The World in the Eyes of Paul

Many visitors to Disney see parking as a hassle. It is easy to forget where your car, especially if it is not really your car and is a rental. Parking is not cheap unless you have an Annual Pass. Parking can take a good amount of time, especially at the Magic Kingdom. However, parking does not have to be the "horrible" experience many make it out to be. Below are a few simple tips to help make parking to be less of a chore.

If you are staying on property consider taking Disney transportation, especially if you don't get free parking. The fee alone should deter most on property guests from driving their own vehicle. If you use on property transportation be sure to do your research to know where stops are located, wait times, etc.

If you do decide to drive and park at the parks then be sure to have your money or annual pass ready when you get to the entrance gate. This will help get you and everyone behind you get through the line quicker. Also as the lanes condense down to less and less remember to use both lanes. There is a tendency to line up in one lane leaving the other one completely open. Disney is very efficient at getting people into the parking lots so follow what they are saying, which includes using both lanes.

After you park walk in front of your car and down the aisle that is already fully parked up. The parking attendants will remind you of this but let them not have to worry about you and your party by doing it already. Also remember where you parked. Most phones have a notepad feature, open that and type in the row you are parked in. If your phone does not have that application then send yourself or someone else in your party a text message of the row. You can also open up your dialer and "call" your row quickly ending the call and then the row number is in your recent call list. You can also call your own voicemail and leave yourself a message with the row number. Final suggestion is to use your cell's camera feature and take a picture of the row number. Using one of these tips you will now not have to worry about losing that slip of paper which you wrote the row number on or remembering throughout the entire day where you are parked.

If you rent a car returning to your car can be really confusing as you are not used to the style and color. Again use your cell's camera feature to snap a picture of the car. If the car has an antenna on top of the car tie a color ribbon to it or use an antenna topper. This will make spotting it from the other cars easier.

After parking consider walking to the gate versus taking the tram. Getting a kid out of the stroller, folding it up and getting on the tram is a considerable amount of work when the walk may not be that horrible. This has to be a judgment decision based on your individual situation based on where the tram is, how many people are waiting, the weather, where you are parked, etc. but many times at EPCOT the gate is not far from where you parked. I would highly recommend against walking to the TTC in the Magic Kingdom lot though as that lot is massive and winds around a good amount.

When boarding the trams please pay attention to the tram operators. When they call final boarding call that is not a time for you to sprint to catch that tram. Don't worry another tram is coming right behind the one that is about to depart. By running to the tram you are only saving a few minutes of your own time, not enough to warrant possible safety and you and others and to also hold up an entire tram of people.

When you pay for parking for the day it is good for all parks that day meaning once you pay to park at the Magic Kingdom you don't have to pay to park at DHS, Epcot or the Animal Kingdom for that day. If you are park hopping put this into consideration. I however only move my car if I am going to or from the Animal Kingdom. If I am going between the other three parks I use Disney Transportation. Don't worry if your car will be in the park lot hours after park closing. Disney will ensure you get back to your car. I actually enjoy the private bus ride back to the park hours after that park has closed. It is a nice quite way to reflect on the past day in the park. However also at the end of a long day you may want to just get to your car as quickly as possible to get to bed.

Since I live close to the World and I usually don't stay on Disney property I am usually always driving in to park. I actually enjoy the parking experience as I believe the ride on the parking tram as well as the monorail (if going to the Magic Kingdom) are two of the most exciting non-attraction attractions at the parks. Hopefully with these tips parking will become a little more enjoyable for you as well.