Quick Question Regarding Parking

[Blueliner]

Is there a general opinion on the best place to park on-site for a day visit? The official website directs you to exit at Disney Way and enter a parking lot off of Harbor, but I also am seeing, unofficially, the possibility of parking in the Mickey and Friends parking structure.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Unless you're staying in an offsite hotel somewhere, it's nearly, if not impossible to find parking outside of Disney. I'd just pay and park in the structure.

 

[Blueliner]

Unless you're staying in an offsite hotel somewhere, it's nearly, if not impossible to find parking outside of Disney. I'd just pay and park in the structure.

Thanks. We definitely plan to park inside the Disneyland Resort, but it looked like the Disneyland website was directing guests to a different lot, away from the Mickey and Friends structure. Maybe I misunderstood those instructions.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Thanks. We definitely plan to park inside the Disneyland Resort, but it looked like the Disneyland website was directing guests to a different lot, away from the Mickey and Friends structure. Maybe I misunderstood those instructions.

Oohh, I see what you're saying. Yes, there are other parking lots besides Mickey and friends. It's possible they'll make you park in one of the other ones.

 

[Blueliner]

Oohh, I see what you.'the saying. Yes, there are other parking lots besides Mickey and friends. It's possible they'll make you park in one of the other ones.

Thanks very much. We're excited to come visit next Sunday and Tuesday!

 

[Californian Elitist]

Thanks very much. We're excited to come visit next Sunday and Tuesday!

Anytime. Be prepared for lots and lots of crowds.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Mickey & Friends is really the way to go. It has the tram or a pleasant, .6 mile (IIRC) walk to the parks. If you're driving in, it has the best "Disney bubble" factor.

 

[TP2000]

Mickey & Friends is really the way to go. It has the tram or a pleasant, .6 mile (IIRC) walk to the parks. If you're driving in, it has the best "Disney bubble" factor.

Very true. But Blueliner here has chosen the very busiest days of the year to visit Disneyland; the entire resort will be beyond capacity and Disneyland may have to stop allowing entry for periods of time on both of those days.

Those are the exact type of days where Mickey & Friends Parking Structure closes for hours at a time and all arriving traffic is forced down Disneyland Drive to park at the Anaheim Convention Center and be bussed back north to the East Esplanade for park arrival. It can be time consuming and confusing if you get caught up in that mess on those peak days.

Blueliner, you should try for Mickey & Friends first, but also be prepared to be parked in the Simba satellite lot behind the Paradise Pier Hotel and then walk through Downtown Disney to the parks. Or be prepared to be sent to the Anaheim Convention Center parking structures and then catch a bus back to the Resort District for drop off in the East Esplanade.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Very true. But Blueliner here has chosen the very busiest days of the year to visit Disneyland; the entire resort will be beyond capacity and Disneyland may have to stop allowing entry for periods of time on both of those days.

Those are the exact type of days where Mickey & Friends Parking Structure closes for hours at a time and all arriving traffic is forced down Disneyland Drive to park at the Anaheim Convention Center and be bussed back north to the East Esplanade for park arrival. It can be time consuming and confusing if you get caught up in that mess on those peak days.

Blueliner, you should try for Mickey & Friends first, but also be prepared to be parked in the Simba satellite lot behind the Paradise Pier Hotel and then walk through Downtown Disney to the parks. Or be prepared to be sent to the Anaheim Convention Center parking structures and then catch a bus back to the Resort District for drop off in the East Esplanade.

I took a dirty shortcut: I sorta knew that M&F gets to capacity at this time of year, but knowing that the OP only has two days at DLR during the busiest time of year, I figured if they don't get to the Resort relatively early when there's a 99% chance that M&F will be under capacity... they'll already be in for all sorts of nasty surprises, anyway.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

I won't park anywhere but Toy Story on Harbor. It's the easiest to get in and out of and the constant stream of enclosed buses beats the slow moving tram service.

 

[Blueliner]

Thanks for all of the helpful advice, guys! We likely will be arriving at the resort before park opening. I am hoping that one advantage of gaining two hours from Birmingham to Anaheim will be that everyone will pop out of bed in time to hit the parks early. I will keep my fingers crossed that we can get into the Mickey and Friends parking structure at that time of day.

