Logistics EV Charging in Theme Park parking lots

[dawnball]

I'm driving my EV to WDW in a couple of weeks and I just want to nail down the logistics of charging in theme park parking. I know the answers to my questions might vary a bit between parks, so any park-specific information you can provide would be great.

In the event all chargers are full (or I've charged enough and want to considerately repark), do I need to cycle all the way out of the parking lot, turn around to go back in through the main parking gate and head for standard parking? Can I drop the rest of my party at the full EV spaces and meet up with them later? When the EV spaces free up can you travel from standard parking to the EV spaces without exiting the parking lot, turning around and re-entering the parking gates?

Assuming they're available, has anyone had luck getting through hotel parking lot security by explaining that they want to charge their EV vs having dining reservations?

Realistically, I won't NEED to charge at the theme parks, I can top off on my way through Orlando or pop off property to recharge whenever I need. But if the opportunity arises, I'd like to know what kind of knock-on effects I might experience.

 

[Jimsig]

Disney is not really EV friendly at either the resorts or theme parks. From what I have read on other threads it is something like 4 chargers per park so needless to say they fill quickly and you can't really rely on them. I don't believe there is a way to know fi they become available during the day other then to go back out and check. I'm not sure about the resorts and amounts of chargers they have and you can only park at a resort if you are staying there or have a dining reservation. No dining/resort reservation no parking.

There have been a number of other posts here that you should be able to search for and those may answer your other questions.

 

[zackiedawg]

I discovered one resort at Disney that has become a mecca for EV drivers. The Cabins at Fort Wilderness. Just got back yesterday, and roughly 1/2 of the vehicles at cabins were EV. Seems word has gotten out among the EV community that the big perk of staying at a cabin with an EV is that it's the only resort that allows you to plug your car into the cabin to charge for free. Since the resort is set up for golf cart use, there are plugs right in the driveway - it's only level 1, but if you just plug in and leave the car plugged in overnight, you can fully charge in a day or two and be ready for a return trip home. It's not something I really thought of until I got there, and saw how many Teslas were pulled into the cabins (and other EVs).

 

[WeLuvTink!]

We've rented EVs on our last two trips (2023, 2024) and both times had no problem parking at a charging station at the parks. We're early rope droppers so had that working for us. After charging up I got the alert then went out to the lot to move the car and give up the charger to somebody else. Did this at Studios so the walk in/out wasn't too bad.

 

[seashoreCM]

After charging your car at a Disney theme park lot, you would head for the lot exit. You should soon come to where each aisle of parking joins you one at a time on the way out. Take one of those aisles, Now you can go back and forth through the aisles to find a space for the rest of the day like at a shopping mall.

park entrance
tram station
AAAAAA TT BB EV BB
AAAAAA TT BBBBBBB
AAAAAA TT BBBBBBB
AAAAAA TT BBBBBBB
tram turnaround
exit and entrance roads

Not sure where the EV charging spaces are laid out but if you were first parked on the "A" side as shown by the above diagram it might not be possible to get to the EV spaces mid day on the "B" side without exiting completely

 

[dawnball]

After charging your car at a Disney theme park lot, you would head for the lot exit. You should soon come to where each aisle of parking joins you one at a time on the way out. Take one of those aisles, Now you can go back and forth through the aisles to find a space for the rest of the day like at a shopping mall.

Thanks! We pretty rarely drive to the parks, so I couldn't visualize how the roads connected. I'll use some google satellite to check out each park individually.

 

[dawnball]

Disney is not really EV friendly at either the resorts or theme parks. From what I have read on other threads it is something like 4 chargers per park so needless to say they fill quickly and you can't really rely on them. I don't believe there is a way to know fi they become available during the day other then to go back out and check. I'm not sure about the resorts and amounts of chargers they have and you can only park at a resort if you are staying there or have a dining reservation. No dining/resort reservation no parking.

There have been a number of other posts here that you should be able to search for and those may answer your other questions.

