Strange parking incident at SDC Saturday 4-26-08.

[rzrbkman]

My wife and I took our 2 and 3 yr old to SDC on Saturday. My Dad also has a season pass that we bought as a Christmas gift for him. Since there were 5 of us going we went in his car because 1 adult would fit in the back of his car with two car seats and I drove as he gets nervous driving in that kind of traffic. Anyway our plans were to get parked before 9am so we could try to get into the park and let the children hit all the kiddie rides before they got too tired and the crowds got overwhelming. We used our favorite 265 route and avoided the 76 traffic. As we approached the vehicle entrance, from 76 to SDC at 8:30, a worker was directing traffic to a parking lot across from entrance and cars were disappearing down a dirt road away from SDC. I told the gentleman that we needed to park in the disabled spot at SDC and he stated all the spots were already full. I stated "at 8:30 they are already full?" and he said yes, but that we could take our chances and drive down to SDC and see if a spot was available. We drove down Indian Point Rd, turned in where visitors normally turned in for disabled and "preferred-pay' parking" and a worker with a handful of money met us at the car and I asked him if disabled spots were available and he told me to drive on up the usual road and another worker would park us if a spot was available. We drove on and was immediately placed in a disabled parking spot. Upon exiting the car I looked at numerous, at least 20-25 that I could easily see, clearly marked EMPTY disabled parking spots plus many other empty spots that I assumed were held back for the preferred parking. Have any of you veteran SDC visitors/board members heard of anything like this happening this year? I guess what I am saying is if you need a disabled parking spot and they tell you at the HWY 76 entrance to SDC that the lot is full, is to take a chance and drive on down Indian Point Rd as there may be parking spaces available.

[randjm]

now that is weird ..we didn't arrive until 10 or so and there were still spots in the Handicapped Section in C. We parked in D

[tina_als_girl]

Well, I have heard that things have been a bit weird this year so far for parking because of all the Indian Pt. Road construction that's going on. I'm glad you did manage to get a handicap spot.

Joy