Best place to park at WDW

[ProudMonkey]

First ever trip to WDW is coming in November. It will be food and wine at World Showcase. We will be driving a rental car. So my question is this...

Where is the best place to park to enter each park? For both quick entry and also all day.

Looking at Google Earth it looks like its possible to park at the Boardwalk and walk in a side entrance to world showcase. This would be great for eating or drinking at food and wine after spending a day in a different park. I also keep hearing about an entrance at the Rainforest Cafe for Animal Kingdom but isnt Rainforest at the entrance of AK anyways?

Curious what the veterans of WDW thought and any advice they can pass to those of us who have never been.

 

[Bob P]

Each theme park has its own parking lot. Cast members will guide you to the next available parking space (it's very orderly). Then you will walk or take a tram to the park entrance--except at the MK, where you will take a tram to the TTC, and then catch a monorail or ferry to the MK entrance area.

You are not allowed to park at resorts unless you are staying there or visiting the resort for a meal.

 

[pogo791]

Proud Monkey,
There are lots of things to factor in (such as whether or not you are staying on site, when you can use the very good system of trams), but like Bob P told you, the CM's have things arranged in an orderly manner. After all, on some days you might have over 100,000 people flooding into WDW, and most of them come by car. This means that traffic control and parking is about as efficient as it can get.

The basic procedure is that the first people during the day to drive up are directed to the lots closest to the entrance to the park. As these lots fill up, the CMs direct you to the next lot over. Personally, I like to arrive bright and early, park close to the entrance and just saunter over, knowing that at the end of the (long) day it will be a short hop back to the car and away.

But even if you arrive much later in the day, there should still be parking available (especially in November, with the exception of Thanksgiving!), and the wait for a tram to take you to the entrance is usually just a few minutes.

Visitors with disabilities who arrive by car would be directed to their own area, very close to the entrance.

The main exception to parking at a lot close to the entrance of a park is the Magic Kingdom. For this, you park some distance away, and take either the monorail or the ferry to the entrance.

Wherever you park, remember the name of your area, and the row number. It can be daunting on leaving the park to realize that all the parking lots look alike, you have absolutely no idea where you left your car - and you may be so tired that you have even forgotten what color of car you have rented.

You're right about parking at the lot close to Boardwalk, if you want to go to the World Showcase. However, bear in mind that this parking lot is primarily intended for those staying at these hotels or going to the restaurants. You have to check in at a gate, and if you don't have a slip given to you by the the hotel (for example, Boardwalk Villas), you will be asked about why you want to enter. Anyway, should you get past the guard at the gate, then after parking in the lot, you just walk over to Boardwalk, turn right, and walk a few hundred yards to the entrance which will take you directly to the World Showcase, between UK and France.

As for the Rainforest Cafe entance to Animal Kingdom, it may be that you are thinking about the suggestion that you cut through the Rainforest Cafe in the mad competition to see who gets into Animal Kingdom first. As with most of the other parks, the parking area is just outside the entrance.