful for the parking attendant's time and patience. I made a call to customer service and put in a good word, hopefully a promotion is in order. The lady I spoke with got a good laugh too, but also admitted to having lost her car for a good hour a few years back. Disneyland has awesome customer service! My experience with customer service at Disney World in December wasn't the same. Maybe it's just that friendly California demeanor?
Here are a few helpful tips that I learned from the Disney parking attendant.
How to Prevent a Disney Parking Fail
1. Take your parking pass with you! You will not be towed if your parking pass isn't visible on the dashboard. (This isn't the school parking lot)
2. Actually write out the structure name and location on paper, your hand, etc, whatever works best for you.
3. Take a picture (and hope that battery doesn't die)
4. Keep note of the time you arrived and parked. Disney actually has a log of where visitors park according to the time of arrival.
5. Extend the life of your phone battery by using the "airplane mode" if you choose to write the parking info in your notes. (There is no place to charge your phone in the park)
6. Use your noggin! Something we often forget to do is rely on our memory especially with the convenience of cell phones, I pads, and other technology based devices.
I will definitely be memorizing where I parked next time and writing it down. If you are planning on a trip to Disney anytime soon I highly suggested using 1 of the 6 methods above that best works for you, (believe me) you will be glad you did!
Have you ever lost your car at Disney? If you have share your story in the comment section, because I know I'm not the only one!
To see all the details from my Disney Parking Fail vlog check out my video. If you found it entertaining and funny give it a like! Most importantly, please subscribe to my channel!
Check out the food stops from my video!
Guppy Tea House - Hacienda Heights, CA
Class 302 - Rowland Heights, CA
Mama Hong's Vietnamese Kitchen - Burbank, CA
DK's Doughnuts - Santa Monica, CA
Disneyland Customer Service - Anaheim, CA