Questions about cars at Disney

[NWDMD]

We're driving for the first time to WDW. We usually flew and took Mears shuttles, and later Magic Express. How does it work with cars? Do you park for free at your resort? Do you have to pay at each of the parks? If so, do you have to pay twice if you leave and come back or leave and hop to another park?

Thanks!
NWDMD

 

[MissM]

If you're staying on Disney property you can drive you car to one of the parks and park for free. You can also leave your car at the resort parking lot for free and use transportation.

If you're staying off property, parking is $14/day. If you park hop and drive your car from one park to another, you simply show your parking pass; in other words, you don't pay more than once a day.

 

[JafarMaleficent]

you can park for free at the resorts. and if your staying at a disney resort you can park in the parks for free. i find it easier to just leave your car at the resort and just use disney transportation.

 

[Texas84]

We get unlimited parking with our DVC resort parking pass. I'm sure it's the same for regular resorts. Although I think some have valet parking if you want it.

 

[scpergj]

You do get to park at your resort for free, except for at Shades of Green, and the Swan and Dolphin. Also, when you stay on property, you can park at the parks for free - just remember to put the sign in your window, the parking people will check when you tell them you are staying at "X" resort.

We pretty much always drive since we only live two and a half hours away, and we find that driving is much more convenient for us.

 

[NYwdwfan]

My parents always drive and leave the car in the resort lot for the duration and take Disney transportation to the parks. It's just easier and lets you enjoy the magic as opposed to trying to navigate yourself. Except that one time that after waiting 45 minutes at Poly for the AK bus they just drove themselves.

 

[slappy magoo]

Driving on Disney property is always a crap shoot. You'd never know if there would've been a bus going to your destination when you arrived at the bus stop unless you decided to use a Disney bus...and if you wait more than 5 minutes you start cursing yourself for not driving

But the big perks for using your own car are:

1: When you're exhausted and you want to leave RIGHT NOW, there's less of a wait, unless you had to park very far away from the main gate and are waiting for a tram.
2: You're not surrounded by strangers who may be rude, obnoxious, malodorous, sweat-stained, jamming their folded strolled in your butt, ignoring crying children, eating a turkey leg, practicing their cheers, what have you.

The only time we NEVER drive is going to the MK. No sense doing that since you'd still need to take a ferry or monorail from the TTC to the main gate. And most other times, for the other parks, we either get there early enough that the distance from our spot to the gate is manageable, OR late enough that the early risers have split and you can snag their up-close spot.

 

[AEfx]

My parents always drive and leave the car in the resort lot for the duration and take Disney transportation to the parks. It's just easier and lets you enjoy the magic as opposed to trying to navigate yourself. Except that one time that after waiting 45 minutes at Poly for the AK bus they just drove themselves.

And this is why I prefer to drive myself most of the time.

Disney transportation is great and all, but it's very easy to navigate around WDW by car and in almost all cases I've gotten to my destination more quickly via personal car than busses once you add waiting times, etc.

I know, I know, someone is going to yell, "I'm on vacation! I don't want to drive!" which is a perfectly valid point. So driving yourself around Disney isn't for everyone. I like driving and enjoy being able to control my stay, so it really works for me.

For example, let's say you are staying at CBR. You want to go to dinner at the Boardwalk. You stand and wait for a bus at CBR, you ride the bus to Epcot, you stand at Epcot and wait for the bus to Boardwalk (or you walk). To get back it's the reverse - you are talking at least an hour of travel time, when in fact you could get yourself there in about 10 minutes by car.

I find the same to the theme parks, with the possible exception of the MK. It depends on how busy the MK is, and of course you also have to take the transport across the water. However, for Epcot, MGM, and AK, unless you walk out and the bus is waiting there for you, I find it much easier to just drive myself - especially so I have my vehicle should I want to get somewhere else more quickly after, on-property or not.

It's not for everyone, but I find it a lot nicer - and since I play Disney music in my car it's "Disney" enough for me.

 

[ob1thx1138]

We drove on our trip this July and finally decided on this method. If we were going to a park we would drive to the main bus terminal (we were staying at POR and the long walk to our room, usually in the rain, in the evenings was a real bummer) and then ride the bus to the park. If we were going to another resort which we did several times to eat, then we would drive there and then use the bus to get to whatever park we were going to and just return there and drive to our resort. That seemed like the most efficient way for us to travel. The only time we drove to a park was on our last day when we went to Animal Kingdom and the tram ride was not too bad and the time from walking out our door to getting to the main gate was about the same as riding the bus.

 

[BeanSz]

Every trip we debate getting a car for flexibility. Especially for those one off meals you want to try but don't want to deal with busses to get to the resorts, or to head to DTD in the afternoon or evening -- always seem to have poor service. But we always fall back on, we are on vacation and dealing with the transportation is part of the experience. That said, we have also discovered the use of taxi cabs -- if we want to get somewhere quick we grab a cab at hotel -- we have even take a cab back from Epcot or Studios rather than deal with bus since we were tired, and yes, with 3 small kids we deal with sleeping or tired kids, strollers, diaper bags, etc...even when my DW and I go away for a weekend with no kids, we try to make it a point not to move the car -- either hang out at a hotel or resort or enjoy a city via other transportation options. Makes it feel like something special and actually on vacation. However, my sister always insists on a car -- says it is much less stressful (but then again, this is the same person who gets the dining plan, goes over July 4th week, with no sit down ressies -- go figure).