Disney Parking Lots
When you are at Disney World you may be staying at one of the resorts. If so you are probably taking the transportation they are offering. This is usually a pretty good option, but you do have to become a pretty good expert at using the system to do some things. For instance, if you have dinner reservations at one of the resorts and you are staying at another resort you may be looking at an hour and half trip unless you take a cab.
If you are lucky you may have a car with you. If you do this can provide a lot of flexibility in getting around and can even help provide some relief in getting to the parks. Unless you are staying at the Boardwalk area resorts where you can walk to Hollywood Studios or to Epcot, getting to one of the parks usually involves getting on a bus. So while we enjoy staying at that the Animal Kingdom Lodge, this means that each and every one of the parks requires a bus to get to unless you have your own car. Which leads me to the question of which park has the most convenient parking lot.
Epcot has by far the best lot if you are driving. Easy to get to and no matter where you park you are not that far from the entrance. This is great if you hate taking the tram. Which I do. If you take a tram you have to fold up your stroller, which I always seem to have. This means taking a child that is tired or sleeping child out then thrusting them back in when you are off the tram. Avoiding trams are key.
Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios are about equal when it comes to their lots. You always seem to end up parked a decent distance away, but not far enough to feel compelled to tram it in. However, you may feel more disoriented after parking at Animal Kingdom since you only have a vague idea of where the entrance is. The Hollywood Studio lot is easier to orient yourself in but I feel it is more dangerous to walk it. So in the end these two lots are about the same with respect to ease of parking.
I have no problem parking at any of the three parks mentioned above. The exact opposite goes for the Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom is the worst park to drive to. Walt Disney's dream was to make his guests to feel like they are in an actual kingdom that sits on an "island," so when you finally walk down from the monorail or up from the boat there is a WOW factor like no other. However, the long trek in the middle of the summer is enough to make any parent lose their mind so when you finally arrive you feel like you are at an oasis in the middle of the desert. The experience is an abomination and if it can be avoided by somehow catching a monorail at a resort or even taking a bus from another resort go for it. Otherwise you have some serious commuting to do.
My last trip to the Magic Kingdom involved taking my car and parking there. First, the cast members directed me to park on the outskirts of the known galaxy. I looked vaguely off into the distance and sighed as I knew that you are not even close to the entrance. I was not even close to the transportation center, which ultimately takes you to the entrance.
I clambered over to the tram with my child in stroller. Got to the tram and passed off the child as I folded the stroller and crammed it into the seat. We arrived at the transportation center where we debated taking the ferry boat or the monorail. We settled on the monorail believing it to be faster. We were wrong. The platform was crowded and everyone hot and cramped. When the monorail pulled up we filed onto it and then sat at the station for another ten minutes before it left. Finally it took us to the park where we were herded off the monorail and to the bag check before even getting into the park. The whole process took at least half an hour and that was after we had already parked. In the end, driving to the Magic Kingdom and parking is only marginally better than flying on airplanes now a days. I recommend avoiding it if you can.
If you are lucky you may have a car with you. If you do this can provide a lot of flexibility in getting around and can even help provide some relief in getting to the parks. Unless you are staying at the Boardwalk area resorts where you can walk to Hollywood Studios or to Epcot, getting to one of the parks usually involves getting on a bus. So while we enjoy staying at that the Animal Kingdom Lodge, this means that each and every one of the parks requires a bus to get to unless you have your own car. Which leads me to the question of which park has the most convenient parking lot.
Epcot has by far the best lot if you are driving. Easy to get to and no matter where you park you are not that far from the entrance. This is great if you hate taking the tram. Which I do. If you take a tram you have to fold up your stroller, which I always seem to have. This means taking a child that is tired or sleeping child out then thrusting them back in when you are off the tram. Avoiding trams are key.
Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios are about equal when it comes to their lots. You always seem to end up parked a decent distance away, but not far enough to feel compelled to tram it in. However, you may feel more disoriented after parking at Animal Kingdom since you only have a vague idea of where the entrance is. The Hollywood Studio lot is easier to orient yourself in but I feel it is more dangerous to walk it. So in the end these two lots are about the same with respect to ease of parking.
I have no problem parking at any of the three parks mentioned above. The exact opposite goes for the Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom is the worst park to drive to. Walt Disney's dream was to make his guests to feel like they are in an actual kingdom that sits on an "island," so when you finally walk down from the monorail or up from the boat there is a WOW factor like no other. However, the long trek in the middle of the summer is enough to make any parent lose their mind so when you finally arrive you feel like you are at an oasis in the middle of the desert. The experience is an abomination and if it can be avoided by somehow catching a monorail at a resort or even taking a bus from another resort go for it. Otherwise you have some serious commuting to do.
My last trip to the Magic Kingdom involved taking my car and parking there. First, the cast members directed me to park on the outskirts of the known galaxy. I looked vaguely off into the distance and sighed as I knew that you are not even close to the entrance. I was not even close to the transportation center, which ultimately takes you to the entrance.
I clambered over to the tram with my child in stroller. Got to the tram and passed off the child as I folded the stroller and crammed it into the seat. We arrived at the transportation center where we debated taking the ferry boat or the monorail. We settled on the monorail believing it to be faster. We were wrong. The platform was crowded and everyone hot and cramped. When the monorail pulled up we filed onto it and then sat at the station for another ten minutes before it left. Finally it took us to the park where we were herded off the monorail and to the bag check before even getting into the park. The whole process took at least half an hour and that was after we had already parked. In the end, driving to the Magic Kingdom and parking is only marginally better than flying on airplanes now a days. I recommend avoiding it if you can.
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