Driving for the 1st time....Where to park???

[My2E's]

Sorry if this seems like a silly question to some of you Disney veterans, but my family will be staying off property for the first time, and I have no clue about parking and driving to the parks! We have park hoppers so will more than likely be changing parks once each day to avoid EMH and crowds.

Do we plan to park at the TTC and then take the bus or monorail to the appropriate park and then return to the TTC at the end of the day? Since I have been on site for our last 2 trips, I have never seen the TTC so it is making this hard for me to imagine I guess.

Or is there specific parking for each theme park and then we get in car and actually drive to the other park when we park hop???

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[deegack]

It depends on how you are hopping. You can drive from
park to park- save your receipt so you don't pay for parking twice. However, there are some times that it makes sense to park at the park you are ending the day at and go to the morning park from there. Epcot and hs comes to mind.

 

[My2E's]

Ok, here is what I have planned at this time:

Day 1: Ohana at Poly for breakfast, then to MK, then to HS
Day 2: Epcot in am, then to MK
Day 3: HS in am, then to Epcot
Day 4: AK in am, then to MK

What ya think? Park where, when?

 

[rwdavis2]

Your best bet is to drive between parks. The only exception might be day to because you can take the monorail from Epcot to MK although you will have to take the monorail back to Epcot to get the car. IMHO, driving is always quicker.

 

[skelooch]

Personally I would always want to have the car where I am at that time just in case my plans change, I wouldn't want to have to go back to where I started to get it.
So for your plans I would:
1. Drive to poly and valet park $12 plus tips, then monorail to MK. After MK monorail or boat back to Poly, pick up car and drive to HS. The bad part is you will have to pay for parking again at HS. Or you could drive to the BW and valet park there (you only have to pay to valet park once per day), and then boat or walk to HS about 20 minutes.
You could also park in the MK parking lot and then monorail to the Poly for breakfast then onto MK. Might take a bit longer but you'll save having to pay to park at HS.

2,3 & 4 Drive to each park, you will only have to pay to park once per day.

If you do choose to leave your car at your starting point keep park closing times in mine to make sure you can get back there easily.

Some people like to park their car where they will finish the day, but you'll waste some time getting to your first park of the day.