Yeah, most posts have seemed pretty negative about EVs at the parks, but most of the posters also didn't seem to regularly drive EVs or hadn't ever used the ports, so I thought I'd ask about people's experiences.

In case someone else finds this post later, it's pretty trivial to see if the EV charging ports are full. Almost all of them are on the chargepoint network, so you can the chargepoint, plugshare or ABRP apps to see if they're currently in use. I think google maps for android automotive might have it too, or I might be mis-rememebering. The apps can't tell you if the ports are ICE'd in, but I'd hope that Disney would strongly discourage that.

Swan reserve has 5 ports (plus 5 for valet)
Riviera has 2
Grand Floridian has 4
Wilderness Lodge has 2
Shades of Green has 3 (I think all valet)
Coronado Springs has 6 (but only 5 parking spots) (This is probably where I'd try to charge if I wanted to try a resort)
Disney Springs has 6 each in orange, lime, grapefruit and watermelon, but all of them except watermelon are on the ChargeUp network and they have a reputation for being otherwise unavailable and frequently ICE'd.

I think that there's another resort besides Fort Wilderness that offers 110 outlets, but I can't find the webpage that mentioned it now and I didn't pay attention because the chance of me trying to use that is about 0.

In terms of availability, I'm seeing good afternoon/evening availability for theme park plugs. That's about what I'd expect, since most people understand that the etiquette is to move your car once you're full.

 

[dawnball]

I discovered one resort at Disney that has become a mecca for EV drivers. The Cabins at Fort Wilderness. Just got back yesterday, and roughly 1/2 of the vehicles at cabins were EV. Seems word has gotten out among the EV community that the big perk of staying at a cabin with an EV is that it's the only resort that allows you to plug your car into the cabin to charge for free. Since the resort is set up for golf cart use, there are plugs right in the driveway - it's only level 1, but if you just plug in and leave the car plugged in overnight, you can fully charge in a day or two and be ready for a return trip home. It's not something I really thought of until I got there, and saw how many Teslas were pulled into the cabins (and other EVs).

I can totally see that. I'd be pretty happy with L1 charging, even if I were paying for the electrons!

 

[dawnball]

To answer my own questions - charging at Disney is mostly a nothing burger. We were there over president's week - the parks were jam packed. I charged at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.

Magic Kingdom I arrived at the EV spaces at 7:33 am, for an 8:30am early entry. I was the third car there with 4 spaces. The parking attendant who directed me knew how many spaces were available, so there was minimal risk of getting there and the charger being full. At Magic Kingdom you need to be able to parallel park, and there's some chance you'd be unable to charge based on the location of your charging port and the available chargers. The cables were generally average length. I think a larger EV like a ford lightning would really need one of the end two spaces, but a standard sedan hand plenty of maneuvering room. If the chargers are full or you're done charging you can just pull into an available nearby space.

At Hollywood studios we got there a little later. Maybe 8:10 for an 8:30 early entry. I was the first car charging. These spaces are angle spaces and after painstakingly backing in from the wrong direction and re-parking to get my charging port on the correct side I discovered that the cables here are really long and you can park an F-150 going the "wrong" way in every dimension and probably still charge it with no issues. Again, if the chargers are full when you get there or if you need to repark after charging, you can just park in the associated lot.

All the parking attendants I saw used a similar hand signal for charging - bump your two fists together horizontally like you're plugging cords together and they'll point you in the right direction. No issues with ICE cars in the spots, and I saw a completely different mix of cars when I was leaving than when I got there, so the turn seems to be pretty good. The chargepoint app can notify you when there's an open port.

 

[WeLuvTink!]

Just got back and wanted to report there are 4 chargers at the new Polynesian Island Tower parking lot (for resort guests). Didn't have an EV this trip but all four spots were available every time I looked.

 

[OKW Lover]

Just wanted to add that if you are charging at the MK, you need to allow a long time to get from the park back to the car and then back to the park once your car is charged.