Charging at Disneyland

[Steveb48]

We visited Disneyland on Friday (1/6/17) and found they were diverting cars to offsite parking at 8:00am! I looped around Katella to Harbor to Ball and pulled up to the people at the cones blocking the entrance to the ramp. To my surprise as I got closer they moved the cones out of the way. When I asked what was going on they said it was only open for ADA access right now but as I was an EV, they let me in for charging. I don't know how often this happens. Had to back in due to cable length.

There are new security stations setup before entering Downtown Disney. If you're going to the parks or Downtown Disney, be sure and exit the parking structure near the front side or you'll find yourself outside the security area and unable to ride the trams in.

 

[rfmurphy81]

This is a common practice. Rather than fill up the Mickey & Friends parking structure too early in the day, they divert you to other surface lots nearby like the Toy Story lot (across from the convention center) or the Pumbaa lot (just north of Gardenwalk, soon to be the second new parking structure) as this allows them to better pulse traffic flow throughout the evening.

However, the Mickey & Friends parking structure is the only theme park parking lot with EV charging. There are 64 ChargePoint stalls (the most in any single location, I believe) at 35 cents/kW. Since the other theme park parking lots don't have charging, they probably assumed you wanted to charge while visiting one of the parks.

Related:

• I saw a notice from ChargePoint this week about 4 new stations at the Paradise Pier Hotel, which appears to be in the hotel parking structure behind the building.
• I've also seen 6 ChargePoint stalls in the Downtown Disney south parking lot closest to the Disneyland Hotel frontier tower, but I believe those are restricted for Disney employees.
• There's also another 10 north of Disneyland but that's in an employee parking structure for their main office building and it's obviously restricted to employees, as well.
• The ChargePoint site says there's 4 non-networked L2 stations (grey) at the Grand Californian Hotel but, the last time I ate at Napa Rose, I remember the valet implying it was just a 110 outlet and I'd have to plug and unplug it myself, which I thought was really odd. I'm going again later this month so I'll confirm if that's still the case.

Source: I go to Disneyland a fair amount.

 

[Electric700]

64 charging stations at one location? That's really awesome!

 

[dgpcolorado]

... at 35 cents/kW...

[I presume that you meant "35 cents/kWh."]

That seems rather pricey. Since Teslas don't need the range I think I'd skip the EV charge stations (is the EV parking advantageous in terms of location?). Gets me to wondering what Tesla will be charging at the Supercharger Stations near there for cars that don't have free Supercharging.

 

[Bryantclan]

[I presume that you meant "35 cents/kWh."]

That seems rather pricey. Since Teslas don't need the range I think I'd skip the EV charge stations (is the EV parking advantageous in terms of location?). Gets me to wondering what Tesla will be charging at the Supercharger Stations near there for cars that don't have free Supercharging.

The chargers are second only to the RV parking as the best location to park in the M&F lot.

 

[rfmurphy81]

[I presume that you meant "35 cents/kWh."]

That seems rather pricey. Since Teslas don't need the range I think I'd skip the EV charge stations (is the EV parking advantageous in terms of location?). Gets me to wondering what Tesla will be charging at the Supercharger Stations near there for cars that don't have free Supercharging.

I think I meant for the "h" to be silent.

And yes, it's very expensive. However, that doesn't stop people from plugging in there to get basically almost front row parking. Now that they're selling preferred parking at $35/car for the closest spots near the escalator down, I guess it's the most cost effective way to get up closer without paying the full price as, even if you don't start a charge session, they bill you a minimum $1.50 fee.

 

[gavine]

[I presume that you meant "35 cents/kWh."]

That seems rather pricey. Since Teslas don't need the range I think I'd skip the EV charge stations (is the EV parking advantageous in terms of location?). Gets me to wondering what Tesla will be charging at the Supercharger Stations near there for cars that don't have free Supercharging.

At DisneyWorld (Florida), the parking attendant directed me to the charging spots on our last visit, even though I didn't ask for them. I was tempted to go for it due to the great location, but I didn't want to take-up a spot in case someone needed it to charge. My vacation home is only a few miles from the parks so charging there is not necessary.....albeit tempting.

The opposite school of thought would be for me to use the chargers, let them make money and increase the demand so they put more charging spots in....decisions, decisions.

 

[HookBill]

Considering the Santa Ana Super Charger is only about 6 miles south on the 5, I would just go there to charge and get it for free.

 

[dgpcolorado]

...The opposite school of thought would be for me to use the chargers, let them make money and increase the demand so they put more charging spots in....decisions, decisions.

That's an interesting take on it. Out here in the boonies I try to use the public L2 charge stations whenever I can because the cities went to the trouble and expense of putting them in (80% paid for by a state EV registration fee, however) and because I want them to be seen as being used. I view it as a form of education of the public that EVs exist.

 

[cybergates]

How can u use the ChargePoint app with the disneyland app. They don’t show up on the app. I have to appple pay w my phone

 

[rfmurphy81]

How can u use the ChargePoint app with the disneyland app. They don’t show up on the app. I have to appple pay w my phone

The Disneyland app references the EV charger locations on the Parking page under Guest Services via a text description, but the two apps are not connected (nor would they be expected to be).

 

[cybergates]

The Disneyland app references the EV charger locations on the Parking page under Guest Services via a text description, but the two apps are not connected (nor would they be expected to be).

the costa mesa ikea, I was able to use the Blink app - pick Charger #2 from the app and the app remotely activated the charger. And I was able to get the member charge rate without any blink card etc. Chargepoint could easily do the same i.e. activate disneyland charger #127 (click on the app and start).

 

[rfmurphy81]

the costa mesa ikea, I was able to use the Blink app - pick Charger #2 from the app and the app remotely activated the charger. And I was able to get the member charge rate without any blink card etc. Chargepoint could easily do the same i.e. activate disneyland charger #127 (click on the app and start).

The ChargePoint app has a button that says Start Charge when you open the station. I think it works on any station, but you can see it for the Disney ones so there ya go.