Is there a place to get a free peek at WDW from night before the adventure begins?

[Spanky]

You do need to have a priority seating number for a restaurant at the monorail hotels to be able to enter the parking lots. There is a guard at the entrance - this is necessary to keep people from using the lots for free parking for the MK instead of the assigned parking lots. Also it got to where the guest at the hotel had no place to park their cars. However, you don't have to order a full meal. You can make priority seating arrangements for the California Grill at the Cont. Resort and just order dessert but schedule your time so that you are there when the MK fireworks are done. There is a great balcony outside that you can go on to watch the show. It is only open to guest at the restaurant. They have wonderful desserts - you can even split a dessert between family members to lower your bill. It is a wonderful view from up high and you can see all the locations that they use to shoot off the fireworks.

 

[iwannabeminnie]

Park for free at Downtown Disney and take the bus to the Magic Kingdom. Get on the resort monorail there. Ride to the TTC, get on the Epcot monorail, ride to Epcot and back. Finish the resort loop when you get back to TTC (of course, stopping at any resorts you would like to check out). Get off at MK again, take the bus back to Downtown Disney, stroll the shops (browsing is free -- you will never get my husband to believe that, even though I say it all the time . Have an ice cream at Ghiardelli's (not free, but oh so good). If that doesn't put you in the mood, nothing will.

 

[Hermosa11]

This is my thread, and another DIS friend wrote me about paying for parking/monorail:
They don't tag you at the parking lot entrance! You pay, you park, you go where you want from there. If you don't go through the turnstile into one of the parks, you aren't expected to scan your pass.
Thus: no paying for monorail rides. Yea!!
I have never been to WDW, but suspect it will be easy to find the TTC lot/monorail area. I heard the monorails stop like an hour or so (2?) after park closes. But I Am NOT the expert, you all are, I am only basing my info on research and info received from DIS members!!!!

 

[ladyjayhawk]

Hermosa11, are you staying on-site? If so, you do not have to pay for parking anywhere. Just show your resort ID (in our case it was our room key) and the parking attendant will wave you through.

Also, we did not have to have a PS number to park at the Poly this past February. We said we were eating at one of the restaurants (which we did) and we were given a 3 hour pass. After eating, we took our monorail tours. Now that I think about it, we were never asked to show a PS confirmation at any of the resorts we ate at that week. I guess it all depends on the guard.

 

[Hermosa11]

I probably will do JUST that. Park at Poly......(even IF they ask for a PS number I have one , just not for that day, heh heh heh)
and roam within the three hr. limit and wha la........I have enjoyed my tour!

Would I GET OUT at the GF and roam or stay on the monorail. Knowing my DS (17) he will not want to get off.
and then when you are on the monorail, and get the "end of the line", just stay on and return back to the TTC area? and then Hop onto the Epcot monorail and again, go to the "end of the line" and stay on and return back? yes?

 

[rykdad]

Four years ago we did the Dinner/Monorail trip the night before we entered the parks. My then 4-year old daughter saw Cinderella's castle all lit up and said: "Maybe this place really is Magic!" That was worth the price of the trip all by itself.

 

[kcb]

Can you do this even if you are staying offsite?