Can you park at AK early for breakfast?

[lpoeppelman]

I thought I read somewhere that if you wanted to get into the parks for an early breakfast (we want to go to AK for an 8:10am breakfast) that you had to take Disney transportation to get in early from a resort. Is this true?

Just wondering if staying off-site our first night would be worth it... it wouldn't if it meant we couldn't be at AK by 7:15-7:30am.

Thanks!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I thought I read somewhere that if you wanted to get into the parks for an early breakfast (we want to go to AK for an 8:10am breakfast) that you had to take Disney transportation to get in early from a resort. Is this true?


No. You can drive.

 

[Alesia]

I would take Disney transportation. There have been reports from people who couldn't get into the AK parking lot before 8:00 am

 

[MICKEEP]

The AK parking lot will open at 7:30 on regular days. I am not sure about AM EMH.

 

[cranbiz]

From experience, unless something changed within the last year (this is NOT the bus driver reporting, this is the guest side of me) the AK parking lot does not open until 10 minutes before park opening.

Had this happen, was at the lot at 7:30 for an 8:00 ADR and was not let in until 7:50. Didn't get to our ADR until almost 8:20.

 

[bleeps]

UGH -- we made the mistake once of hopping in a cab to go to AK for an 8 a.m. ADR (1 hour before park opening) and we sat, sat, sat (with the meter running!) waiting for the gates to the parking lot to open.

Unless you can get someone to respond to you who can tell you from direct experience (ideally a CM) that the parking lot is opening early, I personally would not take the risk.

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

UGH -- we made the mistake once of hopping in a cab to go to AK for an 8 a.m. ADR (1 hour before park opening) and we sat, sat, sat (with the meter running!) waiting for the gates to the parking lot to open.

Unless you can get someone to respond to you who can tell you from direct experience (ideally a CM) that the parking lot is opening early, I personally would not take the risk.

This is exactly what happened to us. Our taxi driver told us that the day before he had to let his passengers out because he could not get inside the gates. They had to wait for a Disney bus to pick them up and take them into the park.

I would not advise trying to drive to the AK early.

 

[lpoeppelman]

This is exactly what happened to us. Our taxi driver told us that the day before he had to let his passengers out because he could not get inside the gates. They had to wait for a Disney bus to pick them up and take them into the park.

I would not advise trying to drive to the AK early.

Thanks everyone! Yes, I thought I read somewhere that you can't get in early by driving, but just couldn't find the post. We definitely want to be there no later than 7:30am so we have time to walk back for our ressies... get done with breakfast and ride the safari ride with no wait. LOL.

 

[seashoreCM]

The current consensus is to park normally and, if tardy, quietly explain the situation to the maitre d' and expect to be seated promptly, preceded only by parties whose ADR's have matured and who arrived before you did.