Parking Garages for Expansion

I was wondering why more parks haven't gone the way Disney and Universal have- building parking garages to give themselves more land on which to build stuff. Seems that all of these parks that claim to be out of room have parking lots larger than the park itself.

Anyone have any ideas?

I've often wondered the same thing. I think it's because of expense and the taxes you have to pay for parking garages. Also while they do let you have more parking space, if designed poorly can cause major traffic issues when many people try to leave at once.

They don't have to designed the same way city garages are which is what I think a lot of people think of when this idea is brought up- considering you would have paid on the way in- you could have multiple exits- there is a parking garage in downtown Columbus with two and three exits from it.

I still don't like the parking garage idea. It's just too complicated as far as traffic is concerened.

Disneyland and Universal Orlando can afford the parking garages because they will take in 15-20 million guests a year between the two parks that the parking garages serve (notice how Disney has yet to try this at WDW, where the investment would be for just one park -- though that's probably mostly due to the 40+ square miles of land that Disney has in Florida).

Parking garages require more personnel (attendants, security at every level, etc.) too, so it's not just the onetime construction cost.

A parking garage costs on average about $1500 per parking spot.

A surface lot I think costs maybe like $150 per parking spot (or less).

The cost is the major differential factor there. It probably wouldn't justify a parking garage unless the park had a lot of funds (or donations) to spend on one.

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Paris said:
Disneyland and Universal Orlando can afford the parking garages because they will take in 15-20 million guests a year between the two parks that the parking garages serve (notice how Disney has yet to try this at WDW, where the investment would be for just one park -- though that's probably mostly due to the 40+ square miles of land that Disney has in Florida).

Parking garages require more personnel (attendants, security at every level, etc.) too, so it's not just the onetime construction cost.

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I think there is two reasons Disney is keeping them from Florida. One, beceause parking garages are ugly, big grey structures that look dirty and dangerous, lol. Another because in Florida its mostly sand down there. No soild rock to place these one. Considering how much a parking garage with Cars, Vans, Trucks, SUV... that would weigh too much, I'd think, for soft dirt to hold. Don't get me wrong, there may be parking garages in Florida that are huge... I just don't know because I don't live in Florida and visted WDW last month.

Also, WDW doesn't need them. They have plenty of space... plenty......

Universal Florida has parking garages...

I think as parks beging to get squeezed for expansion space, you sill see more parking garages.

Parking garages cost in the conservative range of $9,500-$12,000 per space. If you are not a year round operation, well, you do the math.

And many parks don't even need parking garages since they have the extra acreage to build more regular lots.

Not sure, but I believe that is the main theme behind the RCT3 expansion after Wild!... RCT3 Parked! "Build the wildest parking lots and garages in the world!"

You have to figure out where you're going to put all the cars WHILE you build the parking garage. That would be a major disruption to ongoing operations. You still need parking for larger vans, RVs and buses.

Not only is it a question of people leaving, it's a question of the backups when people arrive. A line of cars can fill up an aisle in a parking lot much faster than in a parking garage.

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Agent Johnson said:
Parking garages cost in the conservative range of $9,500-$12,000 per space. If you are not a year round operation, well, you do the math.

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Exactly right- Where I work we're expanding an existing hospital parking ramp right now and the construction figures out to $12,200 per space.

Not economically feasible for something that isn't open year round. Upkeep on parking structures is much more expensive than surface lots also.

Six Flags Astroworld really needs parking garages due to the whole lawsuit by the NFL cuz the stadium is stelling astroworlds parking for VIP parkig and etc...