We were at the Disneyland Resort in late March, stayed at the Grand Californian villas, and had a great time. Our oldest son's high school band is performing at the Disneyland Park on Sunday and marching in the Tournament of Roses Parade on Wednesday, so we decided to bring the whole family out to sunny California again!

We are prepared for crazy crowd levels, and I have told the kids that we likely will not be able to ride as many rides this time. We are looking at this trip as an opportunity to take our time and explore a little bit more than we did earlier this year. We'll grab fastpasses for the rides where it is available, see the holiday overlays at the Haunter Mansion and it's a small world, and hopefully not get too overwhelmed by the crowds. I definitely would like to see Viva Navidad, and we'll also shoot for seeing World of Color - Winter Dreams.

Here are the the things we're going to to try to do while in Southern California this time:

Saturday: Arrive in Southern California, pick up car, visit Crystal Cove State Park
Sunday: Disneyland Park (possibly, but not likely, hopping to California Adventure)
Monday: View the Rose Parade floats, get pictures at the "Farther of the Bride" house in Pasadena, lunch/look around at The Grove/Farmer's Market, drive through/walk around Rodeo Drive, get a family picture in front of the Dunphy house, dinner/play at Santa Monica Pier
Tuesday: Disney California Adventure (possibly, but not likely, hopping to Disneyland Park)
Wednesday: Tournament of Roses Parade, Griffith Observatory, pictures near Hollywood Sign (Canyon Lake Drive), swim at hotel, watch football games on TV, recover.
Thursday: Fly back to Birmingham

Any other ideas?

 

[Disneyfanman]

We were there last week, arrived an hour prior to open on all 3 days, and got directed to a different lot each day! One day was Mickey and Friends, one day was behind the DH with no tram service, an one day to an outdoor lot right behind M&F. Since crowds were similar on all three days and we arrived at the same time on each day I couldn't figure out how they working things. We were among the first 50 cars on each day.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Thanks for all of the helpful advice, guys! We likely will be arriving at the resort before park opening. I am hoping that one advantage of gaining two hours from Birmingham to Anaheim will be that everyone will pop out of bed in time to hit the parks early. I will keep my fingers crossed that we can get into the Mickey and Friends parking structure at that time of day.

If the 10,000 space Mickey & Friends parking structure is full before park opening on any day, just pack up, head home, try Disneyland a different year. Pinocchio is outdoor right next to M&F... basically the same thing; so that's probably around 11,000 spaces in that complex.

I won't park anywhere but Toy Story on Harbor. It's the easiest to get in and out of and the constant stream of enclosed buses beats the slow moving tram service.

The trams move faster than the buses that are stuck in traffic/at lights on Harbor Blvd. Time-wise, I thought it was a wash when I used the Toy Story lot, but the tram route is much nicer. It also seemed to me like the Toy Story buses take an unnecessarily long route for their short little distance they travel.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Here are the the things we're going to to try to do while in Southern California this time:

Saturday: Arrive in Southern California, pick up car, visit Crystal Cove State Park
Sunday: Disneyland Park (possibly, but not likely, hopping to California Adventure)
Monday: View the Rose Parade floats, get pictures at the "Farther of the Bride" house in Pasadena, lunch/look around at The Grove/Farmer's Market, drive through/walk around Rodeo Drive, get a family picture in front of the Dunphy house, dinner/play at Santa Monica Pier
Tuesday: Disney California Adventure (possibly, but not likely, hopping to Disneyland Park)
Wednesday: Tournament of Roses Parade, Griffith Observatory, pictures near Hollywood Sign (Canyon Lake Drive), swim at hotel, watch football games on TV, recover.
Thursday: Fly back to Birmingham

Any other ideas?

I think your itinerary sounds great.

 

[Blueliner]

We were there last week, arrived an hour prior to open on all 3 days, and got directed to a different lot each day! One day was Mickey and Friends, one day was behind the DH with no tram service, an one day to an outdoor lot right behind M&F. Since crowds were similar on all three days and we arrived at the same time on each day I couldn't figure out how they working things. We were among the first 50 cars on each day.

Thanks for the heads-up! We'll just go with the flow.

 

[Blueliner]

I think your itinerary sounds great.

Thanks. We are really excited!

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Thanks for the heads-up! We'll just go with the flow.

Honestly, this is another big reason why I park in Toy Story. There's zero chance of getting redirected to another lot in the mornings, especially (God forbid) one without any kind of transportation service like Simba.