Arriving early afternoon at the parks: still being told where to park?

[mamamelody2]

So we will have a rental car for the first time ever. We have always strictly used Disney transportation. We are not planning to rope drop at all. If we get to a park at say 1 PM, is there still a CM directing you where to park? Or would it be possible to head closer to the park entrance and look for spots as I'm sure people will have started leaving by then? I just would rather not be super far away from the park entrance.

 

[DVC-Don]

Parking CM's are on duty till about 6 or 7 PM.

 

[lovin'fl]

They still direct you and it's annoying to get parked far out and then walk past lots of closer spots.

 

[reddog21]

It's annoying however it keeps cars from driving up and down the lanes looking for a spot and hitting someone.

 

[lovin'fl]

It's annoying however it keeps cars from driving up and down the lanes looking for a spot and hitting someone.

Yep. And there are still a ton of guests coming in from, say, 1-6. Heck, a non stop line of cars all the time really. That's too many cars to be up and down the rows looking for closest spots. With all the folks walking to their cars.

 

[_19disnA]

There are always Disney people directing you where to park. While it may seem inefficient to not be allowed to drive around looking for a place up close to the entrance, it would create all kinds of issues with traffic going every which way.

 

[fla4fun]

Looking for an empty space isn’t practical either, as all the lanes are one way. So you would drive down one, have to exit the lot and reenter it, drive down the second one, exit the lot, etc. It’s not like the local mall where you can drive down one aisle and then turn up the next one.

 

[dreamscomealive]

Edit

 

[CarolynFH]

We’ve sometimes arrived at AK a couple of hours before closing and not found CMs directing parking (no CMs in the entrance booths either, for that matter). We found some primo spots then! But AK is the only park where we’ve had that experience, due to its early closures.

 

[mamamelody2]

Well everybody seems to agree in their answers and it's not the one I was hoping for. Lol!! Oh well I guess we'll get a few more steps in

 

[eticketplease]

So we will have a rental car for the first time ever. We have always strictly used Disney transportation. We are not planning to rope drop at all. If we get to a park at say 1 PM, is there still a CM directing you where to park? Or would it be possible to head closer to the park entrance and look for spots as I'm sure people will have started leaving by then? I just would rather not be super far away from the park entrance.

I’m not sure if you know this or not but parking at MK is actually at the TTC. We drive to parks usually but take transportation when going to MK.

 

[CarolynFH]

Well everybody seems to agree in their answers and it's not the one I was hoping for. Lol!! Oh well I guess we'll get a few more steps in

Well, at least the trams are running at all the parks now. That’s especially important at MK, where you might be sent to the farthest back corner if you arrive in the late afternoon!