Hi everyone -- thanks for all of comments and discussion! I just finished a shift serving ice cream at GKTW (the best part of being a local - so many cute munchkins tonight!) and I knew there would be some good responses to read through. Definitely some things for me to think about...also, I have a few things to add to clarify and maybe elaborate a bit.
1. First, yes, part of the reason I raised this is definitely because I feel like I'm seeing a trend. My AP has been blacked out for the past 2 weeks, but for the 4-6 weeks prior to that I have noticed that each time I visit on Saturday morning, there is a CM very loudly and enthusiastically telling me to walk to the gate rather than wait for a tram. I was sort of hyper aware of it one morning because even though I usually do prefer to walk rather than wedge myself onto a packed tram, that morning I just didn't feel like making the walk. It was unusually humid, I was tired, and...I just didn't feel like it. And while I was waiting for another tram, I was just really surprised to have this CM repeating over and over "YOU. DO. NOT. NEED. TO. WAIT. FOR. A. TRAM! It's just a 3-5 minute walk! It's faster to walk!" It was aggressive, and it just didn't have a tone of someone trying to offer a helpful suggestion. It was more like, don't be lazy, just walk. That particular time I was in Peter Pan, about halfway into the section.
I thought it might help to provide a few visuals. First, here's an aerial view I found of the parking lot (I believe this is the current Heroes/Villains layout) -- the blue line marks the distance from where I parked in Hook yesterday to the bag check area at the TTC. We basically walked across half of the lot:
2. My main concern was safety. As others have mentioned, there is not really a clear pedestrian pathway. As you travel through the lot, the lines sort of become unclear and it's hard to figure out where traffic might be coming from. Also, from Hook you follow a pathway that curves around, and then you have a lot of freedom as to where to walk (the same thing is true on the Heroes side as well). There probably is a "correct" path to follow, but it requires you to follow a long curve and it isn't the most direct way to get to the tunnel that leads to the TTC. Here's a very crude rendering (the blue line) of the path that people are probably meant to take (this is a cropped view of the total walk, but you'll get the idea):
The problem I saw yesterday is that once people got past the tree line (marked) and they could kind of see where the TTC tunnel is, they just sort scattered and walked any way they thought was correct. This is where I saw lots of people crossing active roadways and traffic, because they didn't seem to realize that people were trying to park in the preferred and handicap lots. The red lines represent the directions that various groups of people were taking (they were literally everywhere), and I would estimate that there were about 200-300 people in my line of sight at any time (and plenty more behind me):
*note -- I know these maps have AAA Diamond Parking marked and that's not there anymore, but otherwise I think these are pretty accurate
There were no CMs past the tree line, and no one to help visitors find the proper path to take. Now, I didn't see any accidents, or even near accidents...but I couldn't help but feel that the potential for something to happen was just way too strong for my comfort.
3. I didn't question the CM yesterday who said there were no trams for the Hook lot. No one else really questioned him (there was just a lot of groaning) and I am perfectly able-bodied and could manage the walk. So I didn't directly ask for an explanation (like tram maintenance or something else), but he did not offer one. There were trams running, we did see one on the Villains side heading from the TTC out into the parking lot, but we were told we could not wait for that one or cross the road to board it. There were several trams running from the Heroes side (they passed us as we all went through the tunnel), and I was able to take a tram back out to the Villains side when I left a few hours later.
4. Part of the reason this leaves a bad taste in my mouth is that I do feel like the CMs are misleading people, or being told to mislead people, about the walk times and I feel (again, my opinion) that it's intentional. Telling people it will be a 3-5 minute walk from any lot other than preferred parking is just wrong. I was told 5 minutes from my spot in Hook yesterday, and when it clocked in at least .5 miles, I feel confident saying that few people are making that walk in 5 minutes. So tell people to walk, no problem...but tell them it is probably 10-15 minutes and let them decide whether they are up to it, whether they want to insist that their little ones are in strollers, or whether they want to wait. I wondered what the CM might say to someone on crutches or using a cane, someone who has an obvious mobility issue, maybe they would get more accurate info. But still, there are so many people who don't have "obvious" issues that might really need a tram, and what will their experience be?
5. I do agree that this weekend was particularly busy and that might have been a factor. Spring break crowds were still out in force and they were parking people on grassy areas when I was leaving, leading me to believe the parking lot was quite full, and the Star Wars races were taking up some space in the farthest section of the MK parking lot. And I do wonder if either of those played a role...but on the other hand, those are all things under Disney's control. If they want to have a race, or allow huge numbers of cars into their parking lot on a busy weekend, that's up to them. I don't see that this gives them an excuse to provide substandard service to guests paying high prices for both tickets and parking, particularly if that poor service creates potentially dangerous situations.
ETA: I also thought about whether this had something to do with the move of bag check and metal detectors to the TTC. And, maaayyybe that could be possible, at least as a theory Disney is testing. I did notice the "encouragement" to walk well before security screening started at the TTC, but maybe it was an anticipatory move...concern about too many trams full of people arriving at the same time? The problem is, the walkers still arrive in pretty big throngs at the same time, and I still don't think that is a good excuse for telling people "it's just 5 minutes" and not providing clear and safe walkways. But I did mention this in my email to Disney, so we'll see if there's anything there.
6. I'm pretty sure the guest experience is still important to Disney, and this was not a good one. Walking through a hot parking lot without shade is not magical. And I only expect tram service in the parking lot because Disney has been providing it for the 25 years that I've been visiting WDW. They created that expectation for me (and all of their guests), and it means something if they are going to suddenly limit or restrict that service.
7. And finally, regarding my assumption that this is a cost-cutting measure -- it's true, this is just a guess and it's based only on my experience. But I will say that in the past year, I have seen so many things at Disney go shockingly down hill that I just tend to default to blaming it all on management trying to save money. Bathrooms that are absolutely filthy, trash strewn throughout ride queues, cast members that are badly misinformed and downright rude, rides CONSTANTLY breaking down...again, it's just my experience but the change is pretty dramatic and I do find myself missing the magical experience of just a few years ago.
I will await a response from Disney, and I may also try to go over to the MK one morning this week and see what the situation is. I'd love to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience -- maybe I'm just realllly unlucky these days!
Proper communication is very important to me (I hate miscommunication and being misunderstood more than I hated bell peppers as a child), so understanding why they were giving bad timing advice would be a priority for me. (Yes i irritate my family when I do that)
